Schnip's Trips: Follow the red brick road — 48 hours in Trinidad.
Schnip's Trips: Follow the red brick road — 48 hours in Trinidad.
What's hip, happening and historic in the small town on Colorado's Southern border, including where to eat, drink, tour, play, view art, shop and sleep.
It had been since 2018 that I spent any time in Trinidad, and I kept hearing whispers of cool new things happening in the small city of around 8,000 people. A friend moved to the area a few years ago; another friend, via professional channels, filled me in on recent restaurant and attraction developments; and one of my Side Dish sponsors opened a satellite location to his Springs-based business, touting the town’s potential.
Well, twist my arm, people — Schnip loves a daytrip. And an overnight or two even more. We ended up coving a lot of ground over a weekend, so this spread’s gonna be fat with photos and quick-hit info with ranges of detail — in some spots I happened to meet owners and chat, and others we quickly dropped by. Use it as a resource to plan your own visit. Trinidad is only a two-hour drive direct from the Springs, with a few options for offshoots if you want a scenic detour. For now, here’s your preview:
Eat & Drink
Mornings: Mutiny Trinidad, Colie’s Cakes & Pastries, Kangaroo Coffee at The Marketplace
Mutiny Trinidad originally opened in 2021 as an offshoot to Denver’s Mutiny Information Cafe but was bought by current owner Meghan Creach in mid 2023 and no longer has an affiliation with its progenitor. What remains though is a cool collection of comic and regular books (including local authors), vinyl, art, a blacklight game room, community gathering space and an outstanding roastery and coffee counter that includes a toast bar and cheap noodles (spiffed up from commercial ramen packages). We dig this space so much that we visit twice during our trip. The house Red Brick Blend (a nod to the town’s unusual and historic red brick roads) features a medium-dark roasted Sumatran-Ethiopian mix that delivers bright, lovely tangerine aroma. We enjoy that on drip, and a single-origin Brazilian bean in an oat milk latte which delivers faint hints of milk chocolate and biscuity, nutty notes with a notably smooth finish. I buy a bag of single-origin Papua New Guinea decaf beans for home, so impressed by what I’ve already tasted.
After stepping out of Colie’s Cakes & Pastries I jokingly called it the Nightingale of Trinidad, because everything we sample is so beautifully on point. Owner and Pastry Chef Nicole Roberts earned a degree from Denver’s Johnson & Wales culinary program in 2013 and stuck around to gain experience at notable spots in the city like The Brown Palace and Troy Guard’s Los Chingones and Guard and Grace. She moved back home to Trinidad in 2017 and worked out of a commissary for a couple years before opening Colie’s right on Commercial Street’s main drag in 2019.
I inquire about her bestsellers and she says sticky buns, cream puffs and decorated cookies. We do add the cream puffs (which are divine if messy in my mustache) and some Maldon sea salt, dual-chocolate chip cookies (unique) to our to-go box, but our eyes are otherwise fixed on her croissants (recommended by one of our local fixers, who’s joined us to guide us around a bit), and we get both the pecan and almond versions, plus a cherry hand pie and blueberry-lemon scone. The pie’s epic and not cloying and the scone delicately crumbles with the best of ’em. Indeed the croissants are the showstopper, though, texturally fulfilling to pull apart and chew; the pecan channels a sticky bun’s flavors sans all the sappy sweetness and the almond tastes more buttery with a lingering kiss of almond extract essence. We comment on the cleverness of selling scraps like toastier brownie pan edges and “misfit cakes” (extra product) and Roberts tells us, “yeah, I used to feed them to the chickens.”
