Finding and savoring the best restaurants in Alaska isn’t a casual endeavor for us. Paul and I have spent the last 10+ years working, living, and eating all over the Last Frontier. While most of our time is spent in the bush eating slop our safety officer made over a jet boil, we do get to hit actual restaurants.
In fact, we run to them after long stints in the bush, or we linger at them and hold onto the experience before filming starts. That slick bar counter with a warm bowl of clam chowder and a filthy martini resting on it, that’s what gets us through long shoot days in subzero temperatures.
Since most of our trips start and end in Anchorage, and that’s where the brass likes to flex their “generosity” with pre-deployment meals, we’ll cover it on this list. And rightfully so, Anchorage has some genuinely kick-ass restaurants. But what makes this list different is what we’ve found beyond the biggest little city in Alaska: the restaurants off the beaten path, in the bush, and unknown to most.
Here’s our list of the best restaurants in Alaska.
Best Restaurants in Alaska: Quick Facts
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Restaurants Featured | 25, across 15 towns and cities |
| Regions Covered | Southcentral, Interior, Southeast, and the “bush” |
| James Beard–Recognized | 7 chefs/kitchens: semifinalist or finalist, no Alaska chef has won yet. |
| Most Remote Pick | The Potato, McCarthy: Accessible only via a footbridge at the end of a 60-mile gravel road |
| Best Food Truck | Poor Betty’s, Valdez: Cajun-Alaskan fusion parked next to the brewery |
| Most Famous Nationally | Tracy’s King Crab Shack, Juneau: featured in Food & Wine, Maxim, Condé Nast Traveler, & Top Chef |
Best Restaurants in Alaska’s Bush
I started my career working in TV kitchens on shows like Top Chef and Food Network Star, somewhere along the way things took a sharp turn and I started doing outdoor adventure shows in the backcountry. Basically the opposite of where any sane professional chef might be found.
The following restaurants make me question my life choices. They are magical mirages in vast culinary wastelands. Impressive simply for existing and then mind boggling for how they deliver on such technique and quality.
Pingo Bakery (Nome)
I spent three months or so living and working in Nome on Discovery Channel’s Bering Sea Gold. I ate a lot of subway cold cuts and un-crustables while waiting for the ocean to freeze, that’s when the dredgers finally call it quits for the season. There aren’t a lot of great restaurant options in Nome, but Pingo Bakery is hands down the best one, and it’s not close.
Pingo Bakery is Nome’s true golden nugget. Tiny space, big windows, a breakfast menu with halibut and king crab omelets, and a Roasted Halibut Pizza that’s so fun and inventive, it’s worth the trip alone. No alcohol, which almost disqualifies them from consideration entirely, but they make up for it with homemade ice cream.
📍 308 Bering St | (907) 387-0654 | Wed–Sun 6:30am–3pm
Read the full Nome restaurant guide for the rest of the Arctic’s eating options — there are only about nine, and we’ve ranked them all.
Poor Betty’s (Valdez)
Valdez might not be on most people’s radar, and calling it “the bush” is a bit of a stretch, it’s certainly off the beaten path, but it shouldn’t be. Valdez is stunning and has a genuinely decent little food scene. I got to eat at most of the spots there while filming a fishing story for the BBC, and I fell in love with this spot.
Poor Betty’s is a Cajun style food truck named after the owners’ neglected dog. It’s parked right next to Valdez Brewing so you won’t go thirsty. Their halibut and reindeer sausage get the Louisiana treatment, and it freaking works, really tasty fun fusion.
📍 141 Galena Dr, Valdez, AK | (907) 202-1538 | Daily 11am–9pm | Open year-round
For more Valdez eateries we do a deep dive in our Valdez Restaurant Guide.
The Roadside Potato (McCarthy)
I spent a year in McCarthy filming Life Below Zero: Next Generation for National Geographic Channel. Most of that year was cold isolation, but in late may the town comes alive and the restaurants re-open. This was everyone’s favorite spot, we patronized it as often as we could. It’s a gem in an ancient mining town.
Everyone just calls it “The Potato,” and the nickname tells you what to order: hand cut curly fries — rosemary garlic, smothered in sausage gravy, or stuffed into a burrito. It started as a food truck in 1995 and has grown into a full open-air restaurant. It’s where locals and tourists end up at the same table.
📍 90 Kennicott Ave, McCarthy, AK | (907) 554-4504 | Daily 7:30am–9pm | Seasonal, late May–mid September
If you’re making the trek to McCarthy check out our full guide: McCarthy Alaska: Things to Do, Where to Stay & How to Get There
Best Restaurants in Southeast Alaska
Southeast Alaska is where Paul and I met working on the show Port Protection, we’ve spent years working and exploring the region since. It’s my favorite part of the state, and it’s home to the rich abundant seafood filled waters, so it’s no wonder it holds some of the best restaurants in Alaska.
