Slippery Otter Pub & Eatery
139 N. Canyon StreetAfter seeing everything we wanted to see in Yellowstone, we needed to head down to Idaho Falls, ID for the night. We wanted to get closer to Salt Lake City so we didn’t have a 4+ hour drive before getting on to a plane plus, J worked for two years in Idaho Falls ten years ago and wanted to go see how the place had changed.
We left Yellowstone through the West Entrance and headed back in to West Yellowstone, MT. Before getting on the road, J wanted to grab dinner. We didn’t have Internet to do any sort of research, so we just headed to the place we noticed the night before on our way to dinner at The Buffalo Bar.
The Slippery Otter Pub & Eatery is on the main street running through West Yellowstone on N. Canyon Street right at the intersection with US-20. It’s hard to miss this place with a large, cartoony sign and stone columns out front. It was actually right next to the hotel we stayed in the night before and we walked past it based on Yelp reviews. Big mistake.
There was a little bit of a wait when we walked in to the restaurant, but we were the first people on the list, so we knew we would get the next available table. We stuck around and took a seat on a bench near the main dining room area. A few minutes later, we noticed a family getting up and sure enough, that table was cleared and we were taken to it.
I grabbed the beer menu as soon as we sat down. I was so excited to actually see a beer menu because they bragged about their large craft beer selection. I didn’t have to rely on a waitress who didn’t know what the beers were like we did the previous night.
I don’t remember what I asked for first other than I know it was an IPA I had never tried. Whatever it was, it must be pretty popular as the waitress said they just blew the keg on that one. I ordered the IPA from Big Sky Brewing Company instead. After a week of drinking very mild beers, the IPA’s I had the last couple nights tasted real good. This offering from Big Sky was pretty average, but it tasted oh, so good at the time.
After getting drinks figured out, I ordered another burger. I always tell myself I’m not going to order another burger and yet, I always do. My selection was the Pepper Burger. The 1/3 lb. Angus beef patty is topped with jalapenos and pepper jack cheese. It was served on a toasted bun and I selected hand cut Idaho fries as my side choice. The burger was nowhere near as spicy as I thought it was going to be and that was actually a good thing. I love the taste of peppers with burgers, but sometimes I over do it. With this burger, I didn’t have to worry about taking some of the peppers off as there was just enough to get a little spice, but not burn my tongue, hands, and eventually, my eyes.
The fries that came with the sandwich were pretty awesome. They were crispy and greasy on the outside and soft, but cooked all the way through in the middle. These were the kind of fries that I could have made a meal out of.
J ordered one of the evenings specials. It was a pulled pork sandwich and it was pretty great. The pork was obviously roasted, but it was so tender the lack of smoke didn’t even really matter. The sauce had a really strong taste of clove in it…not sure if that was it, but it really tasted like they used a lot of Chinese five spice. The pork was topped with a slaw and served with the same fries that I had. J really like this sandwich. Really. Liked. This. Sandwich.
Our bill, with tip came to a little over $40. We totally made the wrong choice in walking by the Slippery Otter the first night in town, but without a website, we didn’t know what they had and if it was something we were in the mood for. The Facebook page hasn’t been updated since May and using the mobile site of Zomato where I got the menu for this blog post doesn’t work well. The Slippery Otter was delicious. We really enjoyed our meal and had full bellies as we made our way to our last hotel room on this wonderful trip out west.
Big Sky IPA
Pepper Burger w/Hand Cut Idaho Fries
Pulled Pork w/Cole Slaw and Hand Cut Idaho Fries
SW Michigan Dining 