Kangaroo Coffee at The Marketplace is my aforementioned Side Dish Dozen sponsor whose fine reputation precedes it from its five C. Springs spots. The Marketplace is Trinidad’s three-year-old food hall, currently composed of eight entities that cover familiar fares like burgers, wings, noodle bowls, burritos, sandwiches, ice cream, coffee and cocktails. (I’ll have more on it below when we return for dinner and drinks.) Kangaroo’s stall, which opened on Valentine’s Day of this year, occupies a large corner lot and the staff is so friendly that a fellow patron (a regular, actually) that I briefly chat with leads off by saying that. We get a chai tea latte as a known favorite from Kangaroo’s kiosk at the Switchbacks FC games (we can be creatures of habit at times) and I take the opportunity to try the shop’s newly offered cold foams array with a lavish lavender latte. It’s a great taste of home away from home, even if we’re not that far down the road. I asked CEO Doug Hammond why Trinidad? He said: “First and foremost was the invitation by the Cimino family to support their remarkable commitment to the revitalization of Trinidad. Second was the alignment with our mission to foster local, living economies. Finally, the opportunity leveraged our core competencies where we knew we could make a positive social impact with the community. And we're off to a wonderful start with an exceptional local team!” Kangaroo is also in talks to join an upcoming La Puerta development in Trinidad, as early as late Spring, 2025.
Afternoons & Snacks: Mission at the Bell, Club 14 Garden Grill & Pub, ALMack’s Kitchen, Sita’s Kitchen, Trinidad Tea Co.
Mission at the Bell is a subterranean space that’s been around just over a quarter of a century, I’m told by Assistant GM Christopher Bell (who’s last name is a total coincidence, it turns out). There’s a beautiful tree climbing up the atrium outside the eatery’s entrance and inside it’s cozy on copper topped tables. Chef/owner Freddy Lucero bought the business from his uncle six years ago after working for him for almost a couple decades, says Bell, highlighting the family roots. We share a plate of the Saturday special, an enjoyable trio of machaca tacos (dried beef threads) with fresh fixings. The complimentary salsa with chips slaps, so we ask how it’s made, learning only “jalapeños and propriety pepper mix.” We also get a frozen watermelon margarita to sip on with a requested upgrade to Casamigos reposado. The outfit thankfully uses fresh juices (no commercial pre-mix) and real fruit, we’re told, and Bell cracks us up by saying these boozy slushees “call to the kid in you, but intoxicate the adult in you.”
Weather dependent, Club 14 Garden Grill & Pub has a fantastic patio view of iconic Trinidad landmark Fishers Peak. (Think of how all the restaurants in the Springs brag of their Pikes Peak view.) The eatery’s name pays homage to the self-named Gang of Fourteen, who over a few years of negotiations with Colorado outdoor agencies made the 2019 land acquisition of Crazy French Ranch around Fishers Peak possible, such that it was able to be designated Colorado’s newest state park in 2020 by Governor Polis. Phil Long Dealerships’ former President and CEO Jay Cimino (who passed away earlier this year) is one of those Fourteen, as a Trinidad native who spent recent years investing heavily in the community even though his business empire and home was in Colorado Springs. At Club 14, among the TV’s broadcasting sports games, you’ll find large poster boards with tourist-friendly suggested driving routes over historic highways and backroads in the vicinity. The staff’s welcoming and the menu sports familiar American comfort and country club fares. There’s a quality craft beer selection on draft and we choose a solid West-coast-inspired IPA from La Veta, Colo.’s Mountain Merman Brewing Co. (which we’ll later make it a point to stop at on a scenic route home). We enjoy a basket of shishito peppers as an appetizer and the Western Burger, made with local Up River Cattle Company beef, we’re told. It’s an oversized fork-and-knife burger with onion rings, cheddar, bacon and barbecue sauce and we choose a side salad for fresh counterpoint to the richness.
