The Lucky Wishbone: For when you just need an old-fashioned diner

The reason you are here is for the fried chicken. You are not here for the décor, because the green booths and the World War Two and early Anchorage photos on the wall have not changed in decades. You are not here because of their big flashy sign that enticed you in, because it hasn’t changed in decades, either. You are not here because you made a reservation a month in advance; while it is usually pretty full, they don’t take reservations, and won’t seat you until every person in your party has arrived. The only exception to this is if you tell your waitress that you will order for the person who is late. Opened in 1955 by George and Peg Brown, the Lucky Wishbone has changed very little in the past 30 years. Peg passed away recently, but this is still very much a family operation. New people discover it, but there are also all of us who have been coming for decades. I’ve run into friends eating there, I’ve had kids making faces at me over the tops of the booths, I’ve been waited on by girls I went to school with, and I’ve seen the late Senator Ted Stevens eating dinner there. They started taking credit cards a few years ago, so don’t say they aren’t changing with the times. But honestly, they aren’t really, and they don’t need to be.

The Lucky Wishbone gets all their chicken fresh, and they make fantastic pan-fried chicken. You can order the pop, mom, or junior chicken basket, which comes with 4, 3, or 2 pieces, respectively. If you pay extra, you can try and get all-white or all-dark, if it’s available. I usually get the Junior and my husband gets the Mom, but sometimes we get the Mom and Pop and take some home. The chicken baskets come with a cornbread muffin and French fries. Gone are the days when they make their own fries (before my time), so rather than fill up on frozen shoestring fries, I ask for coleslaw instead, that way I may possibly have room for some of the other delicious things on the menu.

They also make a good burger, one that’s probably in the top ten but not the top five burgers in Anchorage. You can get an unadorned burger, a burger with a square slice of American cheese, or you can get the “Deluxe” which has some shredded iceberg lettuce, pickle, and mayo.

Most of the accompaniments to your meal are fantastic, too, especially the ones not on the menu but on the dry-erase board by the front counter. While the salads on the menu are iceberg lettuce, a tomato slice, and massive amounts of creamy dressings (get it on the side or you will drown!), they make their own soups which are amazing, and which rotate sometimes by the season and by the day of the week. Family favorites for soup are chicken and dumpling and split pea with ham.

For dessert, they usually have pie selections listed on the dry-erase board too. This fall I had a great pumpkin pie, but honestly I don’t usually think to get pie because the Lucky Wishbone is a serious contender for the best milkshakes in town. I get chocolate (obviously), and my husband gets a berry one, blackberry if they have it. We usually get the small, which is very small, because one needs to pace oneself here, after all. They are so thick that I don’t think they even bother to bring you a straw with it. I have started ordering my shake at the end of the meal, because otherwise you get it first thing, and you have to eat it right away while it’s still thick, and milkshake-and-coleslaw, or especially milkshake-and-soup, are not among my favorite food combinations. Other dessert options are the hot fudge sundae – when I was a kid, it was a toss-up between the sundae and the milkshake, now the milkshake generally wins out- or strawberry shortcake with homemade biscuits.

If your fried chicken obsession becomes serious, you can take home buckets of chicken from the take-out counter or the drive through. And because the owners still think family time is important, they aren’t open on Sundays. A dinner for two will average $30-$40 with the tip, depending on whether you get soup, milkshakes, or pay extra for all-white or all-dark chicken. You can also buy a t-shirt or hooded sweatshirt, to declare your love of the best fried chicken and milkshakes in Anchorage. So come to the Lucky Wishbone, as often as my family does, and if you're just visiting, don't miss it. I'll see you there!

Tasting Classes at Summit Spice and Tea Company

Happy weekend-after-Thanksgiving everyone!  In honor of Buy Nothing Day which was Friday, and Small Business Saturday, I wanted to talk about some fun experiential things that you can do with your friends and family this weekend, and throughout the holidays to take your mind a little off all the consumerism messages. And to remind you that if you do go shopping this weekend, to go to some local Anchorage businesses. My husband and I will be taking some walks in the new snow with our dog, Steve, going to the movies, and going to the Museum to see some new exhibits. One of the other things I like to do is take tasting classes at Summit Spice and Tea Company's midtown store.

The classes start at 6:00 on Thursday nights, and most of the classes cost between $10 and $25. And you have to sign up in advance; I have been in the store before a class and people just come in and want to take the class; that is not going to work, people! I’ve never been to one that’s not full. Most classes fill up at least a week or two in advance, if not a month ahead, and there’s often a waiting list. The best thing to do is sign up for emails, that way you get the class schedule first and can make your reservations for the next group of classes. Check in after the holidays for the next class agenda.

The classes I’ve taken last between an hour and an hour and a half. Of course, the reason they have the classes is because they want you to buy the things that you’ve just tasted, and to that end they give you discounts on those products. For example, the night of the chocolate class you’re taking, you get a 15% discount on any chocolate in the store, and then you get a 15% coupon for a future purchase of chocolate that’s good for a month or so. Sometimes (okay, usually) I will discover something new that I want to take home, but I've also gone just to learn and taste and walked away, so you can just go to a fun class and not buy anything.

Basic Tea tasting

The basic tea tasting class gives you an overview of tea. You only taste true tea, Camellia sinensis, not herbal, rooibos, or other drinks technically called "infusions." But, Summit does have an herbal tea blending class, so you can take that if you want some peppermint tea. Like most beer and wine tastings, you start with the lightest, most delicate flavors, and end with the strongest ones. And since this is an overview, we tasted teas that are "typical" of a particular country or region. So, for the tea overview, you start with white tea, which is made with the least processed tea leaves. We tried a great one from Kenya that I really liked a lot. Then we tried two green teas, one from China and one from Japan, to taste the differences between the two countries' preferences. The Japanese tea is bright green and tastes more grassy. Then we tried an Oolong, which I really liked too. We ended with three black teas, one from Sri Lanka and two from China. One of the Chinese black teas we tried was from Keemun (or Qimen), a province in China that, unlike most places in China, only makes black tea rather than green. Most Keemun tea goes into English Breakfast blends. We ended with a Pu'erh black tea, which is fermented and aged. Think of it as the Roquefort cheese of tea. Seriously, it's aged in caves and grows mold. It tastes very smoky and earthy, and is very distinctive compared to the other teas. My favorites were the white tea and the Oolong, and I'll probably be buying some white tea from Summit in the future. Most of the loose leaf teas Summit sells are only a couple dollars an ounce, the vast majority are under $5, but they have a few, mainly oolong or very fancy green teas, that are over $10 an ounce. They have a whole brochure with all their teas and prices, so you can do some planning before you buy.

Black tea tasting

This class was a great, intense tasting, during which we tasted thirteen varieties of black tea. Like with a wine tasting, you start with the lighter and move towards the stronger. Since the class started at 6:00 pm, I was still talking my husband’s ear off at 10:30. We started with Indian teas, trying two Darjeeling teas, two Ceylon teas, and two Assam teas. These are very British colonial types of teas. Ceylon now exports more teas than anywhere else. We then tried five teas from China, which grows the most tea, but they drink almost all of it themselves. We started with two from Yunnan, that incidentally you can re-steep to make multiple cups from each spoonful of leaves. We then tried two Keemun teas, which as I said above, are really common English Breakfast teas. The Rose Keemun tea we tried is reputedly one of Queen Elizabeth II's favorite teas, but I didn't like it, at least when drinking it straight. It was actually a little strange to taste these teas plain, because most people drink them with milk and sugar or honey, so you didn't really see what they would taste like as you would actually drink them. Then we tried the Lapsang Souchong tea, which was so amazingly different from any other black tea. This is smoked tea, and it seriously tastes like a salmon smokehouse. This is the tea that Tibetan monks drink with Yak butter when they're fasting. I bought a little of this so that I could have some every once in a while- I think I'll try it with milk or whipped cream. We ended with two teas from outside the traditional tea growing regions. We tried one from high altitude plantations in Kenya, and one from Vietnam that was very similar to the teas from Assam.

Dark chocolate

I already know a fair amount about chocolate, so the thing that I found the most interesting was the discussion of each individual company whose chocolate we tasted, because Summit makes a point of buying from really progressive companies, who are doing a lot of Fair Trade and environmental work. We tried 15 different types of chocolate, from 62% cacao to 80%. One of the chocolates we tried was from Original Beans, a company that gets some of their chocolate from Bolivia, and plants a tree in the rain forest around their source plantations for every single bar you buy. Another one of their bars, Cru Virunga, is made from beans from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and for every one of those bars sold, they plant trees in Virunga National Park to help preserve the gorilla habitat there. The owner of Davao chocolates gets his chocolate from the Philippines, and he not only pays Fair Trade prices, but he gives dividends from the company profits to the workers on the plantations. ChocolatBonnat is a French company that has been around since the 1880s, so they know what they're doing in terms of taste. We tried a bar of theirs that's sourced from Sri Lankan cacao. Askinosie Chocolate is from Missouri, and they work with every stage of the process to ensure fair prices and good environmental practices, and they also work to give books to kids in Honduras, where their bars are from. We tried an 80% cacao bar from Madecasse, who grows the cacao and makes the bars all in Madagascar, so that more of the revenues from the company (which also has a base in New York), stay with workers in Madagascar. The company also makes their own vanilla their on the island.

The chocolate bars at Summit are not particularly cheap, with some in the $3-5 range, but many of the bars are $10-15. I find that all the bars I get from here last quite a while, since I only need a couple bites at a time. Even though they're expensive, if you get a chocolate card, you can buy ten bars and get one free. Once I've finished my chocolate card and gotten my free bar, I'll do a post on all the chocolates I tasted.

Olive oil and balsamic vinegar

This was the last tasting I went to, and it was really fun. We tasted six of the olive oils Summit Spices carries, three plain ones and three flavored ones. The instructor talked about how olive oil is made, what all the different terms mean, and the differences in terms between America and Europe. She also discussed the different flavors common in different regions. For example, oils made in Spain tend to taste more buttery than those from other regions. 

