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Vista Hermosa to bring authentic Mexican flavors to downtown Steamboat dining scene

Angel Almaraz opened Vista Hermosa in the kiosk at Fifth Street and Lincoln Avenue. The restaurant opened April 6 and will offer authentic Mexican food.
John F. Russell

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Steamboat Springs’ newest Mexican restaurant, Vista Hermosa, will bring plenty of authentic offerings to downtown with a menu inspired by the street vendors found in traditional markets in Mexico.

“We wanted to stick to an authentic Mexican restaurant,” said Diana Hernandez, the niece of owner Angel Almaraz. “We are aiming to bring back a taste of Mexico at a good price.”

The menu is filled with items most customers would expect to find in a Mexican restaurant, including tacos, smothered burritos, gorditas, enchiladas and quesadillas. There also are tortes, huaraches and flautas.



“This menu that we have right now is a mud-season menu, but we are planning on getting stocked up for the summer,” Hernandez said. “We will have a lot of treats that you would want to see in the summer, like fresh fruit and veggie items, which are served in cups. The veggie ones will have cucumber topped with chamoy.”

Hernandez said her family hopes the new restaurant reflects many of the flavors of Mexico as well as the food she has grown up with.



“We are also going to have mangonadas, which are a mango puree, and then they put chamoy on there, and it’s like a Popsicle,” Hernandez said. “It’s like a childhood memory for a lot of people. The menu will be expanding, and we are going to bring back more summer fruit and stuff that you can find that time of year.”

Vista Hermosa, which means beautiful view in Spanish, is at Fifth Street and Lincoln Avenue in a brick kiosk in front of Mahogany Ridge Brewery & Grill. The kiosk most recently has been home to Fro-yo, and before that, it was Steamboat Coffee Roasters.

The space has been reworked to include a kitchen and a small seating area, but Hernandez said it is better suited for takeout.

The restaurant will start each day at 8 a.m. with a $6 breakfast burrito filled with eggs, cheese and potatoes wrapped in a flour tortilla. That item is available until noon, and customers can chose from ground beef, bacon, steak, barbacoa, ham, chicken and chorizo.

The menu includes tacos starting at $3.50, quesadillas starting at $8.99 and a smothered burrito for $9.50. There also will be Dorilocos, or crazy Doritos, which is a popular snack commonly sold by street vendors in Mexico.

“We wanted to make it affordable,” Hernandez said.

Among the items Hernandez recommends is the bionico, a popular Mexican dessert that is created with mixed fruits, like papayas, strawberries, bananas and melon. It’s topped with granola, cereal and sprinkles, and it is mixed with sweet condensed milk.

Hernandez said it’s the type of treat you would expect to find in a traditional market on the streets of Mexico.

Vista Hermosa is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days per week. It will be closed Sunday, April 14.

To reach John F. Russell, call 970-871-4209, email jrussell@SteamboatPilot.com or follow him on Twitter @Framp1966.


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