Restaurants in Montana

Montana is a big, rugged state, its muscular character expressed with unique western attitude. As a general rule, forget frills. The most memorable small-town eats and even big-city meals in Big Sky country are dished out in places with all the panache of a truck stop or a county jail. But the food can be wonderful, and the staff in some of these joints live by an alternate code of etiquette that is Gary Cooper taciturn but truly hospitable. With a few fine-dining exceptions, eating around the Big Sky State is a bonanza of oversized eats: ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls, pillowy steaks, deluxe burgers, and plate-wide pancakes. Butte claims to be home of the pork chop sandwich, and its old Chinatown features restaurant menus from an era of chop suey and egg foo yung. The western regions of the state are huckleberry country, so look for the winey fruit made into ice cream, syrup for ice cream, candy, and pie.