{"id":92783,"date":"2026-10-04T00:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T06:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=92783"},"modified":"2026-10-03T20:19:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T02:19:31","slug":"juniper-valley-ranch-colorado-springs-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=92783","title":{"rendered":"Juniper Valley Ranch – Colorado Springs, Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
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Juniper Valley Ranch, About 18 Miles South of Downtown Colorado Springs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Fried chicken just tend to make you feel better about life<\/em>.”
\n~Minny Jackson (The Help)<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most heart-warming scenes in the 2011 period drama The Help involved the character Minny Jackson (brilliantly portrayed by Octavia Spencer) teaching her employer, a lonely housewife named Celia Foote (played by Jessica Chastain), the art of Southern cooking through what has probably become the famous fried chicken lesson ever depicted on cinema.\u00a0 Minny begins the lesson by delivering a sermon on Crisco, the “most important invention since they put mayonnaise in a jar<\/em>.”\u00a0 \u00a0The naive and privileged Celia, who likely wouldn’t know how to boil water, likens the Crisco to frosting, but Minny clarifies “it’s best for frying chicken.<\/em>”\u00a0 She then delivers the immortal line “fried chicken just tends to make you feel better about life<\/em>.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This powerful scene exemplifies the concept “story beneath a story,” two powerful narrative concepts in movie-making:\u00a0 subtext (the unstated emotional layer driving a scene) and an embedded narrative (a literal story nestled inside a larger plot).\u00a0 \u00a0Beyond the obvious–one woman teaching another how to fry chicken–the scene depicted a building friendship fashioned by their contrasting backgrounds as they fry chicken in a cast-iron skillet.\u00a0 It’s a scene illustrating an exchange of dignity and tenderness that extends far beyond the fried chicken recipe.<\/p>\n

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One of several dining rooms<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our visit to the Juniper Valley Ranch some twenty miles or so from downtown Colorado Springs was an exemplar of Minny Jackson’s “fried chicken just tend to make you feel better about life”<\/em> axiom.\u00a0 We’ve probably had better fried chicken, but rarely have we had a better fried chicken experience<\/em>.\u00a0 For me, the experiential aspects of a meal often outweigh the actual meal itself.\u00a0 Such was our visit.\u00a0 Juniper Valley Ranch just has the effect of making you feel you’re a guest coming over for a Sunday dinner of fried chicken and all the fixings.\u00a0 It kindles fond memories of family.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons Juniper Valley Ranch conjures such feelings is that it has none of the pretense and artifice of modern restaurants.\u00a0 You’re dining in a converted home, the first structure of which was made of adobe.\u00a0 From the expansive dirt and gravel parking lot, it’s a short stroll to a small stone patio where cholla and cactus buttress against the adobe wall.\u00a0 \u00a0Step inside the low-slung building and you’re surrounded by period pieces playing tribute to both ranching and the Southwest.\u00a0 Antiques, including several old farm tools, festoon the walls.\u00a0 Curtains are tied back with red bandanas.\u00a0 Meals are served on calico tablecloths.\u00a0 \u00a0Lamp shades are old colanders.\u00a0 When Colorado’s cold, crisp air begins to bite, the fireplace crackles with the incomparable aroma of pi\u00f1on gathered from the ranch.<\/p>\n

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Curry Consomme<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As with other homes that have been converted into restaurants, the Juniper Valley Ranch got its start as a working ranch with a family working and riding on the range.\u00a0 In 1947, Evelyn\u00a0 Ellis and her husband, Walt, opened what was to be the precursor to Juniper Valley Ranch. They named their eatery El Sombrero and treated travelers along the newfangled dirt road connecting Colorado Springs and Ca\u00f1on City\u00a0 (later to be paved and known as Highway 115) sandwiches, homemade ice cream, and other goodies. They also filled the caf\u00e9 with the paintings, poems, and other works of art which were the lifelong passions of Guy and Evelyn.<\/p>\n

In 1951, Evelyn and her friend Ethel Shirola served a family style dinner of fried chicken and baked ham- with all of the homemade fixings, of course- to about 30 of their invited friends and guests as a trial run for Juniper Valley Ranch. Since then, untold thousands of visitors and locals alike have enjoyed the very same meal in the little mud house located about 15 miles south of Colorado Springs on Highway 115.\u00a0 The Juniper Valley Ranch is widely reputed to serve the very best fried chicken in Colorado.\u00a0 That, of course, is a matter of opinion.\u00a0 The homespun charm and genuine friendliness of the staff is indisputable.<\/p>\n

