In our new series #TBT, or Throwback Thursdays, we’ll revisit some of the Denver metro area’s tried and true restaurants that have become institutions, like The Fort. These places have weathered the shifts in our city’s restaurant landscape. As flashy newcomers enter and exit, these restaurants, bars, and cafes remain, though sometimes get overlooked by the fickle short-term attention span of a social media-driven obsession with the new and the now.
While the rest of Denver’s dining scene seeks to leave the city’s Old West heritage behind by leaning hard into global influences and sleek modernism, The Fort stands apart as a proud outlier.
The Morrison landmark, with its adobe walls and frontier-inspired menu, has unabashedly embraced its Western roots for more than 60 years. In the process, it has turned what others may consider cowboy clichés into a culinary identity all its own.
Home On the Range
The Fort initially wasn’t designed to be a restaurant. In the early 1960s, founder Sam Arnold originally set out to build an adobe home modeled after Bent’s Fort, the famed fur-trading outpost on the plains near La Junta.
But the dream home ran into a cash shortage during construction. So Arnold turned to the Small Business Administration for assistance, which agreed to provide funds under the condition it included a viable business. For example, a restaurant.
Despite having no restaurant experience, Arnold moved the residential quarters to the top floor and turned the ground floor into what we know as The Fort today. The frontier-based menu followed naturally.
“What do you serve in a replica of Bent’s Fort?” said Holly Arnold Kinney, Sam Arnold’s daughter and the current owner of the historic restaurant. “You go back into the 19th century, read the diaries, read the research…and that became the basis of our menu.”
Dubbed “frontier fine dining” by Kinney, it’s the type of cuisine served at The Fort today.
Bringing Frontier Fine Dining Mainstream
When someone mentions frontier dining, a lot of images come to mind. Rarely do people think of eating on a white tablecloth and from fine china. Or at a place lauded for its food and service.
“It wasn’t what you see in the movies of beans over a campfire when they’re on the trail,” said Kinney. “When they came to the fort, they had some pretty interesting menus and recipes. Bone marrow, buffalo tongue, Bordeaux wine.”
Using these historical meals as a starting point, The Fort’s chefs riffed them into more modern creations. For instance, the restaurant uses Thomas Jefferson’s macaroni and cheese recipe, but swaps out his use of cheddar for gruyère cheese more typically favored by French chefs, and then adds a Colorado touch by including green chile as well.
“That’s typical of what we do,” said Kinney. “We’ve always innovated our menu by going back to those original recipes. We call it ‘New Foods of the Old West.’”
A consistent staple at The Fort is bison meat, called by the common misnomer “buffalo” in this case. The meat often gets served as a filet, rib, or tenderloin, and remains the restaurant’s most popular item. Though a historical ingredient, like other dishes The Fort takes creative license based on ingredients that were available through 19th-century trade routes such as teriyaki marinade or curry spices.
You’ll also find lighter items on the menu such as Norwegian Arctic Salmon with chilled mango salsa, William Bent’s Grilled Quail with teriyaki marinade and wild Montana huckleberry preserves, and Duck with Blackberry Wine Sauce served with the restaurant’s own wild rice blend. Of course there’s Rocky Mountain Oysters. Yes, the real kind made up of battered and fried bull testicles, which has been on The Fort menu from day one.
Some dishes even speak to a time and the people who started it all. For example, the Gonzales Steak, inspired by The Fort’s wood carver Elidio Gonzales. Legend has it, Sam Arnold gave Gonzales a steak as a thank you, and he responded it would be better with chiles. So, the 14-ounce Colorado beef strip steak comes stuffed with New Mexican hatch green chiles and topped with a freshly grilled chile pod. It’s remained a staple for decades.
Additionally, twice a year, the kitchen refreshes the menu, guided by both tradition and a spirit of experimentation. Young cooks compete to design historically inspired dishes that can be produced at scale.
“They must have a historical relation that fits our culture,” Kinney explained. “We’ve had buffalo empanadas with tomatillo sauce, buffalo shepherd’s pie, even a s’mores dessert with homemade marshmallow and bourbon chocolate pudding. If it works, we’ll put it on the menu and give them credit.”
Experience Beyond the Plate
The Fort experience exceeds what you find on the plate. The whole venue offers a cultural immersion of a time and place far from the bustle of Denver. For starters, there’s the building itself. Each wall was created out of 80,000 handmade adobe bricks, crafted directly from the surrounding soil and designed by noted adobe architect and artist William Lumpkins. Today, the property is listed on the Department of Interior’s National Register of Historic Places, and the adobe wall gets upkeep every year.
Then there’s the location. Nestled in the foothills near Red Rocks Park and overlooking Denver and its twinkling lights, there’s no place with the same view in the state. During the pandemic Kinney added a sprawling patio, complete with fire pits and white-tablecloth service in order to fully take advantage of the natural surroundings.
“It is magical,” she said. “When you’re looking out at the valley with the horses grazing in the field and the double rainbows that come out in the evening. It’s spectacular.”
More recently, The Fort has added an educational component as well. This takes the form of Native American performers playing traditional instruments and telling stories, lectures on pre-colonization foods of the Americas, and seminars on frontier era weapons and tools. The entertainment has expanded to adding themed murder mystery nights and flamenco dancer dinners.
“We’re finding that in this generation, they want an event to go to that’s immersive and entertaining, plus great food,” Kinney said. “It’s really become popular.”
Strong Commitment Equals Success
When you build a restaurant in a replica of an Old West fort, your culinary theme is pretty much locked in. There’s really no room for a hard pivot. Which is why the secret to The Fort’s success lies in its unwavering commitment to a very specific point of view.
“We have a very distinct culture, and that’s why people come here,” says Kinney. “You have three generations of people celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and special events here. Many of our employees have been here 10, 20, even 36 years. That sense of family, of continuity, that’s what people come back for.”
If there’s any concern about feeling dated or irrelevant in the wake of Denver’s modernization, Kinney certainly shows no sign of it.
“It’s our roots,” she said. “It’s really not trying to run away from our roots. We embrace it, and we celebrate it. And it tastes good.”
See what Kinney and her family has built by visiting the tried and true restaurant. It’s great for a celebration, experience dining, a date night, or even just as a regular spot to enjoy a steak. No matter the reason, you can expect a nod to history with your meal, and, when Kinney retires or is gone, she has already set up a trust to keep The Fort going strong.
Visit The Fort Monday through Thursday from 5 p.m. until the last seating at 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 4:30 p.m. until the last seating at 9 p.m.; and Sunday for brunch from 11a.m. to 2 p.m., and dinner service from 4:30 to the last seating at 8:30 p.m. 19192 CO-8, Morrison, thefort.com
