I assure you my musings began before my first sip of wine. The diners at the table next to mine, on the other hand, ordered shots of tequila along with their salad course, and I felt sure that, by the end of the meal, they would have come up with some pretty interesting theories about Basil the Buffalo. It was a chilly Saturday evening and we were all happily ensconced at the Stagecoach Inn in Manitou Springs. The restaurant has a lovely ambiance, with the fireplace and warm wood tones throughout, although I fear some people may be put off by the various animal heads mounted on the walls. Keep your eyes at table-level, though, and you are bound to enjoy most of your meal.
Most dinners begin with soup or salad.
The salads are nice, but nothing extraordinary. The vegetable beef soup, however, was particularly scrumptious with its rich, hearty broth, meltingly tender chunks of flavorful beef and slow-cooked vegetables. The flavor is full without being gamey, and slow roasting keeps the meat juicy and tender. It was served perfectly rare, as we had ordered it. The Sizzling Sirloin, made of regular beef instead of buffalo, lives up to its name.