The Easter Bunny forgot to leave me the obligatory basket of foil-wrapped chocolate eggs on Sunday morning. No mind. I found some far more exciting eggs on the breakfast table at a tiny café in Ridgway, Colorado.
At Kate’s Place, in this funky little San Juan Mountains town, chef Katriona Glidewell (known as Kat) turns out a dozen impressive egg dishes. Her Easter morn fritatta was a towering pouf of eggs, flecked with potatoes that were cooked in a corned beef broth, fluffed with ricotta cheese and glossed with béchamel sauce. A fork cut through it like Fat Boy skis gliding through a foot of Champagne powder.
The menu also offered a sensational omelet folded over a lighter-than-air mixture of whole milk ricotta, oven roasted cherry tomatoes and homemade pesto. I asked the chef, who formerly worked at restaurants in nearby Telluride and ran her own catering company, what her favorite egg dishes were. “Oh, for sure the corned beef hash,” she responded. “I put a lot of work into that and we’ll top it with any kind of eggs you want.” She also cited the menu’s Rocky Mountain High Omelet which marries honey baked ham, white cheddar cheese and roasted green chilies.
Nearly a year old, the café/coffee shop is on Clinton St., one of the few roads in the two-mile-square Ridgway (only the main street, Highway 62 is paved). 
The picturesque, unspoiled town (population 713 at the 2000 census) is a gateway to renowned ski resort Telluride, less than an hour’s drive away.
Ouray, nicknamed “Switzerland of America” for its stunning scenery, is a 30-minute drive in the other direction. Ralph Lauren’s sprawling private ranch, the Double R, is just five minutes outside Ridgway. The area’s mountain biking and hiking opportunities are boundless. (Photo by Lynn Connaughton.)
Kate’s Place is open for breakfast and lunch every day but Monday.
The phone number is 970-626-9800. A Web site is in the works.
Here’s Chef Kat’s recipe for the Spring Time Fritatta she served at Kate’s Place on Easter morning. The quantities make it ideal for holiday brunch fare – it serves 15. Or you can quarter the recipe and use just 10 eggs.
Spring Time Fritatta
40 eggs
2 cups milk
3 pint baskets of cherry tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 pounds red new potatoes, quartered
5 zucchini, finely diced
2 cups shaved parmesan
4 cups Polly-O Ricotta cheese
4 cups béchamel sauce (recipe below)
Toss tomatoes in a roasting pan with ¼ cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon minced garlic and ¼ teaspoon each salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast in 400-degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until tomatoes are soft and nicely browned.
Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain. (Chef Kat cooks the potatoes in the broth she gets from cooking corned beef. Home cooks can get a similar effect by adding some beef or chicken broth to the potato cooking water.)
Beat together the 40 eggs and 2 cups milk. Set aside.
Put the cooked potatoes, roasted tomatoes and diced zucchini in a large rectangular roasting pan. Pour the egg mixture over the veggies. Dot the top with large tablespoons of ricotta, using all four cups. Sprinkle the shaved parmesan over the top.
Ladle béchamel sauce over the top evenly.
Cook in a 400-degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Chef Kat’s Bechamel Sauce
1 pound butter
2 ½ cups flour
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
6 cups milk
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Melt butter in a large, heavy saucepan. Add flour 1 cup at a time, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Whisk until all flour is added and the mixture is smooth.
Add salt, pepper, garlic and nutmeg.
Reduce heat and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring constantly.
Whisk milk in, 1 cup at a time, until you have a gravy-like consistency. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Thin with additional milk if sauce is too thick.
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