The best restaurants in Sun Valley, Ketchum, Hailey and Bellevue

At the base of Warm Springs since 1988, and ski boots are welcome. Powder magazine ranked its west-facing patio third among North American après patios in 2025 and said to try the College Burger. In summer it adds a sunset dinner on the patio, booked on OpenTable.

Best for

après at the bottom of Warm Springs

Order

College Burger

Closed Sundays and Mondays (summer 2026 schedule). Après during ski season; a summer season (from June 12 in 2026) with lunch Tuesday to Saturday and patio dinners Thursday to Saturday. Winter 2026-27 hours not posted yet.

Bigwood Bread has baked in Ketchum since 1997, and its café sits inside the company's 10,000-square-foot bakery on Northwood Way, with fireplaces and seats outside. Sourdough French toast until 11:30, then sandwiches on the house bread. It took gold for best lunch in the 2026 Best of the Valley poll.

Best for

a sandwich on bread baked on site

Order

Sourdough French toast

Open daily 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Walk-ins only.

Paula Catalina Lopez cooked at Cristina's for more than 15 years before opening this café on Walnut Avenue in December 2025, in the old Saffron space. Breakfast and lunch until 2, a deli case of tamales and pastries until 4, and Sunday brunch.

Best for

a sit-down breakfast downtown

Order

Cata's breakfast sandwich

Closed Tuesdays. Walk-ins only.

Vita and Burke Smith's wine bar left its old 1932 church building on Seventh Street for sister restaurant Scout's space on East Avenue, and the two menus merged. Ukrainian pelmeni share the page with pizza and Scout's meatballs. Noon to 9, Tuesday through Saturday.

Best for

a long lunch with a bottle of wine

Order

Pelmeni (Ukrainian pork dumplings)

Closed Sundays and Mondays.

Chef-owner Jesse Sheue opened The Covey on Washington Avenue in December 2018. The kitchen cooks over a hearth and makes its own pasta, and the backyard patio has fire pits for summer dinners. Outdoor tables are first come, first served.

Best for

a date night on the patio

Closed Sundays and Mondays (open daily Dec. 21 to Jan. 3, except Christmas Eve and Christmas).

Will Hemmings and Caleb Wright, both raised in the valley, opened it at the end of July 2026 in the old RJ's space on Main, and the cheesy fries are a nod to RJ's. Lunch is 11 to 3, Tuesday through Saturday, then a 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. window Thursday through Saturday.

Best for

a late-night hot dog on Main

Order

Triple T (tri-tip sandwich)

Closed Sundays and Mondays. Walk-ins only.

Jim Funk opened it as Desperado's in 1983 and sold it to Amy Harris in 2020. It began as order-at-the-board and runs table service now, with three salsas made daily and a covered, heated patio. Breakfast burritos come from its food truck, the Despos Tater Trailer.

Best for

tacos and a margarita on the patio

Order

Texas taco

Closed Sundays. Walk-ins only.

The Mason family's wine bar opened in December 2012 around a big wood-fired oven. Pizzas are $20, the pasta comes from the family's own Mason Family Provisions, and it's open every night from 5. Only the 10-seat bar skips reservations. No gluten-free pizza or pasta.

Best for

pizza and wine with a group

Order

Asiago-pesto meatballs

Open nightly from 5 p.m. (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas).

Britt Rescigno, a regular on Food Network's Tournament of Champions, and Kinsey Leodler-Rescigno opened it in March 2025 at Second and Leadville. A 7-foot hearth runs the kitchen. Handmade pastas are $41 to $51, and the steakhouse burger is capped at five a night.

Best for

a big-night dinner worth booking ahead

Order

Chef Britt's meatballs (bison, venison and elk)

Closed Sundays and Mondays (except ticketed Sunday Supper events).

A day lodge 23 miles north of Ketchum, below Galena Summit, owned by the Blaine County Recreation District since a 1994 community campaign bought it. Soup and a bison burger from Shoemaker Bison Ranch, after a ski or a ride. Closed until winter; it reopens around Thanksgiving.

Best for

lunch after a Nordic ski

Order

Local bison burger

In season. Winter (about Thanksgiving to early April) and summer (June 5 to Sept. 13 in 2026). Closed between seasons, including now. Walk-ins only.