The three plain olive oils we tasted were from France, Spain, and Italy. All three used different varieties of olives, and tasted very different. The French oil was A L'Olivier Vallee des Baux-de-Provence. It was the least strong of the three plain oils, very buttery and smooth, and was $45 for a 1/2 liter. The Spanish oil, Marques de Grinon olive oil was my favorite of the unflavored oils. It was a very strong and peppery oil, made from Spanish olive varieties, and cost $34 for a 1/2 liter bottle. No wonder it was my favorite, because the company was founded in 1292, and is still winning awards for its oil. The third, Italian oil we tried was Badia Campo Corto Olive Oil. It wasn't quite as strong at the Spanish oil, and was really smooth without the strong pepper bite. It was the most expensive unflavored oil, $50 for a 1/2 liter bottle. I bought a bottle of the Spanish oil, and I may go back and get one of the others, too, or try one of the other oils they have for the "if you like this..." list for the Spanish oil.

The flavored oils we tried were lemon, ginger, and rosemary. The first two were Italian, and the rosemary oil was Spanish. The lemon oil was really good, with a good fresh lemon flavor at the end. I really didn’t like the ginger oil. Maybe it’s because I thought it was too strong, or maybe it’s because I just didn’t think the two flavors went together very well. I’m all for ginger in Indian food or something, but I thought it was strange with the oil. The rosemary one was in the middle. I think the flavors go really well together in cooking, so the oil was pretty good, too, but I liked the lemon the best. The flavored olive oils are sold in 1/4 liter bottles, and cost between $13.50 for the rosemary flavored oil, to $26 for the lemon flavored oil.

Next came the balsamic vinegars. I learned a lot about how balsamic and other vinegars are made. It was really interesting to learn how people traditionally make balsamic vinegar, aging it in the eaves of their houses for years and years, putting the vinegar in a new cask every year for decades as it concentrates, and flavoring each batch with a little from the last batch, like with sourdough starter or yogurt. This mixing is why the serious vinegars aren’t allowed to actually say how long their product has been aged, because it’s all mixed. I also learned that there are people in Italy whose whole job is to sit on the balsamic vinegar consortium boards (there are two- Modena and Reggio Emilia) and taste vinegar to make sure it meets the flavor standards and decide whether it should be certified or not and bottled by the consortia. How do you get that job? Are there whole families who for generations serve on the consortia? Also, we learned that the best balsamic vinegars contain only grape must, but most that you get in America have added flavors or other things. Because they're aged for so long, the casks make a big difference- we tasted two that were from the same company, of the same quality, but one was aged in cherry and one in juniper casks, and it made a big difference in the flavor. We tried one American balsamic vinegar which was what you are used to when you buy vinegar- pretty tart, liquidy, and would be good for using in salad dressings. All the other ones we tried were thick like molasses, and way sweeter.

The ones that were certified by the Consortia were between $85 and $226 for a little 8 oz bottle. These are not for use in salad dressings! These are so thick and sweet and strong, you would drizzle them sparingly on fruit, salad, or cheese. The other two vinegars we tasted were $21 and $48.75 for a 1/4 liter. I bought the cheapest one, but I may go back and buy one of the thick ones while I have a discount.

Conclusions

So, as you can see, there are lots of foods to learn about and taste. Other classes I haven't been to include a green tea class, an herbal tea blending class, candy and confection classes, and a class on mixed vinegars (balsamic, red wine, champagne, etc). So, if you want to do what I do, sign up for emails from Summit Spices so you know about the classes early, sign up for some, and then when you get off work on those Thursdays, you can go get a sandwich down the road at Middle Way Cafe, and go take a tasting class.

Road Trip! Sitka

This summer, after my trip to Haines, I went down to Sitka. Sitka is a great little town on Baranof Island, and used to be called New Archangel when it was the capital of Russian Alaska. It was also the first Territorial capital when Alaska was sold to the United States. Although originally a Tlingit village, Russians had a presence in Sitka since the late 1700s. There were a couple skirmishes between the Tlingit and the Russians (the Russians had it coming, I can assure you!), including one major battle in 1804. Now it is a tourist and fishing town of about 9000 people, and still has a substantial Tlingit population.

Sitka has a substantial cruise ship economy, which is important information to inform your dining habits. Since the ships are such a big part of Sitka’s economy, a lot of places are closed when there isn’t a cruise ship in town. This is more important for shops than for restaurants, but still impacts them. The cruise ships leave at 5:00 pm, so almost all of the stores are closed after 6:00, if not earlier. Very few restaurants are open year round, which I will talk about in more detail later on.

The first place I went in Sitka was one of my two favorites, the Larkspur Café. It’s right on the western edge of town, next to the docks and the bridge that goes over to Japonski Island where the airport and college are. It used to be the US Army cable house for the northern end of the undersea telegraph cable that ran to Seattle, but you need to talk to my husband if you want to learn more about that! Today, there is a little coffee shop and café in the bottom, and it looks like KCAW radio might have been on the second floor- at any rate, the KCAW gift shop was also on the first floor. This restaurant of course features local seafood, and also had lots of organic foods. In the summer they are open for lunch and dinner, brunch only on Sundays, and closed on Mondays; I didn't find out what their winter hours were. I went for lunch, where they have a regular menu; the dinner that night was some kind of curry- the server I asked about it said that dinner is whatever the cook feels like, so you don't always know in advance. They had lots of homemade soups, including Alaskan clam chowder, potato and kale, and Spanish chorizo. All the soups come with homemade focaccia bread and are $6 or $9 for a cup or a bowl. I got the tomato soup with shaved parmesan. Most restaurants serve tomato bisque, but this was a straight-up vegetable soup. They had some delicious looking appetizer boards that I wanted to try but didn't. They had a fruit and cheese board with manchego, brie, grapes, chocolate almonds, spiced nuts, and focaccia for $10, a Mediterranean board with hummus, kalamata olives, feta, nuts, and vegetables with focaccia for $15, and a savory board with meats, brie, nuts, and grapes. They also had salads, pasta, a reuben sandwich, a quesadilla, paninis, and burritos. They have a great selection of drinks, including espresso, natural sodas and juices, Mexican Coke, Mexican hot chocolate, and beer and wine. They also had some desserts for $2-5, including chocolate crinkle cookies, bread pudding, marscapone tart, almond lemon coconut cake, and lavender pound cake. For my main course, I had the fish tacos, which were made with Alaskan ling cod, mozzarella, pico de gallo, cilantro, cabbage, sour cream, and corn tortillas. They were delicious, and were well seasoned and not breaded and fried. I love good fish tacos, and these were great. As you can see from the menu, there were a lot of delicious-sounding foods, and if I had had time, I definitely would have come back here.  

When I needed something sweet in the afternoon, I went to the soda fountain at the Harry Race Pharmacy, on the westernmost block of Lincoln. They have a large selection of shakes, smoothies, malts, and sundaes. You should probably go with someone, because everything they make is large. You should also watch the time of day that you go, because I went by there once and the place was totally packed with high schoolers. I got the Mount Edgecumbe Eruption, which is named after Sitka's beautiful extinct volcano, which was itself named after some politically connected British fellow by Captain James Cook. This was a massive sundae that came with either chocolate or vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, marshmallow cream, coconut, chocolate sprinkles, whipped cream, and nuts. It was great, but like I said, gigantic. An example of one of their other offerings is the Harbor Mountain sundae, which was kind of a sundae/banana split combo, with chocolate or vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, banana, brownie, whipped cream, and nuts.

The only place I went that I wouldn’t recommend is Kenny’s Chinese and Japanese, across from Totem Square. This is a local hangout, and I was definitely the only non-local in there. I went there at lunchtime, and it was total chaos. It was really busy, there are only about 8 tables in the place, and all the employees (mainly members of a long-time Sitka family) are so busy that no one is really paying attention to the customers. Apparently if you are local you know how to get service, because I sure didn't. They have some $6.95-$9.95 lunch specials, plus a lot of teriyaki, sushi, fried rice, etc. I waited about 45 minutes for my lunch, and I was about to either go on a rampage or just faint, I was so hungry by the end. I went and ate it in the park since there still weren't any tables and it was so close and hot in there anyway. The other thing that was sad was that most of their business is take-out, so there was a huge amount of plastic and styrofoam going out that door. But whatever. The food was good in terms of basic Chinese food, but nothing amazing. It seems like the locals love it, but I probably won't go back.

If you need a quick pick-me-up you should go to the Highliner Coffee Company. It’s a little hard to find in Sitka terms – meaning it’s not on Lincoln Street – but it’s well worth it. Even though they are a coffee shop they are totally obsessed with wild salmon, and well they should be. To that end, they sell bumper stickers that say “Friends don’t let friends eat farmed fish – support Alaska’s wild fisheries” (you can also buy one online here) and notecards with Ray Troll’s great artwork for “Fish Are Not For Farming! Eat Wild Salmon.” Click on the link to see the Ray Troll art, but I didn’t want to put it here without permission. And of course, they have the usual Alaskan coffee shop fare- lots of tasty espresso drinks, smoothies, and pastries.

Backdoor Coffee behind the bookstore was also good- they make great cookies and have a great hippie-coffee-shop atmosphere, but like many Sitka establishments they keep odd hours when the cruise ships aren’t around. I was there pretty close to an hour before their posted closing, but there was no ship that day, so they apparently decided to close up early. Anyway, it’s not their fault – I’d stop working early, too, if I could – but it’s something to be aware of if you’re in Sitka.

Since I love chocolate, I figured I had better go into the Chocolate Moose. They have flowers and touristy gift shop things, and of course they have a chocolate counter. They had several chocolate bars that are made locally, including ones from the Chocolate Moose brand bars and from Theobroma bars. They also had a counter with a ton of truffles and other candies. The truffles were pretty big but expensive, $3 each, or a little cheaper if you get a box. The thing that was disappointing was that I noticed on the box after I took some truffles home that they aren’t made in Alaska! So if you stop by, get the chocolate bars that are locally made, not the truffles or candies in the display cases that are made Outside and shipped up. I got a dark chocolate with hazelnut bar from Chocolate Moose, and a Midnight Espresso Bar from Theobroma. I like them both but I liked the Theobroma more, which is convenient because you can occasionally find them in Anchorage.

