APRIL 3, 2025 | FEATURES | By Anya Potsiadlo and Olivia Harris (Staff and Guest Writer)
On Third Friday, Block 6, after a day of powder skiing at Winter Park, we found ourselves looking for a new place to eat. Maybe we wouldn’t be if Village Run hadn’t taken 45 minutes to get down. Or, if the man in the purple school bus had successfully saved our spot in the main lot. Or if our friend Nolan Diffley ‘27 and his brother hadn’t gotten lost. But with the day we’d had, we couldn’t bring ourselves to press the “add stop” button on Apple Maps that would subject us to one more hour of driving for Otto’s sandwich truck.
Famished, we found ourselves looking for the best pit stop on the way back from Winter Park. After many Google searches, we landed on Empire’s Edge Grill and Coffee Bar. From the looks of the outside, we weren’t convinced we had found a new classic, and this was further confirmed when we went inside. The barista told us the kitchen was closed for a baby shower later that afternoon.
Thankfully, the downtown of Empire, Colo., isn’t large, populated with only 327 residents, so what was possibly the only other place to purchase food was just a block up – we drove anyway.
We ended up at Empire Dairy King. We were intrigued by the name and the ice cream cone-shaped sign out front, and later learned that this is the last standing post of what used to be a beloved Colorado chain – one of the other locations has since been turned into an Airbnb.
The small burger joint had a line out the door, with a few notably attractive Colorado University Boulder guys. Also notably attractive was the whiteboard menu that boasted many options, including a regular burger for just $6.75, a diverse array of milkshake flavors and an entire section for fried foods. And since we had initially set out on this mission to satisfy our craving for Otto’s, we breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of many chicken sandwich options. Anya ordered a Cajun chicken sandwich, a thin mint shake and fries for the table, while Olivia ordered a burger and a blackberry milkshake.
Colorado College students are probably familiar with the ongoing struggle of having to respond “No, not Boulder” every time you tell a person you go to Colorado College. What only strengthened our resolve to distinguish ourselves as hyper-intellectuals compared to Boulder students was the fact that even their own students were unable to comprehend that CC was a different school. We learned this while waiting for our food, when we decided to pass the time by striking up a conversation with a kid in a Tahoe Dave’s hoodie whom we figured was also a NorCal native.
Finally, an employee loudly called us up to the counter, alerting us that our meal was ready. We first tried our milkshakes. Olivia was slightly disappointed by hers, expecting it to be just like her tried and true blackberry shake from any NorCal skier’s favorite stop in Auburn, Calif., Ikeda’s. She rated the shake a 4.5/10. Anya also wished her shake had packed more of a punch in terms of flavor and gave her milkshake a 5/10. The food came out nice and hot, serving up classic American diner vibes; however, the initial wow-factor was lacking, especially compared to Otto’s.
The burger was tasty and the ingredients were very fresh, but it lacked special sauce (a key ingredient in Olivia’s mind when it comes to burgers). The bun also should’ve been toasted. The grilled chicken sandwich was nice and hearty, with a chicken patty that was undeniably a nice slab of perfectly cooked white meat. Though the Cajun flavor wasn’t super strong, it allowed for the fresh tomato and lettuce to shine through, and the flavors combined nicely to create the kind of sandwich that you don’t put back down before finishing. As for the fries, we found them to be nicely cooked – crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. And though we hate to bring it back to Otto’s, it’s worth mentioning that a ketchup fry simply can’t compare to a fry drenched in any of Otto’s homemade fry sauces, specifically “Otto’s Special Sauce.”
In terms of a post-ski food stop, we rate this spot very highly: it added 0 minutes to our drive and had a great atmosphere that allowed us to keep the good vibes going post-powder day. Vibes and atmosphere score: 10/10. If we were to judge by the food alone, we’d probably give Empire Dairy King a 6/10. Nonetheless, we recommend.
It was still a nice sunny day when we departed from Empire and headed back to the Springs, eager for a fun-filled Friday night to end this wonderful day. The favorable weather, however, quickly changed, and we ended up taking a side road instead of I-25 to avoid semi trucks sliding on the freeway. As it turned out, had we taken the route that would have led us to stop at Otto’s, it actually would have been much faster, but we also wouldn’t have been inspired to begin our new series. Stay tuned as we embark on a noble expedition of small-town Colorado to curate exclusive reviews of post-ski day grub.