Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [189]
Stella’s Kitchen and Bakery
2525 1st Ave. N
406–248–3060
Billings, MT
BL | $
Stella’s cinnamon rolls are legendary, each one bigger than a softball and enough breakfast for two or more hungry people. The rolls are made fresh each day, but when you order one, it is microwaved so a big glob of butter set atop it is melting when the roll arrives at the table. Heating also tends to give the caramel glaze on top a good, chewy texture that makes it a fork-and-knife pastry. Even bigger than the cinnamon roll is Stella’s giant white caramel roll—fourteen ounces of sweet dough served with a small tub of whipped butter.
Everything is large at Stella’s, especially pancakes, which are known as monster cakes. “You’ve got to see ’em to believe ’em,” the menu boasts. Each one is a good twelve inches, edge to edge; and yet they have a nice light texture that makes it easy to eat a couple, or maybe even three. You have your choice of buttermilk or wheat batter; and if you can polish off four of them in a single sitting, you get a free cinnamon roll! We are especially fond of the very small print underneath the pancake listing on the menu: “Diet Smuckers jelly & syrups available upon request.” So these would qualify as diet food?
There are normal-size breakfasts at Stella’s: omelets, hot cereals (oatmeal, seven-grain, and Stella’s homemade grits), and egg sandwiches, and the lunch menu includes such regular-size items as club and sub sandwiches, chili by the bowl, and a French dip as well as hamburgers that range up to the half-pound Ziggyburger, served on an outsized bun to match.
For dessert? Bread pudding made with Stella’s homemade breads, please.
Truck Stop Café
511 E. Main
406–547–3825
White Sulphur Springs, MT
BL | $
We would not go out of our way to eat at the Truck Stop Café, but it is a convenient waystation if ever you find yourself halfway between Glacier and Yellowstone along Highway 89 and hunger strikes. It’s a funky sort of operation with wood-paneled walls, a counter, upholstered booths, and some really odd wood-slat booths located near the front windows. Other clientele when we stopped in one morning included a family with a large motor home outside and a trio of bikers who arrived on thundering Hogs.
The waitress told us that the biscuits and pie were not made here, so we went for the sweet roll, which is, and for the pancakes. The latter were quite nice, served with both corn and boysenberry syrup. The sweet roll was immense: a huge, doughy mountain gooped with icing, probably seven thousand calories’ worth of breakfast.
Willow Creek Café and Saloon
21 Main St.
406–285–3698
Willow Creek, MT
LD (reservations advised) | $$
Reservations advised? In Willow Creek, population 209?
Yes, indeed. Here is a way-way out of the way restaurant that attracts customers from Three Forks, Manhattan, and even Bozeman, some fifty miles away. They come for pillowy beef steaks and chicken-fried steaks, hamburgers and homemade soups, pies and cakes made that day, even such upscale suppers as pork marsala and saltimbocca. There’s always prime rib on weekend nights, but the one never-to-miss meal is barbecued ribs, anointed with a brilliant honey mustard glaze that teases maximum flavor from the pork. A chalkboard lists the day’s specials and featured wines, which oenophile friends tell us are a good deal.
The place itself is a hoot: a sunflower-yellow house that started life in 1912 as the Babcock Saloon and has been a pool hall, barber shop, and butcher shop. Dining facilities are small indeed, with room for only a few dozen customers at a time. The old-fashioned print wallpaper and antique wood fixtures make it feel like a trip back in time. If you’re heading for Willow Creek, don’t worry about finding it. It is the only business in town.
Nebraska
Al’s Café
205 Main St.
308–783–1133
Melbeta, NE
L Mon–Fri | $
We recommend you go to Al’s very soon. If proprietor Ruth Neal, age ninety-two, decides to retire, the place will close. Because