Westward Ho! (Chicago to Seattle by way of Yellowstone)

We're five days into our travels, mostly doing our own cooking, with a few notable exceptions (pics later when I can easily scale them)

Bernbaum's Scandinavian Jewish Deli in Fargo ND: terrific bagels (choice is seeded or not), the icelandic plate includes gravlax (a little sweet, I prefer saltier lox), shaved fennel, cream cheese, radish sprouts, pickles and picked onions. Sue had a turkey pastrami knish which included fontina cheese, served with pickled beets and Russian dressing - really outstanding.

BernBaum's
402 Broadway N, Fargo, ND 58102
https://www.bernbaums.com/

Selma’s Ice Cream Parlor in Afton MN (just over the Mississippi from Wisconsin) makes some truly scrumptious flavors such as Exhausted Parent: Bourbon, Coffee, Pecan and Bittersweet Chocolate.

Selma’s Ice Cream Parlor
3419 St Croix Trail S, Afton, MN 55001
https://selmasicecream.square.site/

Brickhouse Grill in Dickinson, ND was open when we wanted an early dinner - nothing too special (before 5 only their apps and burgers are available), but the Chizlets appetizer may have been designed by a cardiologist looking for business: filet bits and cheese curds fried and served with chipotle aioli.

Brickhouse Grille
2 W Villard St., Dickinson ND 58601
https://www.brickhousegrilleonline.com/

Beartooth Cafe in Cooke City, Montana was very nice. A bit pricey, but everything is in a town you have to cross mountains to get to. Mountain trout was cooked perfectly, as was Sue's steak teriyaki. Minor demerits for putting foil on baked potato but there was still a skin worth eating.

Service was a bit slow, but we were in no rush. Stella Cidre and Chianti rounded it out.

Pics later.

Sounds like a great trip, have fun!

In september 2019 went on an awesome road trip that was almost 2 weeks. Flew into Bozeman, stayed overnight in Red Lodge. Was originally planning on driving the Beartooth but it closed early for the season due to winter weather. So we drove the Chief Joseph instead. Still a very pretty drive. Then went to Yellowstone & Grand Teton, Craters of the Moon, then Ketchum for their annual sheep fest.

Food wise Le Chatelaine in Bozeman was the best chocolatier I've ever been to, they had some really unique flavors. Still order from them around the holidays every year. Had good fried chicken in Bozeman, don't remember the name of the place. That night we stayed at Rock Creek Resort in Red Lodge, that was a nice meal with good wine next to a fireplace in their cute restaurant.

As for meals in the national parks, Old Faithful Inn although the building is gorgeous the food was kinda meh. It was a crazy last night of the season, however. The food where we stayed at the snow lodge was better. The food at Signal Mt Lodge in Grand Teton was much better. Still remember their trout benedict in the mornings. Had lunch in Idaho Falls at The SnakeBite, a cute little place. Good burgers and sandwiches.

Most memorable food in Ketchum was smoked lamb ribs at the sheep festival. Also elk poutine at Sawtooth Brewery. The wait at the Pioneer Saloon was super long since the town was so busy that weekend, ate at their bar instead. Can't remember what I ate but we enjoyed it.

Although it rained every freakin' day just before dinner, we cooked all but one night - the M60 bar at Canyon Village is just drinks and snacks, somewhat overpriced but their platter with pretzel bites, fried pickles, onion rings, chicken wings and mozz sticks scratched an itch as a light meal.

Our first night in Grand Tetons we had pizza at the spot in Coulter Bay, quite good with arugula and prosciutto, chewy crust.

On our way out of the Tetons we stopped at Bubba's BBQ in Jackson. It's the real deal, and lunch specials are enormous. St Louis ribs had good pull on the bone, brisket had good smoke but probably had sat a while. Mac and cheese excellent, always happy with fried okra, battered fries meh Great service, highly recommended.

