[Montana] Missoula, Bozeman, Billings restaurants

[FWED]

Hi everyone. I am going to be on a trip to visit relatives in Billings Montana. Well its really Fromberg Montana but few people know where that is. Anyway I am going to be driving from Seattle to Missoula, then on to Bozeman for the bluegrass festival, and then on to Billings.

Is the restaurant "Marianne's at the Wilma" in Missoula still operating and is it as good as I remember? The same could be said for the restaurant at the Gallatin Gate way Inn near Bozeman. I would also like recommendations for Billings.

Any help would be appreciated Fred Rowe

[tanabutler]

You might contact the people who run this publication: Edible Missoula. They are part of the Edible Communities newsletters that are starting up nationwide. There is not much content there, but they are all about supporting the fresh/local/seasonal food scene. If you contact them, feel free to say I recommended them, and that I am friends with Tracey and Carole (who publish Edible Ojai, the founders of Edible Communities).

[Rosie]

Some info here:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=41680

Had a good--not great dinner at Boodles in Bozeman.

[TMackDo]

You've gotta stop by a little place called Pug Mahon's in downtown Billings. It's a seedy looking pub/bar, but they have the best damn fried pork chop sandwich I've ever had. The chop is a huge slab of fried pleasure.... comes with homemade potato chips. They've got great onion rings too... but bring a VERY empty stomach.

I also had a very good ribeye steak at a place called Cactus Creek Steak Outfitters.

[FWED]

Well I am back from the wilds of Montana and I can report that there is some good eating there. First off I must admit that I am not a hard core foodie, I don’t particularly care for duck, and pate is not one of my favorite foods. That said I must admit that I do like well prepared and interesting foods and both red and white wines.

The trick in Montana is finding something other than mediocre dinner food, steak houses or franchise food both fast and otherwise.

In Missoula I found that Marian’s at the Wilma is now closed and used as a catering facility. To bad it was a lovely facility with great food and wonderful classical music live in the dining room. There is also a Red Lyon and a Double Tree Inn in town and the food there has, in the past, been what you would expect of those establishments. I did find two other wonderful restaurants though. The first was SCOTTY’S TABLE a small but delightful bistro near down town and the second was RED BIRD, an even smaller place, in downtown Missoula. Both these upscale restaurants had a variety of meat, fish, and poultry items as well as seasonal and nightly specials. Both restaurants operate on a philosophy of sustainable yield incorporating as much free range, organic, and Montana products as possible. The food, at both places, was good to very good and the service was friendly, helpful, and very interested in knowing more about eGullet.com. Both places are working on web sites at this time.

I must admit that at the start of my trip I hadn’t thought much about spreading the word about eGullet. As time went by and I got into looking for good restaurants and cooking stores I found I couldn’t pass up a chance to spread the news. With out exception everyone seemed interested and wanted the web site address.

More Tomorrow.

[FWED]

When we arrived in Bozeman I knew things had changed. There were spotlights out in front of the theater and a red carpet on the main street. Seriously there was a film festival happening the weekend we were there so there was plenty of activity in main part of town. It seems that several big name established movie stars live in the area and they decided to start a film festival. It seems that there is a lot of knew money in town because there are more restaurants, galleries, and expensive shops on Main Street. There is a new and well stocked kitchen store and cooking school. I looked at the schedule and several well-known and local chefs were scheduled to teach there.

We ate at 4 restaurants there in 3 days. The first was THE SAVORY OLIVE a lovely medium size place owned and cheffed by Heather Hand and Eric Stenberg. Its in the restored ballroom of an old hotel that also been restored and turned in to apartments. The food was great and ran the gamete of House made soups and pastas to Tandoori Marinated and Grilled Rocky Mountain Lamb, Truffle Roasted Chicken, Coconut Crusted Halibut, and Grilled Bison Tenderloin served with a cherry and black pepper chutney. Oh yes the service was young but professional and friendly but not chummy.

