Anchorage – 10 Places to Eat

I’m long overdue for a blog post regarding Alaska.  My chosen blog name, Alaska Girl at Heart, hasn’t really delivered.

I thought I would start off easy with some of my favorite places to eat in Anchorage.  I haven’t lived there since December 1998, but my family still does so I visit sometimes.  Based on the length of time I’ve been away some things could have changed, but I’ve included links to websites or Yelp and verified that they are all still in business.

Here are my 10 top places to eat in Anchorage.

Simon and Seaforts (called Stanley and Seaforts in Washington state) – When I go to Simon and Seaforts here’s what I like to eat.  I feel the need to explain that I only eat this meal on special occasions, share some of it, and eat very sparely the rest of the day.  I like to start with one of their made-from-scratch Bloody Marys.  If you are used to getting Bloody Marys made from a mix you are in for a treat.  Then I move on to appetizers of Fireworks Prawns and French Onion Soup.  For dinner I love, love, love their Rock Salted Roasted Prime Rib.  I usually go to the trouble of calling ahead and reserving an end cut.  They don’t make guarantees, but I’ve always received an end cut by doing this.  With all of this amazing food, I just skip the desert (I’m more of a savory fan any way).  All that yummy food, and they have an incredible view to go along with it.  Another bit of advice, make reservations and ask for a table at the windows.

Moose’s Tooth – Since moving to Washington state I have yet to cross paths with a gourmet pizza joint that can even come close to Moose’s Tooth.  My Dad loves their salads, which is saying a lot since in his words, he’s not a rabbit.  My choice for pizza is the Gyro Pizza…yummy!  I’ve also enjoyed their White Pizza and a few others.  I’ve enjoyed every single pizza I’ve tried there.  I’m not much of a drinker, but they also have Moose’s Tooth micro-brew.  Since I’ve moved they’ve opened a Bear Tooth which is a movie pub.

Snow Goose – I only ate at the Snow Goose a few times, but each time it was in January during their all-you-can-eat King Crab special.  I remember we ate so much crab one night, when we were in collage, that they had to boil up another batch.  The cost at that time was $19.95, but I’m sure it’s gone up since then.

Guido’s – We use to order greek salad from Guido’s on Fridays at a previous job.  It always came stacked high with plenty of cheese and meat.  It feed three of us and there were even some left-overs.  It was reasonably priced and tasted awesome.  I also had several opportunities to eat in the restaurant which was part of a strip mall.  It wasn’t fancy at all, but the food was never a disappointment.

Gweenies – If you want a rustic place to eat breakfast in Anchorage, this is the place to go.  I suspect they have non-breakfast items on the menu, but I wouldn’t know.  Every time we went there (no matter the time of day) we ate breakfast.  My favorite was the reindeer sausage omelet.  Their omelets are definitely enough to share.

Burger Cache – This place is quite an oddity, in my opinion.  It is burgers and chinese food.  You can eat-in the diner or just do the drive-thru.  I also joke that their burgers are so good because they have MSG in them…note…this is just a joke; I have no idea what they put in them.  To add to the oddness, they give away $1,000 every month.  You get a raffle ticket every time you order.

Chilkoot Charlie’s (or Koots for short) – Koots is more known for its rough and tumble bar/night club atmosphere; saw dust on the floor and kegs for bar stools.  But, we often went to Koots for lunch.  They make a greasy-spoon type burger with very yummy fries.  It was cheap and good tasting.  And, the nightlife was pretty darn awesome too.  Since time has passed I can’t speak for the prices and nightlife currently, but based on the past I’d be surprised if it wasn’t the same.

F Street Station – I classify F Street as a pub.  It is a great place to meet friends after work.  Their food is good, but what I love most about them is the huge block of cheese just inside the front door.  It was a serve-yourself cheese block until the board of health got involved.  Rather than drastically change something they were known for, they added a sign that said “Do Not Eat the Cheese” which was always ignored.  By doing this they at least got past the board of health issues.

Humpy’s – I’m stretching a bit on this one.  I can’t recall eating here that often unless it was accompanied by drinking.  However, I know a lot of friends who have raved about the food and I have fond memories of Humpy’s so it makes the cut.  And, when looking up their website I found that they now have a location in Hawaii.

Club Paris – I only ate at Club Paris once when I lived in Anchorage.  The food was terrific, but he prices were a little high for my liking.  Thankfully a x-boyfriend was paying.  I clearly remember we were there on Superbowl Sunday and the Denver Broncos finally won after just ‘showing up a few times’.  The atmosphere was great.  It’s a hole-in-the-wall place near 5^th Avenue Mall.  If you blink you’ll surely miss it.

Extra Note:  Both Simon and Seaforts and Snow Goose have views of Sleeping Lady Mountain.  For some reason, this mountain just screams Anchorage to me.

That’s it for my list of 10 places to eat in Anchorage.  If you read this and take my advice, I hope you enjoy either the food or the atmosphere or both.  Cheers!