Pioneer Wine

Posted 01/11/2008 at 04:30 PM by Dirk

I love running into our wines when I am on vacation. (I don't think it is the greedy commercial side of me, but who can be certain?) Actually, finding our wine leads to sharing and making friends. Isn't that at the heart of wine's place throughout the ages?

The Pioneer Saloon in Ketchum , Idaho loves Nickel & Nickel. Just about everyone who goes skiing in Sun Valley ends up in The Pioneer Saloon. You should check it out whenever you make it there. Just the thought of that bar would make someone want to say, "apres-ski" before ordering a Fat Tire or a hot toddy!  Mark has been a bartender there for ages and knows everyone. He will have the answer to your questions, although I don't know if he has all of the key Monty Python lines memorized. You can quiz him and blame me.

The bar runs the length of the main room.  If you don't feel like watching the football on the TV, there is more than enough of old Idaho hanging on the walls to keep you gaping.  They are into "dead heads." (Dead heads are trophies from bygone days of hunting, not lost souls in tie-died T-shirts looking for tickets to see Jerry Garcia.)  There is buffalo, elk, badger, deer, and more. Remember, Ernest Hemmingway lived here.

Try the restaurant. Their specialty is steak. They don't take reservations. Get there early or plan to wait!  The week after Christmas, when town was full, a friend of ours went to the Pioneer Saloon for his birthday dinner. It took a couple of hours to get their table and they had a great time. If you don't want to wait so long, arrive before 5:45p.m. or go late.  The tables are close enough together that you are likely to exchange one or more stories with your neighbors. It is sort of the dining equivalent of going up the chairlift.

Besides the steaks, you have to order a baked potato (mine was about the size of a Buick). For those of you who think that a meal is not complete unless you gorge yourselves on dessert, The Pioneer Saloon keeps it simple. They have three desserts and the Mud Pie is the solution. It tastes great and has enough ice cream to leave calorie counters busy for days!

Almost forgot to mention: this time we enjoyed the 2005 Darien Syrah and left plenty for the waitstaff to enjoy. Their favorite is the Nickel & Nickel Branding Iron. I think it goes with the rest of the western artifacts...and with the steak.

P.S - The snow was fantastic.

E-Mail | Digg this! | del.icio.us
Dirty Talk on Wine RSS | Comments RSS for this post