The Emporium Kitchen and Wine Market serves brasserie plates and bison short ribs inside Fort Collins' Elizabeth Hotel, with a retail wine wall to browse.
Editorially verified August 18, 2026 by Lewis Vaughan, TableJourney editor. Source.
Must order: A brasserie benedict with a wine-market pour
Tip: Late-night menu runs to 23:00 nightly and the Bowerbird coffee counter opens at 06:00, so it covers both ends of the day.
Address: 378 Walnut Street, Fort Collins, CO 80524
Union Bar and Soda Fountain crosses a mid-century soda counter with craft cocktails on Jefferson Street in Fort Collins: burgers, floats and boozy shakes.
Order: A burger and a breakfast-hour float
Tip: Housemade sodas and boozy milkshakes are the point; vegan and gluten-free menus are marked. Happy hour weekdays 15:00-18:00.
Illegal Pete's builds mission-size burritos with a full bar on Walnut Street in Fort Collins, the Colorado indie chain that pays a living wage.
Order: A breakfast burrito smothered in green chile
Tip: Weekend breakfast burritos run 09:00-13:00; Friday and Saturday the line serves until midnight with margaritas alongside.
Butterfly Cafe bakes its own focaccia for breakfast sandwiches in the historic Butterfly Building on Laporte Avenue in Fort Collins, daily to 15:00.
Order: The focaccia breakfast sandwich
Tip: The focaccia breakfast sandwich is the order; house nut milks and made-in-house soups cover most diets without fuss.
DC Oakes Brewhouse and Eatery brews its own IPA and Mexican lager on the Harmony corridor in Fort Collins, with burgers, brunch and a late kitchen.
Order: Smothered witbier fries with a house Mexican lager
Tip: Weekend brunch runs 09:00 to 12:00; the kitchen closes an hour before the bar, which stays open to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Music City Hot Chicken fries Nashville-style birds on Prospect Road in Fort Collins across a ladder of heat levels, from Southern to the Flammable Solid dare.
Order: Chicken and waffles at Southern heat
Tip: Vegans get crispy fried tempeh in any heat level; weekend brunch adds chicken and waffles plus a Monte Cristo.
Union Bar and Soda Fountain crosses a mid-century soda counter with craft cocktails on Jefferson Street in Fort Collins: burgers, floats and boozy shakes.
Order: A burger and a breakfast-hour float
Tip: Housemade sodas and boozy milkshakes are the point; vegan and gluten-free menus are marked. Happy hour weekdays 15:00-18:00.
Illegal Pete's builds mission-size burritos with a full bar on Walnut Street in Fort Collins, the Colorado indie chain that pays a living wage.
Order: A breakfast burrito smothered in green chile
Tip: Weekend breakfast burritos run 09:00-13:00; Friday and Saturday the line serves until midnight with margaritas alongside.
Butterfly Cafe bakes its own focaccia for breakfast sandwiches in the historic Butterfly Building on Laporte Avenue in Fort Collins, daily to 15:00.
Order: The focaccia breakfast sandwich
Tip: The focaccia breakfast sandwich is the order; house nut milks and made-in-house soups cover most diets without fuss.
Rainbow Restaurant has cooked breakfast and lunch across from CSU in Fort Collins since 1976, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free boards.
Order: A veggie benedict and buttermilk pancakes
Tip: Daily to 14:00 only; the vegetarian and gluten-free menus are full menus rather than afterthoughts, rare for a diner.
