The 5 Best Homemade Sauces/Dressings Around Summit County

Oct 3, 2026

3 minutes

A condiment can change the direction of an entire dish. Sweetness balances smoke, acidity brightens rich foods and chiles can add anything from a gentle warmth to a lingering kick. Dressings play a similar role, tying salads and vegetables together while introducing herbs, cheese, fruit or spice. Throughout Summit County, restaurants put their own stamp on these supporting flavors, giving Best of Summit readers plenty to consider beyond the main ingredients on the plate.

Empire Burger

Empire Burger makes sauces a prominent part of the experience, offering a long list of choices that can accompany its hand-cut fries and onion rings. The selection ranges from familiar ranch, honey mustard and blue cheese to jalapeño ranch, BBQ ranch and Parmesan peppercorn. Mayo-based choices include sriracha, roasted garlic and wasabi versions, while curry ketchup, jalapeño ketchup and Mexican ketchup offer variations on another familiar condiment. Green curry, creamy horseradish and sweet mango chutney push the selection in still more directions. Salad dressings include buttermilk Caesar, red wine vinaigrette, raspberry vinaigrette and blue cheese vinaigrette.

Northside Pizza

Northside Pizza has operated in Breckenridge since 2009 with a casual menu built around pizza, wings and other pub favorites. Sauces naturally play a role in that style of cooking, particularly with wings and pizza.

Wildflower BBQ

Wildflower BBQ approaches barbecue through the experience of owners Alison and Abel Beazley, longtime Summit County locals whose culinary backgrounds include six years at The French Laundry. Their Frisco restaurant focuses on made-from-scratch food and draws inspiration from barbecue styles they encountered while traveling around the country rather than adhering to one regional tradition. Sauces fit naturally into that broader approach to smoked meats and scratch cooking. Wildflower also carries those complementary flavors into other parts of its food, including the morning service of breakfast burritos before the restaurant transitions to its barbecue-focused lunch menu.

Bistro North

Bistro North incorporates sauces and dressings throughout its chef-driven modern American menu. Its salads demonstrate the range: The Bibb Wedge uses sweet basil vinaigrette, the Steak Salad features blue cheese vinaigrette and the Caesar comes with its namesake dressing. Elsewhere, crispy tiger shrimp gets pow pow sauce, wild boar meatballs arrive with Sunday sauce and the Bistro Standard Burger includes special sauce. Entrées broaden the spectrum further with bordelaise and hollandaise on the hanger steak, sauce au poivre with beef tenderloin and citrus butter sauce with Scottish salmon. The variety reflects a kitchen that uses sauces as a deliberate component across appetizers, salads, sandwiches and entrées.