Explore Booksellers and Coffeehouse. - Aspen, Colorado - restaurant reviews

Vegetarian Times, April, 1996

SEVERAL READERS complained when Vegetarian Times neglected to mention Explore Booksellers and Coffeehouse--the only true vegetarian restaurant in Aspen, Colo.--in our January 1995 article on ski resort dining. To those readers, and to the owners of Explore, we say mea culpa--but there's still time to visit this spot before the ski season ends!

What keeps Explore hopping year-round, while other area restaurants watch their business melt away with the snow? Maybe it's the extensive 10-page menu filled with meat-free breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and dessert items. Or the restaurant's use of unrefined, organic ingredients, and its commitment to purity (even the ice cubes are made with filtered water). Or it may be the way the bistro seems to please everyone, from locals to foreign tourists. Popular items include vegetarian fajitas with seitan, a tempeh reuben sandwich, a famous black bean soup served with whole grain bread, and focaccia pizza. Diners will also be impressed with the vast beverage list, which ranges from local microbrewed beer to 20 varieties of organic teas, served loose in an infuser.

"I've had people come in three nights in a row, and it doesn't dawn on them until the third night that we're completely vegetarian," says manager Ashley Anderson, daughter of owner Catherine Tolberg.

Explore, on the second floor of an old Victorian mansion, has been around for 10 years (the bookstore downstairs has been a haunt for Aspen's literati for 20 years). The dining area has three rooms, a fireplace and one secluded section with a single table. All lamps, furniture and artwork are distinct, and many are antiques; the effect is romantic and inviting. In good weather, the patio is open, and diners are treated to a view of the majestic Aspen mountains.