Road Trip Food (Yellowstone): Cowboy's Lodge and Grille (Gardiner, Montana)

On my last trip to Yellowstone, we flew into Bozeman, Montana and drove 1.5 hours to the North entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Feeling hungry on the road, we decided to stop in Gardiner, Montana for a bite, but most restaurants were closed in between lunch and dinner service. Luckily, Cowboy's Lodge and Grill was open.

Being cold, I had to order a cup each of their gumbo, chili, and the ranch hand stew ($4 for a cup). I've had better gumbo elsewhere but the other two were hearty and really hit the spot.

If you ever find yourself looking for food in Gardiner, Montana, I recommend the stew here!

I had to order the bison steak since I was in Montana (it's on all the menus here, pretty much) but here it turned out to be pretty tough (a bit overcooked) and pretty expensive ($28), especially compared to the stew and chili!

The cobbler ($3) was unfortunately disappointing, with canned peaches and mushy crust.

Despite the disappointing steak and cobbler, we were happy with our stews and chili and were just glad to find a place to eat here between lunch and dinner service! Not too bad of a first meal at Yellowstone.

Cowboy Lodge and Grill
303 2nd St S
Gardiner, MT

Your New Pasadena Lunch: Burger Haven at Haven Gastropub

Burger Haven isn't a pop-up, but a restaurant within a restaurant. During the lunch hours, the back part of Haven Gastropub in Oldtown Pasadena turns into Burger Haven, serving burgers, fries, and milkshakes. There are 6-7 items on the menu including the Haven burger, the lamb burger, a veggie option, and Here's the Kicker topped with habanero, serrano, jalapeno, and pickled ghost chili! I tried a bite of this and was dying from the spiciness, but I know quite a few people who would love it! You can see the full menu here.

For my lunch, I went instead with the Shake and Bake, which is their fried chicken sandwich. It's made with Mary's free range chicken, coated in corn flakes and pan fried, topped with rosemary mashed potatoes, gravy, braised collard greens, and honey mustard on jalapeno-habanero bun ($9)

It's like your handheld Southern plate. Fried chicken and all the staple Southern sides compacted between two buns. You may have to explain to your boss why you fell asleep after lunch when you eat this, but at least you'll be full until dinner time!

Regardless of how full I was after that fried chicken sandwich, there's always still room for a Nutella shake ($5)!

How can you say no to milkshake AND Nutella?

Brunch and Sherry "Mimosa" at Bow and Truss (North Hollywood)

Bow and Truss is a new Spanish restaurant in North Hollywood featuring a sherry focused bar program by Aidan Demarest and Marcos Tello. They recently started doing brunch with a Latin slant and sherry brunch cocktails. I don't know how busy it gets at night, but it's a quiet and spacious place for brunch, with a beautiful bar at the center.

I did say the brunch menu leaned towards Latin flavors, but you may want to also get the Crepes with Almond Butter and house made caramel ($6)

Loved the texture of these crepes! With almond butter like this, you don't need syrup or toppings.

Since this is a sherry-centric bar, and since Aidan and Marcos doesn't mess around, even their brunch cocktails are special. The Mimosa de Manzana is no regular mimosa. They call it a "Spanish Style” mimosa and it's made with Pedro Ximenez sherry, organic apple juice, rosado, apple slice

It's still a "mimosa" so it's topped with some sparkly, but it's much better and much more interesting than your regular mimosa and bellinis! They also have Bloody Mary's here and I tried a sip of one which was quite good.

For the brunch entree I recommend the "I’m Creamy" with polenta, asparagus, charred corn, peppers, cotija, quail yolk, piquillo pepper sauce ($10)

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