also ate lunch at johnsons last week. I had the soup and chicken club sandwich. excellent. my friend had the sloppy joe special. insanely huge. best bang for the buck in st mary for sure.
I had lunch there on Sunday. Two Sisters wasn't open for lunch so we decided to try the new Park Cafe. I could tell it's still a work in progress. The menu is small and resembles some of what used to be on the old one. I had the "T-Bird" formerly the Tasty Turkey. It was good. The Wife had the BLT and she said it was good. Fries were a little undercooked but tasted fine.
I think they had burned something in the kitchen before we got there. All of the windows were open and it smelled like smokey oil. Our server said that pie production was harder than the new owners expected and they had only been able to make 4 the day before. So we didn't try any. And I could hear lots of chatter in the kitchen about running low on some things. So they have growing pains to work through.
Oh and our server (who said she had worked there for 9 years) asked if we needed anything else and if not could she leave our check because she really had to go to the bathroom and needed to leave. TMI.
Overall, my sandwich was good but I think I will head for Two Sisters next time.
We only tried the Park Café once back in 2011 and we were less than impressed. The service bordered on rude, not to mention very slow, and the food for what is was seemed expensive. While I am not a "dessert person" when in Rome.... I wanted Huckleberry Pie and they told us they did not make Huckleberry they did a mix of Blueberry/Huckleberry because of the cost of Huckleberries and only did 1 a day. We settled for the Razzleberry alamode which I will say not even being a pie person was pretty outstanding.
Not sure if I would go back again either, we did not last trip, that is unless we start seeing some stellar reviews.
Honestly, living in this area for close to 20 years, I seriously doubt you will find a restaurant that serves 100% huck pie, they are very expensive and actually quite difficult to pick, most every place you go, will be serving a huck/blue mix pie, have been going on for years.
I will add, most of the places around Glacier are pretty expensive during the season, which is why Deb and I rarely eat at the locals restaurants during the summer, for what you get, you are going to pay a lot.
daveparker wrote:Honestly, living in this area for close to 20 years, I seriously doubt you will find a restaurant that serves 100% huck pie, they are very expensive and actually quite difficult to pick, most every place you go, will be serving a huck/blue mix pie, have been going on for years.
I will add, most of the places around Glacier are pretty expensive during the season, which is why Deb and I rarely eat at the locals restaurants during the summer, for what you get, you are going to pay a lot.
The Izaak Walton has the best Huckleberry Cobbler and it's 100%, far as I know.
SOOOOO GOOD.
JG
"So how was your trip to Minnesota, or Canada, or wherever it is you go?"
We pick our own huckleberries here in Idaho and I consider it a major PIA. My wife and kids are more patient but it takes about two hours to pick a half gallon. They are incredibly flavorful and making a pie out of them is kind of ridiculous. A few goes a long way. They are great in pancakes, muffins, and cobbler IMHO.
I agree it is a pain to pick them, but it is well worth it...freshly picked huckleberries are the best IMO...however, of course, I won't turn them down in any creations mentioned above
I can't wait for a huckleberry shake from Two Sisters...TS has been my favorite place to eat, but if we have more time on the East side this year, I wouldn't mind giving the Park Cafe another try.
we've got a few favorite spots in the park to pick huckleberries in august. should be a great year in that regard. it's my understanding that huckleberries have never been successfully cultivated which explains their cost.
A few years ago I was working as a pastry chef and was able to get 10 lbs of hucks from our food service distributer for $20. I really think the charge was a mistake as they came frozen shipped by FedEx from Oregon or Idaho (can't remember which). An extremely good deal and I enjoyed making many really good desserts with them. Hard to find anything made from huckleberries here in SC.
Based on the last couple of years trends, I would not be surprised to see hucks at $60 + a gallon, they have really gone up in price the last couple of years and with the growth of the forest since the fires a few years ago, the areas they are proliferating is getting smaller, there were places on the N. Fork that I used to be able to pick, that it has become rare to see any producing plants.
It was not open this weekend when I was there. I spoke with a long time returning camper at Johnson's who said it had been open earlier in the week and the food was good, but they only had four types of pie.