Kirk C. Watkins, Allenspark. Tucked away in a small town in the Rocky Mountains, sits a hidden gem known as the Rock Creek Tavern and Pizzeria. Located just off of Highway 7 in Allenspark, Rock Creek Tavern is another one of those surprisingly delicious places to eat that make scenic day trips or living in the mountains such an exceptional experience.
Since 2015, Rock Creek Tavern has been run by Brenda Sabo. When the idea was initially proposed to her by her daughter, Kassondra Kosch, Brenda balked. Having been in the industry for over forty years, she knew that she would have to be “married to the restaurant.” She also noted that its location was not ideal, since it sat behind another building and was not a street front location.
“I was like, well, will anybody even find us? I’m not sure.” They had planned to be open by Memorial Day, but things took longer than they anticipated. This pushed the opening to early July 2015.
From the very first day they opened they were busy. “Of course, a lot of locals that come through here knew that we were doing this, so they stopped to see how things were going,” she said. “So, the first day we opened, nobody knew when we were opening. We didn’t advertise because we had no idea when that day was going to arrive. So, we opened and got a little busy, and by that night we were completely slammed and had so much business we didn’t know what to do, so we just finished the day.” Selling out of all her supplies on the first day, resulted in an emergency restock the following morning with her SYSCO supplier in Longmont, a good omen for future prosperity.
Since their opening five years ago they’ve continued to build their clientele primarily by word of mouth. “People love coming up to Allenspark, they love my pizza, and we’ve added a couple things to the menu since then, but right now, I’m full. We can’t add anything more than what I’m doing right now because I have no room to do that.”
Originally, she had opened and run the Rock Creek with her daughter, Kassondra, but after a year and a half her daughter left to pursue another professional opportunity.
“I told her (that) opportunities don’t come along every day, if you got a good thing then go for it, I can run this place.”
Brenda maintains a home in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband, Dennis, with whom she is an equal owner of a construction business there, and he is an equal owner in the restaurant. Brenda completely took over the day to day operations and has run it by herself for the past four and a half years.
She talks about running the two businesses and how she has had so many different jobs to do. “Over the years I’ve helped work alongside him pouring concrete, roofing houses, putting up sheetrock, whatever.”
Her restaurant business has been successful enough that she has made plans to relocate into a larger location in Allenspark. The new location is the former site of the Fawn Brook Inn, an iconic gourmet restaurant that had been in operation from 1979 until September of 2017.
The Sabos bought the building in October 2017 and has been upgrading the aging structure since then. She said that she and her husband had shut their construction business down for the two years that it had taken to get the Fawn Brook building up to code. Now that the building is close to completion, Dennis has gone back to South Dakota to get their construction business going again, while she is staying in Allenspark working on the restaurant.
“I continue doing this because it’s a great business and a great community and I have so much support here. I’ve gotten to know a lot of people in the area by being here, and I’m very well supported by the people in the community, which is great.”
Her plan is to have her regular pizza menu, along with burgers and steaks and other rotating comfort food menu items.
“Just being able to do more for the people in this area’” she says. “They’ve asked for more, and that’s what I plan to bring,”
She is waiting for a definite opening date before she starts the process of advertising for the hiring of staff at her new location. Brenda says that she currently needs a chef or two, but the new restaurant will be a full-service restaurant, and she will be hiring a full staff that will include hosts, servers, bartenders, chefs and other necessary personnel.
The Rock Creek Tavern and Pizzeria is open for carry out and limited dine-in/patio seating Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m., and 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Sundays. Their current location is 6 Ski Road, Allenspark, Colorado 80510. You can also visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RockCreekTavern.
(Originally published in the September 17, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)
