{"id":2449987,"date":"2019-10-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=314458"},"modified":"2019-10-17T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T18:00:00","slug":"secret-sauce-cp-burger-heads-into-its-10th-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/secret-sauce-cp-burger-heads-into-its-10th-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret Sauce: CP Burger heads into its 10th winter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cWill Smith, order ready! Bugs Bunny, order ready!\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being a familiar shtick for a decade, hearing celebrity and pop-culture names called over the loudspeaker at CP Burger never gets old. This sense of playfulness defines the fast-casual eatery and entertainment venue, which quickly became a community hangout for kids of all ages after it opened in October 2010.<\/p>\n

On a recent Sunday afternoon, the place is positively buzzing. Families, couples, and friend groups have gathered among umbrella-topped patio tables and miniature golf greens to bask in the sun on what might be one of the final days of fall. Local and visiting patrons peel away parchment paper around hefty burgers, untangle piles of hand-cut skinny fries, and sip shakes, soda, canned craft beer and boxed wine. At least a dozen kids hopscotch among the homespun course \u2014 all built by Craig Cordts-Pearce, co-founder of CP Restaurant Group with wife, Samantha \u2014 hooking clubs over shoulders, peering beneath the tiny wooden windmill, running around, scheming, giggling. Notwithstanding the vacation tyke who suffers a meltdown, folks can\u2019t help but smile here at this happy hot spot in the center of town.<\/p>\n

The food, while simple, is consistently good. Similar to other CP ventures in Aspen, currently including The Wild Fig, Steakhouse No. 316, and The Monarch, the menu is curated from carefully sourced ingredients. Everything is made fresh on-site: burger patties are formed by hand from Colorado beef, turkey or herbed falafel; chicken and tuna is responsibly sourced; fries are hand-cut; and salad dressings blended in small batches. There\u2019s a 100% wagyu beef hot dog, edamame to share and organic dairy in the shakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys in the kitchen are so incredible,\u201d Craig marvels. \u201cWe probably serve 600 to 800-plus hamburgers a day in the crunch of the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering that a basic cheeseburger costs $7.95 and an endless round of miniature golf in summer or ice skating in winter tallies just $8, there\u2019s no doubt that CP Burger offers one of the more gently priced outings in town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe open concepts that we think the town needs,\u201d continues Craig, in this case taking what was then an underutilized, \u201ccloaked\u201d ice skating rink run by the Hyatt Grand Aspen, which leases the property, and turning it into a social hub serving quality counter-service eats.<\/p>\n

\u201cCP Burger is a yin-yang property: we have skating (and golf) and burgers \u2014 two forms of revenue coming in. It doesn\u2019t make tons of money, but if we didn\u2019t have the other side of it, the burgers would have to be $12.\u201d<\/p>\n

Popular among adults are booze-spiked shakes and Lulu\u2019s Original Kale, a Parmesan-dusted, currant- and pine nut-studded pile of greenery in homage to the CP Group\u2019s former Lulu Wilson on Restaurant Row. Culinary cognoscenti credit Lulu\u2019s with sparking the kale salad trend in Aspen, and the choice to include the beloved dish at CP Burger turned out to be prescient: the couple closed Lulu Wilson one year after opening CP Burger, in October 2011, to become Steakhouse No. 316.<\/p>\n

CP Burger\u2019s launch was personal, too, as it provided a hangout that would grow up alongside the couple\u2019s son, Bryce, then 6, and daughter Alexis, 4. Located just a stone\u2019s throw from the Rubey Park Transit Center, Aspen students are able to hop off a bus and have a shake or sandwich in hand in mere minutes. The central location, ensconced by landscaping and railings, has made CP Burger a classic choice for birthday parties, athletic team events, and exhibition shows by children\u2019s ice skating clubs during the 12 Days of Christmas. Grandparents can lounge while their charges run mostly carefree.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always for kids to a have something else to do and a not-so-fancy restaurant for them to eat at,\u201d Samantha says. \u201cBack in the day you had Boogie\u2019s, but you had to go in and sit down.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s was an anomaly, of course, using sketchy ingredients to boot. Some folks have joked that CP Burger may have been partly responsible for edging out the Golden Arches, previously the only eat-in fast-food venue for some 31 years. The \u201cunderperforming\u201d chain shuttered in January 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cCP Burger is as good as making it in your house,\u201d says Samantha, herself a discerning parent. \u201cIt\u2019s a whole scratch kitchen. That\u2019s hard to get in a fast-casual restaurant. The food\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, I dined at The Monarch last week, and ended up sitting at the bar next to her son, Bryce, now an Aspen High School junior, fresh off a regional tennis tournament win and on his own for dinner with his folks off on an offseason scouting trip to Europe. Between bites of his first Monarch Bison Burger \u2014 \u201ca different beast, for sure\u201d from his go-to CP Burger with American cheese (plus Parmesan truffle fries and Oreo Munch shake), he says \u2014 Bryce shared that it was super cool to have a place such as CP Burger to chill with friends after school and on weekends. The burger joint, for him, represents an entire lifetime of memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason why we can sell prime hamburgers in the middle of Aspen is the golf and skating, (which) brings people there to connect with their families,\u201d Craig says. \u201cWhen they connect with their families, they connect with the food. It\u2019s a winter wonderland or a summer (hub).\u201d<\/p>\n

While the CP Burger menu has largely remained the same, with a few minor tweaks over the years (breakfast burritos, for one, were short-lived), the Cordts-Pearces are excited to unveil modern additions this winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow there are meatless burgers,\u201d Craig says. \u201cWe\u2019re experimenting with these new products \u2014 there\u2019s so much to consider.\u201d Also critical: A return to real ice on the skating rink this winter. (See \u201cIce, Ice, Baby,\u201d above.)<\/p>\n

While Craig toys with the idea of re-wrapping his pickup truck with the CP Burger logo (he removed it from the vehicle about three years ago), the rallying cry of adolescent fans rings clear. He tells of shuttling his kids to school in the logo truck, representing a brand synonymous with childhood in Aspen.<\/p>\n

\u201cCP!\u201d the young bros would call out across the parking lot, each syllable extended in a throaty roar. \u201cLove yer shaaakes!\u201d<\/p>\n

amandaraewashere@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWill Smith, order ready! Bugs Bunny, order ready!\u201d Despite being a familiar shtick for a decade, hearing celebrity and pop-culture names called over the loudspeaker at CP Burger never gets old. This sense of playfulness defines the fast-casual eatery and entertainment venue, which quickly became a community hangout for kids of all ages after it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2449987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 13:52:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}