This evening for dinner my mother, stepfather, and a couple of friends from Central Florida who were here at the local Cogwa site went out to dinner to catch up on times and swap summaries about the sermons we had heard and enjoy some good food, and good food and good times were had. 5th Street in Anchorage is a good place to look for fine dining in general and this place did not disappoint, despite the fact that we all ordered somewhat different choices for drinks and food, which gave us a good understanding of how good a place this was for dinner. This place was chosen rather than the 49th Street restaurant not too far away (which also received very high marks for its food from our hosts as well as other people I have talked to) because there was a less noisy atmosphere that allowed a group of people whose hearing is perhaps not the best to enjoy conversation with each other, as we did.

The food we ordered will give some flavor of the variety of dishes provided by this restaurant. To drink, my mother and I got a house browed root beer (it was tasty and flavored with natural cane sugar), my stepfather got a Heineken alcohol-free beer that he liked, and the other members of our party got an Imperial Pale Ale and an Oatmeal Stout which were both viewed approvingly. My mother and I started out with a summer greens salad that had a mixture of strawberries, market fresh greens, kale, pumpkin seeds, and cheese all with a nice balsamic dressing, which made for a tasty mixture. For meals we got a variety of dishes–my stepfather and I had the shepherd’s pie, which was more like a beef stew (not that this is a bad thing), my mother had the halibut with asparagus to replace the mashed potatoes, and the rest of our party had salmon with broccolini and a tasty steak dishes. My choice of dessert inspired the rest of the party to try out the excellent peanut butter pie, which served as a tasty closing dishes for all of us.

This is a place that offered excellent dining on several levels. Although the initial service was quite slow, the service was much more attentive after that, and the waitress was knowledgeable about the menu even if she guessed wrongly about the sort of foods that we would want to try–she kept on suggesting items with pork in them that were not to the taste of our party, but the menu was certainly filled with many foods that did suit our diet as could be seen from the fact that we left almost nothing behind on the dishes, which is always a good sign when one has eaten well. This is definitely a place to recommend, although you really do need a reservation to secure a place here as well if you want to eat here.