Thursday, September 15, 2011

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.

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