driving to Prince Rupert from SF

We will be driving from Oregon to Anchorage, using the ferry between Prince Rupert and Haines (with stops in Sitka and Juneau) and would appreciate any recommendations for great food (nice atmosphere optional) along that route. Especially curious about finding places between Vancouver and Prince Rupert, as well as in the towns of Sitka, Juneau, Haines, and Toke. But of course we'd also love to hear about towns in between with good food that warrant a stop.
Thanks,
Kristin

In Vanderhoof, BC, west of Prince George, J&S Drive In, right on Hwy 16, and just east of the town proper, serves Mennonite Food. It looks like a Burger joint (which it is), but if you go to the left of the building there is a small dining area. Both dining and takeout areas serve the Mennonite food.

If you're stopping in Williams Lake, 2 hours S of Prince George, take the time to drive into town, there are two decent places to eat, Geckos, a semi-vegetarian place, open only till 5:30 pm on McKenzie Avenue, and Trattoria, a pasta place on 1st Avenue.

There is a nice litle Japanese place in HOpe called Kibo, on the N side of town and just a little off Hwy 1.

In Ashcroft there's a great vegetarian restaurant called the Secret Garden. Ashcroft is only 2 blocks long, shouldn't be hard to find. Also a good bakery. Ashcroft is a 5-10 min. detour off Hwy 1 south of Cache Creek.

And north of Cache Creek on Hwy 97 is Horstings Farms, they sell their own fresh produce, great soup sandwiches and pies, and their own preserves.

And by the way, when you get to Hope make sure you turn off for Hwy 1, don't take the Coquihalla highway to Kamloops, Hwy 1 is much more scenic.

[paulj]

Your mention of Mennonite food in Vanderhoof reminded me of a rest stop on Hwy 16 near there. There was a trailer selling junk food like fries with gravy (don't recall if they included curds). But there were also a Mennonite bakesale.

paulj

[squeegeeboy]

Can agree on both Horstings and the Secret Garden. Use to live in Ashcroft a few years back. Ted (@ Horstings) uses (or at least use to) use family recipes for the pies. A little with some ice cream......oooooh good.

As for Secret Garden all they do is veg. Run by a Hari Krishna (spelling??) they have had a few years to perfect things. The do a no egg omelette (uses tofu I think) with mushrooms that I really liked at the time.

Search in 'elsewhere in America' for the Alaska part of your trip. There have been a few inquiries there, though not many answers. For a place like Tok, breakfast on sourdough pancakes may be the highlight of dining out. Roadhouses also feature items like large cinnomon rolls.

Your mention of atmosphere optional reminds me of our one restaurant experience on the nearby Queen Charlotte Islands. After several days of camping in the rain, we drove into Maset (pop 900) and ate at Pearl's. Moon guidebook describes it as 'features Chinese cuisine in an almost hospital-like atmosphere'. As I recall, the food was rather plain Chinese, but the atmosphere description was about right.

paulj

I've camped quite a bit in British Columbia, and make a lot of use of the Moon guide book when looking for restaurants. There is also the old standby for Alaska travelers, Mileposts.

Given the distance that you are traveling, and the fact that you (probably) have a time constraint - your ferry reservation - it will be hard to plan your trip to hit a specially recommended restaurant at meal time.

Tim Hortons is a widespread chain of coffee-and-donuts shops that's worth stopping at for muffins, pastries, and even sandwiches. You'll probably pass a half dozen or more on the way.

I also make good use of the grocery delis, particularly SaveOn and Overwaitea. Their selection of deli meats typically is good (many produced by Freybe).

Your biggest restaurtant selections will be in the ski resort Whistler, and the largest town in the interior, Prince George.

paulj

Link: http://www.freybe.com/

I used to live in Rupert and Smiles (pronounced like the facial expression) was the best place to go for seafood. My spies tell me that that is still the case!

I can concur on Smiles, it is the best around. If you can make the time go for it. Beyond that most of the food is less than 'chowhound' worthy.

I have Smile's highlighted in my copy of the Moon BC guidebook. However when we passed through Prince Rupert a couple of years ago, on the way to and from the ferry, we didn't have time to do more than make a quick stop at Tim Hortons.

We ended up getting a couple of meals in the next town inland, Terrace. One at a Greek'ish restaurant was ok, though not outstanding. I enjoyed shopping for deli meats in the Terrace SaveOn more.

paulj