lovebug

My husband and I are going to Yellowstone/GTNP/Jackson mid-late August. We'll start out with 3 days in Jackson, then 2 days at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel and then 2 days in Gardiner. We realize the main focus will be scenery and wildlife, but finding wonderful food is one of our favorite things to do when we travel. We value creativity and enjoy fine dining as well as hole-in-the-walls when it comes to eating mouth-watering meals. Any suggestions you can pass along (especially for Jackson/Teton Village and Gardiner) will be appreciated. I've read some about the restaurants and food within the parks, but welcome specific tips for our time there too.

dfr4848

IMO one of the best restaurants in the area is the dining room at Jenny Lake Lodge. Excellent food and service and their Sun buffet is (or was a few years ago) superb.

eastave

I haven't eaten there in several years, but I remember the Blue Lion in Jackson as having really good food.

sludick

Teton Village -- the Alpenrose restaurant in the Alpenhof Lodge. We stayed there last year and loved the food there. I had bison tenderloin that was to die for.

Here is a link: http://www.alpenhoflodge.com/alpenhof.htm

lovebug

Thanks all for your helpful info. I was aware of the restaurant at Jenny Lake Lodge, but have read that jackets are required for men. Is this a hard and fast rule? We were planning on limiting ourselves to really causual attire (mostly jeans/shorts with khakis/polos for dinner if necessary)to make the packing easy. Also read somewhere that you have to be staying at the lodge to eat at the restaurant. Anyone know if that's the case?

dfr4848

Jackets are "encouraged" not required. I wore dockers and turtleneck and didn't have a problem. Reservations are required/highly recommended, but as far as I know anyone can eat there - don't have to be a guest.

lovebug

Ok, that's good news. We'll definitely plan on making reservations then. Thanks dfr4848!

dfr4848

Hope you have a great experience!

Trent7

I often tell people that are going to Jackson to go to breakfast in Moose, WY at Doornan's. It is right outside one of the entrances to GTNP. They are not going to give you gourmet food but it is my favorite breakfast. They have an outdoor "hut" where they cook the food (eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, etc) and you sit at picnic table in the grass overlooking the Snake River and the Teton Range. It is a fabulous view and the food is decent. I don't think it will disappoint you.

lovebug

Trent7 - Thanks for the Dornan's breakfast tip. Sounds like a wonderful way to start out the day. I checked out their site (http://www.dornans.com/) and found a treasure-trove of info about their wine shop, grocery store, adventure sports rentals....and the fact that a new multi-use pathway, that parallels the Teton Park Road from Dornan’s to South Jenny Lake, opened for public use on Saturday, May 23, 2009.

This is the reason I keep coming back to Fodor's forum...helpful hints and details from other travelers/experts that can make a vacation extra special. I appreciate everyone's responses very much!

bachslunch

In Jackson, Jedediah's House of Sourdough does excellent sourdough pancakes at breakfast.

voyagefemme

I agree with sludick. The Alpenhof (in Teton Village) is a great place to eat. I've never been to the Alpenrose, but the Alpenhof Bistro is great. I ate there on two seperate trips last year. Their "raclette" appetizer is as good as any I've had in Europe.
One of my other favorite places is in the Grand Teton National Park. Leek's Pizza which is at Leek's Marina about one mile north of the Jackson Lake Lodge. Great pizza and killer garlic bread! The patio view of the mountains reflected in the lake isn't bad either

lovebug

Thanks bachslunch and voyagefemme for your additional input. It will be nice to have a list of possible eateries when we get there. You never know when you'll be hit by the hunger bug and having a list to refer to can help avoid one of those "travel spats" that can arise between mates (especially when blood sugars are low

polly229

Good luck with Gardiner. We've never found any really good food there; "acceptable" is high praise. But when we were in Yellowstone last Sept., we ate twice at the Mammoth Hot Springs restaurant (the good one, not the cheaper one); found the menu/food much improved from our previous visit and I'd say pretty good for the area. (Sadly, we didn't find the Old Faithful Inn restaurant nearly as good as it had been before. So things change.) I'd recommend that you get dinner at Mammoth before you head back to your hotel in Gardiner. We ate in an Italian place in Gardiner on the road that runs parallel to the park boundary that wasn't bad - don't remember the name but there are only about 3 or 4 restaurants along there and some are little more than holes in the wall. I don't particularly recommend the Yellowstone Mine at the Best Western at the other end of town but my husband said it "wasn't bad". I thought the restaurant at Signal Mountain Lodge (Tetons) was not bad but my husband says "not anything special." I guess it all depends on what you're expecting and what you ordered, though neither of us is expecting much in the vicinity of national parks. I will have to say that I think the food in the parks is improving, for the most part, particularly when Xanterra is the concessionaire. They seem to be trying more innovative menus in their table service restaurants and although they miss the mark from time to time, when they get it right it can be pretty good. (Aramark food doesn't seem to be as good - and used to be just awful.)

cd

We had a very good meal at your hotel, Lake Yellowstone and we also had a very good meal at Old Faithful, I hope it has not gone downhill.

May I ask why you are staying in Jackson instead of either Jenny Lake Lodge or Jackson Lake Lodge in the park? Not being a smart butt, just curious. Maybe a lot I don't know but I thought people stayed at Jackson for skiing, not for visiting the park. Thanks for informing me.

doohickey

I believe Polly229 was referring to Pedalino's in Gardiner. It's an Italian place and serves pretty good food. That's the only place in Gardiner that I know of where I'd eat dinner. I've actually eaten there a couple of times and taken a group of five there as well. We all sampled each others dinners and liked them all. Reservations recommended.

Jenny Lake Lodge has excellent food. Reservations are a must.

lovebug

Again, my apreciation to polly229, cd, and doohickey for added restaurant info. Thanks for the warning on Gardiner! We're planning to eat at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel restaurant one of the nights during our stay there and probably Mammoth or Roosevelt while we're staying in Gardiner. Now that you've so kindly provided the name for Pedalino's, it may be an option for our last night before heading home.

To cd's question about staying in Jackson rather than Jenny Lake or Jackson Lake Lodge, we had a couple of different reasons. First, my husband is self-employed and will need to have internet access for some of the days on our vacation to be able to respond to questions on work projects should they come up. We're guaranteed to have it in Jackson and Gardiner. Also, as I mentioned, we love the adventure of finding tasty meals and figured we'd have more options in Jackson. And finally, I've heard from many people that Jackson is one of their favorite vacation spots in the summer. Knowing that, we decided to do day trips from there for the first couple of days. I know it means we probably won't see as much of GTNP as we would if we stayed in one the lodges in the park, but that will give us a reason to come back again some day. BTW, I've heard Teton Village is where everyone wants to stay in the winter rather than Jackson so they have ski in/ski out access.

I've been distracted this past week with work and a family reunion this weekend. Now it's time to get serious and make some restaurant reservations before it's too late....if it isn't already Nine days and counting!