Denali Fireside Cabins and Suites
We stayed in one of Denali Fireside’s cabins. Located on the main road into town, the cabins are a short 10-minute walk to the center. Our king cabin was sizable and well-appointed with a couch, gas burning stove, a small dining area, a kitchenette, average bathroom and of course a king sized bed.
The kitchenette includes a microwave, sink, small fridge, coffee maker, but no cooktop. All in all a comfortable and convenient place to stay in Talkeetna.
Restaurants
Swiss Alaska Inn
The café at the Swiss Alaska Inn is open from 8a.m.-1p.m. and serves only breakfast. A half mile from Main Street the small inn and restaurant is located across the railroad tracks. The open dining room has a vague Swiss Chalet feel with pine wainscoting. The menu includes classic breakfast items. Portions are generous and well-seasoned. Service is friendly and efficient.
Denali Brew Pub
The Denali Brew Pub has a cozy brick and wood dining room. The extensive menu offers a variety of appetizers, salads, sandwiches and other mains. Dishes are prepared with quality ingredients and are well executed. We tasted the Aleutian sandwich, the cod, the vegie burger and the pub salad. Service, despite being understaffed, was friendly and efficient. This popular eatery had the only indoor dining in the main part of town during our stay. Plan on giving your name in advance of when you want to eat.
Latitude 62
Located next door to Denali Fireside Cabins, Latitude 62 serves good basic meals in a multi-room dining room.
Dinner
The menu includes the usual Alaska fare with a choice of appetizers, sandwiches, salads and mains. The dishes aren’t plated as prettily as they are at the Denali Brew Pub but the fried items were crispier. We had the daily special, an open face hot turkey sandwich with gravy and caramelized onions and the rib-eye French dip with super crispy onion rings.
For our second dinner we tried the daily special – pork roast with carrots, onions and potatoes. A smallish portion of pork the meat was tender and flavorful with OK vegetables. The Reuben sandwich on the other hand was excellent. It was just the way I like it with an equal balance of pastrami to sauerkraut and the outside of the rye bread well toasted. It was served with a choice of fries or their super crispy onion rings.
The server Lizzie was ultra-friendly and hardworking.
Breakfast
The menu offers a selection of basic breakfast offerings. We both had the classic with eggs over easy, hash browns and toast. Compared to the Swiss Alaska Inn, the eggs were just barely cooked, the hash-browns were much crispier and they had a better toast selection. For our third morning we will be coming back here.
For links to all the posts in this series see the Alaska page.
June 8-11, 2021