The dining room at the Knob Hill Inn, at the north end of Main. Chef Jonathan Diem grew up in Hailey, has cooked here for nine years, and took silver for best local chef in the Mountain Express's 2026 poll. Large plates come with popovers and honey butter.

Best for

an old-school dinner at the north end of town

Order

Prime rib (12 oz.), with popovers

Open nightly (restaurant 5:30 to 9, bar from 4:30).

Gary Goodenough and Roger Eagan opened it around Cinco de Mayo 1978 so working locals had somewhere to get a beer and a burger, and it hasn't drifted far. Beer comes in 32-ounce schooners and old cans line the walls. There are about six tables.

Best for

a burger and a schooner on Warm Springs Road

Order

Corn dog

Open daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Walk-ins only.

Todd Rippo started Java in November 1991, and it now runs six cafés, including this one on Fourth Street and another on First Avenue in Hailey. The Bowl of Soul, a house mocha, is the signature drink. The kitchen closes at 2, the café at 4.

Best for

coffee and breakfast before a day out

Order

Bowl of Soul (the house mocha)

Café 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, kitchen to 2. Walk-ins only.

Scott and Anne Mason opened it in 1991 in the Ed Williams House, built in 1885 at East Avenue and Fifth Street. Kaari Harlamert owns and runs it now. The menu leans Idaho: fruitwood-grilled duck with huckleberry port, and elk dusted in cocoa and pink peppercorn.

Best for

a reliable dinner any night of the week

Order

Fruitwood-grilled duck breast with Idaho huckleberry port reduction

Open nightly from 5 p.m.

Breakfast and lunch on Leadville Avenue since 1974, owned by Dillon and Heather Witmer, whose Western art collection also hangs at the Pioneer Saloon. It took gold for best breakfast in the Mountain Express's 2026 Best of the Valley poll. No reservations, and a kids menu.

Best for

a big breakfast before Baldy

Order

The Kneadery Benedict

Open daily 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Walk-ins only.

Two ski bums, Dave Hausmann and John Peterson, opened it in June 1993 a block off Main at Sixth and Washington. Burgers, hoagies, wings by the pound, 13 beers on draft, a sunny deck and plenty of TVs. The menu says not to leave Ketchum without trying the Monkey Fries.

Best for

après burgers and the game on TV

Order

Monkey Fries (spicy fries)

Open daily from 11:30 a.m. (11 on weekends). Walk-ins only.

French classics in the old Christiania on Walnut Avenue, where Hemingway is said to have eaten his last supper. Michel Rudigoz, the former U.S. Ski Team coach, ran it from 1994 until he sold it in 2025, and he died in June 2026. His name stays on the door. The Olympic Bar takes walk-ins.

Best for

a classic French dinner for an occasion

Order

Filet de truite meunière (sautéed Idaho trout)

Closed Sundays and Mondays.

Prime rib has been the specialty here since Larry Stone and Ed Redman reopened the old Main Street saloon as a steakhouse in 1970. Duffy and Sheila Witmer have owned it since 1986. The room is about 25 feet wide and takes no reservations, so plan on time at the bar.

Best for

a prime rib dinner with visitors

Order

Prime rib (the 8 oz. Ketchum Cut is the smallest)

Open daily (dining room from 4:30 p.m.). Walk-ins only.

Chef-owner Andreas Heaphy cooks small plates from Thailand, Vietnam, China and Indonesia in a room with seven tables and six bar seats in winter. It takes no reservations, so the wait comes with a fire pit and a ping pong table in the garden. Dinner Tuesday through Saturday.

Best for

a walk-in dinner with friends

Order

K.F.C. (Korean fried chicken)

Closed Sundays and Mondays (lunch Fridays only). Walk-ins only.

Chef Warwick Phillips, who tied for gold as best local chef in the Mountain Express's 2026 poll, cooks many of the entrées over a live mesquite fire, from a grass-fed ribeye to Idaho ruby red trout. Happy hour runs 4:30 to 6 daily. Reservations are by phone only.

Best for

happy hour that turns into a steak dinner

Order

Fire-grilled ribeye (12 oz., grass-fed)

Open daily from 4:30 p.m.

It's a bottle shop first, with more than 1,000 labels. Small plates start at 3 and dinner at 5, under chef Michael Bockelmann. One family has owned it since 2021, and there's a fireplace for winter and a rooftop deck when the weather allows.

Best for

a bottle and small plates by the fire

Closed Sundays and Mondays.

