Bite-Sized Posts: Canadian BBQ

It’s rodeo time at the Calgary Stampede

In honour of the 101st Calgary Stampede and those who moved mountains to put it on two weeks after the record floods. Where’s the beef? At the end of a shovel.

Southerners can get mighty particular about barbecue—about smoke rings, chopped or sliced, etc. Me, I don’t know much, but I do lean toward flavour, moistness and an absence of syrupy sauces. So, Calgary’s Holy Smoke BBQ hits pretty much all my bases. Its barbecue has a nice, smoky flavour and ain’t dry, with a dozen sauces in bottles, so I can add what heat and sweetness I want. It also hits my price point, $6 for a generous, regular chopped beef brisket, stacked inside a typical hamburger bun; better bread would kick things up a notch. Add buck-a-bone ribs for more protein or sides like coleslaw or a tiny piece of cornbread, and you still haven’t cracked $10. I avoid the lunchtime rush, so my car-to-car time, including eating, is an impressive five minutes, and I’ve got the vacuum turned off.

Chopped brisket sandwich for $6 hits the spot

The flagship Holy Smoke is located in an industrial part of southeast Calgary, with outdoor picnic tables for summertime dining and indoor seating surrounded by bumper stickers. To wit: “If you’ve been married three times and still have the same in-laws, you might be a redneck” and “Dress code: four tooth minimum.”

Authentic BBQ at 51 degrees latitude? I’ll let the purists debate that. But for quick, affordable beef on a bun, it goes down fine with a little rodeo.

Holy Smoke BBQ
4, 4640 Manhattan Road SE (two other Calgary locations)
Weekdays 10 am-8 pm, Saturday 10 am-4 pm. Closed Sunday

Two Gems in British Columbia’s Interior

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Saing-Germain co-owner Stephano Liapis delivers a delectable baguette sandwich, including his own pickles.

Stephano Liapis delivers a delectable baguette sandwich, including his own pickles, at Saint-Germain Cafe Gallery in Penticton, B.C.

Summer is when people flock to the sunny lakes of British Columbia’s interior. Here’s a couple of great eateries from my own recent trip from the Trans-Canada Highway down Highway 97 into the heart of the Okanagan Valley.

Entering *Saint-Germain Café Gallery, in the southern Okanagan city of Penticton, I hang back to stare up at the menu. This prompts co-owner Stephano Liapis to demonstrate for me that in a Japanese restaurant, I’d be greeted with a bow and a short shout. Then a customer beside me utters a few words in Cantonese. I’ m hoping to extend the international theme with a weekly special, a baked Cuban pork sandwich, but, alas, they’re sold out. So I switch to French and order a Le Jardin, featuring a fresh baguette laden with double brie, roasted peppers, pesto and, a great touch, slices of house-made pickles. I add a small bowl of the day’s Albondigas soup—beef and pork meatballs in a vegetable broth—for a fabulous, filling lunch for less than $10. I conclude things with the best espresso I’ve had in the Okanagan, accompanied by Stephano’s own biscotti.

As the name suggests, Saint-Germain doubles as a gallery, but artist Brigitte Liapis has been too busy with the restaurant side of things to do anything but hang other artists’ pieces on the walls. I can see why. Brigitte and Stephano are a lovely couple, working hard to produce first-class food.

Saint-Germain Cafe doubles as an art gallery

Saint-Germain Cafe Gallery
102, 449 Main Street, Penticton, B.C.
Monday to Friday 8 am-5 pm, Saturday 8 am-3 pm. Closed Sunday

Mary Jo Beirnes (left) runs the bustling Shuswap Pie Company in Salmon Arm, B.C.

When Mary Jo Beirnes opened *Shuswap Pie Company a couple of years ago, I don’t know if she intended to employ half the youth in Salmon Arm, bisected by the Trans-Canada Highway. But when I go there on a late summer’s morning, at least a dozen young women are bustling around the open kitchen, assembling fresh cherry, blueberry and strawberry-rhubarb pies, pulling meat pies from ovens and serving paninis and quiches to the gathering lunch crowd. I dig through a flaky, buttery crust to reach my steaming steak and stout pie, a rich, flavourful dish that goes well with a fresh-baked muffin and cup of strong coffee. I leave with a whole cherry pie for dinner with friends, who can’t restrain themselves from eating a slice, and then a second, before the main course is ready.

