thelocaldiner.com

Just beyond the glare of the stadium lights at Kindrick Field sits a modest yellow house. Inside its plain front door are a handful of small tables flanking an open kitchen. In the kitchen is Terry Swope, who along with his wife (and voice of the Montana Taxpayer’s Union, incidentally) Mary Whittinghill, host the Carriage House Bistro.

The wine list offers a half-dozen wines by the glass, and another 15 by the bottle, fairly priced.Â? We started with creamy artichoke dip touched by mild green pepper, perhaps an inspiration by their former Mexican hometown of Puebla. (We would love to see them try Mole dishes, which were born in Puebla.) Then came the entrees.Â? First, the polenta with mushrooms and tomatoes, covered in melted mozzarella. Next, their specialty Bistro Chicken, a breast padded in hazelnuts, stuffed with brie, and pan-fried. Both dishes were quite rich.

With the cozy room and luscious menu, the Carriage house is one of the better spots in Helena for romantic meals, with its quiet room and Mary’s unobtrusive service (at the end of our meal, she held off on bringing the check to let us continue our conversation without interruption). But when there’s a game on, don’t park to close to the foul pole.

Carriage House Bistro
234 1/2 Lyndale
Helena, Montana 59601
(406) 449-6949

A few months ago some friends took us on a drive out of town to the shores of Hauser Lake on the Missouri. The destination was a classic Montana roadhouse, and in the late winter dark beyond the bar service lights illuminated pleasure boat docks. We blew through the smoke and the din of video poker machines and entered a glassed door to a small sanctuary on the north end of the building. This place had a story behind it: Cody Smith, a young Californian who was introduced to the restaurant business at his uncle’s place in the Madison Valley, and later came to the Lakeside Resort for a year-round clientele.

The timbered walls gave way to a quiet whitewashed gallery of food-themed prints, and about eight tables topped with linen. A pleasant server presented us with our table, and a short menu and wine list. The selection of entrees were what you might find at the kind of supper club you’d expect on the county road we took–chicken, salmon, lamb–but the preparations were inspired, eclectic, even delicate. I can just remember the calamari, and salmon in broth (tomato?). I also remember looking forward to exploring the rest of the menu in future visits, maybe when summer came around and the lakeside deck at the end of the dining room opened.

But before I made it back to Hauser Lake, Smith left and the Lakeside returned to a tavern. I wasn’t too surprised, since it was all so unlikely to begin with: an inventive and ambitious chef, dedicated to great ingredients and paired with a room with a view, serving year-round at a summer season lakeside bar fifteen minutes outside of Helena. Still, at a roadhouse on some county road far from the resort towns, another Cody Smith will come along. Let me know if you find him.

47 East Broadway
Butte, Montana

There’s a website called Chowhound that inspired me to write about good local food on the internet. The Uptown Cafe in Butte is the most famous restaurant in Montana, Chowhound-wise. Autumn and I came through Butte the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day, and hoped to find some pre-parade revelry. But Butte was quiet that night, so we passed the bars and dropped into the Uptown.

The Uptown cooks creative, upscale take on traditional Montana supper club cuisine. (While I have heard that they pride themselves on seasonal entrees, the special was the same (delicious) maple and whiskey pork loin I enjoyed in the fall a couple of years ago.) You can start with a cocktail, wine from a short list of standards, or local or domestic beers, and they are all about as inexpensive as you’ll find in a restaurant this good. While the interior is simple and neutral, the walls displayed several large-formate black and white WPA-ere photographs of Butte, on loan from the Montana Historical Society.

The menu offers several lavish steak and seafood options, and we dove right in with Beef Wellington and Coquilles St. Jacques (scallops backed in a gruyere white sauce). But remember the supper club theme: first you have a bowl of cheddar soup or a salad, then cheese-breaded “clams maison” on the half-shell, then a side of undistinguished linguine, and then your main course. Had we been hauling ore all day, we might have still been hungry after these opening courses (and we didn’t even have appetizers), but by the time the entrees came, we felt defeated. All of the entrees should be big enough to stand on their own without the supper club-style excess. Still we plowed through, and the Beef Wellington managed to contain a tender filet inside the flaky pastry, although the brown gravy was more of a reduction that I could have used more of. Autumn’s scallops were small, and baked in a savory but not smooth gruyere sauce; between the two of us we could only finish half the dish, but it would have made a tasty appetizer as a smaller portion.

Dessert was out of the question, though their cheesecake varieties sounded just as over-the-top as the rest of the meal. We’d hate to miss out on one of the other rich entrees, so next time, we’ll just waive the first three courses in hopes of making it to the cheesecake.

529 South Higgins
Missoula, MT

The University of Montana’s steady influx of visitors favors Missoula restaurants, and makes the city a home of eclectic, quality cuisine. For our first trip to Missoula, we asked our Grizzly graduate friends for places where we could treat ourselves before my legal ethics exam. Scotty’s, settled among several other popular restaurants in a row of turn-of-the-century storefronts, made everyone’s list.

A dramatic glass-walled entrance greeted us, but the architecture soon gave way to a cozy bar and a room next door with stylish, comfortable banquettes. Our servers were as helpful as we have had anywhere, prompt with an explanation of the specials, and knowledgable about ingredients and the wines. The maitre d’ even offered us a halibut special he had tried, even though the kitchen was saving it for a later seating. The menu was impressive for a small bistro, with a mix of standard steak and fish dishes, along with the kind of fusion and vegetarian dishes you expect to find in a college town. Every item emphasized fresh, often organic, ingredients, and the wine list focused on smaller American wineries.

We ordered a representative meal, me with coq au vin, and Autumn with a mediterranean chicken dish. First we shared a slice of coarse country pate, seasoned enough so we didn’t miss the mustard. The coq au vin was a comforting classic: thick, smoky mushroom gravy on top, and pleasantly lumpy garlic mashed potatoes. My only complaint was the rooster (chicken?) itself: more skin and bones than meat. Maybe I got the leftovers when they prepared Autumn’s boneless grilled chicken breast with an herb rub. We didn’t get a chance to share much after filling up on our own dishes, but Autumn had no complaints.

I had to get a little more ethics cramming in, and we were too full for dessert, so we had to pass up the cheesecake. But we hope to get back to Missoula enough to work our way through more of the menu.