Deno's Mountain Bistro

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Winter Park's Original Chophouse

The building on US Highway 40 in downtown Winter Park has been feeding people since the early 1900s, when it served as a stagecoach stop built of log, stone, and brick. It passed through a few incarnations — the Village Inn, then the Swiss House of Fondue — before a young kitchen manager named Deno Kutrumbos bought it in 1976 and gave it his name. What began as Deno's Swiss House and Coachman Tavern has, over nearly five decades, become the longest-running family restaurant in Winter Park and a genuine institution in the Colorado Rockies.

The Kutrumbos Family

Deno grew up above his mother's café in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and spent his early career learning the trade from the ground up before saving enough to buy the restaurant. In 2007 — the same year he was inducted into the Colorado Restaurant Hall of Fame — his son Nick joined the business, having studied at the Daniels College of Business and spent time in Florence focusing on international food and wine. Two years later, brother Teddy came aboard, bringing with him an engineering background, a stint at Cisco Systems, and firsthand experience with California's farm-to-table movement and wine country. Together, the three Kutrumboses have shaped Deno's into what it is today: a second-generation family business that takes equal pride in its food, its service, and its community.

Mediterranean Steakhouse, Mountain Setting

Deno's describes itself as a Mediterranean steakhouse — a chophouse that pairs serious cuts with a wine program serious enough to earn Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence in 2024. The list is curated with the same care the kitchen brings to the plate, and the recognition reflects a consistent commitment to quality that has made the restaurant a local benchmark. Sky High News readers have repeatedly voted it Best Restaurant in Winter Park, along with Best Steak, Best Wine List, and Best Happy Hour — the last of which runs daily from 3:00 to 6:00 PM.

More Than a Meal

The atmosphere inside the historic building is warm and unhurried — the kind of place where après-ski turns naturally into a long dinner. The American and Mediterranean menu is backed by a full bar, thoughtful wine pairings, and an approach to hospitality that the family describes simply as creating "long lasting memories." That philosophy extends to how the restaurant treats its own staff: Deno's adds a voluntary kitchen livable wage supplement to every check, distributed equally among kitchen employees, a practice the owners have advocated for publicly and transparently for years.

After a day in the mountains, this is where Winter Park sits down.