Open since 1994, and it bills itself as the valley's oldest sushi restaurant. Fish comes in from Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji and Japan through its own import company, Idaho Seafood. The Sun Valley roll pairs smoked trout with Sun Valley mustard. Dinner Monday through Saturday from 5:30.

Best for

a sushi dinner up-valley

Order

Who's Your Daddy? roll

Closed Sundays.

The Bigwood course lost its restaurant when the Bigwood Grill closed in 2022. Lyndsay and Christopher Lyle bought the course in 2024 and opened Timbers in May 2026, with culinary director Taite Pearson cooking without seed oils. The bar takes walk-ins, and there are fire pits outside.

Best for

lunch on the patio after nine holes

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

A tiny historic cabin on Leadville Avenue that had seven tables when Sun Valley Magazine counted in 2012. Chef-owner Rodrigo Herrera tied for gold as best local chef in the Mountain Express's 2026 Best of the Valley poll. Two dinner seatings a night, booked by phone.

Best for

a quiet dinner for two

Posted; dinner nightly, lunch weekdays.

Heidi and Alex Buck started it in 2014 at Main and Sun Valley Road. Arkansas businessman Steve Landers Jr. bought it in 2024, and Alex Buck stayed on as distiller. It makes its own beer and organic spirits, and the rooftop faces Baldy. Open daily from 11:30.

Best for

a rooftop drink facing Baldy

Order

Wild Game Burger (local bison)

Open daily from 11:30 a.m.

Hand-tossed New York-style pies from stone deck ovens, with dough made daily and sauce from scratch. Fourteen-inch specialty pies are $22.95 and feed two or more. Wiseguy also lists a second shop in Hailey, at 411 N. Main St., with the same menu.

Best for

pizza to go after a ski day

Order

Metro Guy

Open daily from noon. Walk-ins only.

The bar off the Lodge lobby has live music most nights, usually 6 to 9, with double bills Thursday through Saturday. It serves the Gretchen's menu until 9, and the bar stays open to 10, or 11 on Friday and Saturday. The Pioneer Cabin is the house cocktail.

Best for

a drink and live music after dinner

Order

Pioneer Cabin (bourbon, Averna, Frangelico)

Food daily until 9 p.m. Walk-ins only.

The Lodge's all-day restaurant, named for Gretchen Fraser, the first American to win Olympic gold in skiing. Pancakes and huevos rancheros at breakfast, elk chili at lunch, a wagyu meatloaf after 5. There's a terrace in summer, and it stays open through the shoulder seasons.

Best for

breakfast at the Lodge

Order

Gretchen's elk chili

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

The resort's Austrian-style café in the Village bakes its pastries in-house and serves an all-day brunch menu, 7 to 3 every day, including the shoulder seasons when much of the resort shuts. The Old World hot cocoa is equal parts steamed milk and melted dark chocolate.

Best for

a late breakfast in the Village

Order

Old World hot cocoa

Open daily 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., shoulder seasons included. Walk-ins only.

Sun Valley's original restaurant, open since 1937, in the Village at the Sun Valley Inn. Fondue for two and wagyu, plus a $39 Heritage dinner that brings back one old Ram dish a night, like Saturday's 1966 Hungarian goulash. Larry Harshbarger plays piano, 6 to 9.

Best for

fondue and piano on a winter night

Order

Ram fondue (for two)

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Closes for the spring shoulder season (April 12 to June 4 in 2026). No fall closure posted.

Averell Harriman built it in 1939 at 7,700 feet on Baldy, and you still get there on the Roundhouse Express gondola. Lunch mains run $30 to $52, and fondue for two is $58. Last winter it added a four-course prix fixe dinner on Fridays and Saturdays.

Best for

a long lunch on the mountain

Order

Fondue for two

Closed Summer: Mondays and Tuesdays. Winter 2025-26: lunch daily, dinner Fridays and Saturdays. Ski season and summer only. Closed now; Bald Mountain opens Nov. 26, 2026, and the resort hasn't posted the Roundhouse's winter dates.

It replaced Bald Mountain Pizza and Pasta in the Village in December 2017, with a railroad theme for the resort's Union Pacific roots. Pizza and pasta with the game on TV, first come, first served, 3 to 9 daily. Happy hour is 3 to 5 with half-off appetizers.

Best for

pizza with kids in the Village

Order

The Idaho pizza (potato, bacon, white cheddar)

Open daily 3 to 9 p.m. Walk-ins only.

