[dir-T]

My wife and grew up in north east PA and moved to Montana over 20 years ago. After ages of longing for a version of the awesome pizza we grew up we discovered the Hot Tomato during a MTB road trip. We go out of our way to stop there every chance we get. Most recently we were visiting Moab this past April and drove to Fruita to ride Western Rim but mostly to eat at the HT (and to drink at Palisade Distillery). We were heart broken to find that HT was closed on Mondays, the only day we were able to visit.

Fast forward to this afternoon. Wifey and I are super amped as we anticipate our T-giving trip to Fruita. Four full days in town, surely we'll be able to feast on awesome pizza on ONE of those days. Right? WRONG! They're closed for the entire time we'll be in town.

Everyone deserves a long weekend but gosh, this was a real kick in the nuts.

 

[stripes]

My wife and grew up in north east PA and moved to Montana over 20 years ago. After ages of longing for a version of the awesome pizza we grew up we discovered the Hot Tomato during a MTB road trip. We go out of our way to stop there every chance we get. Most recently we were visiting Moab this past April and drove to Fruita to ride Western Rim but mostly to eat at the HT (and to drink at Palisade Distillery). We were heart broken to find that HT was closed on Mondays, the only day we were able to visit.

Fast forward to this afternoon. Wifey and I are super amped as we anticipate our T-giving trip to Fruita. Four full days in town, surely we'll be able to feast on awesome pizza on ONE of those days. Right? WRONG! They're closed for the entire time we'll be in town.

Everyone deserves a long weekend but gosh, this was a real kick in the nuts.

I feel this pain.

 

[WHALENARD]

Ha!
I grew up in Central/North West New Jersey.
I do a Moab trip once a year hitting Fruita and Grand Junction, I too look forward to going to the Hot Tomato. Not only do I gorge myself there at least two nights but I usually buy a large pie to bring down into Moab with me.

I must say this last year the quality or northeasternness of their pizza dropped off...a bit. Seems to me opening up a New York style pizza place in most any outdoorsy town would be a license to print money.

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[k2rider1964]

I've always been a big fan of HT as well. It's usually my 1st and last meal in town. I even bought a whole pie for the road trip back to SoCal last year. That being said, the wood fired pizza at Antica Forma in Moab blew HT's pizza out of the water for me.

 

[Shark]

I get to the area once every few years for work, I always make a stop there.
So tasty

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[Sanchofula]

My wife and grew up in north east PA and moved to Montana over 20 years ago. After ages of longing for a version of the awesome pizza we grew up we discovered the Hot Tomato during a MTB road trip. We go out of our way to stop there every chance we get. Most recently we were visiting Moab this past April and drove to Fruita to ride Western Rim but mostly to eat at the HT (and to drink at Palisade Distillery). We were heart broken to find that HT was closed on Mondays, the only day we were able to visit.

Fast forward to this afternoon. Wifey and I are super amped as we anticipate our T-giving trip to Fruita. Four full days in town, surely we'll be able to feast on awesome pizza on ONE of those days. Right? WRONG! They're closed for the entire time we'll be in town.

Everyone deserves a long weekend but gosh, this was a real kick in the nuts.

Yup, happened to us last trip, caught them on the flip flop 👍

 

[uintah]

Fast forward to this afternoon. Wifey and I are super amped as we anticipate our T-giving trip to Fruita. Four full days in town, surely we'll be able to feast on awesome pizza on ONE of those days. Right? WRONG! They're closed for the entire time we'll be in town.

Everyone deserves a long weekend but gosh, this was a real kick in the nuts.

It was sold a year ago. You should have bought it! 😁

 

[dir-T]

It was sold a year ago. You should have bought it! 😁

Yeah, I saw that and was hoping to confirm that the recipes are still the same!

Every time I've been there it's been SLAMMED with business - I like a far slower pace during my work day. When would I ever find time to post on MTBR?

 

[uintah]

Yeah, I saw that and was hoping to confirm that the recipes are still the same!

Every time I've been there it's been SLAMMED with business - I like a far slower pace during my work day. When would I ever find time to post on MTBR?