Ogden Utah is much more hopping than SLC, 25th Street straight from the train station is all buildings that were saloons and now has fancy and casual restaurants, clubs and shops. Table 25 was outstanding, especially their doughy focaccia, toasted in butter in two of the dishes we had: pickled peaches with burrata, and gnocchetti with burrata and cherry tomatoes. Wedge salad was pretty good, more of a green goddess dressing which clashed a bit with the blue cheese. Fried mushrooms (long stems, little caps, maybe beech?) with gochujang and garlic aioli were fantastic. Four dishes plus a drink apiece and it was just over $100 with tip.

The next night was Juan Julio's Grill, nothing special Mexican. Al Pastor was tasty but had never been crisped, let alone on a trompo. Tamales were tasty. Nice selection of salsas.

Gourmandise cafe (a small chain) had great pastries, we split a cheese one and an amazing spiral croissant filled with ganache.

On to Idaho and back to cooking out of our trailer.

JoelF wrote:Ogden Utah is much more hopping than SLC, 25th Street straight from the train station is all buildings that were saloons and now has fancy and casual restaurants, clubs and shops.

Oh dang, I wish I'd have known you were stopping in Ogden! My in-laws live there and I'm very familiar with the town.

I know I've posted about it somewhere on this board, but my favorite spot is Rosa's Café for their tight menu of burritos on hand made tortillas stuffed with choice of beans, chicharron, or blazing hot chile verde or colorado. And gotta go "esmothered" with more chile. There's overall a great flour tortilla scene there – Tortilleria El Angel is also a must stop for stocking up.

Also amazing hand dipped cones (gotta go black licorice!) in the preserved-in-amber midcentury parlor at Farr Better Ice Cream (of which my wife has dynastic ties.)

I love all the midcentury neon up and down 89. I've been remiss to do a throwback Ameri-Chinese tour on the strip at some of those joints.

Finally, it's been a few years, but I've had great Hawaiian food in Ogden. There's a sizable immigration pattern from the Pacific Islands via Mormon missionary activities.

Bar Gernika in Boise, Idaho made for a nice lunch. Basque sidra, some chicken croquettes and a lamb "grinder" sandwich served with jus and fries for the two of us hit the spot.

Boise has a big Basque population, if the weather were nicer there's a few other places we'd have visited.

JoelF wrote:Bar Gernika in Boise, Idaho made for a nice lunch. Basque sidra, some chicken croquettes and a lamb "grinder" sandwich served with jus and fries for the two of us hit the spot.

Boise has a big Basque population, if the weather were nicer there's a few other places we'd have visited.

The sheep festival we went to in Ketchum had a big Basque component, including dancers in basque dress.

Hat Yai in Portland is Southern Thai. Fried chicken with pickles, roti and curry was terrific, as was Sue's pork belly and shoulder over rice with a fried egg.

Started a donut crawl afterward with Heavenly Donuts - one of the few open in the evening - with an old fashioned chocolate, cream cheese filled, devil's food and maple bacon (the later two saved for breakfast)

Meant to get more donuts, never actually did. Instead, stopped at the Bob's Red Mill store for lunch (really good chicken salad sandwich, nice croutons on Caesar salad).

Dinner was at Luce in Portland: tiny place with awesome Italian.

Reasonable prices (antipasti $2 each? We should have ordered more than the rabbit liver mousse crostini and farro parmesan cake which is sort of what rice pudding becomes when it grows up and gets a job), olives, disc-shaped pasta with ricotta walnut pesto, charred cabbage, lamb loin and trout. Dessert was buttermilk panna cotta with pine bud syrup, way better than expected.

Seattle area notes: Meet friends at Macky's Dum Sum in Issaquah. Some very good items, some ok. Not destination dining.

