Food & Drink in Pueblo

The whirling blenders of Keva Juice pulp fresh fruit and nutritive mix-ins into a menu of creamy smoothies, served alongside hot stuffed pretzels and low-fat frozen yogurt. Regular smoothies ($4.27 for 24 oz.) satisfy sweet cravings with toothsome blends such as All That Razz––an amalgam of raspberry juice, orange sherbet, banana, and strawberries. The Peach Treaty, named after the critical agreement that ended the Seven Pears' War, coddles taste buds peach juice, banana, orange sherbet, and peaches. Each smoothie comes with one free Energizer mix-in, including choices for protein and vitamins ($0.75 each for additional mix-ins). Add a sleep-stopping infusion of Red Bull ($1.25) to any drink, or boost your beverage's nutritional value with whey protein, granola, or soy milk ($1.50). Savory snacks materialize in the form of gooey stuffed pretzels ($3.27), their chewy dough hiding such fillings as cheddar jalapeño and pizza. Frozen yogurt topped with succulent blackberries, crumbled Oreos, or a spritz of all-natural oxygen cools piping-hot palates as it infuses the digestive system with helpful probiotics.

Much has changed since Matt and Ethel Shirola and Evelyn Ellis whipped up the first fried chicken dinner at Juniper Valley Ranch Restaurant in 1951. But the rustic red-mud restaurant continues to serve the very same home-style menu as it did generations ago—including baked ham and the fried chicken lauded by reporters from The Gazette as "crisp and indulgent". Meals are accompanied by home-style sides—including okra casserole, riced potatoes, gravy and housemade biscuits with apple butter—and followed by a sweet finish of homemade deserts and ice cream sundaes.

Today, the cheerful eatery is run by Matt and Ethel's eldest grandson, Greg, after working its way through the generations. The dining room is bright and cozy, with soft red walls decorated with old-fashioned western artwork and antiques. Just beyond the restaurant windows lies a ranch, where the juniper and skunk brush grows.

Open every weekend from September 17 to Halloween, Diana's Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze covers a small farm's family-owned fields with acres of fresh pumpkins and a giant three-acre corn maze. From within the labyrinth's dark, leafy stalks, children and adults can scramble for the correct escape route or spend up to an hour playing Farm Clue, a life-size version of the classic detective board game adapted for the corn maze. Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes pepper the field, littered among decoys such as basketballs and apples. Elsewhere on the farm, children can climb haystacks or catch up on the latest barnyard gossip from baby chicks and other loudmouthed animals at the petting zoo.

The chefs at MoMo Sushi Bar wok sauté pan-Asian cuisine and wrap baked and raw sushi rolls to populate their extensive menu. To prime bellies, teeth snap a crisp outer leaf before sinking into juicy poultry in the honey-garlic-chicken lettuce wrap, and in the baked green mussels with crab, New Zealand mussels saunter by forks with an entourage of crab scallions and creamy smelt bathed in eel sauce. Spoonfuls of miso soup and forkfuls of side salads keep taste buds limber for the main-course specialty rolls, which beckon to chop sticks in sundry combinations of fresh fish and zesty veggies. The baked King roll dons a baby lobster crown to reign over crab mix and avocado, and is a favorite dish among guests and groveling court jesters. Crunch batter adds dimension to the Super Crunch roll, which brims with shrimp tempura, spicy crab, cucumber, and cream cheese, and adept hands wind tuna, crab, and cream cheese into the Las Vegas roll before deep frying the raw disks and dressing them in spicy crab mix, teriyaki sauce, and a sequined head dress.

Overhearing such words as kamikaze, sonic boom, and bomber, you might think you’re on an Air Force base instead of in a chicken restaurant. But these are the names of Wild Wings ‘N Things’ wings, slathered in 10 zesty incarnations of sauce so named for their respective abilities to send taste buds soaring. The franchise has spent the last several years cropping up across Colorado and Mississippi like hot-sauce dollops on a crisp white napkin, with its Fort Carson location serving up bone-in and boneless wings in baskets of up to 100 pieces.

As patrons lounge amid the dining room's Tabasco-red walls, chefs in the kitchen construct buffalo and teriyaki sandwiches to pair with comfort foods such as okra, fried pickles, and deep-fried recliners. After two-handing a chili-smothered slopper burger, diners can question the counter person about the weekly offerings of NFL Sunday Ticket viewable on the eatery's many flat-screen TVs.