"Paul Ferzacca's modern French on Meadow Drive — duck confit cassoulet since 2000, Romanée-Conti by the glass. Book apres-ski."
Twenty-six years. One chef. One address. Paul Ferzacca opened La Tour at 122 East Meadow Drive in Vail Village in 2000, and the Vail Daily Readers Poll has voted it the best restaurant in town every year since 2006 — a streak no other restaurant in the valley has matched. Ferzacca trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and at the Restaurant Daniel Boulud in New York before moving to Colorado with his wife Lourdes (who runs the floor) and putting the family name above the door. The room sits a hundred metres from the Vail Village ski-out lift, beside the Sebastian hotel.
The Kitchen
The cooking is modern French with a Colorado larder: rocky-mountain elk for the venison course, Hayden Flour Mills grains, Colorado bass from the western slope. The signature dish — and the dish locals send first-timers towards — is the duck-confit cassoulet, on the menu since opening day in 2000: Toulouse sausage, slow-cooked white beans, confit duck leg, a Périgord black-truffle slick, finished under a crisped breadcrumb crust. The seared elk tenderloin with cherry-and-bone-marrow demi-glace and the escargots with persillade-Pernod butter are the secondary signatures. Ferzacca's grandmother's apple tart closes most meals. Entrees run $44 to $72; the cassoulet sits at $54 and is two-person generous.
The wine list is the room's quiet flex. 500 selections, the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence held since 2008, and the most-deep Domaine de la Romanée-Conti collection of any restaurant in Colorado — including a near-complete vertical of La Tâche and a 2002 to 2018 Échezeaux library. Pours from the DRC reserve list start at $700 a glass; the standard Chablis pour is $26 and the by-the-glass Volnay is $42. The sommelier is happy to talk you down from a Romanée-Conti to a Domaine Marquis d'Angerville at a tenth the price, and the recommendation will be the right one.
The Room
Two distinct rooms: the main dining room (60 seats), warm-lit with cherrywood floors, paintings by local artists on every wall, a fireplace at the back; and the Lounge at La Tour, the smaller front room beside the bar (28 seats), which takes a shorter bistro menu and the casual ski-day crowd. Sound is conversation-level in the main room; the lounge runs louder. Table spacing in the main room is generous on the perimeter and tighter on the centre eight-tops. Lighting is candle-and-pendant warm. Dress is mountain-smart: ski sweaters and jeans welcomed, no ski boots inside (there is a coat check at the door). The kitchen runs seven nights from 17:00 to 21:30.
Best for Apres-Ski in Vail
Three reasons it lands. First, the Lounge at La Tour was built specifically for the 16:00–18:00 drift down from the slopes; the bistro menu — French onion soup, escargots, steak frites, charcuterie — lands inside fifteen minutes, and a ski-day Burgundy by the glass is ready before you've sat down. Second, the main dining room opens at 17:00 and you can roll a lounge drink straight into a 19:30 dinner without moving venues — the only Vail Village address that does this well. Third, Ferzacca himself is on the floor most ski-season nights, and a brief conversation with the chef tends to bookend the evening. Book a lounge two-top at 16:30 and a dining-room four-top at 19:30 in the same name.
Not for
Skip La Tour if you came to Vail for a chef-driven tasting menu in the modern American sense — Ferzacca cooks French, classical and confident, with no interest in pretending otherwise. Skip too if your dining partner finds wine ordering performative; the cellar is the room's centre of gravity and a sommelier conversation is part of the meal.
Frequently Asked
Is La Tour worth it?
Yes — La Tour is the most consistent fine-dining room in Vail Village, voted best restaurant in Vail by the Vail Daily Readers Poll every year since 2006, and the only one in town with a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence and a serious DRC list. Paul Ferzacca has cooked here since 2000; the kitchen has never changed hands and the consistency shows. See also the Vail dining guide.
How hard is it to book La Tour?
In ski season (mid-December to early April) reservations for 19:00–20:00 dinner book three to four weeks out via OpenTable. The earliest 17:00 slot and the late 21:00 are easier. Off-season weeknights are walk-in friendly. The Lounge at La Tour, the front room beside the bar, takes a smaller menu and walks-in at the same hours.
What is the dress code at La Tour?
Mountain-smart. Ferzacca runs the room with the expectation that diners are coming straight from the slopes, and ski sweaters and jeans are welcomed; cashmere and a collared shirt is the upper bound. The lounge is more relaxed than the dining room. No ski boots — there is a coat check at the door for them.
What is the average meal price at La Tour?
Entrees run $44–$72. The duck confit cassoulet and the seared Colorado bass sit mid-range; the elk tenderloin and the Wagyu rib-eye sit at the top. Budget $220–$320 per couple for three courses with a bottle of mid-list Burgundy. The wine list is the differentiator — pours from the Romanée-Conti library start at $700 a glass and the standard Chablis pour is $26.
Is La Tour good for closing a deal?
Yes — particularly on a weeknight in the off-season. The main dining room's perimeter banquettes give the only genuine privacy in Vail Village, the wine list is the most credible business-dinner currency in town, and the service runs at a pace that respects the conversation. Request a banquette at booking and order the cassoulet for the table.
What is the signature dish at La Tour?
The duck confit cassoulet has been on the menu since opening in 2000 — Toulouse sausage, white beans, confit duck leg, breadcrumb crust — and is the dish locals point first-timers towards. The seared elk tenderloin with cherry demi-glace and the escargots with persillade and Pernod butter are the secondary signatures. Ferzacca's grandmother's apple tart closes most meals.