Adventuresome Eats Along Chena Hot Springs Road
Chena Hot Springs Resort is just about an hour drive from my house, but I always tell people it’s only 45 minutes away. I don’t know why I think the 15-minute difference matters. I’ve completed the drive at least 50 times, but perhaps I underestimate the drive time because I want people to think I live closer to the hot springs—what I consider Fairbanks’ best attraction. A 45-minute drive seems like a jaunt. I won’t tell you how many times I’ve jaunted over to an Ikea or Trader Joe’s while on vacation in the Lower 48. But a drive of an hour and five minutes, well, that’s a proper road trip there: a drive that requires plenty of snacks and a soundtrack.
Truth is, Chena Hot Springs Road, the east-west road that starts just outside Fairbanks’ city limits and dead ends right in the parking lot of Chena Hot Springs Resort, has all the makings of an off-the-beaten path adventure close to home: outrageous characters to meet along the way, beautiful scenery, and a lack of phone service.
Therefore, this road trip requires some careful pre-planning to know the opening hours and menus for the eating establishments that dot Chena Hot Springs Road. Or alternatively, the drive offers the perfect opportunity to just be cell phone free for 35 to possibly 42 minutes, enjoy your travel partner, and take in what you might encounter on your journey.
Regardless of what route you take, heed this warning: it can be really difficult to visit all the Chena Hot Springs Road dining establishments during one road trip. It’s not because there are so many places to go (there aren’t); it’s because they don’t think of themselves as a cohesive culinary experience and therefore the timing is all off between restaurants. Some places are closed Mondays and others closed Wednesdays and Sundays. A couple places close midday and re-open for dinner. And some are only open for dinner. The restaurant at Chena Hot Springs Resort is open daily for breakfast through dinner (with no break) so it always offers a failsafe for the weary traveler.
Larae’s Breads, Pies, and Espresso
696 Dahl Lane, Fairbanks | (907) 488-0948
Monday–Friday 6–11 AM and 3–8 PM; Saturday 8 AM–8 PM; Sunday Closed
Ever since I moved to Fairbanks, I’ve wanted there to be a neighborhood bakery close to my house. Although I think most people will say the reason they moved out to Chena Hot Springs Road (CHSR) is solitude or ample space to mush their dogs, I’m utterly convinced that most people still want a place to interact with others—on their own terms. Larae’s is that place. From the outside, it looks like it’s someone’s home converted into a pie shop. But inside, it’s clean and bright with local artists’ works hanging on the walls. It seems like there should be ragged couches throughout, but it’s not a cozy place. Instead, there are several tables (probably more than necessary) set up perfectly for families or as a place to work comfortably for long hours. I don’t think it’s the kind of place people necessarily stay for hours. I think its purpose is as a place where you can run into your neighbors because there are so few other spots/locales where that might happen in this area. I like to imagine all the people making the 20 minute or so drive to work in Fairbanks and running into Larae’s for their “usual” and a quick check-in with whomever they happen to bump into while keeping their car running outside.
There are at least seven kinds of pie always available as well as freshly baked breads, cinnamon rolls, muffins, quiche, scones, and an entire menu of hot beverages. There are the usual slices of pie: apple, cherry, pumpkin ($3.50–$5.50) —but also a savory meat pie ($7), a sweet pie of the month, and a gluten-free blueberry custard pie ($4.50) made with an almond crust. A whole chocolate cream pie is $15. You might not think you’ll be tempted to take with you an entire pie, but think of it this way—it makes economic sense (the price is kind of a steal) and when you see those pies sparkling brightly tucked in the rotating old-diner style pie case, you lose all judgement. On my last visit, we picked out four different kinds of pie and as we began to leave, I spotted the maple bacon cinnamon rolls ($3) and bacon cheddar bread ($8) and audibly mumbled, “Can we really leave these pork delights behind?”
If you’re driving to Chena Hot Springs Resort, you’ll be tempted to stop at Larae’s first as you’ll pass it on your left side about 15 minutes into your drive. I urge you to use self-control and make this the last stop of your journey during your return home when you might find yourself in a dreamlike comatose state brought on by relaxing in the hot springs. Either way, it’s the perfect ending (or beginning) to a day at the hot springs.
Two Rivers Lodge
tworiverslodge.com
4968 Chena Hot Springs Road (6.87 mi), Fairbanks | (907) 488-6815
Sunday and Tuesday–Thursday 5–9 PM; Friday and Saturday 5–10 PM.
