Victor Matthews couldn't cross his own dining room without getting stopped. Handshakes, hugs, a few minutes of catching up with someone he'd known for years. That's the scene Gazette restaurant critic Teresa Farney described on a visit to Tava House in late May, a little over a week after the Woodland Park restaurant officially opened. The general manager, Brad Beck, put it plainly: the place had been packed every single day since the soft opening. That same night, the River Room was hosting the outgoing mayor's retirement party while the Taphouse downstairs ran a wait list.
Three blocks away, on the same stretch of Midland Avenue, three restaurants that have fed this town for decades were sitting on the market with for-sale signs nobody expected to see.
That's the part of this story that doesn't show up in a single roundup of "what's new in Woodland Park." The arrival of the town's first real fine-dining destination and the quiet exit of some of its oldest institutions happened in the same six months. Understanding why tells you more about where Woodland Park is headed than either fact does on its own.
Six Acres, Two Years, and a Fight Over a Turn Lane
Tava House sits at 120 S. Center St., on land that was vacant until developers broke ground there in September 2024. What eventually opened this spring is not a small project. It's a six-acre campus with a pour-your-own taproom downstairs, an upscale 60-seat steakhouse called Firebrand upstairs, a cocktail bar, and an event space called the River Room built for weddings and banquets. Five investors put roughly $9 million behind it.
Getting there took longer than a restaurant opening usually does, because part of the build wasn't about the restaurant at all. The Colorado Department of Transportation required the developers to extend Saddle Club Drive and reconfigure the turn lanes coming off U.S. Highway 24, work that ran $550,000 on its own. The investor group spent much of the past year negotiating with Woodland Park's Downtown Development Authority over tax-increment financing to help cover that infrastructure cost, arguing that once the restaurant opened and the land's value jumped, the increased property taxes would justify the reimbursement. Investor Mary Sekowski confirmed the group finally received its temporary certificate of occupancy this spring, with Firebrand trailing the taproom's opening by a few weeks.
That detail matters because it tells you this wasn't a simple lease-and-build. It was a six-acre commercial bet large enough to require a public financing conversation and a highway department sign-off, on a corner that had sat empty long enough that most residents stopped expecting anything to go there.
At the helm is Master Chef Victor Matthews, whose name carries weight beyond Woodland Park. Two decades ago, a Denver Post critic called him "the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of Colorado dining" after visiting his old Black Bear Restaurant in Green Mountain Falls. Matthews later built the Paragon Culinary School in Manitou Springs, and Tava's kitchen is stocked with his former students, including chef de cuisine Justin Edgar and pastry chef Rhianna Matthews. The school's connection to the restaurant runs both directions. Matthews also advises the ProStart culinary program at Woodland Park High School, so the same kitchen turning out $75 tasting menus is also training the next round of teenagers who'll cook in this town.
What Actually Explains the Overlap
In April, three restaurants that have anchored downtown Woodland Park for years all went up for sale within weeks of each other. BierWerks Brewery, the German-style beer hall on Midland Avenue known for its rooftop patio, listed for $1.14 million, property and business together. It's been open since 2010. Peak View BBQ went up for sale in the same stretch. So did Hungry Bear, the breakfast spot that ranks as Woodland Park's top-rated restaurant on Tripadvisor with more than 500 reviews, famous locally for a pancake menu that runs from buckwheat to banana to blueberry to crepes. News of that listing surfaced through a simple social media post, and it set off a wave of community reaction that had nothing to do with real estate and everything to do with memory. For a lot of people, Hungry Bear is where the family went for weekend breakfast for twenty years running.
None of these are struggling businesses closing their doors. As of this summer, BierWerks is still pouring beer on its normal schedule and Hungry Bear is still serving pancakes six mornings a week. They're simply for sale, which in a town this size usually means an owner who built something in their thirties or forties is now ready to hand it off.
What's notable is the timing lining up with a much bigger transaction down the street. Eagle Fire Lodge, a 25-unit property mixing cabins, condo-style suites, and standard rooms, went to sale pending status this spring at an asking price of $3.92 million. That's not a restaurant, but it's the same category of long-held hospitality asset changing hands in the same window Tava House opened its doors. A single restaurant listing is an owner's personal decision. Three hospitality businesses and a lodge all hitting the market in the same season, right as a $9 million investment group finishes a project big enough to require CDOT sign-off, looks less like coincidence and more like a town where the value of an established commercial address just moved enough that longtime owners are deciding this is the moment to sell.
What's Actually New If You're Eating Out This Month
If you're trying to figure out where to grab dinner on Midland Avenue right now, here's what's changed on the ground.
- Tava House Taphouse, 120 S. Center St., open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The lower-level taproom is the casual entry point, self-serve beer wall, mountain views, no reservation needed.
- Firebrand Steakhouse, upstairs at the same address, serves dinner 5 to 9 p.m. The five-course "Exploring the World of Tava" tasting menu runs $75, with a $35 wine pairing add-on. Entry-level steak cuts start around $30 à la carte, with a $40 upgrade to Wagyu on the tasting menu.
- The Woodland Social, 110 W. Midland Ave., opened over Independence Day weekend in the space that used to be 110 Reserve. Owners Levi and Miranda Kleeb also run The Salty Cow food truck and Red Beard Coffee Company in Pueblo West, and they've brought Salty Cow staples like beer mac and cheese with pulled pork and birria nachos onto the new menu, alongside a pimento bacon cheeseburger and a four-layer chocolate cake. Miranda said the restaurant's outdoor patio and its view were what convinced them to take the space. Soft-opening hours are running 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. while they build up staff, something Miranda said has been harder in a mountain town than at their coffee shop, where a single job posting used to pull in hundreds of applicants overnight.
A few doors down, a new electronics repair shop opened at 109 W. Midland Ave. back in March, which by itself is a small thing, but it adds to a picture of a commercial strip that's turning over its tenants faster than usual this year.
The Corner Booth Hasn't Closed Yet
None of this means Hungry Bear is gone or that BierWerks is closing its taps. Both are open, serving the same menus they always have, at least for now. What's changed is that the people who built them are signaling they're ready for someone else to take the next chapter, right as a six-acre, five-investor restaurant complex proves there's enough demand in Woodland Park to justify a $9 million bet and a highway department negotiation.
If you've eaten breakfast at Hungry Bear more times than you can count, this is probably the year to go back and order the buckwheat pancakes while the ownership is still the ownership you know. If you haven't made it to Firebrand yet, the tasting menu and the view of the back side of Pikes Peak are worth the reservation.
Rocky Mountain RLA keeps a close eye on what's changing in Teller County, not just because it's good business, but because Danni Gunn has spent thirty years watching how these small shifts on a main street eventually show up in property values and buyer interest. If you're curious what a season like this one means for a specific piece of land or a home you're thinking about in Woodland Park, Divide, or Cripple Creek, Rocky Mountain RLA is a phone call away.