One night for dinner I went to the Dock Shack. It was good, but didn’t blow my mind or anything. I still recommend it for two reasons. One, they just opened it, and they’re trying to keep it open year-round, which we should always try to support, and two, the restaurant is located in the Shee Atika Totem Square Inn, which is owned by the Sitka Tlingit Tribe, and I am for supporting businesses owned by Native Alaskan tribes. They are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The breakfast was a typical menu, but really I want to talk about when I went there for dinner. They had several Alaskan beers on tap; I got the Alaskan Summer Ale, which is a nice light beer for summertime. They had lots of seafood appetizers you would expect in any Alaskan resturant, like coconut shrimp, calamari, smoked salmon spread, cheddar baked scallops, and halibut bites. They also had several soups and salads, many featuring seafood, including a smoked salmon salad, a blackened shrimp Caesar salad, a Wild Alaskan Fisherman's Salad, which had shrimp, scallops, halibut, and crab and sounded really good, seafood chowder, and clam chowder. I got a "chop salad" with Stilton bleu cheese dressing which was totally not a chopped salad. It was a perfectly fine little romaine side salad, but I was expecting an actual chopped salad, which it was not even close to being. They had lots of typical sandwiches and other things, like a halibut sandwich, burgers, paninis (including a crab one), halibut tacos, and a roast beef sandwich. Entrees were also typical semi-fancy restaurant fare: they have a ribeye, a filet mignon, and cashew chicken. I got the shoestring-potato-crusted halibut with dill and champagne cream sauce. You could also get it with rice or fries, but I got it with the "cream cheese parsley mashers," which were basically really creamy herbed mashed potatoes. They were delicious, and actually way more interesting and original than the halibut. The fish was fine, it wasn't overcooked, and it wasn't drowning in sauce, but it wasn't as good as it sounded on the menu. I would give this restaurant another try for lunch or dinner, especially because it just opened recently, but my  first impression was that it didn't quite deliver - nothing was as good as I expected from the menu.

My other favorite place that I went was the Bayview Restaurant and Pub on Lincoln Street. I went there once for lunch and once for dinner. This place is pretty new- there used to be a fancy restaurant there, but new owners bought it, changed the menu and atmosphere, and are trying to keep it open year round. They have a serious pub/bar atmosphere, including TVs on the wall with sports on, but that’s okay because they’re a great restaurant. Since I went for dinner, after the cruise ships had left, it seemed to be mostly locals. Even moreso that most southeast Alaskan establishments, they are very militant about their seafood and beer. There are what are best called manifestos on their menus and on their tables about their support of fresh, local seafood and fishermen, and about local and independently brewed beer. They explain that the seafood menu changes seasonally, and that everything they serve is fresh and from some guy down on the docks, not frozen and from a giant distributor. All their beer is from “American, 100% independently owned operations,” so that we can “take a drink to an Anheuser, Miller, and Coors-free environment.” My kind of people! There is also a manifesto on the ketchup bottles about how it ruins the taste of the food they have so carefully prepared for their customers, which according to my waitress appeared after the owner saw a customer drowning his fresh Alaskan Dungeness crab in ketchup. And they have a couple disparaging remarks about Pepsi, but I didn’t find out an explanation for that. Still, the owners clearly sound like awesome people that we should support by going to their fine restaurant.

 

Like most places in southeast Alaska, the primary beer is from the Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau. I had an Amber Alt Style Ale from there while I was at the Bayview, although it was in a bottle and I meant to get one of the ones on tap. It was still good, as all their beers are. They also have beer from the Baranof Island Brewing Company, which is a very small Sitka brewery and sells only growlers to the public and kegs to restaurants. I had a Baranof Brown the second time I went, which was their one draft from there. It was a lot darker than I usually like, but it was good and I’d really like to try some other beers from them sometime.

 

For food at the Bayview, they have a lot of seafood, burgers, sandwiches, and barbeque. I got the fish and chips, made with fresh Alaskan rockfish. The fish was great, it came with three giant pieces of fish that were cooked perfectly and were totally falling apart between the delicate cooked fish and the thin, crispy (not greasy) beer batter. The fries were also fresh and house made, and were really good. I also got a side salad, which was a good salad but it was pretty darn big for a"side salad." I can't imagine what the entree salads are like. When I went back a second time for lunch with some colleagues, I got the build-your-own mac and cheese. You get a basic mac and cheese and then you get to pick the things they add, like peas, onions, broccolli, mushrooms, sausage, and bacon. I got it with onions, mushrooms, and peas. It was good, with a good cheesy base, and room to add the flavors you like. I would like to point out that it is not baked, for those of you like my husband, who like their mac and cheese with a browned, crusty top.

Now, I have to discuss one of the specials, which I did not get but was so crazy it needs to be mentioned. They had a Freedom Burger special one day, which the waitress explained was a burger topped with deep-fried pickles, and instead of a bun, it’s served between two grilled cheese sandwiches. I’m trying to figure out the “freedom” part- is it freedom to have a heart attack? Freedom to go on cholesterol medication? I guess a lot of people split it. Honestly, I’m sure it’s fantastic for, like, two bites. After that you're just crazy.

So clearly you have a lot of delicious options when you come to Sitka. There were several places I didn't go, including the restaurant at the Westmark Hotel, which was supposed to be decent, the Reindeer Redhots hot dog cart, the Mexican restaurant, the other Asian restaurant, and Victoria's, which just looked like a generic tourist place. But I think I got a good representation of the food on offer, and I really think I got to the best places. I hope you're hungry!

Road Trip! Haines

This week I went to the beautiful town of Haines in southeast Alaska. Haines is a great little town of 2500 people on the northern end of the southeast panhandle, and was originally at the end of an important Tlingit trade route with the interior, and then became one of the starting points for people heading to the gold fields in the Klondike and Alaskan Yukon. Today it has mainly a fishing and tourism based economy. It is surrounded by incredible mountains and glaciers, and has a lot of beautiful historic buildings that were originally part of Fort William H. Seward, which was established at the turn of the century to guard the Canadian border and exert control during the chaos of the Gold Rush. Some of the restaurants I will be talking about are in historic Fort Seward buildings. Because so much in Haines is dependent on summer tourists, hardly any restaurants are open year round, and in fact most places I visited were on the verge of closing for the season.

My first stop in Haines was Mosey's Cantina for lunch. Several people said that it was one of their favorite restaurants, not only in Haines, but one of their favorite Mexican restaurants in all of Alaska. They are closed on Tuesdays, so if I wanted to go I figured I better to while I could (a lot of Haines businesses are closed on Tuesdays; I think it has to do with the cruise ship schedule). I was also told that it isn't exactly the cheapest place in the world, so going for lunch would also be better for that. Mosey's is located in one of the historic Ft. Seward buildings, and it has a fantastic view of the bay and the mountains, so sit on the big porch or in the garden if the weather is good. You have to go in to order and pick up your food though- they apparently don't believe in these things called "waiters." They don't have a huge menu, but everything is home-made. I got some chips and guacamole for $2, and they make their own, chunky guacamole that was pretty darn good. I also got a glass of freshly made sun tea. If you're in the mood you can also get a glass of Haines Brewing Company beer. I went with the smothered bean and cheese burrito for lunch for $11.50. It comes with your choise of red or green chile sauce, and for another dollar you can get chicken or beef in it, too. The burrito was freaking huge, and the green chile sauce was pretty spicy, and really good, and clearly homemade. Other options at Mosey's include tacos with chipotle chicken, beef, or pork, tacos or a burrito with fresh Alaskan rockfish, a real, slow-cooked chile verde with slow-cooked pork, quesadilla, tostadas (beef, chicken, or guacamole), taco salad, or a "south of the border" salad. I didn't see the dinner menu so I'm not sure how many more options they have later, but what I had was great, so if you want some surprisingly tasty Mexican food, check it out.

For dinner I went to the fanciest restaurant in town, the Hotel Halsinglad Commander's Room Restaurant, which is also on Ft. Seward, across the parade grounds from Mosey's. They are only open for dinner, and this was the last week they were open, and they were already booked up for Tuesday's dinner, their annual chef's tasting menu. This year it was seven courses, and paired with wine for $100 a person. I'm not disappointed though, because their regular menu is pretty impressive. They have several delicious looking salads, chicken liver pate, and fresh salmon gravlox. I had the duck confit salad for $15, which was totally incredible. The salad and the duck would have both been incredible on their own, but with their powers combined, it was just fantastic. There was a huge piece of duck, and it was perfectly cooked and just falling apart. The salad underneath was also amazing, with red onion, candied walnuts, lots of really good creamy gorgonzola cheese, and a blackberry balsamic vinagrette. I also got a flatbread, which are kind of like mini pizzas the way they do them. They had three options, ranging from $10.50 - $12.50 including one with sausage, carmelized onion, cheese, and red peppers. I got the crimini mushroom one since I was getting the duck. It had lots of mushrooms that were very well cooked so they were dark and meaty and rich, a three cheese base, and some herbs and asparagus. I didn't get an entree, but their options looked pretty delicious. They had fresh Alaskan salmon, halibut, house made rabbit sausage, ribeye steak, and Moroccan lamb shank. Entrees ranged from $25- $33. They also have a great wine list, with a huge range of options, with glasses from $6- $7.50, and bottles mostly from $19 - $40, but with the higher end bottles ranging from $59 to $160. I had a glass of the Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles and a glass of the Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County. I wasn't going to have two glasses but the Liberty School was so good that I finished it while I was working on my duck. They also have several homemade desserts, including homemade ice cream. I got the Belgian chocolate torte, of course, which was really rich and dense and definitely better than a lot of tortes or flourless chocolate cakes I've had. This one was also topped with homemade peppermint ice cream, which was just incredible, and a little bit of raspberry sauce. Both were great complements to the chocolate without overpowering it. If you have the opportunity for a fancy dinner while you're in Haines, you have got to check this place out.


