#alaskaeats

Perfect for a chicken wing restaurant in the 907 area (Alaska).

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Well I’m at it again folks! And there’s no better way to start up Alaska Foodie Reviews with breakfast at Monk’s Rock here in Kodiak, Alaska. I had the Breakfast B.E.S.T. (breakfast sandwich) accompanied with home fries. Scrambled eggs are served on the roll with tomato, pesto mayo, gouda, a thin slice of potato, and spinach. Simple and delicious.

There are a few other choices for breakfast, but they also serve lunch, coffee/espresso, and loose leaf tea.

To my delightful surprise, I learned that during this time of year customers can request to hear carols from the entire staff at the restaurant. I was able to get a video of one of their carols, and although the recording is not up to par with the live performance, I promise it is quite fantastic. I hope to have the video up soon, so stay tuned for it!

Although most of us have probably celebrated our holiday’s, the Russian Christmas has yet to take place this Saturday, and in light of the holiday Monk’s will be closed for a couple of weeks starting this Friday. So I got there just in time before I left on my next boat to enjoy some healthy and homey food.

Disclaimer: A few things you will never see reviewed on my blogs about food are pork (sorry bacon fanatics), alcohol (wine and beer, etc) and lima beans (blegk). Other than that there are some minor food allergies that will lead to substitutions, but other than that it is fair game.

When you think Alaska what are the foods that come to mind? Salmon, salmon, salmon and Alaskan King Crab. Well did you know that Alaska is home to some the BEST HALIBUT fishing? Pacific Halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, is a funny looking, sideways swimming flat fish. Fishermen (and women) come to Alaska to fish the flat faced fishy and just yesterday a 400-lb Halibut was caught in Petersburg, Alaska! Just a little fun fact. I will get more into Alaska Fish when I head down to Seward and Homer next week!

For now I want to talk about the yummy foods that have started this epicurean journey across the 49th state. My meals begin in Anchorage. As you may recall from a previous post, “Elk Meatballs are Surprising Delicious,” my first introduction to Anchorage dining included surprisingly delicious elk meatballs in a marinara sauce and halibut fish and chips from the 49th Street Brewing Company. Who would have thought I would eat elk and like it? But I still felt bad about it. Animals are friends but I really enjoy meat, I wish I didn’t but I do and for that I am sorry animal friends.

Elk Meatballs and In house brewed Root Beer

Best in Town, Fish and Chips

Genetics would have you believe that I should not love ice cream as much as I do. But it is a fact of my life: ice cream will ALWAYS BE WORTH IT. And there was no better time to test this theory than at Lucky Wishbone Restaurant in Anchorage. This gem of a restaurant is known for having the best milkshake in the entire state of Alaska (that is pretty darn impressive)!  According to Spoon University’s article, “The Best Milkshake in Every State in America,” it is their root bear float that takes the prize but if we are being technical, a root beer float IS NOT a milkshake. So my friends and I did a little research of our own and tried out their endless combination of milkshakes, with flavors like fresh strawberry, vanilla, orange, chocolate, peanut butter and banana, we were bound to find our favorite combinations. I went with the winning combination of fresh strawberry and banana. What I write next comes to you based on memories gathered from pictures and witness reports because I think I momentarily left my body when I had the first taste of the creamy delight. Pictures show that the milkshake arrived topped with fresh whipped cream, a straw and a spoon, what happened next was a blur.

Heather in heaven with her fresh strawberry millkshake

Milkshake Nirvana

Oh but wait, there’s more! The Lucky Wishbone was far from done with the hypnosis of my tummy. They may have a recent article about their milkshakes but the real reason all the cool kids come here is because of their fried chicken. When the doors to this Anchorage staple opened in 1955, they began serving their fried chicken and 60 years later they are still going strong. At the age of 91, the owner George was at work, catching up with his guests and sitting at his reserved spot. Now options are essential and here you can order your fried chicken based on your level of hunger: there is the Pop, which comes with 4 pieces of friend chicken, the Mom, comes with 3 pieces of chicken and Junior, comes with 2 pieces of chicken. All orders are served with cornbread and you can pick between french fries or coleslaw and for an additional charge, you can order all white meat or all dark meat.

The Mom – leg, wing and breast. Served with french fries and cornbread. LOOK AT THIS! I MEAN, REALLY LOOK AT IT!

This is what I was greeted with and I am shamed to say that I could only eat the leg. But my order was not in vein; I am queen of the leftovers! The chicken was perfectly fried to a golden crisp. I would definitely order the coleslaw next time instead of the fries, but man ole man was this finger lickin’ good!

I do not own this photo. Photo courtesy of Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse http://www.humpysalaska.com/

I know that I mentioned salmon earlier it would be remiss if I did not eat it as close to home as I can get without catching it myself (it would never happen). We visited Humpy’s, not originally for food, but in search of a ‘message in a bottle’ type of scavenger hunt. One of Heather’s friends told her that they left her a message a few weeks earlier on a table in the outside patio of Humpy’s, so we figured that we would kill two birds with one stone: treasure hunt and lunch. We did not find the message, but we did find delicious lunch on a rainy afternoon.

Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse, located in downtown Anchorage at 610 West 6th Avenue Anchorage, AK 99517, offers a selection of locally brewed beers (blah blah blah), but that is not what interested me. I will stick to my unsweetened iced tea with lemon, please and thank you. What caught my eye was the salmon chowder. Being an east coast girl, I love a good chowda, but most of the time the authentic New England recipes include a pork base, usually hambone, so I am left to the canned version, which means I do not eat it as often as I would like. After inquiring about the salmon chowder’s contents I happily ordered a cup and the sesame salmon salad. *Takes a moment of silence to reflect on the moment when my mouth and the spoon full of salmon chowder met* THIS SOUP WAS SORCERY OF THE DEEPEST LEVEL. A creamy melange of chunks of potatoes and salmon topped with salmon crumbles.. SALMON CRUMBLES y’all! It is like bacon bits, but salmon bits!! And the freshest dill that I could smell before the cup was put in front of me. I added just the slightest turn of fresh cracked pepper and that was it, I smelled shapes and tasted colors with that first bite. I do not have a picture of this meal because I was hungry and it was so good. The great news is that you can come try it out for yourself! Oh, make sure you order the berry crumble, it is topped with vanilla ice cream and served warm and extra crumbly. Just be certain that you do not have a raspberry allergy like me! oops.

Good thing we are so active on this trip with hiking and walking, otherwise we would be bringing back souvenirs in the form of pounds.

Until next time, to your health!