How Alaska eats: What Juneau about eating in Juneau?

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Stack Attack

by Julia O'Malley

Newsletter #53: 'Gram it

I write you from a table at The Rookery Cafe in Juneau, where I have probably inadvisably eaten a big ol’ fried chicken sandwich. I’m here for the International Food Blogger Conference and to eat and learn about Juneau food. (Follow my culinary adventures on Insta.) Juneau readers: Tell me what to eat?

Meanwhile, speaking of things you’ll want to Instagram, looks like Kim Sunée was hanging out with Maya Wilson and they made some magic in the form of salmon stacks with cucumber, avocado and pear. Look at that photo up there!

My first stop here in Juneau was In Boca Al Lupo, where I found chef Beau Schooler in the kitchen, mixing up some pizza dough. (You might remember him because he was a James Beard finalist this year along with Laura Cole of 229 Parks, near Denali National Park and Preserve, and Muse at the Anchorage Museum.)

We had never met in person, having only been Instagram friends until this afternoon, but we have been long-distance planning a dinner this weekend that reflects how Alaskans have historically cooked and eaten. I think he’s going to make mini salmon pot pies and a Schooler-style take on Spam musubi. He’s also making Tang panna cotta with rhubarb poached in canned fruit cocktail syrup. I’ll see if I can get the recipe.

[Read previous newsletters here. Find more Alaska recipes here.]

Anyway, the main course of the supper is salmon and rice, that most simple, classic Alaska meal. Maybe you’re making that very thing tonight? How about some cashew broccoli on the side and a cherry-vanilla slump cake or a berry-rhubarb galette for dessert?

So much NEWS in the food world right now. There are two new farmers markets opening in Anchorage, according to Steve Edwards, our market columnist. And, reports business writer Annie Zak, there’s a new Wild Scoops location, a gelato place and Popeye’s is back in Midtown Anchorage. You can now legally eat edibles at Anchorage pot shops that follow certain restrictions, and did you know that there’s a Kenai halibut fishery where you fish from the beach? And, in the category of things you should NOT eat, an Arctic marathoner donated his amputated toes to the Yukon hotel with that crazy human toe cocktail.

Here’s hoping you forget sunscreen just long enough to get a glow on your cheeks.

RECIPE: SALMON STACKS

P.S. If you don’t already, support local news and local food and subscribe to ADN.

Julia O'Malley, an Anchorage Daily News editor, is working on a book at the Anchorage Museum about how Alaskans eat. You can sign up to receive our weekly Alaska food newsletter, "How Alaska eats," in your email inbox by visiting adn.com/newsletter. Find more classic Alaska recipes here.