Since opening in July 2020, the Yampa Valley Kitchen has welcomed locals and visitors to stop by for an amazing breakfast or lunch experience. Starting July 26, the popular downtown restaurant will also offer an invitation to come in for dinner.

“It is long-term being open for dinner,” said Hannah Hopkins, who is a partner in the restaurant with Jeremy MacGray. “We really see this place being part of the community for a very long time.”

Hopkins said she has been working alongside her staff to ensure the popular daytime restaurant is in a good place to add dinner service to the menu.

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Executive Chef Joe Campbell said flipping from lunch service to providing a quality dinner experience comes with more than a few challenges, but he added the team at Yampa Valley Kitchen has been preparing for this day and the opportunity to expand with a great dining experience.

“We love a good challenge around here,” Campbell said. “We’ve always known that we were going to open this place for dinner. It’s always been a part of the plan from the beginning and is now coming to fruition.”

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Yampa Valley Kitchen will continue to serve breakfast from 7:30-11 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Starting next Wednesday, the restaurant will also offer dinner service beginning at 4:30 p.m. and continuing until 9:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

Reservations can be made at https://www.opentable.com/r/yampa-valley-kitchen-steamboat-springs or by calling 970-875-3989.

The idea is to carry the quality food and service that has made Yampa Valley Kitchen one of Steamboat Springs’ most popular places for breakfast and lunch into the evening hours.

“Basically, what we’re doing is taking some classic dishes and reimagining them,” Campbell said. “For example, there’s a duck à l’orange on the menu, which is a classic French dish that we put a whole new spin on.”

Yampa Valley Kitchen uses carefully sourced ingredients from places like Bee Grateful Farm for greens, the 7x Ranch for Wagyu beef, Davis Family Farms for produce and the Heart Diamond Ranch for ground beef, as well as the Community Agriculture Alliance. The duck à l’orange starts with a nice piece of Hayden Farm Fresh duck breast prepared to perfection.

“It’s got tarragon lentils, duck jus and bitter orange puree,” Campbell said. “So just a little outside of the box on a lot of these old kind of classic dishes.”

He said the dinner menu will also feature an amazing fried chicken.

“There is a nice dill pickled brine, and the breading is just so light, airy and crispy,” Campbell said. “The chicken is super juicy with a nice, light dill flavor to it. That’s something I’m thinking that people are really going to like.”

At Yampa Valley Kitchen, that creative spirit can also be found at the bar where cocktail curator Rena Day will be focused on perfecting classic cocktails.

“We want to make them over-the-top amazing with all these interesting spirits, a lot of local spirits, sustainably made spirits, organic juices and things of that nature,” Day said. “Our dinner cocktails are going to be very spirit-forward. There will be less juices, less syrups and less sweeteners — and lots of spirits.”

Yampa Valley Kitchen has always taken pride in providing great service, and General Manager Kelsey Horras said those expectations will carry over when they start serving dinner.

“It’s going be a little bit more elevated, but we really want to keep that neighborhood feel,” Horras said.

She said guests can elect to be seated inside the 100-year-old farmhouse at 207 Ninth St. or find a spot outside in the gardens, which make it the perfect place for a first date. The staff will be there to fill up patrons’ water glasses, provide great service and recommend the perfect wine from an extensive list — and do it with a smile. 

“We’ve gotten the breakfast and lunch part of it dialed in, and even though we’re in the same physical location for dinner, it is like opening a brand-new restaurant,” said Matt Burdette, executive sous chef. “It’s a whole new team, it’s a whole new menu and all the fun but challenging times that come along with all of that. I think that we have come a very long way and we are ready to move forward.”