The second restaurant was called LOUIES DOWN UNDER and was indeed in the basement of the building. It’s a lovely place, sophisticated, and well designed and laid out. The staff was helpful and friendly but the food was only mediocre even if the portions were large like the Big Sky Country.

The third place was called BOODLES. It was smaller than the other two but no less sophisticated in an elegant and grown up way. The food was also wonderful and the service attentive and friendly.

The surprise of our stay in Bozeman was finding PLONK WINE. It’s a very upscale wine bar combining sleek modern design and furnishings housed in a turn of the century building with exposed brick walls, tin ceilings, and polished pine floors. The food also reflects a modern take on wines. There were at least 25 wines in all price ranges (most in the mid to lower price though) available by the glass. The food, which ranged from appetizers to small entrées was of the small plate variety that invites grazing. This is the only place in Bozeman that has its own pastry chef a Sara White. She bakes all their bread and makes all the components for the plated desserts. Yes We did have wine there (two delightful dessert wines) and we also had beautifully plated desserts that tasted and looked as good as many in Seattle and Portland. Plonk also has weekly flights, wine maker dinners, a wine school, a private cellar, wine tastings, guest chefs, and new wine release parties.

More tomorrow.

[FWED]

Billings was quite a let down. The town seems to be doing well but doesn’t have the visual excitement or sophistication of Bozeman’s downtown. We did find a large new and well-stocked kitchen store there called “The Copper Colander”. They plan on adding a cooking school but haven’t as of this date. So far it’s the only real kitchen store in Billings.

We had to eat at the REX not because we really wanted to but because my relatives who we were entertaining don’t eat anything but meat (read that beef) and potatoes with ice cream for dessert. We did hear from the folks at the Copper Colander of several other places that we would have liked to visit but couldn’t due to time. ENZO’S looked good and menu was interesting(its Mediterranean in general) but when I suggested it to my relatives they stated that they had gone there but had not found anything that they could eat. To bad for them. The other two places that I would have liked to have tried were Q’s and Walkers. If anyone out there try’s them let us know.

Our next stop was Cody Wyoming on the way to Yellowstone Park. We had lunch at IRMA’S . Its in the turn of the century Irma hotel built by Bill Cody. The food could best be described as Denny’s with attitude. It and the dinning room have definitely seen better days. If you get the chance skip it. We did find a Cajun place of all things on a back street that was very nice. Its called Tommy Jack’s Cajun Grill. Good food with a cajun flare in a comfortable western/New Orleans setting.

Once in Yellowstone Park the food is I think all provided by the same concessionaire. We did have a late breakfast at the Old Faithful Inn. The Inn is not to be missed if you are there, its wonderful in its own unique way. The dinning room was the star of the food show. Its much as it was when it opened in 1904. The Food wasn’t bad it just plain, large, mid priced hotel food.

Some Last Notes

We started out this trip as a road trip in my somewhat new sports car and ended up with an Odyssey of majestic scenery, grand museums, good food, and egullet. The scenery and weather were wonderful. The Museums especially the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman and the Cody Museum in Cody Wyoming were both aw inspiring. The food along the way turned out to be better than I had remembered or expected and everyone who heard about egullet wanted to know more and to visit the site. I didn’t mean this to be a publicizing trip about egullet but it just happened and I am glad it did. Talking about food and restaurants and egullet with the many people we met gave special meaning to the trip.

[halland]

Anyone know if Double Front, in Missoula is still open? If you pass through on the way back, you might see if it is, and have yourself some of the freshest, best damn fried chicken ever. Maybe they still have .99 budweisers too.

Hal

[Mabelline]

Just last week I was sent a menu from www.cafecourier.com, a Billings delivery service, with menus from a slophouse-full of various places. They are in the main, quite good.

The Rex is a high dollar disappointment. My SIL with no tastebuds thinks it's cool, but it's expensive, and not much else.

Sorry I can't clickety, but there you are.

Pug Mahon's....purty good. The Log Cabin Bakery....purty good. Walker's Grill...yep, PURTY damn good. Q...haven't been to yet.Don't know.