More than 20 years before opening Greenwood’s in Ridgway, childhood friends Bill Greenwood and Marty Frank dreamed of owning a restaurant together.
Their paths separated after high school, with Greenwood working in high-end restaurants and steakhouses around the country — most recently in Telluride as the Madeline Hotel’s executive chef — and Frank in real estate, banking and the food industry.
Yet the opportunity presented itself in March after siblings Merlyn Ellis and Zack Young bought the series of commercial buildings previously known as Trail Town and offered them the restaurant space, where Panny’s Pizza used to operate. Their desire to offer Colorado mountain cuisine influenced by their Southern roots was still too strong to resist.
“It was just, ‘Let’s do something cool and fun,’ basically, and grow from there and keep expanding. And this is just a unique and eclectic spot,” Greenwood said. “Customers will dictate what this place needs to be, and we’ll cook and cater to that, but with the Southern and Colorado cuisine kind of vibe.”
Greenwood began his culinary career as a young boy in his father’s restaurant, Greenwood’s on Green Street, in his hometown of Roswell, Georgia.
It was there where he cut his teeth peeling and pureeing untold pounds of pumpkins and shucking bushels of corn all while going to school and spending his afternoons in the kitchen.
“It was rough and heavy, man, it was a small kitchen,” Greenwood said. “I’d wake up at 4 a.m. and go to Harry’s Farmers Market and get all the (ingredients). Then the night before, I’d be doing homework and shucking collard greens, putting them in trash bags and stuff.”
Chef Bill Greenwood places steak on a plate at Greenwood’s in Ridgway on Dec. 19.
Daniel Schmidt – Ouray County Plaindealer
He and Frank later met in high school and later bonded over a snowboarding trip to Boone, North Carolina, causing both to eventually move West to live near the mountains. Despite living in different parts of the country at times, they maintained their friendship and decided to pursue the joint venture after Young told Frank about the opportunity.
The restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, with items rotating throughout the year based on seasonal tastes and available ingredients.
Breakfast will initially feature buttermilk biscuit sandwiches, braised short rib breakfast tacos, pastries, donuts, breakfast Brunswick stew and three different smoothies.
Lunch and dinner will include fried chicken, crispy smashburgers, salad, meatloaf, steak, pulled pork and Colorado trout, among other items. Between 5 and 9 p.m., customers can order large format, family-style meals featuring 32-ounce tomahawk or 16-ounce New York strip steaks complete with multiple sides.
Greenwoods features large entrees served family style.
Daniel Schmidt – Ouray County Plaindealer
The restaurant will also serve a range of house-made desserts such as seasonal pies, cookies, ice cream and pudding.
Greenwood and Frank said they plan to source produce and other foodstuffs from farms in Southwest Colorado, while also growing products including lettuce and potatoes in the restaurant’s next-door garden.
The drink menu will feature a variety of wines from Sauvage Spectrum winery in Palisade as well as California, Oregon and Washington state. Customers can also order a wide range of cocktails, including Manhattans, Old Fashioneds and martinis.
Greenwood’s will include breakfast drinks, including Bloody Mary’s, Irish coffee and Flatliners, which are espresso martinis made with vodka, Kahlúa and Baileys Irish Cream.
This winter, happy hour will be from 4 to 6 p.m. seven days a week.
While Greenwood and Frank have yet to finalize prices for their food and drink menus, they said both menus will include “low, medium and high” price points for locals and tourists alike.
Greenwood’s is located at 160 Palomino Trail in Ridgway and plans to open on Jan. 1. Hours of operation will be from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. seven days a week. Customers can call 970-316-0594 or visit greenwoodsridgway.com for more information.
