Classic Menu, Fresh Twist

Restaurant takes pleasure in historic roots, but also embraces change

By Geof Wollerman
Photos by Phil Mumford

The 6,000-square-foot herb and vegetable garden at the Greenbriar Inn uses natural soil augmentation, which means all the kitchen’s waste is composted with the assistance of a massive pile of local manure—a practice that has cut the restaurant’s trash output in half and is great for the garden.

“I don’t buy herbs from May on,” says owner Phil Goddard, a former Greenbriar chef who purchased the restaurant in 1996.

Appetizer, Greenbriar-style: pan-roasted diver scallop with
candied prosciutto and sweet corn sauce, served with succotash.

Carrots, peppers and squash were summer staples, along with 57 tomato plants that struggled during the cold spells. There are scallions and sweet onions, enough greens to supply the restaurant during some months, and close to a thousand pounds of ripening pumpkins and squashes that will be used well into January.

“My passion is food and wine and growing things,” Goddard says. His passion is well-displayed at the Greenbriar, from its award-winning wine list and throwback ambience to its menu—presented by executive chef Sean Lowenthal—which Goddard describes as paying homage to the classics, but with a new twist.

“If you start with good basics and wonderful sauces and fresh ingredients and take good care to bring out those flavors, you don’t have to go over the top with it,” he says.

The Greenbriar’s menu-with-a-twist includes ahi tuna tartare with sweet soy and orange segments (an appetizer, $14); buffalo sirloin dusted with ancho chile and coffee ($36); and pan-roasted halibut with a truffle and wild mushroom orzo ($26). The front-of-the-house staff prepares Caesar salads, steak tartare and bananas Foster at tableside, a practice manager Kevin Lane calls “a lost art.”

Inside-out red-velvet/cream-cheese frosting truffles, covered with
white chocolate, with tangerine-Grand Marnier sauce.

Aside from the tableside items, the Greenbriar’s signature dish is beef Wellington ($35), a rich combination of steak and foie gras baked in pastry that hasn’t left the menu in 41 years. There’s also Sunday brunch, a surreal smorgasbord of roast lamb and prime rib, raw oysters, personalized omelets, dozens of other dishes and a decadent dessert bar—all for $26 (an additional $6 gets you unlimited Champagne).

A Serious Cellar

Other than brunch and nightly dinner, the Greenbriar hosts wine dinners and cellar tastings, which offer a chance to try vintage wines that are otherwise hard to come by. Tastings are hosted by a professional sommelier and are for connoisseurs as well as those looking for a little education.

Goddard has built up the wine cellar’s stock over the years from 80 to around 1,300 different labels. The wine list is one of only a dozen in Colorado that can claim a “Best of Award of Excellence” from Wine Spectator, and Wine Advocate gives it second-tier status, a level reserved for what Goddard calls the “serious cellar.”

The Old Gas Station bar

But wine freshmen and modest diners shouldn’t be deterred. Wines by the glass range from $4.50 to $12. First Bite Boulder, a weeklong event in November that encourages foodies to explore new menus by giving discounts at local restaurants, is a great way to get introduced to the Greenbriar, Goddard says.

Located six miles north of Boulder at the entrance to Left Hand Canyon, the Greenbriar Inn was a post office and general store in the 1870s, and served a stint as a gas station before a man named Rudy turned it into a restaurant in 1967. Rudy was still the owner when, in 1981, Goddard came to work as a chef.

“There’s a lot of great energy in this part of the county,” says Goddard. “It got me; I’m here and I love it.” Since buying the restaurant, he has added an atrium, pushed back the parking lot and remodeled the building’s interior—all changes designed to give the space a “a more country feel.” The downstairs dining room is open, well-lit and intimate, and the bar is paneled in wood, with a brass rail and an abundance of candlelight. With the staff dressed in white shirts, black vests and bow ties, a well-muddled Old Fashioned seems to fit the mood. A dining room upstairs is used for parties and additional seating, and patio dining is available at a dozen flagstone tables near the restaurant’s front entrance.

Calm in the Country

Because the Greenbriar is out of town, it provides a “calmer, more relaxed atmosphere,” Goddard says, adding that the restaurant is not interested in turning the tables as many times as it can. “If you’ve got a reservation here, you’ve got it for the night.”

Despite the restaurant’s history and classic charm, Goddard is hesitant to describe the entirety of what the Greenbriar does as classic. “I like doing fresh and bright, and I like change,” Goddard says. “But I think that having some roots is important.”

Goddard is from the East Coast. But once he settled down in Colorado he never looked back, and he still has customers who have been coming in since he was a chef in the early 1980s.

“A lot of Boulder County has celebrated here and created memories in this restaurant that are lifelong memories for them,” he says. “I want people to come here and have an absolutely wonderful party – the kind of party they want to have. I don’t have any pretense for what that is. I just want them to have a good time.”

Go to top