This flaky pastry contains a hot steak and stout pie at Shuswap Pie Company

Shuswap Pie Company
Unit A, 331 Alexander Street, Salmon Arm, B.C.
Monday to Wednesday 7:30 am-5:30 pm, Thursday and Friday 7:30 am-7:30 pm, Saturday 8:30 am-5 pm

Excellent Edmonton Eateries: Part 2

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Dauphine Bakery & Bistro has a lovely downtown Edmonton space, despite the basement digs

When I was a teenager in Edmonton, I used to walk through the Italian neighbourhood and its lovingly maintained residential gardens en route to Edmonton Eskimo football games. Many years later, that identity is, if anything, stronger, thanks in no small part to the Italian Centre Shop, in the heart of the community. Modernized and expanded to nearly a block by Teresa Spinelli after taking over from her late father, Frank, the store is a great place for weekend people watching. Customers can be seen hovering over peppers, fresh figs, pastas and tomatoes or lining up at the deli to order sliced mortadella, capicollo or Genova salami (ask for samples), along with a large selection of cheeses and olives. A good summertime strategy is to order a panini or pick up some deli cuts along with fresh ciabatta or pagnotta bread and have a picnic in the park across the street. You can also order thin-crust pizza (for a bargain $3 a slice or $11 whole) and an espresso, tossed back Italian style, in Spinelli’s Bar Italia at the store’s south end.

The Italian Centre Shop is as good for people watching as deli perusing

Italian Centre Shop
10878-95 Street (a second, smaller location at Edmonton’s southern outskirts: 5028-104A Street)
Daily 9 am-9 pm

Another boyhood memory is having weekend dim sum at Moon’s Restaurant and shopping in the nearby market. Back then, Edmonton’s Chinatown, just east of downtown, was both an exotic attraction and a sketchy area peppered with unhygienic kitchens. The neighbourhood doesn’t look a whole lot different nearly four decades later, so it’s with mixed apprehension and interest that I enter the Veggie Garden Restaurant. The sparkling clean tables and washroom are reassuring, as is the kindly owner, who immediately informs me this Chinese/ Vietnamese restaurant is strictly vegetarian. Here, you could have fun fooling unsuspecting carnivore companions by ordering lemongrass “shrimp” or stir-fried “pork” and seeing if they could tell they were really eating tofu (actually, it’s never made sense to me why vegetarians would want to use terms like hot dogs or burgers to describe their food). In any event, the food is delicious, especially the shredded potato and jicama salad rolls and the sliced “chicken” in a slightly too sweet lemon sauce. Guess what? It tastes like chicken. My meal, including appetizer, is a ridiculously cheap $12; I have another meal from the leftovers.

The shredded potato and jicama salad rolls were a highlight at Veggie Garden Restaurant

Veggie Garden Restaurant
10582-100 Street, Edmonton
Monday to Thursday 11 am-8:30 pm, Friday-Saturday 11 am-9:30 pm, Sunday 3 pm-8 pm

One part of downtown Edmonton that’s definitely been upgraded is the stretch of 104th Street between Jasper and 104th Avenues. The old brick warehouses and office buildings have been scrubbed and filled with trendy shops and cafes. Here you’ll find one of Edmonton’s coffee hotspots, Credo—with it’s Intelligentsia beans, thin, crisp cookies and homemade granola bars—and a newcomer, Roast Coffeehouse + Wine Bar, featuring a bizarre maple espresso with candied bacon; sorry, I couldn’t bring myself to try it.