Next night we are at Rock Creek in Kirkland, some truly wonderful seafood, including clams with fennel (and a whole lot of butter), octopus with beans, shrimp and grits. This place is worth a visit (sorry I have no pics from either one)

Custer, SD in the black hills, we were tempted by The Purple Pie Place. Sue's Brownie S'mores ice cream was pretty good (but no match for a couple others we've had), but my apple pie, microwave reheated, was tasty but texturally pretty poor. Pie is all about the crust and this just didn't measure up, too soft except where it was too thick. No flakiness.

Buddy, we'll be very much awaiting yours and Sue's return. I would call this 'glamping in spirit only', because this couldn't have been easy, even with the coolest usage of a cargo trailer ever, thanks to both of your ingenuity.

Food notwithstanding, I'm just wondering how your psyches handled this. Did you ever have to bail to hotels? Were there any nasty storms to deal with, where maybe the trailer was rocked back and forth? Maybe I'm just putting myself in your shoes, and with my numerous phobias I just say...uh-uh. And of course, because I'm a cheap SOB...did you track costs? I'll bet you did... I hope you journaled...

Looking forward to seeing youse guys!

jnm123 wrote:Buddy, we'll be very much awaiting yours and Sue's return. I would call this 'glamping in spirit only', because this couldn't have been easy, even with the coolest usage of a cargo trailer ever, thanks to both of your ingenuity.

Food notwithstanding, I'm just wondering how your psyches handled this. Did you ever have to bail to hotels? Were there any nasty storms to deal with, where maybe the trailer was rocked back and forth? Maybe I'm just putting myself in your shoes, and with my numerous phobias I just say...uh-uh. And of course, because I'm a cheap SOB...did you track costs? I'll bet you did... I hope you journaled...

Looking forward to seeing youse guys!

Sue is doing the journaling, I'm just posting pictures to FB. Yeah we're tracking costs and it's only a little higher than hoped, not counting two urgent care visits.

The worst storms were while we were in Yellowstone, but died out by early evening - we ate at the lodge one night. There was a surprise middle of the night storm at Craters of the Moon but it was brief and driving in a storm is worse than sleeping in one. We've stayed at hotels six nights as breaks and for urban exploration, tonight will be another, to guarantee WiFi for book club on Zoom.

Smokehouse Bar and Grill in Hot Springs, SD was pretty good, but not up to Bubba's (scroll up). The prices are reasonable: 2-meat platter for $21 in 2024, includes a salad and one side (Mac n Cheese), strangely no bread. Meats were excellent, sauce on the side was possibly Sweet Baby Ray's, but they had a substantial hot sauce bar to jazz it up. Oddly, no bread on the platter.

Don't know your path coming down from SD, but it might be interesting to pass through Clear Lake, IA. The remembrances of where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper crashed, also the cool Surf Ballroom, where they had played their last show. I believe this was January 1959.

Also, the Sevens Restaurant in vintage downtown Clear Lake makes a mean pork tenderloin sandwich.

jnm123 wrote:Don't know your path coming down from SD, but it might be interesting to pass through Clear Lake, IA.

The plan is for I-90 with small diversions. Plans change.

Really nice meal in Sioux Falls South Dakota, at ROAM. A tasty, if not fried version of chislic, a perfectly cooked bison New York strip for her, and a nicely fried walleye with wild rice and smoked onion tartar sauce for me. Good service (but didn't feel like taking pictures)

JoelF wrote:Really nice meal in Sioux Falls South Dakota, at ROAM. A tasty, if not fried version of chislic, a perfectly cooked bison New York strip for her, and a nicely fried walleye with wild rice and smoked onion tartar sauce for me. Good service (but didn't feel like taking pictures)

Never heard of chislic before now.
I really like the few times I've had a bison steak.

AaronSinger wrote:Never heard of chislic before now.
I really like the few times I've had a bison steak.

It's a South Dakota thing. Little cubes of meat, originally mutton but often beef or lamb, usually deep fried (without breading) seasoned simply (garlic salt is referenced frequently). A dipping sauce is typical, I've seen blue cheese, but that night it was a very good ranch and a mostly flavorless blueberry-chipotle.