Of all the places I personally went to eat, the Mountain Market was the only one open year-round, and they can do this because they have everything. They have a coffee shop and roast their own beans under the name Ripinsky Roasters, they have breakfast, lunch, and pastries, and they have an organic grocery store, which has all kinds of things, from organic milk, eggs, and cheese, to curry paste and bulk foods. Most of the drip coffee they had at the coffee shop was also organic, and they were clearly trying to sell local foods- they had local eggs and a couple of local vegetables. Since they're open year round, this is the coffee shop/local hang out of choice for the locals, and it shows. I swear the woman behind the counter knew the names of everyone that came in. So, I had a good mocha with locally roasted beans, and a really good homemade lemon poppyseed muffin for breakfast. They also make their own breakfast sandwiches and burritos. I also got a sandwich to go for lunch. They had several delicious looking options, but I went with the Market Sub, which was on a really good baguette that I think they made, with chicken, lots of pesto, avocado, and lettuce. It was really good, and really the only problem with it was that the bread was so good and substantial that you kind of squished a lot of the goodness inside out when you ate. I also got a brownie with peanut butter frosting. The brownie was okay but the PB frosting was pretty great, I don't know what they did- it wasn't really a frosting, per se, but rather some sort of fluffy peanut butter concoction. Anyway, buttery and delicious. Plus they're local, open year-round, display and sell local art on the walls, and bring some diversity and environmental-consciousness to the grocery options in Haines. So, both for taste and on general principle, make sure you go to Mountain Market next time you're in Haines.

For dinner my second night in Haines I went to the Fireweed Restaurant, which everyone recommended. They are located right below the parade grounds on Ft. Seward. The first thing when I walked in I was hit by a fantastic smell of pizza, which was a good sign. They were also packed, and were planning on closing in late September. They had a good looking wine list, but I decided I needed to have some local beer, so I got a Haines Brewing Company IPA. It was wheatier than I expected, but very good. The owners, like many in southeast Alaska, try to have as many local and organic ingredients as possible. I had a bacon wrapped date, which was stuffed with a coffee-almond puree and drizzled with maple syrup for $2.50 each. It was really good, and I especially liked the bacon/maple syrup combo, but it wasn't quite as good as the bleu cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon at the Cafe Sevilla tapas bar in southern California. Seriously, those things were so good even my friend with serious diet restrictions for his heart ate one of them- it was his "bacon quotient for the year." But I digress. Other delicious-looking appetizers on the Fireweed's menu included a freshly baked pretzel with mustard, olives stuffed with anchovy, bleu cheese, and herbs, toasted cheese ravioli, tapenade, and white wine cheese fondue. For soups and sides, the soup of the day seems to change frequently- the day I went it was beef stew. They also had garlic bread, Italian potato salad, and pasta salad. I had a small house salad for $4.50, which was a basic side salad but was made with fresh baby greens and had a (I assume homemade) creamy gorgonzola dressing. They also have Greek salad, Caesar salad to which you could add chicken, a grilled flatiron steak salad, and a grilled halibut pesto Caesar salad. That last one was a serious contender for my meal. They also had several things "from the grill" for $13-17, including a flatiron steak sandwich, burger, buffalo burger, portabello mushroom "burger," chicken burger, and sausage plate. All of them come with salad, potato salad, or pasta salad. They had oven sandwiches (eggplant or Italian heroes), a calzone, and of course, pizzas. If I had been out to dinner with other people I totally would have gotten a pizza, because I saw several delicious looking ones coming out. You could get a small or large build-your-own pizza for $11 or $21, plus toppings, or you could get an 18 inch pepperoni, veggie combo, combo, or the Fireweed Favorite for $25-28. They also have several pastas, including the veggie fettuccine, which I got. It has artichoke hearts, tomatoes, mushrooms, red onion, broccoli, parmesan, olive oil, and herbs for $16. And it came with the herbed garlic bread, which was rustic and very tasty- not your average garlic bread. The pasta was a great, rustic pile of pasta, everything was cooked well and was really delicious, with all the flavors working together. I didn't have room after all this for their dessert of the night, the chocolate peanut butter pie, but I did get a big cookie to go that I ate the next day. I got the oatmeal walnut and chocolate chip, which was great, and they had a couple other kinds to choose from, too. This is another place I wish I had time to go back and try other things. I'll just have to work on getting back down there.

Other places I didn't go to in Haines during my too-short trip include the Bamboo Room, which has a big sign for fish and chips and is also open year-round, the Bear-ritto bakery, the Klondike, which is supposed to have great pizza, and a fish and chips wagon that was never open while I was there. There was also at least one other coffee shop in downtown Haines that also wasn't open when I went by. I also didn't get a chance to go to Sarah J's coffee shop and bakery, which wasn't open on Monday when I went by, which was disappointing because she is supposed to make great cookies. And while I had their beer, I never actually went to the Haines Brewing Company, but I heard it's really fun to go to a beer tasting there before or after dinner. I've heard you need to try the spruce tip beer- apparently very tasty, plus prevents scurvy because of all the vitamin c in the new spruce tips! Oh, and the brewery is in the old movie set they built when they were filming the movie "White Fang" in town, so there's that. So, if you're in southeast Alaska, please stop by Haines. It's jaw-droppingly gorgeous, full of historic buildings and amazing food. You'll see grizzlies and eagles in the Eagle Preserve State Park, and there are tons of amazing local artists living and working there. So go to Haines - you'll thank me, I promise.

Alaska State Fair Part II: Attack of the Giant Vegetables!

So, you've already heard about all the things I ate at the Alaska State Fair, so now I want to talk about all the local farmers whose products we saw at the Fair, including both animals and produce. We saw some great livestock, with a huge showing of 4-H project animals. There were a lot of goats, including a lot of Nigerian dwarf goats, but some Nubians and other breeds too. There were a few sheep, which we especially noticed because there were several Icelandic sheep, which had lots of poofy wool and looked like they would be right at home in Alaska. Most of the cows were Holsteins, but there were some other breeds too. There were several large lady cows that looked like they were going to calve any minute now, and did not look particularly comfortable, but how many full-term ladies are? There were several pigs, including one that was freaking gigantic, and one mom with a whole herd of piglets had drawn quite a crowd. There was also a very nice looking yak. There is at least one farm raising yaks (I was looking into their CSA) in the Valley- another animal that should be well-suited to the Arctic. I only saw one alpaca on this particular day, but I know there are several people who raise them. There is also a petting zoo, of course, so the kids can feed and pet some goats and other farm animals.

The selection of rabbits and poultry had much more variety than the larger animals. There was a huge selection of chickens, and so many breeds, including Rhode Island reds, buff Orpingtons, and many that I'm not familiar with. There were some really beautiful birds. There were also a lot of turkeys, also generally raised by 4-H kids. There was actually a room where a lot of them were loose, and several were strutting around, puffed up and showing off to us and the other birds. There were some roosters, pheasants, and ducks, too, to round out the poultry. There was also an incubator with chicks and ducklings that was a total kid-magnet. It was put on by Triple D Farms, and I was surprised they had so many chicks, because they actually just said they were going to stop selling butchered chickens, meaning that as far as I can find there is not a single place to get locally raised chicken meat in Alaska anymore. There are still people that will sell you chicks to raise yourself, I believe, but nowhere that will butcher and sell you chickens. If you want to learn more about this issue, there is a great article about it in the Alaska Dispatch, which explains that it's basically about not being able to get insurance for your farm because the government can't afford to inspect small farms. I've been looking into this, trying to find local poultry, possibly a co-op where you own the chickens and are paying for their care, but so far I haven't found one. There was a huge amount of aaaawww-ing coming out of the fair-goers for the rabbits on display. There were giant ones, teeny ones, long tall ears, short ears, floppy ears, and they were all super-cute. A lot of them were show or pet breeds, but there are several places here that raise meat rabbits. It's better than buying meat from a big factory farm Outside, but let's just move on, shall we?

Of course, if there is one thing people want to see at the Alaska State Fair, it is the giant vegetables. We are famous for our large produce up here. Of course there are varieties of plants that are suited to growing very big, but we usually credit our 18+ hours of summer sunlight here in southcentral Alaska for helping our vegetables to grow so large so quickly. Among the vegetables this year were a couple of cabbages over 100 pounds, I believe the winner was 126 pounds, which was so close to the world record of 127. So, cabbages that weigh as much as a person. There were also some zucchini, squash and gourds that were pretty amazing. Alaskans also hold the world records for carrot (just under 19 pounds), kale (105.9 pounds), kohlrabi (96.95 pounds), celery (63 pounds), broccoli (35 pounds), root beet (42.75), rutabaga (82.9), and turnip (39.2). So you see, this is serious business. In the room where the giant vegetables are displayed, there is a complete list of the Alaska records for you to marvel at.

And then there was the Great Pumpkin Scandal of 2011. The winner of the giant pumpkin weigh in, and of the all-time Alaska record, was a 1287 pound pumpkin named Lucy Lu. Yes, we name our giant vegetables in Alaska- doesn't everyone? To give you an Alaskan comparison for how much that is, this pumpkin weighed about as much as a baby beluga or humpback whale. The grower of Lucy Lu has been doing this for a while, and was among other things the first to break the 1000-pound mark. But wait! You thought that was big- even though Lucy Lu broke the record, there was a 1723 pound pumpkin named Patrick that was also entered in the weigh in. 1700 pounds! That's as much as an old Volkswagen Beetle! It took the grower five years to grow this pumpkin! But poor Patrick had a hole in him, so he was tragically disqualified by the judges. We can't have vegetables with holes in them- people could be juicing their stats, injecting them to increase the weight. So, only entries with skin intact can be considered. If he had won, Patrick would have come tantalizingly close to the world record of 1810 pounds. Oh, the world of competitive pumpkin growing- who knew that you could actually grow a pumpkin that could, say, be made into a carriage that you could then ride to the palace ball? This year set the bar pretty high, so in the future if anyone wants to break the Alaska record, they are going to have to be shooting for the world record, too. I for one will be keeping my eyes on next year's weigh in to see if Lucy Lu's record can be toppled.

So there you have it - the thrills! The excitement! The giant zucchini jokes! It's just another day at the Alaska State Fair.

Alaska State Fair Part I: So much food, so little time...

