How to eat smarter when friends and family visit Anchorage

Notes on: Excellent patio drinks, king crab, avoiding tourists, grilled chicken thighs, Alaskans at the James Beards, cabin recipes, a Filipino food festival

Portage Glacier in 1955. (Elisabeth Meyer photo courtesy of Preus Museum, via Wikimedia Commons)

Fade-in to a classic ‘80s summer scene. Your grandmother’s Italian cousins are in Anchorage and you’ve been added to the passenger list for “a drive.” Soon, you find yourself in the back seat of the burgundy Oldsmobile, between Sara and Giovanna. Nonna clutches the panic bar. Grandad blasts off with no plan to use turn signals. Your destination: Portage Glacier.

For the children in the audience, there was once a time when you could drive right up and see that glacier. Hulking bergs floated by. A kid could reach in and grab a piece of ice and let it melt in her palm. The words “climate change” had yet to be uttered. On the way back, it was customary to stop at The Bake Shop for soup. This is what we *always* did when people visited.

I have been thinking about our rituals when it comes to eating in Anchorage with visiting friends and family. What are our Portage Glacier restaurants? Are they a…