Credo is a fine downtown spot for a java and thin, crisp cookie

But my favourite place along this downtown strip is Dauphine Bakery and Bistro. A lawsuit forced owner Linda Kearney to abandon her original name, Queen of Tarts. But she hasn’t lost the recipes for her fabulous lemon curd and white-chocolate pistachio tarts, carrot cake and smoked salmon and leek quiche. Plus, she’s somehow turned a downstairs location into a bright, airy space. What I really like is the attention to detail, whether it’s the antique silver sugar bowls or the dense, round sunflower or pumpkin seed breads that use natural leavening agents; they make great, sourdoughy toast. Yes, the cost of many things is a little steep, but you’re paying for quality and locally sourced ingredients. There are some lovely, reasonably priced lunch options such as a wild, smoked salmon plate with rye bread and organic greens or a Pan Bagnat sandwich, featuring marinated tuna, tapenade and arugula, served with a pea and fennel salad (both $13).

There are lovely antiques like this collection of silver teapots and sugar bowls at Dauphine Bakery & Bistro

There are lovely antiques like this collection of silver tea and coffee sets at Dauphine Bakery & Bistro

Dauphine Bakery and Bistro
10129-104 Street, Edmonton
Tuesday to Thursday 10 am-6 pm, Friday 10 am-7 pm, Saturday 10 am-6 pm. Closed Sunday

Amidst the leafy, upscale streets of Glenora sits the nicely appointed Vi’s for Pies. Here’ll you’ll find matrons gathering for tea and key lime pie, alongside businessmen and guys in pressed jeans meeting for lunch. As the name suggests, Vi’s is best known for decadent desserts like chocolate caramel cake and a strawberry shortcake gorgeously perched atop a three-berry scone. But it also has some tasty lunch items like the popular chicken pot or shepherd’s pie or the less filling roasted chicken bunwich. The best value, though, might be the half rack of pork ribs or the beef brisket, both $14.50 and slow roasted over pecan and apple/mesquite wood. Both come with two of the following four sides: little bowls of mac ‘n cheese, spicy potato salad, baked beans and cole slaw. Oh, and there’s a cheese biscuit thrown in for good measure. Suffice to say, after shovelling down this large meal, there’s no room for dessert, and I can only dream of raspberry lemon cream pie or apple pecan caramel cheesecake. Sigh.

There was so much food with my pork brisket lunch at Vi’s for Pies, I had no room for the vaunted desserts

Vi’s for Pies
13408 Stony Plain Road, Edmonton
Tuesday to Thursday 9 am-10 pm, Friday 9 am-11 pm, Saturday 10 am-11 pm, Sunday 10 am-4 pm. Closed Monday

As the name suggests, The Next Act has long been associated with the rich arts scene in Edmonton’s historic Strathcona district, just off Whyte Avenue; the Fringe Theatre Festival’s headquarters are visible through the front windows. Before and after shows, patrons gather for a brew and a bite, sitting in booths or at high tables while perhaps eying an old black-and-white movie playing soundlessly on a corner TV screen. For the first act, I’d suggest ordering a local Alley Kat pint from the many beers on offer. For the second, go for one of the excellent, theatrically named burgers, such as my Director’s ($14), a succulent patty covered in avocado, jack cheese, stewed chilies and sufficient other fixings to stretch my jaw like a visit to the dentist. It comes with fries, but I advise paying a buck more for a good mixed-greens salad dotted with pea shoots, strawberries, halved grapes and slivered almonds.

Be sure to get a salad with a fine burger at The Next Act

The Next Act
8224 104 Street Northwest, Edmonton
Sunday to Thursday 11 am-1 am, Friday-Saturday 11 am-2 am

The folks at *Sherbrooke Liquor Store say they have the finest selection of beer in Canada, with more than 1,400 brands in stock. I believe them. Mind you, there’s no clue when I pull into a grimy strip mall off busy St. Albert Trail and push open the aluminum doors flanked by mirrored windows. But then I hang a sharp right into the walk-in cooler jammed with narrow aisles stacked to the ceiling with exotic beers from around the planet. Suddenly, I’m in beer candy land, and it’s all I can do to not empty my wallet on dozens of ales, stouts and hefeweizens I’ve never seen before. I restrict myself to three world-class choices—a Belgian Mikkeller Geek Breakfast beer (with a dense chocolaty, coffee taste for easing me into the morning), an outstanding Scottish Innis & Gunn winter treacle porter (like all their beers, aged in oak) and an Oregon Deschutes Brewery Red Chair, recently named the world’s top beer, though a little hoppy for me and much more expensive here than in the U.S. By now, you’ve probably figured this ain’t the place for your watery, bargain-basement 24-pack. And I’m sure Sherbrooke has a fine selection of wines and spirits, but I never give them a glance.

