The Blue Lion is located in a charming historic Jackson Hole house that was purchased in 1978 by Ned Brown.

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“I left California after high school to attend college in Colorado, strictly for the skiing. I worked in restaurants during that time period and decided I wanted to open a restaurant in a ski town. It was going to be either Aspen or Vail. Then, during my senior year of college I came to Jackson to visit and ski. That was all it took and here I am. When I arrived in the summer of ’78 I began looking around for a possible restaurant location. The Blue Lion just went on the market. After purchasing it I was planning on serving BBQ or Mexican food. After talking with the seller and her chef I decided to stay with her French menu. The first 10 years The Blue lion served lunch and dinner. After 10 years the dinner business picked up so much and due to the limited space, we decided to just concentrate on dinner. The Blue Lion has evolved a lot since those early days mostly due to the head chef, Tim Libassi who was with me for over 25 years.

The Blue Lion was built as a residential home in the late 1930’s. There was a gentleman from Logan, Utah who dined with us in the summer of 2012 who said he was born and raised in the house. In 1974 Maury Holmes bought the house and turned it into a fondue restaurant called The Tourist Trap. Karen Scott bought it from Maury in 1976 and started The Blue Lion. Karen learned to cook at a school in France and this being her first job, she was sad and blue that she finally had to go to work and her birth sign was a Leo thus, The Blue Lion. The restaurant has been enlarged several times, the upstairs dining, the kitchen, the waiting area and the outdoor deck. In the winter The Blue Lion can accommodate 60 diners at one time. In the summer we open the deck enabling us to accommodate 80 diners. At times the upstairs is used for small private parties. The Blue Lion serves dinner year-round at 5:30 pm with outdoor dining in the summer and life acoustic guitar music most nights to compliment your dinner.”

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