Great Finds for Fabulous Food Around Anchorage

One surprising aspect of Anchorage is that it is really hit or miss when it comes to locating good food finds. We made the mistake of trying some restaurants that presented well in advertisements but were not so great in person. Here is a list of some of the places we’ve tried that offered tasty fare.

 Spenard Roadhouse

This restaurant specializes in contemporary comfort food and the menu changes regularly. They have local beers on draft and incorporate locally grown produce into their fair as well. And kids are taken care of with a Kids Menu that includes a starter, entrée and dessert. And to top it off, prices are quite reasonable for the area.

http://www.spenardroadhouse.com/

Find them at:

1049 W. Northern Lights
Anchorage, AK 99503

Pictured below: Seasonal Martini, Blackened Brussel Sprouts/Wilted Power Greens, Kids Mac & Cheese, Vegetable Sides, Kids Cheeseburger

Ginger

Ginger is located in downtown Anchorage and serves up Pacific Rim cuisine and classic Asian specialties. They also offer local micro brewed beer as well as wine and sake. The ambience is welcoming and comfortable and more along the lines of casual fine dining.

https://gingeralaska.com/

Find them at:

425 W 5th Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99501

Pictured below: Banana and Lemongrass Soup

Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse

Fun place to eat seafood and pub fare. I debated including this one on the list, as the service when we've been there was not so great. However, the food was good enough to offset the subpar service. They offer live music on Friday and Saturday nights. 

humpysalaska.com

Find them at:

610 W. 6th Ave.

Anchorage, AK 99501

Pictured below: Alehouse Fish and Chips, Alaska Smoked Salmon Spread, The Original Crab Roll with Smoked Salmon Chowder, Humpy’s Halibut Tacos.

The Grape Tap

A bit of a drive from Anchorage, this little gem of a restaurant is tucked away in Wasilla. The restaurant resides in a quaint house, and the atmosphere is cozy and relaxing. They specialize in New American dishes and offer a seasonal menu and nice wine selection. There is live music scheduled on certain dates.

http://www.thegrapetap.com/

Find them at:

322 N. Boundary St.

Wasilla, AK 99654

Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria

There’s no way to sum up great finds for fabulous food around Anchorage without mentioning Moose’s Tooth in Midtown. In fact, this restaurant has even received national attention for its pizzas and beer. A new special beer is released monthly from Broken Tooth brewing, referred to as First Tap. In addition, new specialty pizzas are introduced as well. There is often a wait time, but the general consensus is that it is worth the wait.

Find them at:

3300 Old Seward Highway

Anchorage, AK 99503

Pictured below: Half Spicy Thai Chicken and Half Taco (?), Create Your Own Pizza, Mozzarella Bread Sticks, Hungarian Mushroom Soup, Melt Away Brownie, Death by Peanut Butter

Seward, Alaska

Had a wonderful time visiting Seward, a small community on Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula! The highlight of our tip was watching the otters play in the Bay. We were spotted them while dining at Chinooks, a restaurant close to the Harbor 360 Hotel where we stayed. We also trekked the —trail and took in the woodsy scenes, inlet, and creeks along the way.

Bodenburg Butte Trail: Palmer, Alaska

I’ll start this review with what we missed—there are two different trails to the top of the Butte. And they each offer a very different experience. Since we ended up doing them both on separate days, I can provide some insights on both.

Butte Trailhead off of Bodenburg Loop

We decided to give this trail a try on Memorial Day Weekend after a long-time Alaskan recommended it as one of her favorites (this was before we knew there was an alternative route up). First the not-so-good aspects: There were quite a few people there, which isn’t always the case for Alaska trails. It was obvious this was a popular choice. The first thing we noticed (and couldn’t help but notice) was the dust. It was everywhere and coated everything. One of our little ones was talking and we noticed there was even a film of dirt on his front teeth. Likewise, one of our dogs who is shorter was coughing frequently as the dust was swirling around her from hikers ahead. Another aspect that was quite apparent was that although this is rated as an “easy” trail on some hiking sites, the path elevates continuously—it is uphill the entire way to the top. This is something to keep in mind for hikers with less mobility who are expecting to encounter a less strenuous hike based on the rating. We weren’t really prepared as well as we usually are, as it is a short hike (.9 miles) and rated easy—basically, we were thinking “this will be a breeze.”