Sadly, the Alaska State Fair ended this week. I love going to the fair, and I especially love getting to try so many great foods. When I was a kid, your choices included pretty standard, greasy fair food: corn dogs, burgers, pizza, and funnel cake. These days, you can find practically anything, from fresh Alaskan seafood to great barbeque to vegetable stew made with fresh Alaskan vegetables to Middle Eastern food to Indian fry bread. You can go to Mr. Gyros, MA's hot dogs, get a hot cup of Kaladi Brothers Coffee, or go to Cheesecake in a Cone. I went to the Fair four times this year – I know, it seems a bit excessive, but in my defense I was working part of the day for three of those visits – and I still did not get to try all of the things I wanted. So brace yourselves: what follows is the chronicle of the many things I ate at the 2011 Alaska State Fair.

My first day at the Fair I didn’t have much time when I wasn’t working, so my exploration of food options was a little limited. I needed something quick and I wanted some local foods. I ended up with a Salmon Quesadilla at a self-titled stall for $8 to start with. It was actually a little disappointing, maybe because what I expected was a melted-cheese-bomb, and what I got was some dry salmon and a tiny sprinkling of cheese, but what can you do? Sometimes things sound good but don’t meet your expectations. When I took a break later I was redeemed when I got some Matanuska Creamery ice cream at their booth on the midway. Matanuska Creamery is the successor to Matanuska Maid, the defunct dairy co-op. Dairy farmers have a hard time in Alaska, so I try to support them as much as possible. From trying to grow enough hay to feed the cows, to the competition with cheap factory milk from Outside, they’re fighting an uphill battle. Some people don’t like how much they get in state subsidies, but I say anything that helps keep local farming viable up here is a noble thing. I have a love-hate relationship with their ice cream, though, because they divert all their summer cream to making ice cream, which is really popular, so they don’t make any butter for months at a time. People need butter! I love ice cream an awful lot, but I don’t need it. Anyway, I shouldn’t really be complaining because they are using their cream for one delicious thing instead of another, and their ice cream is really great. I got two scoops for $5, one scoop of chocolate and one of fudge brownie. They have a pretty good selection of flavors, which you still have a chance to check out at the Anchorage farmer’s markets.

My next visit to the Fair I went in search of some well-known food booths that had moved and could not be found, and I tried some great new things. I spent a long day at the Fair on this trip – I worked in the morning and then spent the afternoon and evening watching “A Prairie Home Companion” and hanging out with my parents. For lunch, I went in search of what is generally regarded as the best barbeque at the Fair, and that is saying something, because there are at least half a dozen BBQ places these days. After a little searching, I finally found the new location of the Center of Hope, Church of God in Christ BBQ stand. They were keeping busy, I was glad to see. They have Texas style BBQ, and had pulled pork sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, pork and chicken plates (that come with baked beans, cole slaw, or potato salad) for $12, and baby back ribs. I remember that the ribs were by far the most expensive thing, but I didn't write down how much they were. I got the BBQ chicken sandwich for $10, which wasn’t much in terms of a sandwich, with some spongy white bread, but I was there for the BBQ itself, which was fantastic. The chicken was falling apart and smelled and tasted amazing. Of course, they also have dessert, in the form of mini peach or sweet potato pies for $5 each. I got a sweet potato pie, which was also fantastic, although I would recommend sharing it with someone. When I met up with my parents after lunch I also got to try my mom’s corn fritters in honey butter, but I didn’t catch the name of the place she got them. They pretty much only make corn fritters, though, and you can tell, because they are tasty! For dinner my mom and I stumbled upon Mostly Mediterranean, a stand run by some ladies from Homer who only sell food at the Fair and a couple of Kenai Peninsula festivals. With food this good, I’m kind of amazed that they don’t have a restaurant. We got the kibbe plate for $10, I think, which came with pita bread, tabbouleh and hummus. First of all, there aren’t very many restaurants, let alone food stalls at fairs that make kibbe in this country. I think I’ve only ever had it when my parents or grandparents made it. It was good, but they did what a lot of Americans do, which is to dilute the flavor of the lamb by combining it with beef. Otherwise, though, it was pretty tasty. The standouts were the tabbouleh and hummus, though. The hummus was creamy and delicious, and the tabbouleh was fantastic, and was actually an herb salad with some bulgar, instead of a bulgar salad with a few herbs, which is what many Americans do. They also make Italian sausage sandwiches and a couple other things that we didn’t try. We almost went to the Pasty Shack instead, but a group of people who had just gotten food there warned us off and said the pasties were disappointing, so we were spared. We'll stick with Cornish pasties from the Talkeetna Roadhouse, thank you very much. For dessert, I stopped by Strictly Strawberries for a chocolate milkshake. They make a lot of strawberry shakes and also strawberry shortcake, which is why it’s called Strictly Strawberries, but they also had a sign up advertising their thick shakes, so I had to give one a try. And as you know, I generally pick chocolate above other options.

The next day I went to the Fair, I just went by myself to work, so I didn't get the benefit of sharing  like I did with my parents. I got a halibut taco and a quesadilla at Tres Amigos. One of the reasons I picked this place was that they had seared halibut tacos, whereas a lot of the seafood places at the fair serve foods that have been breaded and deep-fried to death, so you can't actually taste the seafood. I got a halibut soft taco for $10, which had cabbage, cheese, tomato, cilantro, onion, and a "special sauce" that was sort of like a tartar sauce. It was great and just what I was looking for. And then since it was a relatively small taco I also got a small plain quesadilla for $2 that was a good, basic little quesadilla. They also had meat tacos that I would have liked to try.

On the last weekend of the Fair I finally got to go with Morgan, and we spent the day snacking so we could try as many things as possible. We got there late in the morning but still a little early for lunch, but we lucked out because we heard about the throwdown tent. I had heard that there was a seafood throwdown one of the other days I was at the Fair, but I didn't understand and didn't go. Basically, a couple of cooking schools and restaurants do a recipe throwdown, and we all get samples and then get to vote for our favorites. When we got there in the morning we had hangar steak from Humpy's, the AVTEC students, and... someone else who I didn't write down. The AVTEC students were by far the best, most creative, with a marinated steak and salad with a spicy peanut sauce. They also had a very nice plating design, as they say on "Iron Chef." The group I don't remember cooked the meat really well, but their food wasn't nearly as interesting. The next snack we got was at Hoop N Hula Milk and Cookies, which turned out to be one of my favorite places. They sell only milk and cookies, and 50 cents from each cookie goes to charities that you pick out. You get a token for each cookie and can put it in the slot for hunger charities, recycling, peace, health, community, and environment. They have a list of charities in each category in case you're wondering where the money's going. Morgan got a "peanut buddha" cookie, and I got a "double chip happens." We ate our delicious cookies and gave our tokens to the hunger and health charities. They also had vegan, and I think gluten-free cookies too. Then we took a break and looked at the livestock, and I bought some tickets for the 4-H raffle. First place was a butchered pig that was raised by one of the 4-Hers, and second place was a 4-H turkey. I didn't win, but oh well. I also bought some honey from Chugiak Heights Honey. I like them because they have bulk sizes- you're not paying $12 for an 8 oz jar of Alaskan honey, which is the case with some beekeepers up here. I got the 48 oz size, and they had a giant 6 pound one, too. It's tough, because the quantities are relatively small, but I really try hard to support the local pollinators. Our next snack was from a local Palmer coffee shop and restaurant, Vagabond Blues. I like going to the coffee shop for lunch because the have really good, healthy salads, soups, and sandwiches. They had wraps and other light-lunch things here at the Fair. Of course, we didn't exactly get anything particularly healthy ourselves, but the fresh, made-from-scratch garlic potato chips just smelled so good! They were $7, and were hot and fresh, had garlic oil on them, as well as parmesan and chopped up garlic and herbs. I wish I had discovered these earlier. After a break, during which we looked at Native Alaskan crafts, talked to some of the environmental and other advocacy groups that had booths, and gave a couple dollars to the Elk's Lodge at the rat races. We also saw some great Native dancers and singers from King Island and some Tsimshian singers and dancers that were all really good. And we looked at an exhibit on the agricultural colony that was created as part of the New Deal, and is the reason we have so many local farmers in the Matanuska and Susitna Valleys today. For our last snacks of the day we went to the wine bar run by the Grape Tap, which is a wine bar and restaurant in Palmer. I got a glass of Norton malbec from Argentina, and we got a cheese platter that came with a good baguette and some brie, gouda, and cheddar cheese. For dessert before we left we went to Denali Cream Puffs. That's right, there's also a place that serves only cream puffs. For $7 you get a giant cream puff (the custard is amazing), and you get it topped with either chocolate sauce, caramel, or berry sauce. We shared a chocolate one, because they are huge. And on that sugar bombshell, we started the drive back to Anchorage. 

The food at the Alaska State Fair has sure come a long way since I was a kid, and the healthiest thing you could get was a giant stuffed baked potato. I can't wait to try all the great food that will be waiting for me at the Fair in 2012.

Opa! The Alaska Greek Festival

This weekend was the annual Alaska Greek Festival. It's held every year in Anchorage at the Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church on O'Malley Road. This year they are finishing up the renovation of the church, so all the profits of this year's festival are going towards that. I went with my husband and my parents for lunch, and our timing was great. Not only was it sunny, but the lines for food were a quarter as long as they were when we were leaving, plus by mid-afternoon they were starting to sell out of the most popular things.

For the main course we shared a few different things. We got a pastitsio, which is kind of like a Greek lasagna. It's made with lamb meat sauce, macaroni noodles, and bechamel sauce. So it's like the richest lasagna ever. I like getting it in Greek restaurants because I know from experience that it takes a long time and a lot of pots and pans to make at home- you have to make the meat sauce, cook the noodles, make the bechamel, then bake it all. The pastitsio at the festival is really good, but a little dry, since it is made in mass quantities in big buffet sheet pans, but what are you going to do? The pastitsio, lamb, and moussaka come as dinners with Greek salad, bread, and a tiropita. If I had more room in my stomach I might have come back to this booth and gotten the Athenian Chicken Wings, which are marinated in lemon and oregano and served with tzatziki sauce. They also had a vegetarian option (the only main dish without meat), the fasolakia yiahni, which is made with green beans, tomatoes, and potatoes. For the rest of our lunch we got a couple of gyros and a chicken souvlaki. You should know what a gyro is already, I hope, so I won't say what's in it. These were traditional, hot and tasty. Souvlaki is a kabob, and I think it's normally made with pork, but you could get pork or chicken at the festival. The kabobs were so tender the meat was just falling apart. They were so good I'm kind of surprised how much better the gyros were selling. The guys selling the gyro and souvlaki also had the best shirts- one had a shirt that said "got ouzo?" and my favorite said "Gyro-Trash."

