It had to be McKelvey’s Victorian Cafe for High Teas

The place to go in Colorado City for scones and teas and a few more mouth watering delicasies was McKelveys…

At least it was according to Anne Christensen writing in The Colorado Springs Gazette in April 2002. She reported:

The tourists are coming! The tourists are coming! Quick, visit your favorite shops in Old Colorado City while you can still get a decent parking place! And when your energy flags, step into an old Victorian house named McKelvey's for a lovely scone and a fragrant pot of tea. Thick walls block out the noise, 112-year-old woodwork gleams in the hall, small window panels saturated with primary colors insulate you from the heat and the hustle.

This haven was built in 1890 to house the family of Henry Templeton, one-time backer of the Hawkeye Mill, later a Methodist minister and philanthropist and the father of the first girl born in El Paso County. Located on the genteel side of Colorado Avenue, his home must have been a showplace.
Since my idea of restoring antiques is to heat up the ol' glue gun and stick the veneer back onto my laminate desk, it's hard for me to contemplate what it took to update and restore this place through the years - to add electricity, install the gas fireplace in the parlor, varnish the five-inch moldings. It's a labor of love, and it shows.

Dining rooms are small, and the dcor is not overwrought - it's Victorian simple, with burgundy and rose linens, lace curtains and "stained-glass" torchieres. No heavy velvets, no dolls, no frilly things lying about. Some will be disappointed, but I was relieved.

Here's how the menu works: Amble in any time during business hours for afternoon tea ($7.95), which means a pot of tea and your choice among several hearty, heavy scones with homemade clotted cream (I liked the chocolate raspberry best). A crockery pot of tea might hold the usual Earl Grey, English or Irish breakfast tea, or something more interesting - a currant-laced Prince of Wales, a delicately smoky Windsor Castle and my favorite, an aromatic Buckingham Palace Garden Party blend.

Another journalist in the city, Nancy Harley of the Colorado Springs Independent als had high praise for the establishment: 

                       
It's the sort of place book groups yearn for -- quiet, inexpensive, and relatively private. It's the sort of place boomers might take their aging parents for a meal in surroundings suggestive of their childhood, for McKelvey's Victorian Cafe looks like nothing more than your grandparents' front parlor, filled with frippery both genuine and faux.

Dominating the front hall is a gorgeous staircase, its wood gleaming and polished. It leads upstairs where a private room can accommodate parties of up to 25 people. Off to the left on the ground floor is the front parlor, a sunny room painted an unfortunate pinkish mauve. The center room has a pretty display of china teapots and cups and a coffee bar where one can get an espresso, cappuccino, latte or chai. In the back is another dining area, its tables also covered in a farmhouse oilcloth. Like other restaurants located in charming houses -- Dale St. Caf and La Petite Maison -- the coziness and warmth of the rooms will make you feel you're dining in someone's home.

As will the service. Our waitress was friendly, accommodating and attentive to our needs, no easy task when her diners are scattered in different rooms. I can only imagine her frenzy when warmer weather allows use of the spacious outside dining area.

Unlike the Victorian decor, lacy and busy, the lunch menu has a spareness and simplicity to it: quiche, sandwiches and salads, with prices ranging from $6.50 to $9.95. We sampled some of each.

The Greek quiche (the other choice was a Quiche Lorraine) almost lived up to its description on the menu: "McKelvey's Homemade Mouth Watering Quiche ... A wonderful egg custard filled pie..." Therein lies the danger of editorializing on your menu. The quiche was tasty. The spinach and feta were thickly layered atop the egg. The portion was generous. But a microwave heating marred the overall effect. Whatever hope of flakiness this lovely crust might have had was zapped into a cardboard oblivion.

The microwave did come in handy in heating the lukewarm soup that accompanied the chicken salad sandwich. The soup of the day was chicken tortilla soup and it was cheesy and zingy, thick with beans and corn. The chicken salad was also good, with a light curry flavor that worked well with the grapes and water chestnuts. The chicken salad and the turkey sandwiches come on croissants. There are two other sandwiches on different breads, a BLT on toasted wheat, and a tuna melt on sourdough. When we asked for options for the chicken salad, our waitress offered either white bread or marble wheat. If you go to McKelvey's, take a certain flexibility with you.

The side salad that came with a sandwich was fresh and crisp. The honey Dijon dressing was lively, and also worked well with one of the Panini sandwiches we tried. Of the three Paninis on the menu -- a vegetarian with red and green peppers, tomatoes, provolone and onions; a turkey and bacon with provolone; and a chicken -- we opted for the chicken. A generous portion of foccacia bread is lightly layered with chicken, provolone, red onions and roma tomatoes; the honey Dijon is on the side and blended all the flavors together.

Although the main menu choices may seem modest, McKelvey's pulls all the stops for dessert -- five different scones, homemade cookies, apple pie cheesecake, five different cakes, several sinful sounding things involving chocolate mousse, and bread pudding.

The scones we tried, a cranberry orange and an apple cinnamon chip, were delicious but affected by that injudicious use of the microwave. It's nice if a scone is warm but it's nicer if it has some crustiness.

Scones and pastries play a leading role at High Tea, surely the perfect meal in this setting. Each afternoon one can enjoy several kinds of finger sandwiches, scones with lemon curd and clotted cream, a variety of desserts and pots of perfectly brewed tea served in delicate china pots. Tea and Sympathy at its finest for only $13. Forget, however, about tea and spontaneity: Reservations are required.
And until early May, you will need reservations for weekend dinner as well. You will also need three friends because a minimum of four people is required. You can try some of the dinner entrees at Sunday Brunch -- Chicken Parmigiana and Creole Shrimp, for example -- with no reservation required. These dining hurdles will vanish in spring when Old Colorado City again teems with strolling tourists. In the meantime, the perfect spot for the many book groups in town sits darkened most nights.

However, for some reason this delightful experience did not last and The Gazette reports on April 22, 2005 that:

The former home of McKelvey's Victorian Coffee and Tea Parlor at 2 S. 25th Street in Old Colorado City has become Unique Boutique and Cafe/Tea Room. Owner Loraine Mace has moved her boutique to the top floor and created a cozy restaurant on the ground floor. She is in the process of surrounding the house with patios and bubbling fountains.