It's a 6-hour drive from Billings to Hamilton.
On our way, we stop for lunch at a steakhouse in Bozeman. This is on the wall:
(click to zoom)
Who knew Syl had a tavern?
Hamilton is muuuch prettier than Billings. It's in the Bitterroot River Valley, surrounded by cliffy, craggy mountains that are just barely dusted with snow. When we arrive, the peaks are covered with fog. Looks like something from the Lord of the Rings movies.
Hamilton stats -
Population: about 4,000 (96% caucasian, 4% other)
Elevation: about 3,600 ft
This is the view from our hotel.
Ahhhh...
An example of good PR, by our friends at the
Hamilton Performing Arts Center:
An example of very, very poor PR (I have no idea who is responsible for this):
And lastly, this bit from the Missoula free weekly, which might be the best written, most thoroughly researched blurb ever written about us:
Not all of this info is on our website.
Dang.
Onto the snacks -
For a town that's so small, there are a surprising number of nice snackeries. On our first
and second nights, we go to the
Spice of Life Cafe, which happens to be one of the sponsors of our concert (see the nice poster above).
In the entry of the restaurant is an antique-y bar with local brews on tap, ancient sofas, and a box full of zucchini from the chef's garden, free for the taking. Sitting on the bar is a ceramic
calico maneki neko-cum-cookie jar, seemingly made by a novice potter, which just makes it that much more adorable. I am thisclose to asking for a job here.
The chef/owner is happa, and boy, can she cook -
The dinners all come with a lovely green salad with unbelievable tomatoes, which I suspect are from the aforementioned farm/garden, which is named after the chef's black lab mutt (see their website for Chadwick-the-dog's bio).
By the time this photo was taken, the rest of us had eaten Dylan's tomatoes. It's okay - he doesn't like them.
My salad came with habanero vinaigrette, which was HOT but flavorful.
On our first visit, The Boy and I each get the Red Plate Special: cheese tortellini with grilled chicken, all in a tomato cream sauce.
Nicely seasoned. Good portion size.
Yum.
As usual, Yurika gets the biggest dish.
I think this was the Japanese sesame noodle salad. Nice dressing-to-noodle ratio, unlike some of the other salads we've had so far.
Wisa's chocolate Kahula mousse. It was milky with just a wee hint of coffee and not at all boozy, which was a good thing, because as loyal readers know, Wisa
really hates boozy things.
So this, I think, is the kind of place that most chefs dream of owning: small and neighborhoody, with a seasonal menu supplied by their own garden, local art on the walls, and live music weekly. This place was packed on both Wednesday & Thursday nights, which seems like quite a feat for this tiny town.
I like this place.
Next: River Run Cafe & Bakery
Nice sammies, dark coffee, and really good molasses crinkles.
The lemon tahini dressing that came with Dylan's salad was awesome. Simple, lemony, and with just the right amount of salt.
And for dessert: Out West Ice Cream Parlor
Cute decor, but somewhat unfriendly service. I got the huckleberry ice cream, which was full of whole berries, but the ice cream itself (which was local) was eh. I like my ice cream to be eggy. Britt & Wisa liked their Moose Tracks ice cream, though.
We happened to have lunch there on their annual "Eat Local Challenge" day. Almost all of the food served was grown within 150 miles (again, we are in Idaho, not Berkeley).