The next time I passed the Two Rivers Lodge after I had eaten there a few weeks before, I was shocked to realize that it wasn’t farther away from my house. Yes, I clearly have some time-space issues, but in this case, my confusion was exacerbated by the fact that once inside the Two Rivers Lodge, I was instantly transported to my time working at the Bettles Lodge in the fly-in bush community. The Two Rivers Lodge boasts that Alaska homestead style with dark lighting, retro carpet, a roaring fireplace, and an abundance of wood.
When you enter the building, you’re actually in the Trapline Lounge. Attached to this bar area is a large dining room with potentially a nativity scene or humongous dollhouse or a taxidermy bear. I have written in my notes “big dollhouse,” but then I saw a picture on TripAdvisor with a taxidermy bear in the spot where I thought there was a large dollhouse. So I honestly can’t report what I saw and I can’t quite tease apart what actually was there, perhaps because I spent the better part of the meal trying to keep my son from climbing over the fence that protected the plausible bear nativity scene. In the summer there is an outdoor deck which allows you to circumvent this area entirely.
Looking at the menu I kept thinking how expensive it must be for the owners to fly in all the ingredients and then again remembered that they are actually only 25 minutes away from the very same Fred Meyer and Costco where I shop. I’ve probably run into them there without realizing it. The waitress eagerly recommended the garlic bread as a favorite and then paused and said, “Everything is really good!” My husband pointed to the surf and turf for two—a meal complete with a “14 oz prime rib cooked to your specification served with 4 deep fried prawns and two burnt creams” ($75.95)— and asked, “Should we?” I replied, “We definitely should not.” He then contemplated the all-you-can-eat ribs, but I talked him into a more sensible portion of not-all-you-can-eat-ribs. Not to mention all dinners come with soup or salad as well as the diner’s choice of rice pilaf, baked potato, French fries, or sweet potato fries.
I ordered an appetizer of chicken wings. I probably didn’t pick the best item on the menu—but sometimes with a multi-page menu, I get decision paralysis. There are specials like an appetizer of Thai mussels ($16.95) or ghost pepper wings ($15.95) or tandoori lamb chops ($29.95) or stuffed pork chops ($28.95). There are lots of items with bearnaise sauce. I don’t mean that flippantly like bearnaise sauce is a bad thing; I just note this fact from a personal place of serious lactose intolerance.
Wagner’s Pizza Bus
Anders Avenue off Zuendel Street at Mile 24, Chena Hot Springs Road | (907) 490-0336
Tuesday–Friday 4–9 PM; Saturday and Sunday 1–9 PM; Monday Closed
“We’re going to the pizza bus! We’re going to the pizza bus!” chanted two toddlers in the back of our rented black Suburban SUV with a built-in DVD player screaming an episode of Paw Patrol. Once, our friends from Seattle were visiting during a month of unrelenting and unbearable -35° F temperatures and a trip to the hot springs was pretty much the only excursion that could get them to leave our house. Over the years, I think I might have taken 28 separate photos with my phone of the plain white sign hanging from a tree that reads, “PIZZA BUS 490-0336.” The sign is located right after you pass through the miniscule town of Two Rivers on the way to Chena Hot Springs Resort and if you blink, you’ll miss the sign. Actually, “PIZZA BUS” is only written on one side of the sign, so you’ll see nothing at all if you’re traveling home from the hot springs. Each time I take the photo, I say, “I’m gonna call that number, it can’t be real.”
A few days before our friends arrived in Fairbanks, I looked up the opening times for Larae’s Bread, Pies, and Espresso, and Google routed me to Facebook (which I’m not really on) and through some nefarious algorithm, I’m sure, something popped up on the left side of my screen that read, “Related page: Wagner’s Pizza Bus.” I cautiously took the click bait and there it was: a real live pizza bus. I took a screenshot of their very well-maintained and frequently updated Facebook page, sent it to my husband with eight different emojis that translated into “it’s real, we have to go!”
My three-year-old son and my friend’s four-year-old are true pizza connoisseurs, as would be the case with anyone who essentially eats pepperoni pizza for every meal: toddlers and college frat boys. According to Wagner’s Facebook page, in one single sentence, the eatery/restaurant is“family owned and operated, Fairbank’s first converted school bus and longest running food truck, running all year, in our fully mobile pizza kitchen.”
Once you turn at the “PIZZA BUS” sign, there are few indications that the pizza bus exists. At a “T” in the road there is another sign that points left and again reads “PIZZA BUS,” but no additional details or encouragement like “you’re almost there!” or “just 2 minutes up the road.” We arrived at noon to quickly figure out that I should have remembered that they didn’t open until 1pm. The “Pizza Bus!” chant from the backseat of the car quickly turned into “What? NO PIZZA BUS?!”
