gail

Call me a yahoo from the Northeast and get it out of your system - we are clueless about what to expect in Alaska as far as food/restaurants. Will do driving trip from Anchorage to Denali and then likely backtrack and spend a few days on Kenai Peninsula.

Coming from a part of the country where there are more fast food options per square mile than people, part of the reason we are going to Alaska is to avoid that urban clutter. But what should we expect while driving on this route. I know we should pack lunch/snacks for Denali days, but on this route, just give me a picture of food frequency options.

And I am certainly not worried about starving - we will be well overfed on cruise the next week. Thanks for your tolerance of my ignorance.

dfnh

HI Gail, this is when the Milepost comes in handy. I suggest timing your trips via Anchorage for meal time. There's lots of restaurants in Anchorage. Our favorite pizza/brew pub is the Moose's Tooth which is very convenient to the Seward Hwy heading south. When you head north from Anchorage, Wasilla is about an hour north and there are a few restaurants. Wasilla is your last chance for a large supermarket. Then you'll be lucky to find a gas station with convenience type of food until you get to Talkeetna. The grocery store there is very small.
Heading south from Anchorage I don't recall anything until Girdwood which is only 40 miles south. Then another stretch of great scenery/no restaurants. I would wait until I got to Seward for a good meal. Ray's is popular for seafood but coming from the Northeast you might be underwhelmed. I think we ate more halibut than anything else. When you backtrack a bit and then head down the other side of the KP toward Homer you will find several restaurants in Soldotna which is a good sized town. Since we normally avoid fast food places I don't even recall if there was anything like a MacDonalds. You'll find some sub shops like Quiznos but very few franchise operations. Soldnota has some huge supermarkets where you can get salads, etc, similar to what you find at home. Then there's not much until you get to Homer. We found a small waterfront seafood shack near Nilnilchik but it was off the hwy and hard to find. Different kind of clams than we have hear in New England. You'll find coffee huts around but since we didn't stop I'm not sure what they sell besides coffee. You might enjoy Cafe Cups in Homer because it's zany/funky. We tended to eat at places like SkiMos in Kenai (next door to Soldotna) which is a local, family take out type of place with great peanut butter milkshakes, deep fried halibut, etc. I also kept an eye out for farmers markets. Sometimes great baked goods. If you like oysters and have cooking facilities, there are fresh oysters at the farmers market in Homer. (Fridays?)
Basically, without the Milepost you might not find anything in between the towns listed above. Since it's possible to spend an entire day going from Anchorage to Seward even though it's only about a 3 hour trip if you don't stop, that would be a good time to have a picnic lunch handy.
Also, if you're planning to stay at any b&b's, be aware that some give you a cold bagel/OJ/coffee for breakfast while others cook up a tremendous breakfast. You will find everything from a room over a garage to professionally run B&Bs.

RedRock

So far we have not made it to AK driving but we have made many month+ long road trips all over the US and Canada. We always carry a cooler or two with the things we like. That way we are not caught short if there is no fast food establishment available when we get hungry... We have more problems finding a restroom than finding a place to eat.

Way_North

Gail, dfnh gave you great answer based on personal experiences. If I may add my comments, plenty of places to eat around the entrance to Denali NP. Endless places in Anchorage including every possible fast food place. I don't eat fast food but they are visible.

While driving from Anchorage to Denali stop at a great supermarket in Wasilla and get whatever you think you will need. We stop at Safeway/Carr's supermarket where with a card we are able to purchase less expensive food. There are other markets in Wasilla. We always get fruit, snacks and if stay in a cabin with kitchen facilities we buy milk and any food we think we need. It is a good idea, as recommended by a generous poster RedRock, to have a cooler. You may get one at the supermarkets for a few bucks. Once you pass Wasilla there are not many choices for buying any food items. No large supermarket until you get to Fairbanks. Healy has a small market with not many and expensive choices.

On Kenai Peninsula there are many restaurants in Seward, Homer and Soldotna. These towns also have big supermarkets. Some fast food places but, similar to dfnh, I do not pay that much attention to them.
Have a great trip

gail

Thanks - that is exactly the type info I was looking for. We are staying at cabin with kitchen outside Denali for 3 nights so I guess we will stock up on food on way up there. Figured Kenai Peninsula would be less of an issue.

dwooddon

There are also little mom and pop restaurants almost anywhere there there are a few dozen homes in the area. Some of them are gems.

On the Seward Hwy, near Bird Creek State Park, there is a little place called the Bird Creek Cafe. It serves absolutely the best blueberry pancakes I have ever had. Going out toward Chena Hot Springs from Fairbanks, there's a little hole-in-the-wall cafe, the name of which I can't recall, where I had an excellent turkey sandwich on homemade sourdough bread. In Talkeetna, if you like gut-busting cholesteral-laden chow, the Talkeetna Roadhouse is hard to surpass.

In Seward, I was not so impressed with Roys as others have been but next door, there's a place whose name I can't remeber but it has Chinook in its name and was excellent with the same sort of menu and prices as Roys.

One of my favorite things about traveling around Alaska is finding these little food gems. Since the choices aren't many in the small places, sometimes you'll be disappointed, but less often than I would have thought.

padams421

You should definitely buy a Milepost guide. It lists every restaurant, gas station, motel, attraction by mile on each of the major Alaska roads.

Dfnh gives great advice above on the frequency of food options.

jetset1

gail~ I'd add The Crossing restaurant as a good lunch and dinner stop if in Soldotna.. when it's summer, you can sit outside overlooking the Kenai River.
Also, there is a terrific bakery/coffee place called The Moose is Loose, along the Sterling Highway in Soldotna.

for a Chinese food craving, there is a nice place between Sterling and Soldotna, the Golden International, which was remodeled and a chef from Beverly Hills prepares some specialty entrees, along with a full menu.

Two nice lunch stops in Kenai are Veronica's in Old Town, and Charlotte's, for homemade soups, salads and sandwiches.

Best luck with your trip, J.