Just a small sample of the beers on offer at Sherbrooke Liquor Store

Sherbrooke Liquor Store
11819 St. Alberta Trail, Edmonton
Sunday to Tuesday 10 am-10 pm, Wednesday-Thursday 10 am-11 pm, Friday-Saturday 10 am-midnight

I venture into the basement of a downtown Edmonton office tower to visit a fast-food court. I’m at Chicken for Lunch for its signature hot and dry chicken, much loved by regulars. But really, I’m here just as much for its exuberant owner, Amy Quon. And she doesn’t disappoint. “Here, you need some skinny noodles with that. It will make you skinny,” Amy says as she ladles food into a Styrofoam container. When I tell her I’m from Calgary, working on a road food blog, she piles some ginger beef on for me to sample. At the rate she’s going, I’ll soon be fat.

Yes, it is food-court fare, sitting in steamer trays, though it’s constantly being replenished to keep pace with the daily lunch lineup. My nuggets of hot and dry chicken are crispy, a little greasy and mildly spicy, the chunks of broccoli and carrots crunchy and the skinny noodles providing a nice, moist base. But Amy, thinking I’m still too skinny, gives me the business card for her other family restaurant, The Lingnan.

Exuberant owner Amy Quon may be the main attraction at Chicken for Lunch

Chicken for Lunch
10060 Jasper Avenue NW (lower level Scotia Place), Edmonton
Weekdays 7 am-2 pm

Excellent Edmonton, Alberta Eateries: Part 1

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Delectable desserts at Duchess Bake Shop in Edmonton

I grew up in Edmonton in the 1960s and ‘70s, a pretty bleak era for eating out. Things have improved considerably (other than the potholes; my God, the roads are so bad, you don’t need to visit a chiropractor). The city, topping 800,000 in population, now offers a varied, multicultural food scene, though a notch below its bigger, richer Calgary rival. I’d give it a B rating overall, with still lots of room for improvement. For the value-seeking traveller, there are decent options but few standouts, with prices higher than you might expect. One exception, as you’ll see, is a surprising number of good dessert places.

Road trippers go to or through Edmonton for a variety of reasons including shopping at West Edmonton Mall, working up north in the oil sands or heading to the stunning, glaciated mountains of Jasper National Park, a four-hour drive to the west. The city also has a fabulous arts scene, especially its summer festivals, headlined by the Edmonton Folk Festival in early August.

I still spend enough time in Edmonton (family and work) to have tried out many of its eateries. Thus this rather lengthy post has been broken into two parts, with most of the best places (*) described in part one.

*Elm Cafe is about as modern minimalist as it gets, even for a predominantly takeout spot. The physical space—on the ground floor of a medical office building—is tiny, the four window stools nearly matched by the three people bustling behind the counter. The chalkboard menu is equally spartan: excellent, strong 49th Parallel coffee, a few fine, fruit muffins and the choice of two morning and two lunchtime “craft” sandwiches. The sandwiches change each day, and the best way to find out what’s on offer is to check the restaurant’s Twitter account. I go for a fried egg sandwich (the egg cooked alongside the rest of the sammy in the panini grill), with thick slices of bacon, black bean salsa and melted provolone. The available seating is pretty much taken up by a guy with two toddlers, so I have to dash back to my car on a chilly winter’s morning, unfold the butcher wrap and dig in. Fortunately, the sandwich is still warm, with the soft contents contained inside a first-rate ciabatta bun. All things considered, it’s one of the better breakfast sandwiches I’ve had. I return a few days later for an equally good muffaletta sandwich thick with Italian deli meats, artichokes, provolone and tapenade.