We didn’t actually eat at ALMack’s Kitchen, but everyone told us to. We tried, but they happened to be closed for a deep cleaning over the weekend, only offering limited takeout items. (We filed it for a future trip instead.) Still, I’m choosing to list it here because we did meet ALMack’s co-owner Hannah Riccio and had a nice quick chat. ALMack’s started at The Marketplace food hall before growing into its own brick-and-mortar space (nearby, within eyesight) a year and a half ago. Riccio and co-owner Alex Turner followed his mom out West from Rhode Island during the Covid pandemic for a fresh start. She says they are lifelong restaurant people, and he’d worked in Manhattan at a Southeast Asian eatery at one point, which influence some of their eclectic cuisine. She cites a global influence on their menu, and they offer a monthly supper club.
If I learn anything on my trip, it’s that Trinidadians love plants. From the green room at ALMack’s to the front window of Sita’s Kitchen (and several other stores we saw), cute potted plants are everywhere (many for sale). Sita’s opened in 2018 as a fully vegan restaurant (which I recall visiting shortly after it opened), and I’m glad to see the town has supported it enough to keep it going. The owner sources as much local and organic as possible, serves water from a Berkey filter and makes his own cryo-extracted CBD. Ask him a question and he’ll start rattling off molecular properties and purported health benefits, perhaps convincing you with a sincere soft sell that a $3 upcharge in your drink is worth a CBD infusion. I get one in the house Creamsicle, which is an utterly simple combo of orange juice and hemp milk that channels the popular frozen dessert. Who knew?
Trinidad Tea Co. is nearing two years in business and is situated inside the Fox West Theater, which remains a wider renovation project. The company started at farmers markets and owner Christa Franks has an herbalist background. She grows some ingredients, sources sustainably and organically otherwise, and prioritizes eco-friendly packaging. It’s a cute shop and you can shop online if you can’t visit. We nab a to-go spicy ginger rainbow peppercorn tea with a touch of green rooibos for “a little more flavor,” says our knowledgable tea-tender at the counter.
If you’re looking to pick up some snacks to walk around with or to buy groceries or ready-to-eat meals to cook at your rental or campsite, hit up three-month-old Simpson’s Local Market located next to Mutiny on Main Street. Co-owners and friends Erica Gonzalez and Molly Snook buy as much from area producers in-season as possible, including mushrooms and mixed greens from Ramel Family Farms, goat cheeses from Yoder Family Farms, beef from Up River Cattle Co., and tofu from Trinidad-based Colorado Sun Tofu (now owned by Denver’s WaterCourse and City O’ City operators). Many of the products are organic certified, others grow with regenerative methods and Simpson’s utilizes the same distributor as the Natural Grocers grocery chain to obtain all organic fruits and vegetables weekly.
Evenings: Gagliardi’s 489, The Marketplace, TriniDAD Lounge
Gagliardi’s 489 is situated in the rear lobby of the Hilton Garden Inn Trinidad. It’s named for Hall of Fame coach John Gagliardi, the winningest college football coach in history. Why? Because he was from Trinidad; he also attended Colorado College before ruling the field at Saint John’s University in Minnesota. We’re staying at the Hilton, just opened this time last year, thanks to an invite from Cy Michaels, director of operations. She’s one of the aforementioned Club 14 Gang of Fourteen; a close friend of Jay Cimino’s; and also a partner in the project, which came in at a significant-to-town $20 million. “To bring a Hilton Garden to Trinidad adds to culture downtown,” she tells us over drinks before our dinner. “We brought it here because we knew people who like arts, theater, fine dining and health [outdoor activities] would like to overnight in the town.” Michaels was an air traffic controller in her former career and goes more by the title of entrepreneur these days, championing Trinidad’s development projects and staying engaged with the community.