Now for the good stuff: The views are beautiful and unlike other hikes where it takes a while to be able to enjoy the spectacular views, these views are stunning in less than half a mile. The trail itself is clear (sans dust, dust and more dust) and it was easy to navigate even with “crowd” relative to other Alaskan trails. The parking lot is adjacent to the trailhead so access it relatively easy as well.

Butte Trailhead off of Mothershead Lane (Google maps has this one labeled Butte Trailhead North with stairs)

After researching and discovering that this was the maintained trail, we gave it a try on a Tuesday. The parking lot was packed and there were at least two organized hiking groups that were there at the same time we were. The trail is wide and clear as it begins and winds through the woods under a canopy of trees and greenery. After a while, we arrived at the beginning of the steps and there are a lot of them (the path is narrower here as well). Unlike the trail on the other side, there isn’t much of a view as everything is sheltered underneath the trees (there is a bench at one point in a clearing that offers a nice view a little over half-way up). We found the switchbacks and stairs much easier than the steep incline and dust of the alternative trail. There are breaks in places where the stairs end and the path winds through the woods some more. Eventually, there is one final staircase that leads to the top and-wow—the view is breathtaking. Knik Glacier, Pioneer Peek, Lazy Mountain, the Cook Inlet, and Sleeping Lady are all visible. There is plenty of room at the top and there were isolated places to picnic even with the large groups ahead of us already seated.

Overall: The views are spectacular and it takes very little time to get to them—would highly recommend the North trailhead.

Helpful tips:

There are restrooms in the parking lot of the Mothershead Lane trailhead.

Be sure to bring money for parking.

Dogs are allowed on a leash.

The stairs become narrower, so if you have a dog that gets anxious being in close proximity to other dogs, this may be difficult to navigate. In certain areas, stepping off of the steps is difficult as it is often a steep incline.

Sunglasses are very helpful in keeping the dust out of eyes (mine had hats as well).

Come down the same way you came up—otherwise you will end up in the other parking lot and it is a long walk back to your car that way.

Indian Valley Mine: Indian, Alaska

We met some friends here who had planned the trip, so I hadn’t done a lot of research ahead of time. The kids were hoping to actually dig through an open field of dirt, but instead this place provides buckets of dirt to search through. There were 10.00, 20.00, 50.00 and 100.00 dollar paydirt buckets available. Once we got our bucket, the staff members were very helpful in explaining the process and helping individual kids. There were small gold flakes and other very small pieces of gemstones in our dirt. The kids had fun sorting through the dirt very slowly in small batches. My two split a 20.00 bucket and I was surprised at how long this lasted.

Find them at: http://indianvalleymine.com or (907)444-6898

Reindeer Farm: Palmer, Alaska

We’d heard wonderful things about Reindeer Farm and decided to visit as an end to our week. It was easy to find the location (beside the unmaintained trailhead for Butte). When we first arrived, we saw a sign noting check-in was located within the gift shop. We paid the admission fee and joined a tour that had just begun.

In our group, the tour guide, Mike, shared a lot of interesting information on reindeer. We learned that reindeer shed their antlers yearly and each year they grow larger. The antlers are covered in velvet while growing, and nerves carrying blood flow through them. (Because of this, and to avoid accidents, we were told not to touch the antlers). We also got to hold a large antler that had been shed (it was surprisingly heavy). At the termination of the informational segment, we were asked to sanitize hands and shoes (walked across a mat) before entering the pen.

A small cup of was provided to each person and we entered the reindeer pen! The reindeer came right over. They were gentle in taking the food. Since we were there in June, they were shedding their coats and gaining their new ones. The reindeer were of various sizes and ages. The largest one, Red, was a sight to behold. Carl was the runner-up in terms of size, next to Red.Our tour guide was enthusiastic about the animals, and knew the history on each and every one and some cool trivia on movies made around there as well. In addition to the reindeer, we also met Dolly the bison. She was born too late in the season, left by her mother, and found at another location and eventually taken in by the farm. Rocky, the moose, was found abandoned in the Kenai. He also ended up at the reindeer farm and is now a year old. There was also an elk. Although when we were there, he wouldn’t approach the feeding area. At the end of the tour, we got the chance to pet some Angora rabbits and hold the chickens.

Address: 5561 Bodenburg Loop, Palmer, AK 99645

(907) 745-4000

This was such a great place to visit—definitely a fun family find.