We left for the hot springs and came back at 5pm ravishingly hungry. During the summer, one orders through the little hut set up perpendicular to the Pizza Bus and then, I assume, can enjoy their pizza, burger, and even wings or milkshake outdoors at a picnic table. In wintertime, one still orders through the little hut heated with a wood oven and then either can eat at one of the two small tables in the hut or, as was the case when I was there, sit in their car for 30 minutes and eat their takeaway as their car exhaust happily pillows into the freezing cold air.
The pizzas are stone-baked in a gas-fired pizza oven at 600° F. On their Facebook page, the Wagners wrote, “It Takes Time To Make Great Pizzas. “Perhaps this is a gentle reminder, more than a mantra to them. It took about 30 minutes or so from ordering to receiving the first of our three pizzas. I tried to order their gluten-free pizza but was told that it would take 90 minutes to make. My husband whispered to me, “You should have called them when we left here for the first time five hours ago.” I can only imagine that because they make everything from scratch that the 90-minute timeframe involves physically preparing the dough, letting it rise for a little bit, and then cooking it. I’ll call ahead next time.
The pizza we ordered was genuinely good: just the right amount of crispiness to the crust, not too much cheese, and fresh toppings. The large pizzas (starting at $16 plus $2.50 per topping) offer enough food to feed at least two or three famished adults. The small pizzas (starting at $12 plus $1.50 per topping) can feed two toddlers for two meals. If you’re in a rush, call ahead and they seem open to BYOB.
Chena Hot Springs Resort Restaurant + Aurora Ice Bar
Mile 56.5, Chena Hot Springs Road | (907) 451-8104
Restaurant daily 7 AM–10 PM; Aurora Ice Museum tours are scheduled for 11 am, 1 PM, 3 PM, 5 PM and 7 PM
Frequently, I eat at the restaurant right before the hot springs, which makes me think I should eat light. But I never do. The food at the restaurant isn’t spa food—it’s hearty portions. The appetizer portion of “Almond Crusted Duck Tenders,” breaded in-house with crushed almonds and Japanese breadcrumbs and served with a jalapeño fig barbecue sauce ($17.25), is a good choice for someone wanting something a little bit different than the standard fare. Likewise, the duck leg confit main, which is marinated in red onion and daikon ribbons, tossed in an orange sesame vinaigrette, and garnished with pickled ginger and a drizzle of wasabi cream ($17.50), is a thoughtful dish with robust flavors. If midway through the meal you realize, “Who cares, I can go into the hot springs stuffed!” then I say, “Why not order dessert?” from their extensive menu that includes homemade apple pie ($7.95).
I often order their Chena Burger ($12.50) because it comes with a “Chena Fresh” salad that itself is large enough to be an entire meal. The lettuce and tomatoes are grown on site, using geothermal water to heat their 7,000-square-foot greenhouse, and truly are a delightful treat and visibly fresher than anything you can purchase at the grocery store in town. The full bar in the restaurant offers local beers on draught, an assortment of wine, inventive cocktails that utilize local liquors, and after-dinner drinks such as ports. I’ve seen couples have one too many of their salmon-infused liquor bloody marys and then need to call for a very expensive taxi back to Fairbanks or to spend a very expensive night at the resort.
After my more than 50 plus trips to the hot springs, I finally decided to try out the Aurora Ice Museum after overhearing two tourists in bikinis discuss the appletinis that awaited them at the ice bar. There is an element of kitsch to the Aurora Ice Museum, completed in 2005 and created from over 1,000 tons of ice and snow, but it’s eerily beautiful inside. There are chandeliers made of ice crystals and then lighted to appear like the northern lights and complex world-class ice sculptures as well as an area reserved as a wedding chapel where couples do indeed marry.
The signature and only beverage served in ice goblets at the Ice Museum is the “appletini,” a combination of Apple Pucker and vodka. They can only serve alcohol, otherwise the beverage would instantly freeze. Javier Villasenor-Gaona, the marketing director at Chena Hot Spring Resort, says, “We make about 17,000 of those [glasses] a year. The ice glass takes about 45 seconds for our ice carvers to make and most people smash the glass outside to make a wish.” After spending an hour in the hot springs right before our scheduled Ice Museum tour, I was already dehydrated and I didn’t think I would want to have an appletini. But in the dim and chilly lights of this converted Quonset hut-like structure, I suddenly couldn’t wait to take a seat on the ice bar stool, ask from where my seatmate was visiting, and sip my $15 drink (it’s $15 for the tour plus $15 for the first drink—$10 for the second). The Aurora Ice Bar is the best kind of tourist experience: a little overpriced, filled with excited individuals, and punctuated with a set endpoint. Everyone is ushered out of the building after 45 minutes—probably before they start breaking things.
