Dining Out in Alaska

On our first official day in Alaska, we checked out Anchorage, the largest city in the state.  The four of us, my parents and my husband and I, ate lunch at Orso in downtown. 

Orso is Italian for bear, as there were bears all over downtown Anchorage.  I probably should have counted all the stuffed bears standing in guard of gift shops, and all the paintings and photos of bears everywhere you looked in Anchorage. 

Orso, where we ate lunch on Thursday during our visit to Anchorage. 

The inside of the restaurant, where another bear watched us from a painting while we ate lunch.  Luckily, I like bears!

My husband ordered a glass of Cabernet, which he had trouble finishing given that it was 11:30 am.  If you are going to order an eight dollar glass of wine, you better finish it.  I didn't feel like any, so I talked my Mom into having some of what was left. I feel bad letting good wine go to waste!

I ordered the Crispy Ravioli, which seemed like a heart attack on a plate.  I didn't really know what I was ordering, so I basically had fried cheese for lunch.  Oh well....when on vacation.  I ended up pawning half of my order of crispy ravioli to the others.  Nope, ordering a salad didn't occur to me!

    Orso is located in downtown Anchorage.  To see their menu go to http://www.orsoalaska.com.

Next up, we drove to Earthquake Park, but you don't want to see pics of that because food photos are more interesting.  Especially when we are talking about Chocolate.  And when I say Chocolate, I mean it.  I'm talking about a twenty foot tall chocolate waterfall.  Interested? Read on.

We visited Alaska Wild Berry Products, a giant gift shop/Chocolate Factory in Anchorage. 

Of course, nobody was too impressed with it when they found out they couldn't scoop the stuff up with their hands and eat it like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  But what do you expect?  Think of the germs and stuff.  For me, it was another photo opp and I can never complain about too many of those.  Plus if you really have a hankering for chocolate, walk ten feet and there is fudge and chocolates that seem to go on forever in their many displays. 

We purchased some Fudge or course, my Dad and I don't have the ability to walk into a fudge shop and not buy any, funnily enough.  We ate the Praline, Caramel Fudge- the third one from the second row, next to the Chocolate Covered Potato Chips and the Chocolate Covered Bacon! I am still thinking about that fudge today, how smooth and caramely and nutty with pralines it was- yummm. 

Yes, lots of chocolate.  There was even more.  But I won't bore you with too many chocolate photos- we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we!

Pretty neat how you can watch them make the candy!

More bears-I love it!  This time, they are playing a piano!

                        To see their website, go to http://www.alaskawildberryproducts.com.


On Friday, we ate at the Colony Inn Cafe in Palmer.  The rehearsal lunch was held there and since we arrived early, I shot some photos of the Cafe. 

The cafe turned out to be perfect for the rehearsal lunch- from the service, to the cosy and quaint ambiance and to the food- which was also very good. 

I ordered the cheeseburger with a salad.  The burger was huge and oh so good- and the salad was very fresh with really creamy ranch dressing and craisins sprinkled in for some added flavors. 

My Mom, who was seated next to me, ordered the Quiche with a bowl of soup and a salad.  It sure looked good!

The Colony Inn Cafe is located at 325 East Elmwood in Palmer, Alaska.  Their phone number is 907-747-6118.

Our last day of our trip found us out to breakfast at Cafe Amsterdam in Anchorage.  For our last night, we stayed with relatives and they treated us to breakfast a few hours before out flight back home. 

         We loved this cafe- it reminded my husband and I of the trip we took to Amsterdam in 2010. 

I loved all of the van Gogh inspired art which graced the walls and all of the wooden shoes everywhere.

the Netherlands' Code of Arms on the lamp above our table.  We loved all the little touches from such a beloved country we visited and discovering this in Alaska!

I had the Bavarian Apple Cake-a huge pancake covered in apples.  This was the small portion, too!

Our waiter was laughing at me as I took this shot, but whatever, I bet he doesn't have a cool blog like me!

My husband loves his eggs and I love my carbs, which is apparent from what we ordered.  Plus, spinach for breakfast? No thanks!

A super cute cafe with tons of things to look at on the walls!

                                   To see their menu, go to http://cafe-amsterdam.com.

I hope you've enjoyed checking out where my family and I ate while we were in Alaska. Bon Appetit!