Gypsum Creek Grill started with a burrito at a Mexican restaurant in Glenwood Springs.

Rhonda Bell managed Dos Hombres for almost 20 years. Tom Edwards, a Gypsum town council member, and his wife, Margaret, dined there regularly and came to know Bell.

That relationship recently blossomed into a business partnership — Bell Edwards Company LLC — and Gypsum's new restaurant opened April 1.

Bell now manages Gypsum Creek Grill and said people are her favorite thing about the restaurant business.

“When you can go into a partnership with someone after serving him a burrito, there's something to be said about the connection there,” said Bell, who used to work in social services as well.

The grill is the latest restaurant to open at the Gypsum Creek Golf Course after several others attempts.

Edwards said they hope to find success by keeping the operation simple.

Menus

The Gypsum Creek Grill offers a lunch menu and a dinner menu. Prices range from $6 for a soup or salad to a $20 NY strip steak dinner. The average price for an entree is about $12.

Most sandwiches — such as a burger, or a true Reuben with corned beef, or an Ahi tuna sandwich with apple wood smoked bacon, pickled ginger and wasabi mayo and pasta salad — range from $7 to $9.

“We've had an excellent response to the menu,” Edwards said. “Everyone seems to like the food.”

The restaurant even serves quinoa (pronounced “keen-wa”), a vegetarian dish. Bell said their chef is from Vail and it was his idea.

According to “The World's Healthiest Food” website, WHFoods.com, “quinoa is most commonly considered a grain. Quinoa is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard and is an amino acid-rich (protein) seed that has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked.”

Bell said the most popular dinner menu item so far has been the country fried steak, which is $14.

Gypsum Creek Grill also serves beer, wine and four desserts in addition to operating the snack cart at the golf course.

“You won't go away hungry, we serve good portions here,” Bell said.

Serving both

Edwards and Bell want to make the grill a destination for the community as well as the golfers.

“We are looking to serve both needs,” Edwards said.

So far, it seems to be working out. Friday, April 1, was busy and last Friday, April 8, was even busier.

“We had a wait, we were so excited,” Bell said. “It was only for two tables, but we had a wait!”

Edwards estimated April 8 was 50 percent busier than April 1.

“And it seems like business is still picking up,” he said.

The operation is still somewhat golf dependent, however. When it snows, fewer people go golfing, which means fewer people visit the restaurant, Edwards said.

That's why Gypsum Creek Grill needs to appeal to the community in general.

“We wanted to have a menu with nicer dinners like the strip steak but also something for people who want to go out for a bite because they don't feel like cooking, so we offer sandwiches and pasta as well,” Edwards said.

Fresh start

Bell considers it to be a good thing that she is not familiar with any of the previous restaurants that tried the location.

“I didn't have any idea what this place was before,” she said. “I think that makes it easier for me to start fresh.”

Bell might be just the right touch for the venture.

Edwards has said before that he is more of a financial backer of the operation and Bell will be running it.

“She has great customer service skills,” he said.

Indeed, he seems to be right. Bell apparently has a way of forging lasting relationships with her customers.

“I used to serve a group of 80-year old ladies at Dos Hombres every Wednesday for 17 years and they sent me flowers for our grand opening here,” Bell said.