With Hotels With Great Taste, we're pulling back the curtain for a peek at the “special sauce” that hotels use to create memorable, meaningful culinary experiences for their guests.
Up until a few years ago, when choosing travel destinations, I was a city gal who generally preferred the buzz and vigor of a culinary-focused itinerary against a metropolitan backdrop. But in the last few years, unexpectedly, I became an outdoor girlie.
As I shook the cobwebs off the elementary tennis skills of my youth, researched endless hiking boots (still open to suggestions), and cautiously gathered the fortitude to explore terrain beyond a bunny slope, my interests in new and revived hobbies gathered momentum. All of a sudden I was looking up tennis-centered girls' weekends, the best hiking routes for beginners within an hour’s drive, and family-friendly ski vacations. The ratings on the activities were always the primary draw; if good food was somewhat accessible, it was icing on the cake.
When I had the opportunity to visit The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch in Beaver Creek, Colorado, it dawned on me that a sports-driven getaway and quality eats aren't mutually exclusive. The resort is situated among the Rockies and Beaver Creek ski mountain, boasting ski-in/ski-out access. There is terrain for all levels, with plenty of ski school and private lesson options for beginner and expert skiers and snowboarders alike. Cross-country skiing and snowshoe tours are also offered.
I had the fortune of a guide who helped me navigate gentle greens and encouraged me toward more challenging blues. He knew when we needed a sugar pick-me-up at the Candy Cabin, an actual candy-filled cabin, evoking both Hansel and Gretel and Charlie and Chocolate Factory with its barrels of singular sweets, right on the slopes. At the end of the day the official Cookie Time kicked off around 3 p.m., when chefs distributed warm, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies at the bottom of Centennial Express as well as Beaver Creek Village. And new for the 2026 season is a full-fledged Cookie Cabin with a walk-up window where you can refuel on cookies and hot cocoa throughout the day.
You can't talk ski without the après-ski; The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch doesn't disappoint, with DJ sets and live music. One spirited late afternoon legit had me feeling like I was at an Alpine après-ski, with Aperol spritzes at every turn and Euro house music reverberating at the base of the mountain. If a laidback scene is more your vibe, you can't beat the cozy après experience in The Great Room, a luxurious mountain lodge where a fire is always roaring and live musicians also take their place later in the evening.
A day out in Mother Nature will work up your appetite, and aprés snacks can only get you so far. Wyld is precisely the type of rugged dining you'd expect to find amid the Rockies, featuring local ingredients in dishes like Colorado lamb saddle and duck carnitas. But also incredibly unexpected, elegant delights like a hiramasa (yellowtail) crudo enrobed in a thinly sliced daikon "flower," topped with a gooseberry aguachile. Not exactly the type of food I'm used to encountering after an arduous day on the slopes, but I'm not mad!
Meanwhile, Sakaba is an unpredictable but wholly delicious contemporary Japanese restaurant. Here, fish is flown in from Japan for simple sashimi dishes showing off the seafood's freshness, but also in crowd-pleasing bites like tuna crispy rice and toro caviar nigiri. Sakaba, which translates to "sake bar," is true to its name, with playful Japanese-inflected cocktails (including nonalcoholic options) like a miso old-fashioned and an extensive array of sake.
Jasper Schneider is executive chef at both restaurants, and his global experience coupled with his background in seafood and fine dining (including time with chef Eric Ripert at Le Bernardin), is apparent in all of his food here. Freshness is at the fore, and he takes a less-is-more approach but isn't afraid to go bold when needed as shown in his smoked Savoy cabbage with coconut yogurt and roasted cauliflower with fiery harissa vinaigrette.
Another culinary highlight for me was dining at The Alpine Table, a rotating chef series dinner where they fly in notable chefs from around the region. It's truly an unforgettable experience that begins with a sleigh ride on a snow cat mobile from the hotel up the mountain to/from the cabin while you take in the views under the stars.
That evening's dinner was co-hosted by Zach’s Cabin executive chef Jonathan Alonso and guest chef Duncan Holmes from Michelin-starred Beckon in Colorado. We were welcomed with truffle-topped cornets and bubbly before being seated to a multi-course experience punctuated with the first white asparagus of the season (!), chicken espuma (y'all I was not expecting culinary foam while wearing Moon Boots), monkfish liver, and a warm laminated dinner roll I'm still thinking about.
After such a lovely refined dinner, it was wonderful to step back on that same snow cat, our laps covered once again with wool blankets, making our way back down the mountain, small cups of hot cocoa in our gloved hands. The scene was straight out of a made-for-TV holiday movie. I don't want to do winter any other way henceforth.
The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch
