Chewing to Colorado: Great Falls and Fort Benton, Montana

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wake cup coffee house 6784Creative transformation of doors into tables at Wake Cup Coffee House, Fort Benton, Montana

Great Falls

Traditionally, I’ve only stopped in Great Falls long enough to gas up along the I-15 while gazing across the freeway at the prison and its razor-wire fence. But there is more to this surprisingly large city of 57,000 people. It boasts an interpretive centre dedicated to the Lewis and Clark expedition (which passed through here in 1805), a museum celebrating cowboy artist Charlie Russell and 40 miles of trails along the Missouri River. Like much of Montana, downtown Great Falls has seen better days and some eateries—while offering decent, bountiful grub—could easily be defined as dives. But there are at least a couple of places worthy of a short detour off the highway.

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Chewing to Colorado: Introduction

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Fantastic lamb burger and fries at Bingo Burger, Pueblo, Colorado

My doctor told me I had to stop throwing intimate dinners for four unless there are three other people – Orson Wells

When I watched Super Size Me, I was highly dubious of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s claim that eating all his meals for a month at a fast-food restaurant had compromised his health. I mean, 30 days? Well, after 25 days and more than 100 road-food meals in diners, cafes and other affordable eateries in the western U.S., I’m not so sure.

In that time, I ate a lot of deep-fried potatoes, doughy pancakes, fatty burgers, processed meats and greasy cheese in dining establishments from Montana to Colorado and Wyoming to Idaho. Did I mention bacon, something I maybe eat once or twice a year at home but which graced my breakfast plate and seasoned my burgers more times than I’d like to remember? Continue reading →