About

Life is Short, Eat More Pizza!

    

Established in 1995, The Blue Moose was the first of the current GROUP970 restaurant concepts.  The pizzeria began as a small counter service restaurant, located in the current Flying Pig Sandwich Shop location, in the heart of the Beaver Creek Village.  However, after ten years of consistently dishing out great NY Style pies, an opportunity arrived to grow the successful concept in to a bigger space, providing the Blue Moose guests with a bigger space, an expanded menu and a full service staff.  The restaurant moved to its current location, in the Poste Montane Lodge, at the far end of the Beaver Creek Plaza.  With the expanded concept finalized and the development of the Arrabelle project in Vail, a new opportunity for growth was presented and, as a result, the Blue Moose opened the current Vail location in December 2007, set in the center of Lionshead Village.  Both Blue Moose locations stay true to the original concept started in 1995, maintaining a focus on providing fresh and delicious hand-tossed, NY style pizza in a fun and family friendly atmosphere.
     

Family Friendly to the Core

   
The Blue Moose is a natural family favorite.  Kid friendly to the core… from the menu selection to the walls adorned with drawings created by our local fifth graders to the paper tablecloths and crayons (perfect for impromptu coloring sessions) the Blue Moose is a great choice for family’s of all kinds, shapes and sizes.

And what says family friendly better than hosting a FAMILY PIZZA NIGHT!  Join us on Tuesday evenings throughout the summer for our Blue Moose Family Special - a Large House Salad, Large One-Topping Pizza and a Pitcher of Soda for only $25!

Family Insider Tip:  Be sure to stop by the Lionshead Saturday Family Fun Club this summer and participate in the Blue Moose Pizza Tossing Competition.  Watch your kids get down and dirty (well, just flour covered really, but don’t worry it comes out) as they learn to toss pizza dough and then get to make their own personal pizza creation. Talk about a memorable experience.  Or, if you are up in Beaver Creek, come check out our demos at the Park Hyatt's Friday's at the Park event - every Friday through the rest of the summer.
     

Blue Moose Daily Specials

    
Take advantage of the wide array of specials available daily at both Blue Moose locations!
     
Daily Lunch Special - $5  
11am-3pm Daily
A One-Topping Slice of our Hand-Tossed Blue Moose Pizza and a Soda
     
Après Special - $6    
Just because the winter season has come to a close doesn't mean the après hour shouldn't still be enjoyed.  Join us for a One-Topping Slice of our Hand-Tossed Blue Moose Pizza and a Bud or Bud Light Draft for only $6.  Nothing refreshes you after a day of enjoying the mountain lifestyle better!
     

Our Blue Moose Crust

    
The Blue Moose traditional pizza crust has remained consistent since the restaurant first opened in 1995.  Though the recipe will remain a secret, we can tell you that the crust is made from scratch at each location, using only the freshest of ingredients, prior to hand tossing the pies to order each day.  Creating a consistently delicious pizza crust is not the easiest of tasks, but is one that our dedicated pizza chefs have taken great pride in over the past fifteen plus years.  And though we feel the Blue Moose traditional pizza crust is pretty darn perfect, we did add a new, healthier twist this past winter season.  The Blue Moose now offers a choice of crusts, the traditional, or our new whole wheat pizza crust.  Home-made from stone ground wheat flour the new crust provides an equally delicious new alternative to enjoy.

Wanting to create a crust that matched the quality of our traditional crust our Corporate Chef Jay McCarthy and the Blue Moose Team put a significant amount of time in to perfecting the new recipe.  Although they had become quite used to the challenges presented by the variables of pizza dough production, the stone ground wheat proved to be a little bit trickier than anticipated.  The stone ground wheat is a heavier grain, with the entire grain still intact, which causes a bit of difficulty in dough production.  This challenge was met by developing a special mixing technique with the whole wheat flour, in which we allow the flour to “soak” prior to mixing with other ingredients, along with a small portion of white flour to help in the dough-setting process; we are able to produce a consistent dough in a high volume environment.

Having addressed the challenges presented in making the dough, we were met with yet another new variable created by the increased “weight” of the dough, which creates a more fragile dough than we are accustomed to with our traditional dough.  This forced our pizza cooks to adapt a little to the new dough, but after a little practice both location's pizza lines were able to deliver the high-quality product expected of a Blue Moose Pizza crust on a consistent basis.

Since The Blue Moose is based in a ski resort it is impossible to not see/experience/appreciate the active lifestyles and health conscience eating habits of our patrons. People actively seek out a healthier way of life around here, so we as a restaurant wanted to provide a signature pizza crust that supported this idea.  We believe that we’ve accomplished this with our new whole wheat crust and our customers have responded well, so well that this summer we will be introducing a line of “salad pizzas” that will on be served on wheat crust.