Where’s the Beef? In Babb, Montana

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Cattle Baron Supper Club

Yes, the steaks at Cattle Baron Supper Club, in Babb, Montana, start at a road-trip unfriendly price of about $33. But when you consider the inch-and-a-half T-bone weighs in at an artery-choking 40 ounces, it’s time to reconsider the math, or at least remove one cow from the equation.

In fact, if you’re not a glutton, you could feed a carnivorous family with a single steak or have enough leftovers for a long cattle drive. The setting is everything you’d expect in small-town ranchland Montana—a character place that’s sufficiently dimly lit that all you can focus on in is stuffing another mouthful of tender, local beef down your throat, along with maybe a beer or two to help in the digestion.

Babb Bar Cattle Baron Supper Club
Highway 89, Babb, Montana
Daily 5 pm-10 pm. Closed during winter

Fresh, Local Fare in Creston, B.C.

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Local. Fresh. Healthy. It doesn’t get much better than that, especially when you’re surrounded by verdant fields of veggies and fruits, ready to be plucked and plated.

To keep things simple, just call it what it is: Real Food Cafe. This one’s in Creston, B.C., just north of the Idaho border. Though why these type of wholesome eateries aren’t more common in agricultural small towns is a mystery to me. It isn’t to the Creston locals, who have the cafe happily abuzz on a Friday evening.

There’s so much local stuff on Real Food’s menu, let’s just look, for simplicity’s sake, at what’s traveled a tiny distance for tonight’s specials. There’s the acorn and butternut squash for my earthy cup of soup. There’s watermelon in the salad, pear in the cake. Of course, I have to spoil things by ordering a quinoa and black bean burger, which is topped by local greens and a killer, house-made corn relish.

But perhaps the most impressive local thing about Real Food is the service. I seem to have two or three courteous, friendly waitresses attending to me—keeping my water glass topped up, asking if I’d like something to read while I wait all of five minutes for my meal, discreetly bringing an extra napkin when some leakage stains my face (that could be a full-time job).

They’re around so much, I can hardly take furtive pictures of my food. In fact, other than one blurry shot in a dimly lit room, I’m forced to solely focus on all the fresh flavours.

Real Food Cafe
223 10 Avenue, Creston, B.C.
Monday to Friday lunch 11 am-2 pm, dinner 4:30 pm-8 pm, Saturday 4:30 pm-8 pm. Sunday closed
250-428-8882

Formidable French Bakery in Central Washington State

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French toast and strong coffee hits the spot at Anjou Bakery near Cashmere, Washington

French toast and strong coffee hits the spot at Anjou Bakery near Cashmere, Washington

An artisan bakery near the speck-on-a-map town of Cashmere in central Washington has my GPS so befuddled it sends me out to an apple orchard. Finally, I seek directions from a local, who directs me back to Highway 97/2, just west of Wenatchee, where I soon spy a big road sign for Anjou Bakery (which aptly is backed by a pear orchard). So much for high technology.

Inside the lovely cafe is a bakery, which for some two decades has been producing loaves of hearth-fired bread. But that’s just the opening act for an irresistible lineup of baked goodies one might expect in a French patisserie.

There are flaky almandines, airy meringues, mini cherry and marionberry pies. I go for a crispy slice of fruit-filled French “toast” to accompany a good, strong coffee. Formidable!

Why go for a slice of formidable pie when you have the whole thing?

Why go for a slice of formidable pie when you have the whole thing?

Other customers don’t seem encumbered by my directional challenges, as there’s a steady stream of travellers stopping for their morning treats. One simply says to the server: “Give me six of your pastries. You choose.”

Anjou Bakery
3898 Old Monitor Highway, Cashmere, Washington
Thursday to Sunday 8 am-5 pm. Closed Monday to Wednesday
509-782-4360

Old-School Diner in Snowville, Utah

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Mollie's Cafe is a classic diner just off the interstate in tiny Snowville, Utah

Mollie’s Cafe is a classic diner just off the interstate in tiny Snowville, Utah

A woman peers over the high counter as I enter Mollie’s Cafe in Snowville, the last Utah outpost on the I-84 west before it enters Idaho.