We next meet Gagliardi’s co-owners John McEachern and Susan Flatt, who hold about 60 years combined restaurant experience. They met while working together at a Doubletree Hotel gig in Tulsa years ago and moved to Trinidad during the Covid pandemic to acquire some land and a change of pace. John, who grew up in Austin and has cooked across the corporate industry, calls his eclectic menu here casual upscale and middle America continental with American Italian influence. Pasta options include the Gagliardi family spaghetti and meatballs (recipe provided by the famous coach’s son) and vodka gnocchi, while mains include steaks, chicken-fried venison and two dishes we enjoy: light and fresh Chilean sea bass with citrus velouté sauce and coconut rice; and honey-ancho glazed rotisserie duck with the finest scalloped potatoes we’ve had in memory. The couple tells us they recognized a need for more independent food options in the area, and the difficulty of striking the right, affordable price point in a town with a median household income less than $50,000. That’s according to 2022 data online; they tell us it’s closer to $40,000 now which I don’t confirm. But the closure of the New Elk Mine in 2023 took a toll on the population. (We find the price points at Gagliardi’s rather reasonable, with pastas from $15-$19 and mains averaging in the $20’s and topping out at around $30-$35 for a Colorado ribeye or short ribs.)
Flatt also tells us about their two food stalls located in The Marketplace: Eli’s Wings and Things, and M2 Café and Deli. We don’t make it to the former to sample chef McEachern’s variety of sauces for the wings and tenders, but we do grab sandwiches from M2 the following evening when we meet our local friend for a drink at the The Market Bar. There, you’ll find familiar tap handles ranging from domestics and Mexican lager to Colorado craft brands like New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger and even Bristol Brewing Co.’s World Peace Death Ray Hazy IPA. Though daily happy hours from 4-6 p.m. bring $1 off all drafts, any time of any day you can get 16- and 20-ounce Bud Lights for $3 and $5 and Coors Lights for $3.50 and $5.50. It’s a bright, open area with its own back entryway off a small patio. And there’s no designed cocktail menu, so it’s the kind of place you order a well or call drinks. (I ask for a Negroni and the reply is “what’s that?” — so I order a Bristol pint instead.)
Our M2 sandwiches arrive, thick with fillings and joined by sizable sides as well: grilled zucchini and mushrooms and garlic-Parmesan truffle wedge fries. The Sliced Chicken and Bacon Jam sandwich also gets smoked gouda that plays off the sweet spike nicely. We’re partial to the unique Spicy Fried Green Tomato BLT though, with candied bacon and sambal aioli for impact. We’d just never had fried green tomatoes on a sandwich that I could recollect; and it appeals to my Southern roots. Our friend who’s joined us, Nate Warren, runs the Breakup Gaming Society podcast, which I mentioned in Side Dish this past April when he published his Chaotic Shots and Cocktails That Will Hurt Your Friends pamphlet. So he’s brought along an amusing and easy-to-play card game named Cockroach Poker that we spread out on a high top community table near the bar. We tell lots of lies to each other (as is the strategy) and sip drinks and enjoy the fine early evening, until braving the remnants of a heavy, sudden rain storm to dash across the street for a second drink at a dark dive bar.
That next stop is what I’d rate a must-visit attraction because it’s full of hilarious, odd quirks and throwbacks while still being a sincere bar created by musicians for the enjoyment of all. Once you enter TriniDAD Lounge — lovingly nicknamed “The Dad” — past a glowing red facade there’s a moody, dim-lit vibe punctuated by glowing beer signs and red and blue light boxes stretching out along the bar. There’s a no-shit functioning rotary dial phone mounted on the wall, which we at first think is a piece of ironic decor until the damn thing rings and our affable bartender and the spot’s GM Zakk Shapiro picks it up to take the call. (Mind blown; I hadn’t used one since I was a toddler.) As there’s a nearby outdoor music festival happening this night that’s drawn all the regulars away, we have the place to ourselves, so Shapiro kindly tours us to see random things in various corners of the long building.
There’s the seven rolls of toilet paper mounted to the wall in the ladies bathroom — to handle absolutely every emergency nature could throw at a poor soul, or just keep resupply visits to a minimum. Or who the hell knows why other than the amusement of owners Curt Wallach and Suzanne Magnuson, who also co-own Denver’s High-Dive venue and play in multiple post-punk bands, says Shapiro. As this World Journal newspaper article notes, they opened The Dad in 2021, preserving as much of the seafaring theme they inherited from the former owners, who ran it as the Circle Lounge from the 70’s to 2011. (I cracked up reading their description of it now as “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou meets Unforgiven” as a “nautical southwestern.”)