A fabulous fried egg sandwich from Elm Cafe

Elm Cafe
100, 10140-117 Street, Edmonton
Monday to Friday 7 am-5 pm, Saturday 8 am-4pm, Sunday 9 am-3 pm

You’ve gotta love a restaurant where the owner greets you at the door, takes your order and then heads to the kitchen to cook it… from scratch. Such is delightfully the case at the new *Nosh Cafe, where co-owners Jag and S. Vermaz both ask if it’s my first time in and patiently explain the South Indian menu. I’m particularly drawn to the novelty, for me, of a dosa—a plate-engulfing, slightly crispy crepe made from rice batter and lentils. My choice of a paneer masala dosa ($10) is loaded with spiced peas, potatoes, corn and cottage cheese cubes (the paneer). A knife and fork is provided, but S. encourages me to break off chunks of the dosa with my hands and dip it in what might be the best part of the meal: small dishes of slightly spicy chutneys, including a creamy coconut mix and a mint-cilantro blend, along with a tamarind sauce. It’s a three-napkin job, washed down with a fragrant mug of milky chai.

A large dose of delicious dosa at Nosh Cafe

Nosh Cafe
10049 156 Street, Edmonton
Weekdays 8 am-10 pm, weekends 9 am-10 pm

An authentic, first-class taco joint in downtown Edmonton? Hard to believe, but it’s true. *Tres Carnales Taqueria is owned by three buddies—one Mexican, one Filipino and one Edmontonian. The other twist is that, other than the red snapper, all the meats, tortillas and breads are locally sourced, and the excellent guacamole and various salsas made from scratch. The result is fresh, first-class food, witness a healthy lunchtime lineup forming by 11:30. But things move quickly as people order at the counter then retreat to a handful of small tables or a long common table and wait to be served. The menu is simple: four tacos (three if it’s fish), three quesadillas or a large torta, ranging in price from $10 to $12, respectively. For the tortas and tacos, there’s a choice of eight, mostly meat, fillings; my only complaint is you can’t mix and match. My Al Pastor tacos are succulent, marinated and slow-roasted pork, topped with a lovely pineapple salsa. Add a shared order of thick guacamole and tortilla chips, the latter served in a cone of butcher paper, and you’ve got a fine, contemporary version of Mexican street food.

My hands are trembling too much to get a sharp photo of these wonderful al pastor tacos at Tres Carnales Taqueria

Tres Carnales Taqueria
10119 100A Street, Edmonton
Monday to Friday 11 am-10 pm, Saturday 4 pm-10 pm. Closed Sunday

Ten minutes after opening for weekend brunch, the roomy *Highlevel Diner is pretty much packed. The university and middle-aged, upscale crowd at this Edmonton fixture, at the south end of the magnificent High Level Bridge, is here, in part, for the famous, oversized but not drippingly sweet cinnamon buns, a meal in itself at a bargain $4. They’re also savouring staples like eggs Benedict or bacon, potato and cheddar omelets, alongside healthy options like multigrain organic Alberta cereal and fresh fruit and yogurt. Another reason the Highlevel is so popular is the service. A pot of hot coffee continually swings through the darkened room, and my stack of wild blueberry buttermilk pancakes arrives steaming hot, complete with a requested sugarless syrup, in under 10 minutes. The Highlevel Diner also has a full weekday breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, with features like Turkey Tuesdays, Ukrainian Thursdays and a celiac-friendly menu. It’s not cheap dining, but it’s good quality.

Mmm! Blueberry pancakes hot off the griddle at Highlevel Diner

Highlevel Diner
10912-88 Avenue NW, Edmonton
Monday to Thursday 7:30 am-10 pm, Friday 7:30 am-11 pm, Saturday 8:30 am-11 pm, Sunday 8:30 am-9 pm

Going to Upper Crust Cafe is like homecoming week for me. It’s across the street from my junior high school, Garneau, and it’s been the scene of many family dinners. Indeed, it’s the kind of relaxed, affordable place that makes it a go-to restaurant for women meeting for lunch or families gathering to unwind. It’s a most pleasant spot, with high ceilings, lemony walls, artist-painted tables and large paintings by the talented Lynn Malin, a family friend.

But enough about me. Most importantly, Upper Crust has some of the best lunch deals in town. My bountiful chicken salad sandwich, for example, is encased in thick slices of house-baked oat bread and comes with a creamy scoop of potato salad, all for only $7.25. Another bargain is the chili con carne ($7.95 for a small bowl, $9.95 for a large, both with a slice of cornbread). Even the lamb stew special doesn’t crack $12. Upper Crust is also known for its pies and cakes (many purchased to go), but I can never resist ordering a mammoth, slightly tangy lemon square.

