"A ski-in French bistro at 10,000 feet with boeuf bourguignon and Champagne. Book it for a birthday on the mountain."
You can only reach Bon Vivant on skis. The restaurant sits at the top of the Polar Queen Express, Lift 5, on Telluride's mountain, and the menu is rustic French country cooking served at 10,000 feet under a heated umbrella with the Wilson Range in view. Chef de cuisine Luke Bippus runs a kitchen that does boeuf bourguignon, cassoulet and a famous run of crepes. Mains land between $35 and $41. Champagne, naturally, is the house drink.
Bon Vivant is Telluride Ski & Golf's on-mountain bistro, opened around 2012 and built to feel like a mountainside dining room in the French Alps, with an all-French wine list and a kitchen run by chef de cuisine Luke Bippus. The cooking is rustic country French: cassoulet de sanglier et de canard with wild boar sausage and duck confit at $35, boeuf bourguignon with braised tenderloin tips at $41, a croque monsieur and a Bonaparte of braised lamb shoulder. Dessert is the run of crepes, cinnamon-sugar to espresso-cream, $20 to $24. The wine list runs deep into Champagne and Burgundy by the glass. There is no driving here; you ski in and ski out. For the wider area, see the Top 10 Restaurants in Telluride and the Telluride dining guide, or browse best French restaurants worldwide.
The room is a true ski-in venue: a warm mountainside dining room and a heated deck under a 39-foot umbrella at the top of Lift 5, with Palmyra Peak and the Wilson Range filling the windows. Sound runs cheerful, ski boots clomping over the warm hum of lunch. Lighting is mountain daylight, tables are generously spaced, and the dress code is whatever you skied in wearing. Seating splits between the indoor room and the deck, and the altitude, just over 10,000 feet, is part of the experience.
Book Bon Vivant for a birthday because nothing else on the mountain matches the theatre: you ski to lunch, sit under a heated umbrella at 10,000 feet, and toast with Champagne over boeuf bourguignon and a tableside run of crepes. The all-French wine list and the Wilson Range view turn an ordinary ski day into an occasion, and the only way in or out is on skis, which makes the arrival itself the gift. Reserve a deck table on a bluebird day and let the kitchen send the crepes.
Not for non-skiers or summer visitors. Bon Vivant is open ski season only and can be reached solely by skiing an intermediate run to the top of Lift 5.
Is Bon Vivant in Telluride worth it?
Yes, if you ski and want a lunch you cannot get anywhere else. Bon Vivant sits ski-in at the top of Lift 5, serving rustic French country cooking, an all-French wine list and a heated deck with Wilson Range views. Mains run $35 to $41, fair for an on-mountain restaurant of this ambition. Go for the boeuf bourguignon, the Champagne and the setting.
How do I get to Bon Vivant and book a table?
You ski to it. The restaurant is reachable only by skiing an intermediate run to the top of the Polar Queen Express, Lift 5, with no road or lift-served walk-up access. Book online through Telluride Ski & Golf or call (970) 728-7474. It is open winter season only, so reserve ahead during peak holiday weeks when deck tables go fast.
What is the dress code at Bon Vivant?
Whatever you ski in. This is an on-mountain restaurant, so guests arrive in ski gear and boots; there is no dress code beyond that. The room is warm and the deck is heated under a large umbrella, so you can shed a layer for lunch. Think mountain bistro, not formal dining room.
What should I order at Bon Vivant?
Start with the French onion soup or the Howitzer poutine, then go to the boeuf bourguignon or the wild-boar-and-duck cassoulet for the main. Finish with the crepes, from cinnamon-sugar to the espresso pastry-cream version. Order Champagne or a glass from the all-French list; the general manager calls it the best place on the mountain to drink it.
Skied to my own birthday lunch. Champagne under the heated umbrella, boeuf bourguignon, and the Wilson Range right there. There is nothing else like it on the mountain.
The crepes alone are worth the ski over. French onion soup at 10,000 feet, an all-French wine list, and a deck table on a bluebird day.
Book online or call (970) 728-7474. Winter season only; you can reach the table only by skiing in.
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