At 6 a.m. on a weekday, the lights are on at 1701 N. Lake Ave. Across town on High Drive, the second-floor dining room at 1221 sits empty until Friday. Both rooms opened this fall and both face the mountains. Each grew out of a kitchen Estes Park already knew. Their hours make one a regular weekday breakfast and the other a weekend brunch outing.
| Kissing Moose Café & Saloon | Brunch Above | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | Expedition Lodge, 1701 N. Lake Ave. | Loft above Bird's Nest, 1221 High Drive |
| Opened | Late August 2026 | Sept. 3, 2026 |
| Days | Seven days a week | Friday through Sunday |
| Hours | Café 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., saloon 4 to 9 p.m. | 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| Seating | Café, saloon, covered deck and patio | No reservations, limited seating |
| Entrée range | $13.50 to $18.50 at breakfast | $12 to $39 |
A Food Truck Following Gets a Dining Room on North Lake Avenue
If you've eaten Vicki Haan's cooking before, it probably came from a truck window or a catering tray. She moved to Estes Park in 2018 and built her following through the Kissing Moose food truck, Mountain Berry Bakery and the Mountain Berry Event Center catering business. In late August she opened Kissing Moose Café and Kissing Moose Saloon inside Expedition Lodge. Estes Valley Voice described it as the restaurant she came to town hoping to open.
Expedition Lodge is a lodge-style hotel near Lake Estes, close to downtown and Rocky Mountain National Park. That puts the café on the side of town many of us already pass on the way to errands, the lake path or a park entrance.
Haan told the Voice she wanted "a restaurant that is peaceful and beautiful," a place where "you can have good food and relax or gear up for the day." Diners the Voice spoke with mentioned the same thing. They liked having a quiet room where they could linger over a meal and hear their tablemates talk.
What a 6 A.M. Menu Looks Like Here
The café opens at 6 a.m. seven days a week, and the menu brings together dishes that started on the truck and in the bakery. According to the Voice's October review, it includes:
- Breakfast: biscuits and gravy for $17.50, avocado toast with bacon, sweet peppers, feta and eggs for $15.50, and omelets from $13.50 to $18.50
- Haan-tons: her wonton creations, $15.50, filled Mexican-style with spicy chicken and Hatch chiles, or in BBQ, Italian and Reuben versions with Thousand Island aioli
- Lunch: a traditional Reuben, stromboli, French dip, a BLTA on a croissant, and mac and cheese, priced $14.50 to $17.50, plus soups and salads
- Sweets: cinnamon rolls at $5 and a New York-style cheesecake at $10 a slice
The cheesecake already had a following in town before the café opened. The Voice reports it's served at two high-end Estes Park restaurants, and one café customer called the cinnamon roll "a hug in your mouth."
The prices matter here. A full breakfast tops out around $18.50, and the counter opens before most of downtown is awake. That makes it an easy weekday stop before work, a trailhead or a school drop-off.
The Same Building After 4 P.M.
When the café closes at 2, Kissing Moose Saloon takes over from 4 to 9 p.m., also seven days a week. The bar menu sticks to hearty basics. Brats, chili, burritos and nachos are $15.50 each, and beer and wine run $5 to $13, along with spirits and liqueurs.
There's a large covered upper deck with mountain views and a covered patio outside. The Voice reports that local musicians play there, and on one recent Saturday night a group of area musicians got together for a bluegrass pick. One address now covers breakfast, lunch and an early evening out, which is useful in the shorter days of November.
Up the Stairs at 1221 High Drive
Brunch Above was also built on a kitchen people already knew. It opened Sept. 3 in the loft above Bird's Nest, a second-floor room that used to be The Nest Above event venue. You get in through the Bird's Nest entrance.
John Witmer helped conceive Bird & Jim in 2016 and opened it as co-owner with Melissa Strong in 2017. This summer he bought out Strong's interest and became sole owner of Bird & Jim, Bird's Nest and The Nest Above. Brunch Above is the first new concept since then. Estes Valley Voice reported that Wine Spectator has recognized Bird & Jim's wine program every year from 2020 through 2026, so the new room has a strong track record behind it.
Witmer built the menu with Executive Chef Mike Mieczkowski of Bird & Jim and Chef Rob Corey, formerly of Seasoned Bistro, who is also Witmer's business partner and consultant. The room itself has windows running floor to ceiling that frame the Continental Divide. Inside, there's a wood ceiling, blue upholstery and transferware dishes made to look antique.
Eleven Dishes and a Short Weekend Window
Witmer calls it a "heroes menu," with 11 entrées that the Voice describes as a short list of standout dishes instead of pages of options. Entrées run from $12 to $39.
The sweet side includes lemon ricotta pancakes with lemon curd, huckleberries, whipped mascarpone and pistachio crumble, plus Bourbon & Banana French Toast on brioche. Both are $12 to $22 depending on whether you order one, two or three pieces. The Country Brunch is the most familiar plate at $17: eggs, bacon, potato, roasted tomatoes and a biscuit option. Shrimp and grits are $34, braised short rib hash with smoked paprika potatoes is $38, and beef Wellington is $39.
Every benedict on the menu, $25 to $34, comes on a potato rösti instead of an English muffin, so they're all gluten-free. Witmer told the Voice his staff know gluten-free protocol and take care to keep food safe for guests with celiac disease. Starters such as biscuits, scones, cinnamon rolls and croissants are $5 to $9. Drinks are $4 to $12, including lattes, matcha, chai, prosecco and the $10 "Manmosa," which adds Lumpy Ridge draft beer to orange juice and vodka.
The Brunch Above page lists hours of Friday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It doesn't take reservations, and seating is limited. That's 15 hours a week, all on weekend mornings, and the tables go to whoever arrives first. Kissing Moose Café is open 56 hours a week before its saloon shift even starts.
If Brunch Above is full, the Bird's Nest café downstairs is the same company's casual spot, with outdoor seating, at the same address.
Fitting Both Into a Holiday Weekend
The Town and Visit Estes Park's Lighting of the Trees is set for Saturday, Nov. 21, in Bond Park at 170 MacGregor Ave. Free activities start at 3:30 p.m., including pictures with Santa, holiday craft kits and horse-drawn carriage rides, and the tree lights at 5:30. The event also collects donations for Blue Santa, the Estes Park Police Auxiliary program that delivers food and hygiene items each December.
With out-of-town guests, the posted hours make that Saturday easy to plan:
- Brunch on High Drive. Brunch Above opens at 8 a.m. on Saturdays. With no reservations, earlier is safer for a bigger group.
- Breakfast on North Lake. If a guest wants coffee before 8, Kissing Moose Café opens at 6 every day of the week.
- Downtown by 3:30. Bond Park's activities run until the 5:30 lighting.
- Dinner on the deck. Kissing Moose Saloon is open from 4 to 9 p.m., so you can head over after the lights come on.
Thanksgiving week and the Catch the Glow weekend can bring changes to restaurant schedules, so call ahead before you take a group of six up the stairs at 1221 High Drive. On an ordinary Tuesday this month, the 6 a.m. café on North Lake Avenue is the one of the two that's open.
If you're hosting family in Estes Park this season and want more local spots like these for their visit, I'm always glad to share what I'm hearing around town. When the conversation turns to your next move here, New Roots Real Estate is ready when you are. Schedule a Consultation, and let's talk over breakfast.