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Biscuits and Okra Casserole<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rarely have we been treated as well as the beautiful Izzy treated us.\u00a0 Welcome dignitaries would be an appropriate term.\u00a0 Izzie even escorted us to the kitchen where several cooks were frying chicken on cast iron skillets and original utensils from the working ranch days.\u00a0 I practically had to drag my Kim away.\u00a0 She loves old-fashioned kitchens.\u00a0 To accommodate all the guests, that kitchen stays very busy.\u00a0 Meals are served family-style in a cozy, home-like environment rather than a large banquet hall.\u00a0 There are several dining rooms on the premises, all about the size of the kitchen. Many things have changed since 1951. But at Juniper Valley, the menu, the atmosphere, and the attitude that \u201cyou\u2019re always company at our house,” have not.<\/p>\n

Juniper Valley Ranch includes an appetizer, a choice of main entr\u00e9e, a generous spread of homestyle sharing sides, and a seasonal dessert, priced at $29.50 per adult (as of 2 October 2026). Each diner has a choice between skillet fried chicken or baked ham. The Friday night special is chicken fried steak while Nashville hot chicken is served on Sunday night. Appetizer choices, both dating from 1951, are spiced cherry cider or curried consomm\u00e9<\/strong><\/em>. My Kim likened the cherry cider to cherry kool aid.\u00a0 Her preference is for beverages to be sugary sweet (half a box of Splenda or so).\u00a0 I thought it was pretty good, but not nearly as good as Carrizozo Cider (now gone for good) used to be.\u00a0 The curried consomm\u00e9, essentially chicken broth seasoned with curry and topped with cream, was fine.<\/p>\n

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Coleslaw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had barely finished our appetizers before a phalanx of fixings descended on our table.\u00a0 \u00a0It looked like The Waltons dinner table.\u00a0 Deciding what to attack first was a challenge; everything looked so good.\u00a0 I attacked the handmade, homestyle buttermilk biscuits<\/strong><\/em> served fresh and hot by the pan (the smallest biscuit pan either of us had ever seen).\u00a0 Smallish and golden-brown, they’re warm and comforting.\u00a0 Biscuits are served with several (not enough) pats of butter and with a housemade apple butter<\/strong><\/em>, a true highlight of our meal.\u00a0 The apple butter was easily among the best I’ve ever had, sweet and spiced with lots of cinnamon.<\/p>\n

Positioned immediately beside the biscuits was an okra casserole<\/strong><\/em>, a signature, scratch-made side dish whose core ingredients are okra, tomatoes, celery, onion, and rice in perfect proportion.\u00a0 Perhaps best about this casserole is that it’s not slimy and sticky as okra tends to be.\u00a0 Instead it’s light, well-textured and serves as a well-balanced green dish to offset some of the heavier fried elements of the meal.\u00a0 We (mostly me) polished off the entire bowlful.<\/p>\n

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Cast Iron Fried Chicken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also made quick work of the coleslaw<\/strong><\/em>, a finely chopped and distinctively sweet and tart cabbage slaw that serves as a nice counterbalance to the richness of the fried chicken.\u00a0 The coleslaw is not mushy as coleslaw at chain chicken joints tend to be.\u00a0 Still, it’s just coleslaw and no critic I know could possibly make it sound like anything but what it is–a simple accompaniment, a preliminary to the main event.\u00a0 That main event, of course, is the cast iron skillet fried chicken.<\/p>\n

If you’re wondering whether cast iron skillet fried chicken<\/strong><\/em> makes any difference, better cooks than me will tell you that fried chicken is better when cooked in a cast iron skillet because the heavy metal retains and distributes heat exceptionally well. A Spicy Perspective explains: “When you add cold chicken to hot oil, the temperature of the oil usually drops. Cast iron holds its heat so strongly that the oil recovers its high temperature faster<\/em>.”\u00a0 Because the oil stays hot, the breading sears quickly and absorbs less grease, resulting in a crispier, lighter crust instead of a soggy one.<\/p>\n

