Those cars you see heading out of Pueblo in the morning when everyone else is driving into the city? Some hold chefs bound for farms on the mesa east of town and ranches in the foothills to the west, searching for the best vegetables and meats to grace their tables.

Fresh, local, organic ingredients rate highly with many Pueblo restaurateurs, says Rod Slyhoff, Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce president. "It's a healthy trend," he says. "For a community with a population of around 150,000, we have very few national chains but an impressive lineup of independent, family-owned restuarants run by people who genuinely care about what they serve."

For these chefs, nurturing trusted food sources is paramount. They want to know the farmers and ranchers who supply ingredients that have made their restaurants popular mainstays among Pueblo residents and visitors, too.

Call it part of a general health kick or the maturing of Pueblo’s culinary scene. Either way the results are tasty and interesting. Here are some fresh-focused favorites worth checking out.

Bingo Burger

“We are very committed to sourcing the best local products we can find,” says Bingo Burger chef/owner Richard Warner, whose innovations include massaging diced Pueblo chilies into beef patties, adding free-range fried eggs to bacon burgers, and topping lamb burgers with goat cheese. “Our beef – all grass-fed, hormone-free, and antibiotics-free – comes from Cattlemen’s Choice Ranch in Cañon City. Russet potatoes for our hand-cut fries grow in the San Luis Valley. Pepper’s Plus Farms in Pueblo supplies fire-roasted chile peppers all year and tomatoes during the growing season. Red onions come from Venetucci Farms in Colorado Springs and eggs from Arkansas Valley Organic Growers.” The list goes on: Colorado-raised lamb, chicken, and portabella mushrooms, beers from craft breweries along the Front Range. “Even our ice cream comes from just six blocks away at Hopscotch Bakery,” Warner says.

Angelo’s Pizza Parlor And-a-More’

Located on Pueblo’s Riverwalk and known for New York-style pizza, Angelo’s began in Brooklyn in 1964. Richard Foresta – son of founder Angelo – and his wife Debra moved it west in 1997, and Pueblo chilies from Musso Farms quickly became their top-selling topping.

Coyote Grille

Overlooking the Arkansas River at The Nature & Raptor Center of Pueblo, Coyote Grille is the latest venture by veteran caterer Jim Beatty of Colorado State Fair and River’s Edge Banquet Hall fame. “Our popular chili includes sauteed onions and garlic, Pueblo chilies, tomatoes, and jalapeños, all harvested on the mesa,” he says. “We also put Pueblo chilies and a spicy Southwestern mayonnaise on our half-pound New York strip steak.”

Restaurant Fifteen Twentyone

Pueblo’s most upscale dining establishment can make comfort foods such as meatloaf (featuring grass-fed, free-range, local beef) seem fit for kings. Restaurant Fifteen Twentyone owner Nancy Nguyen and chef Duy Pham put a Colorado spin on exotic fare by pairing local produce with sea bass, calamari and oysters. Their appetizer mushrooms stuffed with grilled zucchini, roasted tomatoes, and basil (all local) and an entree of grilled Colorado lamb bring it all home.

Joe Tomato Italian Market & Deli

Joe Tomato feels like a farmers market there’s so much local produce crowding its aisles. Owner Mark Frankmore knows every farmer worth his or her hoe in the mesa area, and the incredible deli sandwiches he assembles attract a loyal eat-fresh clientele.

Smitty's Greenlight Tavern

Pueblo’s oldest bar, opened when Prohibition ended in 1933 by the Smith family that still runs it, joins the fresh-and-local theme by garnishing martinis not with olives (ho hum) but with decorative peppers (wowzer!) to literally heat up the nightlife. Now that’s putting local produce to good use.

Chilies Worth Celebrating

“Pueblo is known for its green chilies,” says Rod Slyhoff, president of the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce. “They grow all around here, and we cook them into everything – burgers, burritos, haute cuisine at five-star restaurants, you name it.” They’re key in “sloppers” – a messy yet delicious local delicacy involving various combinations of beef, pork, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cheese and other ingredients, but always plenty of chilies, he says.

Chile fans celebrate the plentiful pods during the Loaf ‘N Jug Chile and Frijoles Festival each September.