Hello. Assuming I don’t get felled by COVID, partner and I will be spending a few days in Telluride and then making our way to Moab and then to Scottsdale, AZ. I’m not seeing much on the Board about any of those areas (other than a dire report about Moab from a few yrs back).
Any recs?
What’s your route/cities? We’ve been driving this a lot in the last couple of years. Glad you linked from the LA Board.
Partner will already be in Telluride, and I’ll fly out to meet him there. We actually haven’t done the route part yet (we’re a bit last minute that way…) but had been hoping to see Arches (we’ll be in Moab for ~2-3 days) and then Taliesin West in AZ.
I think it would be pretty safe to say that, if you have recs that are a bit out of the way, that probably wouldn’t be a huge issue for us. 
So you’ll fly into Montrose?
Correct. Montrose, shuttle to Telluride.
I may have pics, but I’m too lazy to look right now (since I’m still on vacation).
In Telluride, The Butcher and the Baker is really good. As in, I’d be happy to have this place in LA good. Trout salad featured a truly enormous piece of trout. Crust on the fish sandwich was crispy and delicate (and unfortunately didn’t survive me biting through the parts overlapping w/ the bun), ham and cheese croissant is totally respectable, and the gluten-free peanut butter cookie was also good. The udon noodles in the cold case were a little gummy, but still tasty enough.
Siam (which is not to be confused w/ Siam Talay in Mountain Village) would be a respectable neighborhood Thai joint in LA (outside of Thai Town). Prices are high (and prices are high everywhere) but portions are pretty sizable. This was also a 5-min walk from where we stayed.
there… (that’s actually the name) has an appealing menu. Didn’t get to try the food, though.
Ice cream at Telluride Truffle (or Truffles?) was quite good.
Baked in Telluride was fine (the place is a bit of a madhouse).
There is a small farmer’s market (which was 2 CBD purveyors, one of which is combined w/ sweet cherry [!!!] sales) in Mountain Village on Wednesday morning.
In Moab, BluPig (blues and BBQ) was decent enough. My first bite of pulled pork tasted of lighter fluid; thankfully, that was an anomaly. Brisket was too lean for my taste (if you don’t like fatty brisket, you’ll probably be fine w/ this), but it wasn’t overly dry. Cornbread could’ve used more salt.
Still looking up places for Moab dinner tonight. Edit: went to Dewey’s for dinner. Place gives the impression of being a bit of a local institution (highly polished, if incredibly young-looking front of house; folksy but well-written specials menu; restaurant t-shirts, sweatshirts, and caps for sale). 2 burgers/sandwiches (incl one that had the side salad for extra cost) was $35 (inclusive of tax/tip). Food was not amazing, but the onion rings still had some crunch (despite being steamed in the to-go box), and the flavors of the pastrami melt and bleu cheese burger were fine (although I don’t know why anyone would’ve thought of putting red bell peppers in a pastrami melt). QPR is very good (incl tax and tip, the meal was ~$35).
Off to Scottsdale tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing. I have family in Grand Junction / Rifle / Glenwood Springs and occasionally we venture to Telluride.
Only as we were leaving Moab (and visiting Back of Beyond Books; absolutely worth a visit) did I notice a Food Truck Park (I had seen the sign the day b/f, but didn’t register). It’s basically a parking lot that has maybe 6+ trucks there, including a Hawaiian Shave Ice place!!! Argh. There was also a “Quesadilla Research” truck that smelled divine (but wasn’t open in the morning).
Across the street, there’s a coffee shop called “Moab Garage.” I know nothing about coffee, but partner liked his red eye. The vibe of the place is taking a place (incl clientele) straight out of Silverlake and plopping it in Moab. I thought about ordering food, but we planned to eat 2 hrs later, so I thought I’d save my appetite. When I had second thoughts about that plan, the previously non-existent line was nearly out the door.
Will post pics later (just finished dinner after arriving in Scottsdale and am rather tired).