Yeah, I didn’t yet mention the velvet paintings or prominent ship steering wheel behind the bar. But that of course has nothing to do with the door-less men’s bathroom with no dividers between two urinals and a seater fabricated in the most tacky porcelain colors existent — with tile illustrations above them perhaps best described as stick figure Kama Sutra. (No words can quite express my mirth upon witnessing this, um … masterpiece?) I laugh with Shapiro about the machismo mayhem drunk dudes could create in this room, like peeing at the blue urinal at eye-level with poor chump perched on the throne of the burgundy commode. It would go beyond being uncouth or domineering, like offending them, their ancestors, their progeny and shredding every ounce of their dignity during one draining of the lizard. It’s the stuff of Jackass stunts.
I finally quit laughing and get solemn, wondering what if you Really Really had to go #2 on a busy night here, like during a music show with people packed out past the stage and billiards area, when boys are sure to be whizzing on regular rotation? No privacy, submitting to a degrading pee performance. Shapiro says, “yeah, I feel bad for the bands sometimes, when they’ve come in off the road.” Pro tip: He says to find a friend to stand and block the door for you. Which makes me think: “yeah, but what if you don’t know anyone? You’re gonna ask and trust a stranger? Then I think it would be really funny if a friend or stranger agreed, then abandoned post just to fuck with you. Would be comedic gold, if the meanest prank in the history of dive bars. I tell Shapiro they need to print merch t-shirts for men that read: “I pooped at TriniDAD Lounge” which would be a total IYKYK flex on society.
Wow I’ve digressed here, but that’s the joy The Dad inspires (call it a dad joke, which this pun now is). I didn’t even get to telling you about the building’s history as a brothel (what in the wild west wasn’t at some point?), saloon, hotel and more. Go have a drink and ask Shapiro yourself. Oh, and by the way, he did make me a Negroni.
If you have more time than we did, these were recommended:
The Well, El Rancho, Nana & Nano Monteleone’s Deli and Pasta House, Lee’s BBQ, Perkatory Coffee House, Las Animas Grill, Tony’s Diner, Moose’s Social Club and Martini Bar, Trinidad Smokehouse.
Play and stay
For our main outdoor adventure, we elected to hike in Fishers Peak State Park and did an easy-to-moderately challenging six mile loop along the Fishers Peak and Goldenrod Trails. Much as I’d have loved to climb the mountain, it’s seven miles one-way to the summit so quite a commitment to time and effort for a round-trip. Still, we saw various dramatic overlooks of the peak; a view down over the valley and Trinidad Lake; lots and lots and lots of lizards; limited wildflowers at this time of season; what we’re fairly sure are black bear prints in mud; lots of scrubby sections of Gambel oak, twisted juniper trees, cacti and expanses of Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine.
What we didn’t get to doing, but you certainly could:
• Mountain biking in Fishers Peak State Park and other spots. Also, The Rad Dirt Fest takes place soon, on Sept. 28.
• Paddleboarding or other water activities in Trinidad Lake State Park.
• Or look over the poster below, conveniently hung in the Hilton Garden Inn Trinidad, which is where we stayed. It just opened in September of 2023 and includes a gym, small indoor pool and offers rooms with Peloton bikes. The Purgatoire River with parallel walking/jogging paths flows just outside the hotel’s back patio. Our room on the fourth floor has an outstanding view of Fishers Peak.
• There are of course several other lodging options, including other big-brand hotels, local Airbnb listings and bed and breakfasts in quaint mansions built during the historic boom years at turn of the 20th century.
Shop and view art:
Vintage and thrift shops and quirky retail shops line Main Street and can keep you busy perusing for hours. Choose your own adventure and notice all the irreverence.