“Are you a salesman?” she asks, perhaps noticing the nylon briefcase slung over my shoulder. “Because if you are, I’m not buying.”

“But, hey,” I counter, “aren’t you selling something? Like, maybe, food?”

“I’m just the cook,” she laughs.

Lots of barstools and red vinyl booths. What's not to like?

Lots of barstools and red vinyl booths. What’s not to like?

Mollie’s is the kind of place you enter as much for the colour, the character and the conversation as the food—and the food’s pretty damn good for a classic country kitchen.

I go for a classic BLT on sourdough, lots of crunchy bacon to offset the tomatoes. Nicely done, with a side of chunky vegetable and beef soup. There’s nearly a dozen fresh fruit and cream pies to tempt, but with hours still to drive, I don’t want to fall into a food coma.

The classic diner fare is bountiful and affordable

The classic diner fare is bountiful and affordable

Of course, the soup comes with crackers

Of course, the soup comes with crackers

Mollie’s Café
15 Main Street, Snowville, Utah
Daily 6 am-10 pm
435-872-8295

A Classic Small-Town Utah Diner

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The Parowan Cafe is a classic small-town Utah diner

The Parowan Cafe is a classic small-town Utah diner

I once, in younger years, literally jogged up Brian Head Peak, an 11,300-foot mountain near Cedar Breaks National Monument in southern Utah. If I’d been better informed, I would have first headed to nearby Parowan Cafe to carbo load for the wheezing run.

It’s a classic small-town diner, in business for some 80 years in well-kept, wide-street Parowan (hey, it’s Utah). The menu covers breakfast and lunch classics such as a hot sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy.

My steaming, three-egg omelette arrives stuffed with crumbled bacon and melted cheddar and a generous helping of hash browns to fill out the platter. Then there’s my “side” of two pancakes, each covering a dinner plate. I could have run a marathon on these cakes alone.

Breakfast for one: Carbo loading for a major run

Breakfast for one: Carbo loading for a major run

It’s a slow morning, with many of the regulars off for the opening of a deer hunt with black-powder rifles. So the cook and waitress come out to chat for a while, no doubt eying my pathetic attempt to make a dent in the hotcakes. They’re just too damn big to hide under a napkin.

“May all who enter as guests leave as friends,” a sign at the back reads. I think we’ve got that covered.

Could have used a car wash after this muddy run up Brian Head Peak

Could have used a car wash after this muddy run up Brian Head Peak

Parowan Cafe
33 North Main Street, Parowan, Utah
Daily 7 am-9 pm, except 8 pm closing Sunday

Great Thin-Crust Pizza With an Extra Topping of Friendliness

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Nicely blistered pie at Centro Woodfired Pizza in Cedar City, Utah

Nicely blistered pie at Centro Woodfired Pizza in Cedar City, Utah

I’m not sure if there’s something in the rarified air of Cedar City, Utah (elevation 5,846 feet), but the folks at Centro Woodfired Pizzeria are just so darned friendly. The staff all smile broadly each time they walk by my table.

They welcome a group of youth volunteers on a fundraiser; no surprise, these beaming teenagers are soon helping bus tables. The server even apologizes when my pizza takes all of 10 minutes to reach the table.

The nice thing about Centro’s pizzas is they don’t gild the lily. My $12 pie has but three ingredients: roasted crimini mushrooms, creme fraiche and thyme, atop a thin, blistered crust. Good stuff.

Pizza isn't the only bread product pulled from the wood-fired oven

Pizza isn’t the only bread product pulled from the wood-fired oven

And if that’s a bit charred for my liking, they’ll happily undercook it a bit. Enough!

P.S. The woman in charge of the youth volunteers says she used to oversee similar volunteer projects in Southern California. These often involved helping the homeless or picking up litter. In Cedar City, she says with some astonishment, “they don’t have either.”

Centro Woodfired Pizzeria
50 West University Boulevard (Center Street), Cedar City, Utah
Monday to Saturday 11 am-10 pm. Closed Sunday, of course (it’s Utah!)