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Riced Potatoes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The skillet fried chicken at Juniper Valley Ranch is legendary comfort food, widely recognized by such publications as Mashed and the Colorado Springs Gazette as the best fried chicken in Colorado. Michael Stern of Roadfood<\/strong><\/a> described the fried chicken as having “a thin, brittle crust and juicy meat, the fried chicken was clearly the best thing on the table<\/em>.”\u00a0 At the risk of alienating other fans of the apple butter, we’ll have to agree.\u00a0 We found the fried chicken exceptionally crunchy and crispy on the outside, while remaining juicy, tender, and well-seasoned on the inside.\u00a0 My Kim discards the crust, but I enjoyed every morsel.<\/p>\n

According to The Kitchn<\/strong><\/a>, “when it comes to fried chicken for dinner, the sides are just as important to the meal as the main dish (one cannot live on fried chicken alone!<\/em>).”\u00a0 Among its recommended sides are classic mashed potatoes.\u00a0 Mashed potatoes are a timeless staple highlighted by such\u00a0 \u00a0culinary guides as The Kitchn <\/a><\/span><\/strong>and Food Network<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.<\/strong> There’s just something so special as the buttery luxuriousness of mashed potatoes and savory depth of gravy that brings out the best in fried chicken.\u00a0 Alas, the Juniper Valley Ranch doesn’t serve mashed potatoes.\u00a0 It serves riced potatoes, simply boiled and hand-pressed through a large ricer.\u00a0 Sure, the texture is fluffy and light, but I prefer the smooth, heavily whipped and buttery mashed potatoes I make at home.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gravy and Apple Butter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No perhaps about it, my least favorite item on our table was the gravy<\/strong><\/em>, a a housemade, peppery country cream gravy served family-style in a large mug at the table. Because the riced potatoes are prepared so simply, guests typically ladle a generous amount of peppery country cream gravy over those potatoes.\u00a0 In my humble estimation, gravy should never be thicker than the potatoes.\u00a0 Still, this is a nit compared to how good everything else was.<\/p>\n

At Juniper Valley Ranch, a complimentary dessert is included with every family-style dinner. The restaurant features a mix of simple ice cream classics (with such toppings as chocolate syrup, butterscotch and peppermint) and scratch-made comforts. A rotating homemade dessert of the day selection changes daily and features scratch-made baked goods. On any given day, popular rotating options may include such delicious treats as fruit cobblers (such as peach cobbler served with vanilla ice cream), cakes, and a cinnamon-flavored bread pudding. The bread pudding<\/em><\/strong> is superb, an exemplar of an anachronistic dessert I can never get enough of.<\/p>\n

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Bread Pudding<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the Juniper Valley Ranch doesn’t bill itself as an all-you-can-eat restaurant, guests are explicitly invited to help themselves to as much food as they want during their seating.\u00a0 Seconds, thirds, fourths…go for it.<\/p>\n

Juniper Valley Ranch<\/strong>
\n16350 Highway 115
\nColorado Springs, Colorado<\/strong>
\n(719) 576-0741
\nWebsite<\/strong><\/a> | Facebook Page<\/strong><\/a>
\nLATEST VISIT<\/strong>: 2 October 2026
\n# OF VISITS<\/strong>: 1
\nRATING<\/strong>: N\/R
\nCOST<\/strong>: $$$$
\nBEST BET<\/strong>: Fried Chicken, Coleslaw, Gravy, Okra Casserole, Biscuits, Riced Potatoes, Bread Pudding, Apple Butter, Curry Consomme, Cherry Cider
\nREVIEW #1553<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Fried chicken just tend to make you feel better about life.” ~Minny Jackson (The Help) One of the most heart-warming scenes in the 2011 period drama The Help involved the character Minny Jackson (brilliantly portrayed by Octavia Spencer) teaching her employer, a lonely housewife named Celia Foote (played by Jessica Chastain), the art of Southern cooking through what has probably become the famous fried chicken lesson ever depicted on cinema.\u00a0 Minny begins the lesson by delivering a sermon on Crisco, the “most important invention since they put mayonnaise in a jar.”\u00a0 \u00a0The naive and privileged Celia, who likely wouldn’t know…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,41,567,553],"tags":[6101,734,2389,6103,6105,1908,6104,6102,732,6098,6099,6100],"class_list":["post-92783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american","category-colorado","category-southern","category-across-america","tag-apple-butter","tag-biscuits","tag-bread-pudding","tag-cherry-cider","tag-circa-1931","tag-coleslaw","tag-converted-home","tag-curry-consomme","tag-fried-chicken","tag-gravy","tag-okra-casserole","tag-riced-potatoes"],"yoast_head":"\nJuniper Valley Ranch - 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