Trout

[Lefty Lynn]

Anyone know of a restaurant that serves locally caught trout, prefereably on the east side of the park?

[Mtnmanwannabe]

Maybe Luna's in East Glacier, but I doubt that it would be locally caught. More like farm raised.

[daveparker]

I have not found one, in the 15 years I have lived here

[Ear Mountain]

The on,y commercially available locally caught fish would pro ably be whitefish from Lower St. Mary Lake. There is still at least one person with a commercial license to fish for whitefish on that lake. It is sometimes on the menu, but not always, at the Two Sisters restaurant.

[Bruce from Chicago]

Trout is one of the featured dishes at the Ptarmigan Dining Room in the Many Glacier Hotel.

[llholmes1948]

Trout is one of the featured dishes at the Ptarmigan Dining Room in the Many Glacier Hotel.

It would be interesting to know where this trout comes from and how it is described in the menu. I suspect it is probably not locally caught.

When I worked at Lake McDonald Lodge in the early 1970s, Rocky Mountain Pan-fried Trout was one of the regular entrees. It used to arrive, frozen, at the hotel in boxes marked Rocky Mountain Trout. In the corner of the box, it was labelled "Product of Japan."

Lyman

[Ear Mountain]

Interesting article about fish, commercial fishing and fish farming in a recent issue of Time magazine. We have to realize that there isn't enough wild fish in the oceans to meet the demand for fish. Same holds true for freshwater fish like trout. You buy it in a restaurant chances are pretty good it comes from a fish farm no matter how good it looks on the plate or tastes on the pallet.

[Hockey Ref]

Trout is one of the featured dishes at the Ptarmigan Dining Room in the Many Glacier Hotel.

It would be interesting to know where this trout comes from and how it is described in the menu. I suspect it is probably not locally caught.

When I worked at Lake McDonald Lodge in the early 1970s, Rocky Mountain Pan-fried Trout was one of the regular entrees. It used to arrive, frozen, at the hotel in boxes marked Rocky Mountain Trout. In the corner of the box, it was labelled "Product of Japan."

Lyman

Trout was a specialty at the Ptarmigan dining room when I worked at MGH in 1973, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't locally caught. The servers made a big show out of de-boning the fish and getting the entire skeleton at one time.

[llholmes1948]

Trout was a specialty at the Ptarmigan dining room when I worked at MGH in 1973, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't locally caught. The servers made a big show out of de-boning the fish and getting the entire skeleton at one time.

This discussion reminded me of the night meals at Lake McDonald Lodge when I worked there in the early 1970s. At times the trout entree would be left for the night crew but It was our least favorite meal since it would often be a bit dried out by the time we ate it at 1:00 or 2:00 A.M. Meals would be left on the steam table for the night desk clerk, night auditor, late shift bartender (often me), cocktail waitress, if one was working on that shift, and the night watchman and/or his assistant. These meals would be left out for us under the theory that since we worked late or all night, we often didn't get to have breakfast. Generally the meals were quite good.

Usually just after I would close the bar, the night crew would go to the kitchen, get our meals and then bring them to the lobby and sit around the sofas having our meals and discussing the latest park news, hotel gossip, hiking plans, etc. Those were great times.

If the kitchen crew left out a meal that did not meet our approval (especially the trout), we would often raid the baker's section (we had his prior permission to do so) and have a cake or pie as a night meal. If the baker's inventory was low, it would be time for a desperate measure. One of us would usually crawl over a partition in the kitchen to reach the ice cream freezer which was locked in a separate part of the kitchen and would then make giant ice cream sundaes for those waiting on the other side.

Lyman

[Farmgirl]

Sounds like VERY good times Lyman!!!!!!

I wish I would've spent my summers away working in GNP or any park for that matter in college!

[Calgary Ray]

Boy, Lyman, does your recollection of late night meals remind me of my own experiences at the Prince of Wales Hotel and my years there as a bartender from 1973-75.

Same routine: if the meal left for us under the warmers didn't meet our approval, we'd raid the bakery department in the kitchen, looking for pastries, pies or whatever else we could manage to scrounge.

The locks were thrown on the coolers when it was discovered too much was being taken by the night staff. Often we could persuade a hungry night watchmen to use his keys so we could enjoy dessert with our meal.

I agree, trout was not a favourite, but if left undercooked just a tad, would be about perfect by the time we got off shift at midnight. Never ate in the lobby, though. The manager could easily see us if he peeked over the balcony from the fourth floor. Better to stick to the staff cafeteria, where our ill-gotten dessert gains would not be as readily noticed.

Since we took liquor orders directly at the guest's table in the Prince of Wales Hotel dining room, rather than having waitresses or waiters come to us with liquor orders (long story involving Mormon waitresses), I got to witness what Hockey Ref described: the deboning of trout. I always admired the skill the wait staff developed, and the flare some showed in exhibiting their skill. Tips were always good when the deboning went well.

Yes, Farmgirl, it was a very good time. I imagine it still is.

[Pocketlint]

The "price" should be your first hint that you ain't eatin "wild" trout.
Do y'all really believe you can get wild, free running trout for the price you pay in the joints in and around the park?
A place like Two Sisters might serve native wild caught trout on a "special occasion" type basis....but I'm speculating.
But as a routine/seasonal item?
Not happening at current prices I've seen....imo

pocketlint

[llholmes1948]

I wish I would've spent my summers away working in GNP or any park for that matter in college!

Farmgirl,

Don't give up hope. I think you still have time! When I worked there the hotels were only open from about June 15 to just after Labor Day weekend and were primarily staffed by college students. Now that the hotel season has been extended, GPI cannot get by with just hiring college students so many of the jobs seem to now be held by people of all ages including some retired people (well retired from their main career anyway). Pack up Lincoln and get to the Park for a summer job.

Now, I believe hotel employees get two days off a week. When I worked there it was only one day off a week which was not conducive to overnight camping so we primarily did day hikes on our one day off a week and rarely did an overnight hike.

Lyman