The Upper Crust Cafe is a great space for good, affordable dining

Upper Crust Cafe
10909-86 Avenue, Edmonton
Monday to Friday 11 am-9 pm, Saturday 9:30 am-9 pm. Closed Sunday

Just outside downtown, on a traffic-choked stretch of 124 Street, is a hidden treasure: *Duchess Bake Shop. It’s the kind of place you’d take your mother or discerning friend for a mid-afternoon sweet and a pot of tea or pressed Intelligentsia coffee. The dining area is elegant but relaxed, featuring chandeliers and hanging lights, granite-topped tables and young, friendly servers with lipstick, fashionable eyewear and hair pulled back into buns. You can order scones and eau claires, but why not indulge in something more decadent and distinctive like a rhubarb galette, chocolate bread pudding, a lemon meringue cake or a raspberry-studded confection aptly called l’amour?

It doesn’t get any better than Duchess Bake Shop for tea and a sweet

Duchess Bake Shop
10718 124 Street, Edmonton
Tuesday to Friday 9 am-8 pm, Saturday 10 am-6 pm, Sunday 10 am-5 pm. Closed Monday

Six menu items. That’s it. And all of them tucked inside crimped, oil-brushed calzones. At Battista’s Calzone, there’s no pizza, no salad, no appetizers and no dessert, other than a strawberry-nutella concoction stuffed inside a, you guessed it, calzone. This has made restaurant life relatively simple for hands-on co-owners Battista Vecchio and Liv Vors, who have converted an old auto garage into a tiny place with a recognizable niche market. It should also make things easy for customers, but there’s the enduring dilemma of whether to order the spicy Italian sausage calzone, the Mama Mia Meatball (based on a Battista family recipe) or the Chicken Pesto Presto. Unlike the heavy calzones I’ve eaten in the past, Battista’s dough is thin and crispy, forming the perfect pocket for the baked, gooey cheese and meat or veggie middle. Battista’s is located in Edmonton’s northeast, not far from the Edmonton Oilers’ current home or Highway 16 headed east. But if that’s out of your way, they now have a seasonal food truck, the Calzonemobile, roaming the city.

Simple, scrumptious calzones at Battista’s Calzone

Battista’s Calzone Co.
1745-84 Street NW, Edmonton
Tuesday to Saturday 11 am-3 pm

Walmart Overnight Parking Update: A Cheapskate Road Tripper’s Best Friend

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Walmart at night, when the campers crawl out (Photo credit: matteson.norman)

One of my most enduringly popular posts on this blog is the one about free overnight camping (ahem, parking) in Walmart parking lots in the southwest U.S. I’m not sure if readers are charmed by the witty account of my overnight adventures or just stumbled across it when looking to buy a laptop.

Most likely, they’re simply searching for Walmarts that allow overnight parking. Given that Walmart doesn’t officially acknowledge the practice but gives permission in many cases, it’s up to the likes of the excellent Allstays site for recent user information and experiences.

To help the cause, I’m listing Walmart parking lots I was permitted to stay in during a road trip through mountain states in April 2013. My strategy is pretty simple. If I see a bunch of campers/RVs in a distant corner of the lot, I pull up nearby. If not, I wander into the store and ask at the information desk.

My stays on this trip were pretty uneventful, other than one night in Albuquerque when flashlight-toting officers in two police cars spent an hour grilling the occupants of a nearby beater car. I kept the bear spray handy that night.

Here’s the list of Walmarts I stayed in:

Idaho Falls, Idaho – 500 South Utah Street
Montrose, Colorado – 16750 South Townsend Avenue
Gallup, New Mexico – 1600 West Maloney Avenue
Albuquerque, New Mexico – 2701 Carlisle Blvd NE
Santa Fe, New Mexico – 3251 Cerillos Road
Roswell, New Mexico – 4500A North Main
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico – 2001 HR Ashbaugh Drive

I pretty much struck out in Arizona. I couldn’t find any Walmarts in Tucson or Phoenix that allowed overnighting and instead stayed at the 24-hour Casino de Sol (5655 West Valencia) parking lot outside of Tucson and at a nice airbnb host house in Phoenix.