Enjoy art on the streets via murals, carvings on buildings, sculptures and graffiti. Stop into retail art shops like Corazon Gallery to find locally made artworks across media. (I came home with a pottery sculpture that caught my eye.)
Make sure to stop by the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art to tour Arthur Roy Mitchell’s iconic Western paintings that were featured all over pulp magazine covers between the 1920’s and 1940’s. They’re legitimately cool, with almost a graphic novel quality to many of the scenes he created of gunslinging cowboy life. While there walk upstairs for rotating modern art shows, like Cowgirl Artists of America: Women's Work (up through Sept. 28). And on the main level attached to the museum, tour Kuehl Fine Art by artist Cody Kuehl (through Sept. 5). Kuehl’s impressive show that’s displaying now features Western works made with mounted layers of painted glass for a cool 3D effect. They take on somewhat of an animation/film/comic book feel with wild movement and blazing guns.
Also make time to check out the exhibits and tour the Trinidad History Museum with its Bloom Mansion and Baca House, overseen by History Colorado. Exhibits include information about the Ludlow Massacre and early settlements around the area and how different cultures, including Native Americans, interacted along the Santa Fe Trail. There’s also info on historic figures like the only known female Buffalo Soldier, Cathay Williams, and modern influential people such as Dr. Stanley Biber, renowned for his advancement of gender reassignment surgery.
You can also venture nearby to view (not tour) Temple Aaron, the oldest synagogue in Colorado, dating back to 1889 and in continual operation since.
For more on Trinidad:
Trinidad’s not without its share of struggles, which are more complex than past boom-and-bust cycles related to the cannabis industry, mining operations and historic ranching that was headquartered in the area in the late 1800’s, essentially building the town. I recall the City being somewhat of a perpetual underdog story, and the single best resource I found online that sums up current challenges is this excellent Colorado Sun article from earlier this year, which questions the efficacy of $150 million that’s been invested locally. Subhead: “Tension between the old guard and the new has stalled progress as the town looks for a cultural renaissance.” Read this if like me, you find economic development topics interesting or just want some deeper context for what you’ll observe around town. Or skip it if you just want to have blissfully ignorant fun — weekend getaways are often for that. No judgment.
Long(er) way home:
If you have time, instead of shooting I-25 directly north, consider the detour on the Highway of Legends between Trinidad and Walsenburg. You’ll drive past beautiful rock formations, and the abandoned coke ovens in Cokedale (that will make you think of Roman aqueducts visually). Stop in Cuchara Village for a meal or drink, or to shop. And do the same in La Veta, which is where we drop into Mountain Merman Brewing Co. for a tasting paddle.
Mountain Merman Brewing was started a couple years ago by brewer/owner JD Lind and his wife Jen. The tap list rotates and includes collaborations as far away as C. Springs and Denver. Lind only has a one-barrel system, so this is small batch brewing. We sample an easy pale ale made with spruce tips; a high-pucker-level sour made with passionfruit, rose and hibiscus, that’s reminiscent of Jolly Ranchers; a roasty-toasty dry stout brewed for and soon-to-be-served at Gub Gub’s Pizza and Ice Cream in Walsenburg; and finally a really interesting nitro white stout brewed in collaboration with Denver’s Platte Park Brewing, where we’re told Lind formerly brewed. It’s made with Hawaiian coffee, pineapple and coconut which results in a piña colada finish that makes us think of Death by Coconut with a pineapple spike. It’s great.
Well, shite - we drive right past Trinidad all the time on our way to Santa Fe, and now I totally regret that we have never stopped to explore! (Besides the Shell truck stop on the highway for a quick bathroom break). Next time we go to SF, we'll add in some extra time so we can check it out!
Having lived in Durango in the late 90s, I’d heard a lot of interesting things about Trinidad that didn’t draw me to it necessarily. Leave it to Scnhip to draw me in and consider a weekend getaway to this adorable town when the time allows. Thanks for this great article!