RESTAURANT REVIEW OF THE GLACIER BREWHOUSE, ANCHORAGE, AK 11/2/2011
RESTAURANT REVIEW OF THE DOUBLE MUSKY INN, GIRDWOOD AK 10/19/2011
I had the opportunity to eat at the Glacier Brewhouse Restaurant. It has great food.
We started with the calamari appetizer. It came with some kind of pink dipping sauce. The menu calls it house made jalapeno-lime aioli. The breading was light and crunchy. The jalapeno-lime aioli had quite a zing.
I had the Brewhouse blue salad. It was really good. The menu describes it as seasonal mixed green, red flame grapes, caramelized pecans and blue cheese crumbles. It had just the right amount of dressing for the amount of salad. The grapes gave the bites a nice sweet crunch.
For dinner I had the Rotisserie Prime Rib and Bering Sea king crab legs. When the plate came it was beautiful. Crab legs pile on prime rib that had freshly shredded horseradish on it, with fresh green beans and fresh broccoli. Yummy. The prime rib is smoked so has that smokey flavor. This truly is the best prime rib I have ever had. The only complaint is that it had cracked black pepper on it and I have an aversion to black pepper, but I could easily wipe it off with my fork. The Crab legs were wonderful. The vegetables were crisp but done. I asked for no potato or rice and the waiter asked me if I wanted extra vegetable or some broccoli. I thought that was very nice. Not knowing what the vegetable was going to be I added the broccoli.
After dinner the desserts were ordered. I tasted the bread pudding which tasted like a giant warm cinnamon roll, and the peanut butter pie. Oh my gosh is all I can say. The peanut butter pie was shaped like a triangle (not a piece of pie but a huge piece of candy) and covered in a chocolate ganache with bits of butter finger candy bar crumbled on top. It was so good… It was light and whipped on the inside so not heavy or frozen. Very good.
The prices are a little steep so be prepared. My entree was 39.99, the salad was 6.99 and I am not sure how much the appetizers or the desserts were. They had an extensive drink menu and lots of wines. i almost forgot to mention that they have a large variety of home brew beers which is their specialty.
I could go on and on about that prime rib as I have never tasted anything like it before. What a wonderful treat.
RESTAURANT REVIEW OF THE DOUBLE MUSKY INN, GIRDWOOD AK 10/19/2011
We went to the Double Musky Inn for dinner on 10/18/2011 with much anticipation. I had looked at the menu on line before going as it is someplace I have always wanted to go eat. I had heard people talk about it being the best place in Alaska to eat so was really looking forward to the evening.
The building itself is very Alaska style. Cozy with lots of junk on the walls. We were seated in the Sun Room area with lots of windows.
The wine menu was extensive and I looked at bottles of wine with a price tag of more than $2000.00. Yes that is two thousand dollars. There were more in the $600.00 dollar range. One of the people in our party had a glass of the house Merlot and it was very good, ($9.00).
We started off with appetizers. I ordered the coconut salmon and another person at our table ordered the scallop stuffed mushrooms. When they came the dishes looked appetizing and the food was neatly arranged. I promptly took a bite of the coconut salmon. It was very good an great dipped in the dipping sauce, however I got salmon bones in my mouth. I had several bites with bones. To me this is fully unacceptable. This fish was deep fried and coated in the coconut breading so there was no way to see the bones before taking a bite of them. In this fancy of a restaurant bones in fish is simply not acceptable…… but it tasted good.
The scallop stuffed mushrooms were fantastic and the butter garlic sauce was delectable. I sopped my bread in the sauce which was to die for. They evidently have two choices on the scallop stuffed mushrooms and these were the ones without the spinach but just in garlic butter.
UPDATE 10/22/2011- I CONTACTED THE OWNER OF THE RESTAURANT TO LET HIM KNOW ABOUT THE BONES IN THE COCONUT SALMON. HE INDICATED HE BUYS HIS SALMON BONED FROM 10TH AND M SEAFOODS AND HAD NO IDEA IT HAD BONES IN IT. HE WAS VERY APOLOGETIC, NOTED HE WAS GOING TO CONTACT 10TH AND M, AND SEND ME A $50.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE. HE WAS GLAD I LET HIM KNOW ABOUT THE BONES.