I camped a few times in Utah. The best deals were $10 a night in Capitol Reef National Park (no park entry fee if you’re just passing through) and free at the climbers’ camp in Indian Creek, near Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument. From a price perspective, these sure beat busy Zion National Park, where it costs $25 per vehicle just to get into the park (no doubt partly to pay for the shuttle-bus service), plus $16 and up to camp, if you’re lucky enough to find a free spot.

Montana Marathon: A Mad Dash Through Kalispell and Whitefish

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The Pocketsone Cafe is a lovely place for breakfast in Bigfork, Montana

Finally, on the homestretch of this month-long eating excursion, I kick things into high gear, gorging on a half dozen meals in one day. And you wonder where the Marathon Mouth label comes from?

Healthy grain porridge at Woods Bay Grill near Bigfork, Montana

I start things off at 6 am with, a rarity on this trip, a truly healthy breakfast, and in the unlikeliest of places. First, the meal, a hearty bowl of Cream of the West at Woods Bay Grill, near Bigfork, on the northeast corner of massive Flathead Lake. This hot cereal boasts these virtuous grains: Montana oats, hard red spring wheat, barley, rye, triticale, soft white wheat, spelt and bran, with a side of toast. Now the place—a little roadside diner, the walls lined with deer racks and wildlife art, the latter for sale. The rest of the breakfast fare is your traditional eggs and not-so-healthy biscuits with gravy and chicken-fried steak. But to show this tasty seven-grain cereal isn’t a lonely outlier on the menu, there’s also house-made, low-sugar jams for the toast.

Woods Bay Grill
14509 Highway 35, about 4 miles south of Bigfork, Montana
Daily 6 am-7 pm

I must say *Pocketstone Café, on the northeast shore of Flathead Lake, is a wonderful place to have breakfast (for your reading pleasure, it’s my second in just over an hour). The rough-hewn wall planks and hardwood floors and tables are matched by a big, central espresso bar fronted by a display case featuring mouthwatering deep-dish fruit pies, chewy oatmeal-raisin cookies and mammoth cupcakes. It’s also a warm, friendly place with an accommodating staff. The waitress is happy to let me mix and match the buttermilk and orange pancakes (great honey-maple and huckleberry syrups), with a side order of thick, meaty bacon. She also has the cook redo the order when it isn’t to her satisfaction. It’s nice to see the owner of a fairly new restaurant admitting on the website that things have improved since the opening and can continue to get better. Judging by the waiting times on many summer mid-mornings, they’re doing a damn fine job already.

Buttermilk and orange pancakes and bacon at Pocketstone Cafe. Mmm!

Pocketstone Cafe
444 Electric Avenue, Bigfork, Montana
Daily 6 am-3 pm

Continuing with my healthy eating trend, I pull into Bonelli’s Bistro in Kalispell and go straight past the usual lunch standards of paninis, wraps and sandwiches, though the homemade meatball sub looks tempting. Instead, I focus on a list of 10 salads and decide on one featuring a mound of organic mixed greens topped with quinoa, tabbouleh and hummus and a fan of rice crisps. It’s very nourishing and a nice late-morning palette cleanser, though the tahini dressing is a little astringent for my taste—that, and an obtrusive sound track.

Nice salad at Bonelli’s Bistro in Kalispell

Bonelli’s Bistro
38 1 Avenue East, Kalispell
Monday to Saturday 8 am-3pm. Closed Sunday

Another popular place for lunch in Kalispell is Wheat Montana Bakery & Deli, a sister company of the one near Three Forks, Montana. It offers massive cinnamon rolls, hearty soups and sandwiches and even bags of flour for purchase. Needing to pace myself, I save this for another trip.