A family pizza shop where, per its own site, the youngest sibling makes the dough and the father oversees the sauce. Specialty pies are $17.50 for a 12-inch and $26.50 for a 16-inch, and any pie comes on a 10-inch gluten-free crust. Wednesday through Sunday, 11 to 9.

Best for

a family pizza night

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Walk-ins only.

Gold for best coffee shop in the Mountain Express's 2026 Best of the Valley poll, on River Street a block off Main. Locally roasted, custom-blended coffee, a long list of loose-leaf teas, and scones, muffins and breads baked in house. It doesn't post weekly hours, so check before an early start.

Best for

coffee and a scone down-valley

Order

Brown sugar mocha

Closed Weekly hours not posted; its site showed 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on a late-September weekday. Walk-ins only.

Two women, Liza and Ashley, started it; Erica and Daniel own it now. Breakfast until 11, lunch until 3, DOMA coffee until 4, and a market case of take-home meals, local dairy and meat until 6. The roasted chicken salad sandwich comes on sourdough focaccia.

Best for

lunch and a grocery run in one stop

Order

Roasted chicken salad sandwich

Closed Sundays. Walk-ins only.

Chef Chris Kastner and his wife, Rebecca, opened it in 2003; the name is his initials. The menu names its producers, from Koehn Family trout to Snake River Farms, and in winter the rack of lamb comes with squash from the restaurant's own garden. Bar at 4:30, dinner at 5.

Best for

a special-occasion dinner in Hailey

Order

Rack of lamb

Closed Sundays.

Thai curries and sushi in a turn-of-the-century cottage on Main. Owner Taveesak "Dang" Chanthasuthisombut was the SBA's 2023 Idaho Small Business Person of the Year, and Hailey gave him a key to the city in 2024. He also owns Mr. Dee, the sushi and martini bar up the street in the old Zou 75.

Best for

a Thai dinner on Main

Order

Roasted duck curry

Closed Sundays (Mondays are dinner only).

Rodolfo Armenta opened his first La Cabañita in Ketchum in 2008 and a second in Bellevue in 2013, then took over The Mint on Hailey's Main Street in June 2020. House specialties run about $19 to $26. Happy hour is 3 to 6, Monday through Saturday, and some nights there's a band.

Best for

margaritas and a band on Main

Posted; open daily. Walk-ins only.

A bike shop, scratch kitchen and pub under one roof since 2007. The kitchen bakes its own buns and makes its own ketchup and pickles, and the fries are hand-cut Idaho potatoes. Pizza night is most Mondays and Tuesdays. The pub runs 4 to 9 and is closed Wednesdays.

Best for

a burger after a ride

Order

Power Burger

Closed Wednesdays. Walk-ins only.

Every sandwich comes with a homemade chocolate chip cookie and a dill pickle spear. Kelty Jensen and Holly Trahan bought Jersey Girl on Croy Street in 2023 and renamed it. Weekdays 10 to 3, opening at 6 a.m. Wednesday through Friday during the school year.

Best for

a weekday sandwich with a cookie

Order

Sweet & spicy BLT

Closed Saturdays and Sundays. Walk-ins only.

Sawtooth's Hailey brewery pours 25 taps in a room that looks into the brewhouse; its Public House on Warm Springs Road in Ketchum runs a longer day. The food runs to burgers and IPA-battered cod. Closed Tuesdays, trivia Wednesdays at 6:30.

Best for

a pint after work on River Street

Order

Warm Bavarian pub pretzel (Let's Get Knotty)

Closed Tuesdays. Walk-ins only.

Serva cooked at 200 N. Main in Ketchum until that building came down in April 2025, then moved to Hailey. The recipes come from Redina Arca, the owner's mother: ceviche clásico and organic chicken off a live-flame rotisserie. It opens at noon, 4 on Mondays.

Best for

ceviche for lunch

Order

Ceviche clásico

Tuesday to Sunday noon to 9, Monday 4 to 9.

A 1950s-style diner on Main since 1996, with an open kitchen and working vintage jukeboxes. Owners Manny and Lupe run it with their sons, and Manny helped write the menu it still serves. Corncakes and chicken-fried steak are on it, and kids 12 and under get their own menu.

Best for

a diner breakfast with kids

Order

Corncakes

Monday to Saturday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday 8 to 2. Walk-ins only.

