New Woodland Station Development Sports Taproom, Fine Dining and Culinary Learning
Trevor Phipps
Out of all the new businesses that have landed in Woodland Park in recent, years, none of them have created quite the buzz associated with the Tava House development.
After six years of planning and logistics, the steakhouse/taproom/culinary school is almost nearly complete.
At first the construction process of Tava House experienced some delays, and their original opening date was pushed back. But after having a mild winter, much work was completed (like asphalt and dirt work) in January and February. These aspects of the process normally wouldn’t be possible in most winter seasons.
And after experiencing some good progress on the project, the opening date has been moved forward. That type of speed is practically unheard of in Woodland Park. According to Tava House CEO Derek Waggoner, he expects the doors to the two eateries to open sometime in April depending on when road construction and other related projects get finalized.
Currently, the property still closely resembles a construction site. However, when touring inside the building, it’s very evident that the construction process is reaching its final phases.
When completed, the facility will be unlike anything else Woodland Park has to offer. While walking through the building, it’s clear that the developers paid close attention to every detail inside and out.
Upon entering the front door, patrons will have two options: stay on the main floor for drinks and more affordable culinary items, or head upstairs to the fine dining chophouse. At the entrance, visitors can look up into the wine cellar equipped with glass floors and see a number of bottles of rare wines hanging from chains in the cellar.
Overall, the building is equipped to serve several functions. The main downstairs area will be a restaurant/taproom. Customers can order a drink or food items from the bar or enjoy one of over a dozen tap beers available on their self-serve beer tap system.
The taproom sports a large indoor seating area that has giant glass doors that open up to an even bigger outdoor patio area. The dining room downstairs comes equipped with a see-through fireplace that is open on the outside and transparent glass on the inside, which adds a special touch to the atmosphere.
The back side of the main level features the facility’s banquet area. The banquet room also opens to the outside with large glass doors, and it has its own private outdoor patio.
Waggoner said that once completed, the banquet room should be able to facilitate 100 to 120 people. Tava House already has 20 events, including weddings and conferences, booked for this summer.
The Extravagant Fine Dining Chophouse
The main gem of the Tava House development proves to be its chophouse located on the second floor. According to the CEO, the chophouse will feature everything from a ribeye steak in the $30 range, to much pricier premium Wagyu steak cuts.
Once guests arrive on the building’s second floor, they first notice the all-glass wine cellar stocked with a unique collection for connoisseurs. After checking in at the host stand, patrons will have the choice to sit inside the indoor dining area with large windows to enjoy the Pikes Peak view, or the upstairs balcony with a bar and a few tables overlooking Woodland Park’s downtown strip.
The chophouse will have its own fully-equipped kitchen that is separate from the taproom and banquet kitchen located downstairs. The kitchen will produce high-end items that foodies just can’t find anywhere else nearby.
The interior of the steakhouse appears fancier than other eateries in the area. For example, a glass meat aging display that shows customers special-aged cuts of meat they can purchase creates an added perk to the fine dining.
Culinary Training Meets Real World Fine Dining
To add to the banquet room, chophouse and taproom, the building will also be the home to culinary students whose learning focuses on creating high-end, fine dining dishes. “Paragon Culinary School” already exists, and it is running out of Manitou, as it has for years,” Waggoner said. “But now we will have the mountain campus that will run additionally when the steakhouse is not open during the day. Then there will be students who want to work off their tuition and work here because there will be plenty of jobs available. There are a lot of graduates from Paragon that are waiting for us to open. They are vying for a spot.”
The students will still get a good portion of their classroom training completed in Manitou Springs. The culinary school’s mountain campus will then allow them to get real world experience in casual, banquet and fine dining settings.
While many will flood the business once its doors open next month, the next big event for Tava House is the Second Annual America’s Mountain Festival (AMF). This annual festival will take place on July 11. This year, the festival area, with the vendors, will be open to the public and visitors will only have to purchase a ticket to get into the amphitheater to listen to the live music.
For 2026, the festival will feature Aaron Watson as the headliner along with Walker Montgomery, Jenna Paulette, Tyce Delk, and the Matt Skinner Band.
