birder

Hi, everyone, just a few days before our trip. I've heard that alot of food in Alaska stinks because it's canned or frozen and shipped up from the mainland. What foods would you say are fresh and produced in Alaska? The salmon and halibut, of course. Anything else? What about berries? I would think they'd have fresh berries in abundance, but maybe they're saving them for the bears? (Don't laugh, there was a movement for this in Missoula last time I was there.) Anyway, I'd love to hear what you all think are good foods grown/caught in Alaska that I shouldn't miss. Thanks!

Wayne

I've heard baked Alaska is good.

jorr

I had shrimp in Wrangle AK at a small mom and pop restaurant. I told the waitress it was the best shrimp I had ever had. She told me it came in fresh this morning from the local shrimpers. I had no idea that there were shrimp in AK so it wasn't the kind of thing where you think its better because it came fresh off the boat.

In general I thought the food in AK was great. Just because it might be shipped in doesn't make it any different than anywhere else.

Oh I forgot about the beer!. There is an Alaska brand beer made in Juneau.

cd

Call us boring, but king salmon was in season when we were there so we had it every day prepared a different way! It was delicious.

repete

Yup, that's the only way it comes, canned or frozen so it can be kept easily in the igloo. Spam is the only meat other than muktuk ...

Sheesh, whoever told you this is quite mistaken. I remember hearing a lot of those stories before moving there in the '80s -- most of them were attributed to folks stationed in remote military outposts in the '50s.

Seriously, unless you're far out in the sticks or off the road system, the food is pretty solid. Of course, there are bad restaurants everywhere.

The produce that is brought in is pretty good and you'll probably hit a lot of local stuff. Few folks realize that with the long days, the growing season in the Mat-Su area is similar to parts of the Midwest.

http://www.alaskagrown.org/shopEat/freshBuys.html

Beyond the salmon and halibut, check for fresh spot shrimp and locally grown oysters (which don't reproduce there but grow quite nicely).

If you get a chance hit a farmer's market or stop at the New Sagaya Market.

Also beware tourist trap restaurants. Don't expect much in Fairbanks or Valdez, but Anchorage (Simon & Seafort's, Jen's, Glacier Brewhouse, Marx Bros.) Girdwood (Double Musky, 7 Glaciers), Seward (Ray's) and Homer have some good spots.

hawaiiantraveler

birder:
You are in for a wonderful surprise. When we visited Alaska ther was an overabundance of berries, vegetables, salmon,halibut, king crab, oysters, clams so big you can't believe,shrimp,etc with everything so very "FRESH" and the king crab so HUGE. They is also elk,deer, reindeer products. You can probably find more to eat in AK than you can in your own home town unless you are going way north to Barrow or the likes. Hope you have a great time.....you will.
Aloha!

birder

Thanks everyone so much - I am so delighted. Repete, thanks for the chart - basically almost everything is in season in August - yeah! I actually read that about Alaska food on this board I think! I'll try to find it if I can, and if I can, I'll top it to give us all a good laugh. Can't wait for all this fresh food.

BudgetQueen

The salmon and halibut are the foods to consider, I eat them every day in Alaska and then do a long wait until the next trip.

dfrostnh

We had some great bread and pastries from the farmers market in Homer last year. You can buy locally produced jams and jellies at different farmers markets including the one in Anchorage that are not your usual flavors. Rosehips and rhubarb are popular "fruits" in Alaska. We had the very best sweet potato fries at the health food place in Talkeetna (they do take out and have some tables on the porch). The Anchorage Daily News just gave a great report on the Discovery Restaurant in Hope AK, another place we ate. We order the beer sampler at the Moose's Tooth in Anchorage and Arctic Apricot is still my favorite. Halibut was always good in every shape and form. We "discovered" peanut butter milk shakes at Ski-Mos in Kenai, just a local family spot across from the visitors center. There's also a terrific bakery in Soldotna but I've forgotten the name. They have big squashed cinnamon rolls.
There's an Alaska Wild Berry Cookbook you might want to get as a souvenier. Lots of cranberry recipes and an interesting wild berry identification guide.

justme22

depending on time of year, alaska fiddleheads, these are fern leaves yet unopened. (you likely get them in other places too)

they can be sauteed and they have a nutty flavor, IMO very yummy.

but i don't recall the time frame, a friend brought them back and i had the fiddleheads at their house and don't recall when that was. sorry!!

Pat2003

justme22, you have to tell me more about Alaska alaska fiddleheads. We love them but can get them very seldom. We used to schedule out trips to New Hampshire in May where we knew one restaurant sometime had them. Where can we get them in Alaska? Any idea?

By the way, our halibut in Marx Bros restaurant in Anchorage wasn't that great. It was too dry. A whole meal was a little diassapointing. Perhaps because after reading all reviews we excpected something amazing. Hopefully it happened only this one evening in July. Maybe a chef had a night off.

Schnitzel

Is the Sourdough Mining Company restaurant outside of Anchorge worth a visit? Thanks.

BudgetQueen

Also consider birch syrup. As for the Mining comp. yes good food although big with buses. Their fritters are just excellent.

jorr

I'm glad somebody backed me up about that myth that AK food is all shipped in and therefor bad. I've never heard of beef cattle ranches in Manhatten, a salmon industry in Texas, Orange groves in Minneapolis, or apple farms in Miami. Almost everthing everywhere is "shipped in".

This reminds me of an episode of "Little House On The Praire" where Mrs. Engles asks the girls if they wanted Orange Juice for breakfast. They lived in rural Minnesota in the late 1800's! Ya Right! I was waiting for Mrs. Engles to go to the harvest gold refrigerator/freezer and whip out a container of Minute Maid orange juice which she got at the super market off interstate 90.

dcespedes

birder, our friends who live in Anchorage rave about the berries this time of year, particularly the blue ones. Another vote for Moose's Tooth Pizza! And of all the places we ate Jack Sprat in Girdwood was my favorite.
http://jacksprat.net

justme22

pat2003 i'll have to ask my friend. her sister lives in anchorage. she probably has an idea of the season. i'll try and find out more.

birgator

Fiddle head ferns, unless I'm mistaken, are harvested in the spring as they are the new growth. NE harvest usually starts in April and lasts about 3 weeks. Even with moving the growing season north, I can't imagine they'd be available past July. Or?

B/

jetset1

The Soldotna bakery name is The Moose is Loose, and they have wonderful everything(they make a champagne cake that we buy for special occasions throughout the year).
The misconceptions about Alaska are still pretty comical to me. I guess newcomers find out the truth after their first visit.
I too have been disappointed with restaurants around the U.S., surely not a reflection of the state however, just the cook or waitstaff that particular day,lol.
I am grateful to have a freezer full of fresh salmon and halibut this summer, and maybe my husband will be lucky during moose hunting season too.
If you are able to attend the state fair in Palmer the end of August, you'll see how huge the vegetables up here can grow!

Lina

The best food we had on the Kenai peninsula was at Cafe Cups in Homer. We had good meals at Glacier Brewhouse, Snow Goose Cafe, and Moose's Tooth Brewery (all in Anchorage), as well as at Ray's in Seward. Kachemak Bay oysters were very tasty but small. Fresh produce and fruit was not abundant due to the high cost. As soon as we got home, we satisfied our cravings for corn on the cob, melons, and green veggies. That's OK, because what Alaska lacked in cuisine, it made up in scenery.

z

ttt for alaskafan21