The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Montana is filled with really great eating places. Only most of the really great ones are not readily known about. Like one fellow said, when having a memorable meal at a cabin by Duck Lake, “It was just a tiny cabin but it had some of the best food I have ever eaten.”

Some of these eating spots are connected with bars, some are simply dives or holes in the walls and some are very grand and beautiful restaurants the most everyone has heard of.

How about starting with Ciao Mambo in Whitefish? It is in a dive like building but if you love the most wonderful Italian food prepared like the old grandmothers of the East End of Havre prepared it, don’t miss Ciao Mambo. Come early or stand in line most summer days.

Nalivka’s Pizza Kitchen in Havre and Eugene’s Pizza Parlor in Glasgow vie every year for the best pizza parlor in an on line vote. Both are very old and both are very good and both have a taste that is very different from the other.

Nalivka’s started when the Havre Radar Base was going and some airmen wanted pizza like they could get in Chicago. Paul Nalivka went back to Chicago, learned the tricks of the trade and came back to his store, The Model Grocery and started making pizza around 1957. It tastes the same now as then. If you grew up on Nalivka’s Pizza it is difficult for you to love any other kind.

Same with Eugene’s in Glasgow. I know of one person who works for KOFI Radio in Kalispell and was raised in Glasgow. He has dozens of Eugene’s Pizza shipped via the Empire Builder on a monthly basis. Chances are if you love one of those two pizzas you won’t like the other nearly as much.

For Italian food lovers, Nalivka’s makes wonderful spaghetti sauce and meat balls to die for as well.

In Havre there is no where better to get a hamburger than at Rods. Order the “Ugly Burger” and be happy. Throw in fries or onion rings and you will think you went to heaven!

Since we are “The Mountaineer” and live and work in Big Sandy, we certainly could not leave out Peps and the Mint. The Mint is known for the best prime rib in Montana and Pep’s pizzas are as good as they get.

Hoagieville in Missoula offers their special original hoagie sandwich. Their famous sandwich is served on a French bun w/ salami & swiss cheese, heated through & topped w/ lettuce & our special hoagie seasoning. It is worth the drive and wait. It is best paired with their famous french fries. Now Hoagieville also offers a full menu of awesome burgers, chicken sandwiches and other types of hoagies, so there is something for everyone.

If you love seafood, head to the Montana Club in several of the larger Montana communities. Each year they have a Lobster Fest there that is one of the best displays of different and wonderful lobsters known anywhere!

You might miss it if you blink but at Ma’s Café in Loma are the most wonderful Mexican Night specials you can imagine. If Mexican is your thing, this is the place for you! Their seafood nights are very good as well.

Speaking of Mexican, it is hard to beat Taco Treat all over Montana. Their enchiladas are to die for and their Mexican is as authentic as you can get in a fast food joint.

There are a couple of really good steak houses that stand out in Montana. In, of all places, Dunkirk, some ten miles east of Shelby, is the Frontier. It is simply wonderful. In Kalispell try the Winchester for a very traditional steak house featuring the best steaks and shrimp cocktails ever.

Yes it is a chain and yes you have to go to Billings to eat there but if wonderful sandwiches are your thing, don’t miss Red Robin. Hamburgers and sandwiches are wonderful.

Speaking of chains, there is a chain burger joint in Kalispell called Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The menu is small but the fries and burgers are out of this world. When you go to Glacier National Park, don’t miss this eatery.

Clark and Lewie’s in the O’Haire Manor in Great Falls, has almost a cult following. People go there to get just the perfect food for them. Clark etc. is not for everyone but if you like clams by the bucket full and wonderfully large portions of prime rib this is probably your go to place. You can eat in the smallish restaurant on the main floor or upstairs in the Sip and Dip bar where you can watch the mermaids perform and a wonderful piano player several days a week.

If you want to know what Ted’s Drive In, Clyde’s In and Out, or Bob’s Drive In in Havre were like, just go to West Central in Great Falls and check out Ford’s Drive In. they run that good food emporium like the old drive ins were run. Prices are higher than the 1950’s but the food and service are old fashioned and very good.

If you have a favorite Dive etc. that we have not mentioned, let us know and we will add it to our list and share it with other readers. Until then, Bon Appétit!