We got several things to fill out our meal. We had some dolmades, which are grape leaves stuffed with rice, herbs and spices. These were so good that my dad went back for more later. And we got spanakopita and tiropita. Spanakopita is the better known of the two, and made by filling lots of layers of buttery filo dough with spinach, onion, and feta cheese. I like making little personal spanakopita filo cups for parties. The tiropita is not nearly as well known, but I think it's even better than the spanakopita. Apparently in Greece it's the indulgent thing you eat at Easter when you can finally eat dairy again after Lent, and since it's spring you get super fresh goat and sheep cheese. In Alaska, you can't get cheese that fresh, so they make it with feta, cream cheese, and ricotta to make a creamy approximation, and again, it's baked in filo dough. I'll definitely be making these at home. They have a beer tent, but it wasn't until after we were finished with our food that I noticed that people were getting bottles of wine from there, too. I was totally bummed that I didn't notice that earlier- add a bottle of wine to the sun, the fresh Greek food, and the old guys playing bazoukis all afternoon, the transportation to the Greek riviera would have been complete!

For our first round of dessert we got loukoumades. They had a sign on the counter that these were the prizes for athletes at Ancient Greek religious festivals. They're basically doughnuts, but the thing that makes them Greek (and freaking amazing) is that they come hot out of the fryer, get rolled in honey syrup, and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and chopped nuts. Oh my God they are good! And I was the first one after they brought out a new batch, so we had super-fresh hot ones. Mmmmmm....

After we digested for a minute we went to the bakery tent to get more desserts, and we got a bunch of things to try and take home for later. You can get baklava at a lot of places, so we actually skipped it here, so we could try other things you don't find the rest of the year. We got the melomakarona, which are spiced cookies with walnuts and cinnamon, and dipped in honey; the kourambiethes, which are for holidays and weddings, and are almond cookies with powdered sugar and rose water, and can also be made with whole cloves inside; koulourakia, Easter cookies which are not really sweet at all, and are often eaten as snacks with coffee; karithopita, which is honey-soaked walnut spice cake; and my husband and mom's favorite, the galactobouriko, best described as a Greek eclair- it's rolled up filo soaked in lemon syrup and filled with semolina custard. It's also one of the most popular things they sell, and when I was in the store looking at the grocery store items they have for sale (orzo, Greek coffee, olives, grape leaves, etc), the woman in front of me bought the last package of frozen take-home galactobouriko. I should have gotten a little cup of Greek coffee to go with all the super-sweet desserts, but it slipped my mind when we got up to the counter. Of course, if you haven't noticed, most of the desserts involve lots of honey and nuts, so really, how can you go wrong?

Besides all the leftover desserts I brought home, I also brought home a cookbook of recipes collected from the men and women of the Anchorage Greek Orthodox Church and sold to raise money for the Church renovation, "Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska." It has lots of recipes from the Festival (including tiropita and all of the desserts I mentioned), and also has Mediterranean recipes for Alaskan seafood, including salmon and dungeness crab, besides more traditional Mediterranean seafood recipes for octopus, squid, scallops, and shrimp. It's a good thing I got this cookbook, because even with four of us sampling lots of things, I didn't get to try all the things I wanted. Hopefully by next year I will have forgotten my initial annoyance at how bad the traffic and parking always is, but remember how well all the Alaskan Greeks cook and that it's totally worth going if you're here in town. Opa!

Road Trip! Seward

My husband, dog, mother in law, and I just got back from a great trip to Seward, Alaska. Seward is on the southern part of the Kenai Peninsula, at the head of beautiful Resurrection Bay. Seward is one of the older towns in this part of Alaska, and was important as the start of the Alaska Railroad and the Government Trail/Iditarod Trail. It was a really important transportation and supply hub because the bay is open year-round, unlike a lot of ports in Alaska that are frozen in the winter. Today, the port is still important as a base for commercial and recreational fishing, as a cruise ship port bringing thousands of tourists to Alaska every summer, and as a supply point for shipping things like coal from Alaska to the rest of the world. It is also adjacent to Kenai Fjords National Park, and a lot of people come to Seward to take wildlife cruises, go sea kayaking in the fjords, or to go hiking up to Exit Glacier.

Since Seward is a tourist town, there are a ton of places to eat. You'll notice that the prices seem pretty high, but I will point out two things about that. First, this is a town that lives off of tourists, including cruise ship tourists, so their prices are high because of that. Also, so much of the food includes fresh seafood from Resurrection Bay and Prince William Sound, so that makes things more expensive, too. Some of the places that I didn't have time to go include Ray's Seafood Restaurant, which is apparently the most expensive restaurant in Seward. Their seafood is supposed to be pretty good, but mainly they are popular because they are right on the water overlooking the harbor, and they have big plate glass windows giving you an amazing view. Also right next to the harbor is the Harbor Street Creamery ice cream parlor. I really wanted to go there, but didn't get the chance during our approximately 36 hours in Seward.

And while I didn't get any coffee there, I really recommend going to the Resurrect Art Coffee House and Art Gallery. It is housed in the old Methodist Church, which is gorgeous. The coffee shop part is in the front where you come in, and they have teas, coffee, and things like bagels. They have a ton of local art for sale, which takes up the rest of the space, and includes watercolors and oils by local artists, prints of drawings and paintings, jewelry, hand-woven towels, knit hats, hand turned wooden bowls, books about Alaska, photo prints of cute Alaskan animals like sea otters, stained glass, and modern scrimshaw ivory with unusual designs, like an octopus one-man band. The tall church windows let in a ton of light, which is great. There is so much art and display cases that there aren't a ton of tables and chairs, but is seems like there is enough room. And if you go upstairs to where the choir used to be, there are a few comfy chairs and low tables, along with a bookcase of used books for sale. They also have a great bulletin board which advertises things like the photo contest and fundraiser for the SOS animal shelter. So while, since Alaskan love their coffee, there are probably a dozen places to get an espresso in Seward, if nothing else, you should go to Resurrect Art for the ambiance.

Another great place to go, when you need a sweet snack, is to Sweet Darling's candy store. It's on 4th Ave in the heart of Seward, and they make all kinds of tasty candy. They make their own salt water taffy, which my husband loved, and they make their own fudge and truffles. I got a dark chocolate truffle, a hazelnut truffle, a "maple almighty" truffle, and a truffle that was basically a piece of their homemade fudge dipped in chocolate. They had a pretty wide variety of truffles, so I'm sure everyone could find something they liked. They also make fantastic gelato. Not only was it good, but it was really authentic- everything from the flavors (mostly) to the little spatulas they give you to eat it, was more like actually getting gelato in Italy than anywhere else in Alaska. I got two scoops of chocolate and coffee, and my husband got strawberry and fruits of the forest, and they were all delicious. I think the 2 scoop cup was $4. Alaskan towns usually have a ton of choices when it comes to ice cream, but if you're in Seward, you should definitely pick the gelato.

For lunch when we got into town we went to the Apollo, a Greek and Italian place that has been around a long time. It was great when my whole family was down there fishing, and we were cold and wet. We could go here, and the kids could get spaghetti or pizza. This is a very old-style Italian restaurant, though, and the thick cream sauces were a little much for us. We got the seafood stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer. They were pretty much like a crab cake or something, with seafood and breading, stuffed in the mushroom caps, and topped with a lot of really thick cream sauce. I got the frutti de mare pasta, which had very well-cooked seafood, including halibut in it, but again, it was topped with a super thick cream sauce, almost like a roux or bechamel, so I didn't get very far. It is a Seward staple, though, and if you like old-fashioned Italian-American food, or if you need a hot pizza for for your family after a long, cold day of fishing, you should stop by.

For dinner one day, we went to Alaska Nellie's Roadhouse, which is also on 4th Avenue. It was really good, and we wished we had time to come back for breakfast or for another lunch or dinner so we could try more things on the menu. They apparently make really good breakfasts, including hotcakes, corned beef hash, omelets (including one with reindeer sausage), and breakfast burritos. The breakfast prices ranged from $7 - $12, depending on what you got. For lunch and dinner, they have everything from nachos (which looked amazing), to sandwiches, falafel, and seafood baskets. They make their own seafood chowder fresh, and you can tell- it was really delicious. They also have really fantastic burgers, which are served on ciabatta rolls and come with coleslaw or fries, or for $2 you can substitute a cup of chowder or their amazing sweet potato fries. My husband got the mushroom and swiss burger, which was really good. It was cooked more than he would like, but he didn't ask for it rare, so you can't really blame them, and it was still really good. You can also get a caribou burger, a salmon burger, or a halibut burger, which is what I got. It was really great, good halibut, grilled so it was charred a little on the outside, and was perfectly cooked so it was just falling apart. The burgers cost from $10 to $17, and of course the most expensive were the salmon and halibut burgers. They also have dinners that come with a baked potato and vegetables, so you can get your fix of steak, halibut, crab legs, chicken, or caribou filet mignon. They also have a seafood pasta and a cajun chicken or halibut pasta. I didn't catch all the dinner prices, but they were in the $20 range for entrees. Everyone I know loves the food they get here, plus they have great old photos of historic Seward and of Alaska Nellie Lawing, who was a tough pioneer Alaskan woman who ran a roadhouse and was a world-class  hunter back in the day.