UPDATE 10/22/2011- I CONTACTED THE OWNER OF THE RESTAURANT TO LET HIM KNOW ABOUT THE BONES IN THE COCONUT SALMON. HE INDICATED HE BUYS HIS SALMON BONED FROM 10TH AND M SEAFOODS AND HAD NO IDEA IT HAD BONES IN IT. HE WAS VERY APOLOGETIC, NOTED HE WAS GOING TO CONTACT 10TH AND M, AND SEND ME A $50.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE. HE WAS GLAD I LET HIM KNOW ABOUT THE BONES. 
The dinner salads came and they were very plain. Just a plate of chopped up romaine lettuce with a couple of croutons on top. No tomato or carrot or anything else. Not what I would expect from a high end restaurant.
For dinner I ordered the crab stuffed halibut. One of our party ordered the rack of lamb and another ordered the French Pepper Steak. I tasted all three entrees…
The Crab Stuffed Halibut- was a halibut filet (no bones were found), wrapped around what looked like corn bread stuffing with celery and things in it. I could not find what looked like one piece of crab and I looked with my glasses on. I found one little thing that looked like a piece of imitation crab meat, but that was it. The halibut was covered with a heavy sauce. I personally did not like the sauce much as it was very creole type with lots of green pepper/pimento flavor. To say the least this was not at all what I expected. I was thinking a crab meat and cream cheese type mixture would be the stuffing not bread. The menu was not clear at all on it and the price was listed as market price so who knows how much that was. The halibut was not breaded and very tender.
French Pepper steak- that was a huge chunk of meat covered in a black pepper sauce. The person who ordered it thought it was great. I am not a fan of black pepper so would not be able to really review this entrée. I did taste it, after wiping off lots of the sauce and it tasted like plain meat.
Rack of Lamb- This was by far the best entrée. The outside edge of the lamb had wonderful favor and there was a tiny amount of a sweet minty dill sauce on the plate that was great. It was not nearly enough of that sauce and should have been served in a little cup on the side .
The side dish of vegetables were steamed broccoli, cauliflower and a piece of summer squash. Nothing to write home about.
Dessert- They came around with the dessert tray and had some very appealing desserts. We had the brownie pie on a pecan crust. It was very good.
Overall there was a lot of hype about this restaurant and I did not think it was as good as all the hype. I had a great time and just am not really into heavy bread stuffing unless it is in a turkey or heavy sauces. I was also totally turned off right from the start with my appetizer that had bones in it. To be fair it was probably really good southern style food if you like southern creole. It was very expensive and just mediocre food in my opinion because that kind of food is not my forte. But, if I had the opportunity to go back I would order the scallop stuffed mushrooms and the rack of lamb but ask for extra dipping sauce for the lamb on the side so I would get lots of that good sauce.
RESTAURANT REVIEW OF THE SPENARD ROADHOUSE, ANCHORAGE AK 8/28/2011
With the Birch Tree closed now we were trying to agree on where to eat breakfast. I refuse to go to Denny's. We were driving west on Northern Lights and came upon the Spenard Roadhouse with a sign out front noting they now serve breakfast. I like to go there for dinner so was able to encourage Mike to turn in on the morning of 8/28/2011.For my breakfast I ordered Apple/Berry Crepes while Mike ordered the breakfast burrito. I loved the Crepes. They had just the right mix of cream cheese inside with the apples and were cooked perfectly. Not mushy or too crisp, just right. There were some fresh cooked berries served with it which were also perfect. The breakfast burrito came with potatoes. Mike indicated the burrito tasted good. The potatoes were also cooked to perfection, crispy on the outside and soft in the middle with great seasoning. They appeared to be deep fried so kind of like little bits of French fries.
Overall I would say the food was great and I look forward to returning again. The breakfast burrito was 8.95, and the Crepes were 11.95. The doughnut holes were 4.95. It was a little steep for breakfast but the food was very good quality and tasty.
