Monthly Archives: September 2017

Great Mexican Tacos in Grande Prairie, Alberta

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Great fish tacos at El Norteno in Grande Prairie, Alberta

I keep finding great Mexican food in the strangest of places. Like Idaho, home of my two favourite Mexican road-food stops: the incredible one-woman show in tiny Hamer and the fantastic fare at Morenita’s in Idaho Falls.

You can add to that list El Norteno, way up yonder in the northwest Alberta city of Grande Prairie. As an oil and gas/farming centre, GP is well stocked with steakhouses, pizza places and lounges. But tucked inside a downtown farmers’ market is a little stall churning out tacos.

Now, these aren’t just any tacos, but Ensenada Baja-style tacos, which apparently means corn tortillas, batter-fried fish and no lettuce. The most impressive thing for me is that once you place an order, the sole guy running the show grabs a mound of masa harina (corn dough) and runs it through a tortilla press before flipping the resulting disks on the grill. It doesn’t get any fresher than that.

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Fresh-pressed corn tortillas with every order

Meanwhile, he’s flash frying basa filets and charbroiling pork loin, which are placed inside the grilled tortillas and topped with onion, cilantro and house-made salsa and guacamole. Good, flavourful stuff.

At about $12 for three, filling tacos, it’s not Mexican food-truck cheap, but still good value for northern Alberta. And yes, the corn tortillas start falling apart as they are crammed into our gaping mouths. But for me, that’s just a sign they’re truly authentic.

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It’s a little one-man show

El Norteno
10032 101 Avenue, Grande Prairie, Alberta
Monday 11 am-3 pm, Tuesday-Friday 11 am-8 pm, Saturday 10 am-3 pm. Closed Sunday
780-832-8093

Primed for a big burger in Fort Nelson, B.C.

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Woodlands Inn, Fort Nelson

A perfect post-backpack prime-rib burger at Woodlands Inn in Fort Nelson, B.C.

Fort Nelson is in the middle-of-nowhere northeast British Columbia. Yeah, it’s on the Alaska Highway, and there’s lots of oil and gas activity. But it’s more than 1,000 kilometres from the nearest big city, Edmonton.

So when we pull into the town of 4,000 people after a week-long backpack in nearby Stone Mountain Provincial Park, I’m expecting it to be easy to find a place to eat, even on a Saturday night.

But the pub we go into is crawling with people attending a fundraiser. Strike one! Across the street, the local Boston Pizza is full to the rafters with folks watching the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather “fight”. Strike two!

It’s now pouring with rain, and we’re starving for a pint, or two, and something with lots of carbo calories to wolf down. Almost in desperation, we head across the highway to a hotel, Woodlands Inn & Suites, with odd concrete hallways.

The lounge is quiet—not a promising sign—and the two beers on tap are definitely generic. Finally, the food prices are rather northern expensive.

All that is except for a prime-rib burger and fries for $15, which all five of us order. Sure, the extras, like bacon and cheese, are another $2 or $3 each. Still, there are enough fixings on the basic burger to keep the cost down.

Now, it’s always hard to objectively rate a restaurant when you’re ravenous and just off a big mountain trip. But we all agree these charbroiled burgers are excellent: juicy, flavourful and big. And lots of hot, greasy fries. Yum! Several of us even order a second pint of Kokanee Gold.

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A Fort Nelson highlight, an excellent new rec centre

Woodlands Inn & Suites
3995 50 Avenue, Fort Nelson, B.C.
250-774-6669

Cinnamon bun capital of the universe in northern B.C.

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The cinnamon buns at Tetsa River Lodge, in northern B.C., attract hundreds of hungry mouths a day

I’ve long believed  every restaurant should have at least one signature dish, something that stands out in a, hopefully, short menu. So much the better if that item is enticing enough to lure people off the road.

Tetsa River Lodge, in the far northeastern reaches of British Columbia, has certainly figured this out. It does have a breakfast and lunch menu that includes scratch-made soups and breads.

But what makes travellers slam on the brakes at Mile 375 on the Alaska Highway, west of Fort Nelson, is its cinnamon buns. During the short summer tourist season, it sells 200 to 300 of these sticky delights a day, enough to qualify for legendary status in this part of the world.

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Tetsa River Lodge is certainly an oasis along the Alaska Highway

Now, for that kind of success, the product has to be good. At Tetsa Lodge, it’s a sufficiently large, dense, sweet bun to appease the hunger pangs on a long stretch of the Alaska Highway with no other food options. And at $5 a pop, it’s an acceptable price point in these northern wilds.

But what really helps is that age-old marketing strategy: hand-made signs every kilometre or so before you reach the lodge. Forget “the world’s best.” These are trumpeted as the “cinnamon bun centre of the galactic cluster.”

That must be why aliens these days are looking a little pudgy.

Tetsa River Lodge

If you don’t like the northern gas prices, you can always stay home

Tetsa River Lodge
Mile 375, Alaska Highway, 118 km west of Fort Nelson