A Big-Slice Stop at Beau Jo’s in Idaho Springs

A thick rim of pizza dough, rolled high around a filling of sauce, cheese and toppings, arrives at Beau Jo’s in Idaho Springs with an extra companion already waiting on the table: honey. The move here is to eat the pizza, save room for the crust, then dip that bready edge into something sweet.

It is a distinctly Colorado approach to pizza, and it suits Idaho Springs. Beau Jo’s occupies a vintage 19th-century Old West building, with a mining-centered tavern character that gives a lunch stop more personality than a standard highway pizza break.

The Idaho Springs restaurant is especially known for that historic setting. It can be a useful pause after a hike or while traveling west from Denver into the mountains, but it also has enough oddball charm and enough food to warrant making the stop on purpose.

The signature is the Mountain pie, made with a thick, hand-folded crust that rises around the fillings. It is substantial pizza, not a thin round meant to disappear in two bites. Even a small Motherlode Mountain pie can be notably large, with a pile-on combination of meats and cheese.

The crust itself comes in white, wheat or spicy versions. That choice matters because the outer edge is not merely leftover bread; it is treated as a final course, with honey turning the savory meal toward a sweet finish.

For diners who prefer a more familiar, lighter profile, Beau Jo’s also makes a thinner Prairie-style crust. The menu invites plenty of customizing, so a group does not have to settle on one fixed formula for the table.

At many pizza places, the crust is where the meal quietly winds down. Here, it has its own ritual. Honey is set out for dipping, and the high Mountain crust gives you enough surface to make that sweet-and-savory combination worth doing.

It is an easy detail to appreciate after a hearty pie. The honey does not change the pizza itself; it changes the last few bites, giving the meal a small Colorado flourish instead of the usual stack of abandoned crusts.

The specialty list stretches beyond traditional meat-and-vegetable combinations. Mac & Cheese pizza is one of the more distinctive choices, a fittingly indulgent option in a restaurant already committed to generous portions.

Other named pies include Pesto Chicken, Hawaiian BBQ, Pacific Plantation, Hipster, Little Italy and Apple Harmony. The range makes ordering less predictable than simply choosing between pepperoni and combination.

Vegetarian pizzas have their own section, and gluten-free pizza is available as well. Dairy-free preparation has also been offered, including a gluten-free pie that combined Apple Harmony and Combo-style flavors. Specific dietary requests are worth confirming with the restaurant when ordering, particularly if toppings or preparations matter.

Pizza may get the attention, but the menu is built for a table where not everybody wants a slice. There are pastas, sandwiches, calzones, wings, garlic cheese bread and other casual dishes, with plenty of room to tailor pizzas, pastas and sandwiches.

The garlic cheese bread has a crisp exterior, a serious cheese pull and marinara for dipping. It is the sort of starter that can briefly derail a table’s good intentions about saving room for the main event.

Boneless buffalo wings offer a spicy counterpoint to the honey-and-crust routine. Pork green chile is another menu item with a following, and even a half order of nachos has been known to arrive in a decidedly non-small portion.

The mac and cheese arrives in a very large bread bowl, which puts it squarely in the same big-hearted category as the Mountain pies. It is a lunch for someone who has worked up an appetite, or a dish that makes sharing a sensible idea.

Calzones are also notably large, often enough for more than one ordinary appetite. This is not a menu that needs much help filling the table.

A fountain root beer is a particularly nice match for the rich, casual fare. It fits the old-school setting better than an overly fussy drink and gives the meal one more pleasantly nostalgic note.

Inside, Beau Jo’s carries an old-school tavern mood shaped by its historic Idaho Springs home. The room is lively rather than precious, with indoor dining, booths and bar seating accommodating everything from a solo stop to a family meal or a larger traveling group.

The building has a small, memorable surprise upstairs: a bathroom window looks out toward an old waterwheel at the base of a waterfall. It is the sort of incidental detail that would be hard to design into a newer restaurant and suits the town’s mining-era character.

When the restaurant is busy, the dining room can be moderately noisy. That energy works well for groups and post-outdoors meals, though it is not the setting for a hushed, lingering dinner.

Reservations are generally not necessary, and the choice of booths, bar seats and indoor tables gives walk-in diners a few options. Still, this is a large restaurant that can fill up; waits of roughly 10 to 30 minutes can happen during busy stretches.

Parking around the restaurant varies with the day and timing. Street spaces and nearby lots may be free or paid, and availability can range from easy to a bit of a hunt.

The bathrooms are upstairs, a practical point in a historic building. As for the food, the simplest plan is to arrive hungry or order with sharing in mind: Mountain pies, bread-bowl mac and cheese, calzones and even some of the sides are not shy about their size.