As nice and quiet the apartment is that I am in, the kitchen has a lot to leave you wanting. Coming from a large (though always messy) kitchen with loads of counter space, not having room for a full cutting board sucks. So, I have been finding myself trying out a number of the local restaurants for dinner; thinking its good as well just to get a sense of the area and to get out and see the town.

There is a catch to this though, it turns out that tourists visit Alaska too.

It turns out that tourists like to eat too.

I know, go figure!

I don’t like going to a place by myself then waiting for a seat; that seems to happen a lot here. There are a lot of restaurants around Anchorage, the trick is finding a good one that everyone hasn’t heard about too.  It seems if anyone has heard of a place, you can expect
I began typing this up at a Anchorage Local favorite – Peanut Farm. Rumor has it that Sunday morning breakfast during football season is the best (if you can find a seat). Pizza isn’t bad, but the beer is great.

Speaking of pizza, everyone … Everyone … Raves about Moose Tooth. I have been there once, and it’s good – but it is always filled. In fact, every time I stop there, the waiting area outside is filled.

Pizza is the Thing it seems. I’ve had it at five different places (and only been in town for 19 days). I guess it’s not surprising that the beer is great here too.  A comment I see over and over again in Yelp is “What is it with Alaskans and their Pizza?”  But its hard to find bad pizza that’s for sure.

Seafood is good, obviously.  Finding halibut everywhere.  My boss one lunch took us to a restaurant in the museum downtown, that had an incredible halibut burger.

Another big name is Humpy’s which made a name for itself when Man v. Food did a contest there — King Crab, Reindeer Sausage, and massive amounts of other stuff.  I like the fish tacos.

There is McGinnleys, an Irish pub Downtown, that I seem to show up at an awful lot.  I hear that their Irish regular dishes (Bangers, Shepard Pie, etc) are pretty good, but I keep floating back to their sandwiches.  Of course … Irish beer goes good with anything.

My dining highlight still remains Hot Stixx, a small Asian fusion place on the south side stuck into a strip mall.  On the outside, it looks like a Chinese take-out.  Inside is very contemporary.  Everything on the menu looked great, and just picking something ‘safe’ I went with the Pistachio Encrusted Halibut on Sushi Rice with homemade Kimchi – and should have worn a helmet because it Blew My Mind.

Just getting started on seeing the town, and will see what else is to come.