Wheat Montana Bakery & Deli
405 South Main Street, Kalispell
Monday to Saturday 6 am- 6 pm, Sunday 8 am-4 pm

And then there’s Moose’s Saloon, little changed since I first visited four decades ago. The wooden booths, walls, and pillars are still blanketed in carved initials; the floor is still covered in sawdust (don’t wear Crocs, like I do) and there’s still great bags of free peanuts in the shell; just spit the shells on the floor, like everyone else. Once your eyes adjust to the gloom, grab a beer and maybe a pizza and soak up the atmosphere. There’s no place like it.

The famous swinging doors at Moose’s Saloon in Kalispell

Moose’s Saloon
173 North Main Street, Kalispell
Opens at 11 am

A few miles north, Whitefish is a more charming town than Kalispell, thanks to its smaller size, compact historic downtown and more upscale status at the foot of Whitefish Mountain Resort.

If you’re going to make audacious claims, you’d better be able to back them up. Fortunately, Amazing Crepes lives up to its name. Essentially, it pulls it off by doing one thing very well and adding some creativity to the process. The simple menu is broken into two parts: savoury crepes and sweet crepes. The former includes a couple with eggs, one with wild smoked salmon and another with fresh pears, gorgonzola and toasted almonds. The latter features a fresh fruit and granola crepe and one with Nutella and banana. A few minutes after I order, a golden-brown crepe arrives, buttery smooth and filled with rich, interesting flavours. The only thing that keeps me from awarding a * is my lovely brie, pesto and spinach crepe is a little salty for my taste. But on the whole, this is a great place for something fresh, light and inventive. And it’s good that things are light, as I have to pace myself for the day’s two remaining meals.

The crepes are indeed awesome at Amazing Crepes in Whitefish

Amazing Crepes
123 Central Avenue, Whitefish
Weekdays 8 am-4 pm, weekends 8 am-3 pm

You’d think it would be hard to distinguish yourself if you offered the usual lunchtime fare of paninis, wraps and salads, especially if you’re located in a nondescript strip mall on the main drag of Columbia Falls, just outside of Whitefish. Yet *The Palette Cafe pulls it off, and they do it the usual way: with imagination, attention to detail and presentation. Take, for instance, the first-class ingredients in my BLT panini—perfectly crusted bread enveloping maple bacon, truffle bechamel, sharp cheddar and arugula. The extra details are a lovely little cup of house-made mustard, an unusually shaped water glass and my ability to combine a half panini with a small salad of hummus, walnuts, spinach and nicely warmed pita triangles. The presentation is enhanced by the artistic way everything is laid out on the plate. A final nice gesture is when one co-owner (a young couple owns the place and her parents help out) sees the panini slopping around my face, as usual, and brings over a couple more napkins.

Fabulous BLT panini and salad at The Palette Cafe in Columbia Falls

The Palette Cafe
743 9 Street West, Columbia Falls
Tuesday to Friday 7:30 am-4 pm, Saturday 11 am-3 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday

You know the importance of first impressions? Well, *Pescado Blanco has me hooked with the arrival of a basket of warm, slightly oily tortilla chips, accompanied by a middling-fiery roasted pepper salsa. It’s all I can do to stop eating them and leave some room for the main course. Fortunately, I only order a couple of their polo tacos, featuring chunks of tender chicken seared in ancho chile and served on handmade white corn tortillas. The accompanying black beans and rice are a decided step up from your typical Mexican plate fillers. I can see why Shelley Adams, author of the terrific Whitewater Cooks books, calls Pescado Montana’s best Mexican restaurant.

First-class polo tacos at Pescado Blanco in Whitefish. I’ve already decimated the basket of fresh tortilla chips.

Pescado Blanco
235 1 Street, Whitefish
Daily 5 pm to close

Montana Coffee Traders runs a small empire in the Whitefish area. From its roastery, established south of town in the prehistoric year of 1981, to coffee bars in Whitefish, Kalispell and Columbia Falls, the company keeps locals well caffeinated. The downtown Whitefish location is jumping in late afternoon, and my potent, full-bodied Americano should keep me awake as I make my dash for the Canadian border, the day’s mountain of food gurgling through my distended belly during the long drive through the night.

Getting a final caffeine jolt at Montana Coffee Traders before my long drive into the night

Montana Coffee Traders
110 Central Avenue, Whitefish
Monday to Saturday 7 am-6 pm am, Sunday 9-5 pm

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