The other place I would really recommend, and that we'll also be going back to when we get back to Seward, is the Smoke Shack. They are located in the "Train Wreck" which is a group of four converted Alaska Railroad cars at the corner of 4th and Port Streets. One car is a bike repair and rental place, one is a guide outfit for tours of Exit Glacier, one is a hotel in case you feel the need to stay in a railroad car with a great view of the harbor, and one car is the Smoke Shack. They have a smoker out back, and a kitchen on one end of the car, and the other end of the car has maybe 10 4-person tables. There was a short wait when we went, and as you can imagine, it's so small that there's probably always a line. Their mottos are "Food for the Soul" and "Life's Too Short to Eat Boring Food!" The name of the restaurant is taken seriously - all meat in this place is smoked, from the breakfast meats to the burgers to the ribs. We had breakfast here, but the rest of the menu looks great. My husband had the eggs benedict, as always, and it was really good, but was really unusual. It was served on toasted little baguettes instead of English muffins, and it had smoked ham, and the sauce had a lot of cajun spices in it, that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I got the Huevos Rancheros, which was fantastic and also really unusual. I got it with scrambled eggs, but you could have your eggs any way you wanted. It was a big platter with tortillas on the bottom, covered in potatoes, black beans, cheese, and eggs garnished with pico de gallo. You got your choice of red Spanish chorizo sauce or green chili sauce. I went with the chorizo, which is what the waiter recommended. It was very spicy and delicious, and not at all the Mexican style huevos rancheros I am used to. Their other breakfast selections include frittatas, chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, and the "Benedict Arnold," which is the Egg's Benedict with vegetables instead of ham (get it?). Breakfasts cost from $6 to $14. Most of the lunches cost from $10 to $14, but the large rack of baby back ribs cost $22. For lunch they have ribs, a smoked green chili burrito, smoked beef or turkey burgers, smoked chicken sandwiches, and smoked pork shoulder sandwiches, all of which come with beans and coleslaw. They also have a couple odds and ends like gumbo and "Cajun baked brie,"which is served warm with tomato salsa on toast. And despite everything I've just described, they also have vegetarian options for lunch - a smoked tofu burger (I told you everything was smoked!) and a portobello mushroom sandwich with carmelized onions and goat cheese. See, I totally have to come back to this place.

There are several other restaurants and bakeries that I didn't get to, but luckily Seward is only a two and a half hour drive from Anchorage, so I should be able to get back to try some more things soon.

The Hot Dog Nazi

I can't believe it has gotten this far into the summer without telling you about M.A.'s hot dogs! There are a lot of hot dog stands that sprout up in downtown Anchorage over the summer, but you really need to make the effort to find this particular one. Go there right now! Once you go, you will realize that I am right. M.A.'s Gourmet Hot Dogs, owned by Mike Anderson, is located on 4th Ave and F Street, on the northwest corner in front of the entrance to the federal building and the Public Lands Information Center. He is there Monday through Saturday, starting in late March. He takes the winter off, opening up only for big downtown events like Fur Rendezvous and the Iditarod Dog Sled Race start. He has a green umbrella, a green chalkboard menu, a large bobblehead of James Brown, and the longest line of any hot dog stand in sight.

Hopefully you watch "Seinfeld," or else the title of this article will make no sense. Basically, the "Soup Nazi" is an episode about a man who sells the most amazing soup ever, but he is very particular about how you behave, otherwise he may send you away with no soup. "No soup for you!" was his cry as he booted Elaine out. M.A. presents himself the same way. There is a list of rules posted on the front of his stand, which includes things like being ready to state your order when asked, about talking on your cell phone while in line, and about moving to the right after you order to pay and await your hot dog. There are other signs, too, including a disparaging one about our former governor, Sarah Palin. I have never actually seen anyone be run off for violating the rules, or for telling M.A. that Sarah Palin was the greatest governor we ever had, but I wouldn't be surprised if others have. M.A. is a character, but he is allowed because he absolutely makes the best hot dogs around, and he knows it. Locals know it, too. The lines can be long, so be prepared: when I was in college and worked downtown in the summer, we would poke our heads out as it came close to lunchtime, checking on the line to see if we would have time to get one- I have spent my entire lunch half-hour standing in that line. Sometimes I'd be ready to run over, and then the fire engine would pull up and ten firefighters would get in line. Or the courthouse let out, and the line was packed with lawyers.

The standard, most Alaskan thing to get is the Alaskan reindeer sausage hot dog, but he also has other dogs, including Italian sausage, Louisiana hot links, Polish sausage, and beef hot dogs. He also has chicken, and I think he has turkey, but I forgot to look last time I was there. They are all roughly $5, give or take, and for $6.50 you can get a bag of chips and a can of soda or bottle of water (this might vary with the type of hot dog, I can't remember). They're pretty big hot dogs, definitely a satisfying lunch. And it's cash only, so stop by the ATM in the 5th Ave Mall before you go if necessary. M.A. or one of his employees will ask if you want onions on your hot dog. Say yes. He makes the most delicious carmelized onions on his grill, and I've seem him use a can of Coke to help them carmelize. They are perfect on top of your grilled hot dog, that you will get when it is perfectly done, crispy on the outside, and atomically hot on the inside, so give it a few minutes to cool off so you don't burn the roof of your mouth. He has a large condiment bar with which to embellish your hot dog and onions, with relish, several kinds of mustard, ketchup, sauerkraut, cheese, and jalapenos. And of course, napkins. You will need a couple of napkins.

So now you have the scoop on the best hot dog in Anchorage. Tourists who stumble upon it don't realize how lucky they are. Luckily I don't work downtown these days, because I would spend a lot of time standing in line at M.A.'s.

Summit Spice and Tea Company

Today I went to Summit Spice & Tea Company's new midtown store, which has been open about a month. Summit Spices have had a store for several years in south Anchorage on Huffman, but they just opened this new location at Benson and Denali, for those of us who don't live in south Anchorage and find it a pain to go all the way down to Huffman.

Summit Spices is basically a gourmet food store, but the bulk of their stock is devoted to spices and teas. They have shelves and shelves of spices, from a section containing several different kinds of cinnamon, to star anise and whole cloves and nutmeg, to their own spice blends and rubs for all your cooking needs. They also have things like pepper grinders, spice grinders, and those planes that Food Network chefs use to grate nutmeg and zest citrus. They also have big jars of some spices behind the counter, so you can have them weigh things out for you, or I assume you can create your own blend. The spices can be expensive, but one of the things I like is that they carry most in very small jars which are only a few dollars. They know that you are probably not going to use a lot of sumac or tumeric in your kitchen, so why not sell little jars so you don't have 4 ounces of unused spices five years from now.

Their tea section is also really amazing, and probably the best selection of tea in town. They have all kinds of loose leaf teas. Popular ones are available in little one or two ounce tins, or they have a counter where you can pick from a wall of tea caddies arranged by general types (black teas, chinese green teas, herbal teas, etc), and someone will weigh out what you want. I got the Jasmine Pearl tea- I love jasmine tea, and pearl tea means they've rolled up whole tea leaves, instead of the little shreds you usually get, into tight little balls that unroll when you brew the tea. I just loved the smell of this tea, and I'd never had it before, so I'm excited. They also have a tea room next to the store, if you would like to sit and try some new teas with your friends. I need to come back so I can try out this aspect of the store.

They also have a great selection of teapots and teacups. Most of their teapots are a Japanese brand called  Bee House, and they have a wide variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. My husband bought me a little one in which to brew my new jasmine tea. They also carry Bee House tea cups, as well as many other kinds of tea cups, including lots of nice, fancy English bone china ones with flowers painted on them.


They also have lots of other random gourmet foods, including several Alaskan brands, which I appreciated. They had an Alaskan brand of salsas, and Alaskan birch syrup. They had a section of curry pastes and sauces I would like to try, including thai curry pastes from an Oregon company, and a line of Indian curry pastes and other things like tamarind paste. I would like to try both the Thai and Indian curry pastes, although what I'd really like to do is put together a list of spices I need from this store, and then try grinding my own spices and making my own Indian curry paste. They also carry Tonia's biscotti, which is popular and also carried by places like Cafe del Mundo, and things like Nikki's cookies, which makes real shortbread cookies, in plain, Meyer lemon, and key lime. I bought a box of the Meyer lemon. They carry several fancy kinds of oils and vinegars, including Chardonnay vinegar and raspberry champagne vinegar, fancy European olive oils, truffle oil, avocado oil, and things like that. Other foods they carry include popcorn and a brand of curds called "Elizabethan Kitchen" that makes apple curd and key lime curd.

They also have a good sized chocolate section which will take me another visit to explore thoroughly and report on, but I will say that they have a good variety of single-source and fair trade bars. I hope you're not too disappointed that I didn't buy a bunch of chocolate to try, but frankly the chocolate section was a victim of just how much great stuff they carry. The chocolate section is right by the front door, so I saw it and thought I'd come back after I did a once-over of the store, but I got so absorbed in the spices and teas that I never did. It will just have to be an ongoing project, as chocolate always is.


The last thing I need to mention is that they seem to host a lot of tutorial/tasting classes. The flyer on the counter had several scheduled just for July and August. Most are small and cost between $10 and $20, and include an olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting, beginner and advanced tea tastings, chocolate tastings, and a class on how to blend your own herbal tea. I am totally going to take a couple of these so I can learn more about all these things, and so I can taste things like super fancy olive oil and vinegar that I probably won't ever actually buy.

As you can see, this is not your cheap, everyday ingredient kind of store. But, if you are really into tea, this is your kind of store. And when you decide to try your hand at making Ethiopian stews, they have a spice blend ready-made for you. And when you decide to finally try and make some delicious Middle Eastern dish or to make your own vindaloo paste, you can get everything you need here. There are a lot of things to try out, so I am sure that I for one will become a regular customer.

Moose's Tooth:The Great Pizza Quest

The Moose's Tooth Pub and Pizzeria is one of the most popular places in town. If you are from out of town, or are living in a cave in Anchorage and have never been there, they are on the Old Seward Highway just north of 36th, on a leftover little spur that they cut off in order to build the New Seward Highway. It is named after a mountain in the Alaska Range near Mt. McKinley that looks just like a moose's tooth, and if you don't believe me they have a photo of it in the front of the restaurant. They make their own beer, which is great and comes in many many varieties, and new ones with clever names are being constantly invented. You can take some home in either a keg or a growler. If I have to tell you what a growler is, you need to upgrade the type of beer you have been drinking. As you can probably guess from the name of the place and the title of this post, they also make many delicious kinds of pizza. They also host a lot of concerts, and their First Tap parties are especially popular. Posters from previous First Taps and other concerts line the walls of the restaurant.