Nothing has changed. Same old HT. Long time manager bought it. He's a great guy.

 

[uintah]

dir-T, do you have friends in town you're visiting? They could pick up a couple unbaked pies and freeze them. Works great. People do it every year when they close for a couple weeks around Xmas. They actually advertise it. Pretty hard to go two weeks without when you live here!

 

[MudderNutter]

Holy schnikes that pizza looks good

 

[dir-T]

dir-T, do you have friends in town you're visiting? They could pick up a couple unbaked pies and freeze them. Works great. People do it every year when they close for a couple weeks around Xmas. They actually advertise it. Pretty hard to go two weeks without when you live here!

LOL, no friends in town. My wife and I have a long history of ditching our families to ride bikes for Thanksgiving! We're not so hard up that we need to go to those lengths either.

But, since I gather that you live there, any suggestions for 2 nights of dinner in Fruita, GJ, or Palisade? We usually camp and are self-contained so we're really only familiar with HT for food options. I ate at a Mexican place in Fruita (north of Main St) that was pretty good but that was 20 years ago.

We're pampering ourselves on this trip and rented an Air B&B* and be cooking for ourselves the rest of the time we're there.


* Please don't hate me for that. I feel super conflicted over them as they are royally screwing up housing situations in and near my town too. But as a traveler, they just can't be beat.

 

[uintah]

LOL, no friends in town. My wife and I have a long history of ditching our families to ride bikes for Thanksgiving! We're not so hard up that we need to go to those lengths either.

But, since I gather that you live there, any suggestions for 2 nights of dinner in Fruita, GJ, or Palisade? We usually camp and are self-contained so we're really only familiar with HT for food options. I ate at a Mexican place in Fruita (north of Main St) that was pretty good but that was 20 years ago.

We're pampering ourselves on this trip and rented an Air B&B* and be cooking for ourselves the rest of the time we're there.


* Please don't hate me for that. I feel super conflicted over them as they are royally screwing up housing situations in and near my town too. But as a traveler, they just can't be beat.

Unfortunately, dining is the biggest weak spot here in the valley. Fruita is really lacking. Don't go to Suds. No good at all! Copper Club Brewing always has good food trucks to go with their great beer.
GJ has some decent options downtown. Bin 707 (more upscale). Taco Party is good. Handlebar Tap House (near lunch loops trails) has good burgers and beer. Ramblebine Brewing and Monumental Beer Works both have really good beer and food trucks.
Palisade has a few good options. Palisade Cafe is good. Not a "Cafe". Good local wine selection. The Distillery (owned by SKA) has good food and great liquor drinks. Palisade Brewing has good pub food.

My 2 cents. Hope you have a great time. Weather looks like it will be great for this time of year.

 

[k2rider1964]

Unfortunately, dining is the biggest weak spot here in the valley. Fruita is really lacking. Don't go to Suds. No good at all! Copper Club Brewing always has good food trucks to go with their great beer.
GJ has some decent options downtown. Bin 707 (more upscale). Taco Party is good. Handlebar Tap House (near lunch loops trails) has good burgers and beer.

We discovered Handlebar on our last trip and it was absolutely fantastic. Wish we would have found it earlier in the week.

 

[DIRTJUNKIE]

My wife and grew up in north east PA and moved to Montana over 20 years ago. After ages of longing for a version of the awesome pizza we grew up we discovered the Hot Tomato during a MTB road trip. We go out of our way to stop there every chance we get. Most recently we were visiting Moab this past April and drove to Fruita to ride Western Rim but mostly to eat at the HT (and to drink at Palisade Distillery). We were heart broken to find that HT was closed on Mondays, the only day we were able to visit.

Fast forward to this afternoon. Wifey and I are super amped as we anticipate our T-giving trip to Fruita. Four full days in town, surely we'll be able to feast on awesome pizza on ONE of those days. Right? WRONG! They're closed for the entire time we'll be in town.

Everyone deserves a long weekend but gosh, this was a real kick in the nuts.

Sorry to laugh at your expense but…gosh, that was some funny and disappointing ****.