A taqueria on Main cooking in Baja California and Oaxacan styles, with tacos from $4.50 and burritos around $15. Birria and asada lead the signature list, and the quesabirria is a dollar more. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 9, with seats at the bar.

Best for

cheap tacos on a weeknight

Order

Birria taco

Closed Sundays and Mondays. Walk-ins only.

Joel Shinkle, a former Ketchum wine merchant, opened it as Tundra Café, a breakfast and lunch spot, in 2018. It's a dinner restaurant now. Chef Daniel Pastick runs nine entrées from $28 to $49, and the wine list goes up to Krug. Wednesday through Sunday, dine-in only.

Best for

a date night down-valley

Order

Idaho trout with a pine nut and parmesan crust

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Sloan Storey grew up in the valley and started The Wylde Beet in 2023 as a food truck named Betty before moving into a café on Main. Everything is plant-based, from jackfruit tacos to a beet and quinoa burger, and the cheese is made from cashews. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 to 3.

Best for

a vegan breakfast

Order

Torin's Tacos (jackfruit and mushroom)

Closed Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. Walk-ins only.

Peruvian home cooking on Bellevue's Main Street. The lomo al ferrocarril comes to the table flambéed with pisco, and the menu says its papa a la huancaína is award-winning at Mistura, Peru's national food festival. Opens at 7 a.m. on weekends, 10 on weekdays.

Best for

a Peruvian dinner in Bellevue

Order

Lomo saltado

Opens 7 a.m. weekends, 10 a.m. weekdays. Walk-ins only.

Dinner in the old Idaho State Bank building, put up in 1910, vault room included. Chef-owner Jay Veregge is a former Navy SEAL who learned to cook at his grandfather's Basque restaurant in California. The lamb shank is $43. Save room for the bread pudding with bourbon butterscotch.

Best for

a down-valley dinner out

Order

Braised lamb shank

Closed Mondays.

The Armenta family's Bellevue restaurant now fills the old Silver Dollar Saloon on Main, after a 2023 expansion that added a kitchen, patio seating and a rebuilt bar. Mariachi played here during the Bellevue Hispanic Heritage Festival in September 2026. Listings disagree on Sunday hours, so call first.

Best for

a family Mexican dinner in Bellevue

Closed Sundays, per its own site (some listings show it open daily).

Lucy Vazquez runs it with her father, breakfast and brunch all day from 7 to about 2:30, in the strip at the north end of Bellevue's Main Street. The menu runs from chilaquiles and breakfast burritos to chicken-fried steak and a Philly, with a kids menu. Closed Tuesdays.

Best for

breakfast on the way to Silver Creek

Closed Tuesdays. Walk-ins only.

Brothers Shaun and Matt Mahoney opened it on Bellevue's Main Street in September 2006. The Juicy Lucy, a half-pound burger with the cheese inside, comes with a menu warning to use extreme caution. The chili recipes come from the Loon Cafe in Minneapolis, and there's a kids menu.

Best for

burgers and a beer with the kids along

Order

Juicy Lucy

Closed Mondays. Walk-ins only.

Bellevue's pizza place since 1996, run by the owner its website calls Pizza Todd, with a pool table and five beers on draft. Specialty pies run about $24 to $27 and are meant to share; pastas and toasted subs are $10 to $15. Take-and-bake is an option.

Best for

pizza and a game of pool

Order

Thai chicken pizza

Posted; weekdays from 4 p.m., weekends from 2. Walk-ins only.

A sit-down and takeout grill on Carey's Main Street, next to the town park: burgers, baskets, sandwiches and desserts. The city's website still calls it 93 Express. It reopened in February 2026 on Thursday to Saturday hours, 11 to 8, and it closes in the snowy months.

Best for

a burger and a shake on the drive to Craters

Closed Sunday through Wednesday, per its February 2026 post. Closes in the snowy months, per the City of Carey; it reopened Feb. 12, 2026 after a mild winter. Walk-ins only.

The grill inside Picabo Angler, the fly shop that bills itself as the only outfitter on the banks of Silver Creek. Biscuits and gravy, chili, cheeseburgers and fries, 7 to 3 daily, year-round. It's in Picabo, west of Carey, and the City of Carey lists it among its places to eat.

Best for

breakfast before fishing Silver Creek

Order

Biscuits and gravy

Grill daily 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., year-round. Walk-ins only.