My husband and I are on a quest to eat every pizza on the menu at the Moose's Tooth. Arguably a less noble quest than, say, the search for the Holy Grail or the Fountain of Youth, but far more satisfying. The first problem with this quest is that the place is so popular that it can be pretty hard to get in. They don't take reservations, and they're so busy that you pretty much always have to wait for a table. If you're with a small group you get there between 2 and 4 pm on a weekday, you're pretty good. Later than 4:00 on any night, though, and it's a matter of how long you will have to wait, not if you will have to wait. This weekend we went for lunch at 1:00, and only had to wait ten minutes. If you have to wait and the weather is good, you can order a beer at the bar and go sit in the beer garden. There have been many occasions when we drive up to the Moose's Tooth, see the crowd (mob) of people waiting outside, and turn around and start thinking of somewhere else to go. If we could have gotten a table all those Friday nights at 6:00 when we had a craving for pizza, we would be much farther along on our quest.

The second problem is that they have so many kinds of pizza to choose from, and every week they have a new special pizza, which is usually pretty good, so we can go a few times in a row and never make any headway on the main menu. There are currently 39 pizzas on the menu. The problem of agreeing on a pizza has been solved by a family rule: my husband and I alternate choosing the pizza with 100% discretion. The person who doesn't get to choose the pizza gets to choose the appetizer or salad. They have several great, fresh salads (no iceberg lettuce here), and they have other good appetizers, too, including hummus, mozzarella breadsticks, chips and salsa, smoked salmon pate, and roasted garlic, which comes with bread, a head of roasted garlic, and with this creamy cheese spread that is super delicious. They also have really good soups, which also rotate. They always have Hungarian Mushroom plus a couple of other kinds. On our last visit we had the tomato and roasted garlic soup, which was fantastic.

We have currently only tried 12 of the pizzas on the menu, plus all the specials we get distracted by. I don't think I could ever pick a favorite, but some of the amazing pizzas they have are the Wild Mushroom pizza (portabella mushrooms, crimini mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, mozzarella, provolone, and Denali Sauce (spinach and ricotta puree)), the Solstice pizza (roasted chicken, portabella mushrooms, roasted garlic, sundried tomatoes, oregano, mozzarella, provolone, parsley, and marinara sauce), and the Five Cheese pizza (mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, gruyere, and gorgonzola).

For two people, if you get a salad or appetizer and beer, you really only need a small pizza. If you eat a lot or you want leftovers, get the medium. The other great thing about the Moose's Tooth is that it is cheap. Two people can get an appetizer, small pizza, and dessert for under $30, so it's a great place to go with your family or a big group of friends and not spend a lot of money.

They have also recently overhauled their dessert menu, if you have any room left after your pizza and beer. They have a cheesecake of the month, and a pie called "Death by Peanut Butter," which is so amazingly creamy and peanut-buttery you won't believe it. They also have a couple of chocolate options, including a delicious "melt away brownie," a flourless chocolate cake which is only average, and my favorite, the Pipeline Stout Chocolate cake. I think they make it like a coca-cola cake, so that the bubbles and the moisture give the cake a little extra something, but I really don't know. I just know that it is ever so good. When we get desserts we usually end up taking part home.

Speaking of taking things home, the Moose's Tooth is also relatively eco-friendly, packing all leftovers in 100% recycled paper boxes and never styrofoam, and only selling beer to take away in reusable growlers or kegs. Oh, and you can also get any of the pizzas with whole wheat crust or a gluten-free crust. Don't ask me how they make a gluten-free pizza crust, since I thought that the whole reason pizza dough becomes pizza dough is, you know, because of gluten.

So basically, everyone in town will tell you how great the Moose's Tooth is, but a lot of them also don't go there very often because there are usually a hundred people in front of them in line when they get there. But it is the best pizza in town, and a contender for the best beer, so really, Anchorage residents just have good taste.

Road Trip: Glennallen and Copper Center

Last week, I went to Glennallen for work, so I wanted to give you some ideas for the next time you happen to be driving the Al-Can or heading for Valdez. Glennallen is a small town at the junction of the Glenn Highway and the Richardson Highway. It is in a beautiful part of Alaska, at the edge of the Copper River Valley, home to one of Alaska's great salmon fisheries, and also sits next to the Wrangell Mountains and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Everything I discuss below is located on the Glenn Highway, unless I say otherwise.

Glennallen is on the highway and so technically isn't in the Bush, but because they depend on seasonal business like tourism, fishing, and hunting, they have a limited selection of services. The only real grocery store is Omni Park's Place. This is a pretty decent grocery store, and like most stores in rural Alaska the most expensive items are perishables like dairy and produce. The bananas, for example, were not in good shape, and were over twice the price of the Anchorage Fred Meyer. The only caution I would give regarding this store would be to check the expiration dates of what you buy. A lot of things have been sitting on those shelves for a while, and several of the canned and frozen items I looked at expired in 2010. Other stores that carry food, like the Hub at the intersection of the Glenn and Richardson, are really gas stations that carry snacks and basics like you find at your typical quickie-mart.

There are two places that many locals and people I know who go through Glennallen a lot warned me against: the Chuck Wagon and the Caribou. The Chuck Wagon is a food truck made from a converted school bus, and the Caribou Cafe is one of the main places in town and has an adjacent hotel. I have been told that both of these places may cause, how do I say this....intestinal distress. I have also never been to the Tastee Freeze, which has burgers and ice cream. I have been told that the food is decent, but is expensive for what it is.

I have been to the Copper Center Lodge, but not on this trip. It is located on the Richardson Highway south of the junction at Glennallen. They have a little hotel and a restaurant, and serve typical rural Alaskan food: large portions, and tons of meat. Which is great if you are a construction worker or are going out fishing. They have large, traditional breakfasts, and dinners like burgers and prime rib. Besides having decent food, they are also open year round, which is important in Alaska. There are lots of towns in Alaska that depend on tourism, and most of the businesses in these towns are only open in the summer, so it is important to support those businesses that are open all year to serve, and employ, the local population.

One of the places I ate was at Tok Thai Food. This food truck is parked next to the Hub at the highway intersection on the east end of town. It is bright purple, so you should be able to spot it. Since it is a food truck, my local friends usually call ahead and then go pick it up. All their entrees are $10, and if you want shrimp instead of the normal choice of beef, chicken, or pork, that's $2 extra. They also have Thai ice tea and canned soda. For an appetizer, they have large orders of fresh spring rolls and egg rolls (also $10, but you get a lot). The portions are huge, and the locals I know generally get something and either split it with someone, or eat it for two meals. They have things like Tom Yum Soup, Tom Kha Gai, Pad Thai, and fried rice. The special the day we went was chicken larb. I got the green curry with chicken, which was good, but not very spicy. Among my local friends the Pad Roum Mid with beef seems to be popular, which is basically mixed vegetables and beef, although they like pretty much everything, except the cashew chicken, which is too salty, and the sweet and sour, which is too strong. There are so many choices for Thai Food in Anchorage, that Tok Thai seems pretty average by comparison, but it is the only Asian food for at least 150 miles, so you should stop by if you're in the neighborhood.

The other place I ate while I was in town was at the Princess Copper River Lodge Two Rivers Restaurant. Princess cruise ships bring thousands of tourists up to Alaska every summer, and a local I know said that they like the Copper River Lodge because, while it is seasonal, it employs a ton of locals, so they want them to do well. The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was the view of the Copper River Valley and the Wrangell Mountains on the other side. Even though the tops of the mountains were covered in rain clouds, it was still beautiful. They had a pretty typical wine list, with a variety of grapes but not any really good wines, but it didn't really matter because I had to drive back to Glennallen afterwards. Of course, being so near the Copper River, which is widely known for its salmon, and not far from PRince William Sound and its abundant seafood, fresh Alaskan seafood dominated the menu. Alaskan appetizers include Alaskan crab cakes and smoked salmon spread. Other appetizers included Tiger Prawn cocktail, baked brie, and sausage stuffed mushrooms. For soups they had Alaskan salmon chowder and the beef noodle soup of the day, and for salads they had a mixed green salad and a caesar salad. They also had some tasty warm rolls- one good plain one and a great kalamata olive roll. I got the salmon cakes, which were the appetizer special, and a casear salad, in my attempt to keep it light. You'll see later how that turned out. I got the side caesar salad, which was small, and made me think at the time that I should have gotten the entree size. It was fine, but wasn't the best salad I've had. The salmon cakes were great though. They were amazingly light were really flaky. I'm kind of amazed they actually stayed in cakes long enough to be cooked and served, because they totally fell apart and melted in my mouth when I ate them. They were coated in a very light later of bread crumbs, and came with a light herb aioli.

Entrees were also mostly Alaskan seafood, and made me wish I could come back, this time with lots of people so I could try things. They had Alaskan halibut, Alaskan salmon (done a couple of ways), Alaskan caribou, Alaskan scallops, and Alaskan crab legs. Other entrees to round out the field included sirloin, New York strip steak, prime rib, lasagna, and chicken.

And of course, there was dessert. This was really the reason I wished I could have eaten there again before I left. Naturally, I went for the chocolate option, but I really wished I could have tried some of the other things. They had a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake, key lime pie, vanilla creme brulee, green tea creme brulee (whaaaa??), Alaskan blueberry pie, or vanilla or blueberry ice cream from Matanuska Creamery. I got the "chocolate lovin' spoon cake."While the menu described it as "chocolate pudding" between two layers of cake, it was basically a really dense chocolate cake, into which they have crammed an amazing amount of dense chocolate frosting. I seriously think there was at least as much frosting as cake. And it was good frosting, not some crazy sweet store bought frosting. The only problem was that it didn't come with ice cream, so after two bites I ordered some of the vanilla ice cream so that I could actually finish it. By the end of that cake, I wasn't sorry at all that I'd just gotten the appetizer and small salad. It would be a minimum of $50 for two people to eat here - most of the entrees were around $25 - but it was good and it was really great to see so many fresh, seasonal Alaskan foods on the menu.

So if you go to Glennallen, especially in the summer, you have a pretty great selection of places to eat, considering that you are passing through a town of only 500 people. I would recommend going to Tok Thai or the Princess Lodge in the summer, and to the Copper Center Lodge in the winter for a good meal on your road trip.