In Bocca al Lupo (Juneau)
The name translates to “into the wolf’s mouth”, Italian for “break a leg”, and it’s a fitting name for a restaurant that had no business becoming this good in a Southeast Alaska fishing town. Chef Beau Schooler opened it in 2016 and has become the most nationally recognized restaurant in the state: In 2023, In Bocca al Lupo was named to the New York Times’s list of the 50 best restaurants in the country — the first, and so far only, Alaska restaurant to make that list. Schooler himself has racked up six James Beard nominations, four of them for this restaurant, including a 2023 finalist nod and a 2025 nomination for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific.
The menu runs handmade pasta and wood fired pizza with an Alaska seafood forward twist. The house line is “Alaskan food, with Italian flavor,” and it clicks the moment a plate lands: the structure is Italian, but the ingredients keep pulling everything north. Expect dishes like King Crab Pappardelle, Salsiccia pizza, and a wood fired hot cauliflower with Calabrian chili. The vibe is deliberately unpretentious, and yet your pinky will inevitably pop out upon first bites. Reservations are a must.
📍 120 2nd St Suite B, Juneau, AK | inboccaallupoak.com
Tracy’s King Crab Shack (Juneau)
Yeah, it’s touristy, it sits a short walk from the cruise dock, gets swarmed the second a ship pulls in, and you’ll wait at peak hours. But it’s touristy for a reason. If you’re visiting Alaska, you have to try king crab, and Tracy’s does it about as well as anywhere: cracked legs, garlic butter, communal picnic tables on the water, no pretense whatsoever. Order at the counter, listen for your name, and come hungry.
📍 432 S Franklin St, Juneau, AK | (907) 723-1811 | Daily 10am–9pm
Beak (Sitka)
I spent a stretch shooting Life Below Zero in Sitka, including a brutal week in February filming a mountain goat hunt, one of the hardest shoots I’ve ever done. Beak brought me back to life after a week of sleeping in the snow and eating dehydrated goop.
It’s not just a personal favorite restaurant in Alaska, Beak has the résumé to back it up. Chef owner Renée Trafton, who trained in Michelin starred kitchens in New York before moving to Sitka, was named a semifinalist for the James Beard Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific award. Not bad for a place in a town of 8,000 people.
The rockfish tacos are the signature dish, local rockfish in a chili cornmeal crust, cabbage, pico de gallo, lime crema. And yeah, the hot sauce, Trafton makes a habanero-turmeric hot sauce in house as a nod to her own Panamanian heritage, you best believe I took a couple of those home.
One more thing worth knowing: Beak is gratuity free. They build service into their menu prices, so there’s no tipping. Talk about being inventive and progressive!
📍 2 Lincoln St #1A, Sitka, AK | (907) 966-2326 | Tue–Sat 11am–8pm (closed 3–4pm daily), closed Sun–Mon
Ludvig’s Bistro (Sitka)
Chef/owner Colette Nelson runs a Mediterranean leaning kitchen built almost entirely on Alaska seafood. Alaska paella, Tuscan-style scallops, a rotating tapas menu, all served in a tiny, colorful, cave like room that feels more like Spain than Southeast Alaska.
In summer, Ludvig’s also runs a chowder cart out of the historic Mill Building near the Sitka Sound Science Center, a steaming bowl of their chowder with crusty bread is its own reason to make the trip.
📍 256 Katlian St, Sitka, AK | (907) 738-8508 | Wed–Sat 5:30pm–8:30pm, closed Sun–Tue
Eagle’s Nest (Ketchikan)
Ketchikan is one of the most cruise trafficked towns in Alaska, and that usually means one thing: mediocre food at inflated prices, built for a captive audience that’s only in town for a few hours. Eagle’s Nest is the exception. Tucked behind Cape Fox Lodge above Creek Street, the pizza is legitimately good, wood-fired, blistered crust, a tomato sauce that pops, and they’ll do it on a cauliflower crust, which my tummy appreciates. Add in a view that stretches over downtown Ketchikan with a decent shot at spotting a whale mid slice, and it’s one of the few spots in town where the scenery and the food are both worth the trip.
📍 800 Venetia Ave, Ketchikan, AK | (907) 225-8140 | Wed–Sun 3pm–9pm, closed Mon–Tue
See the full Ketchikan restaurant guide for the rest of the town’s respite from cruise ship food.
Salty Pantry (Petersburg)
Undoubtedly the best food in town, and the most culinarily creative restaurant in Petersburg, full stop. The baked goods have no business being this good in a small joint across from the harbor. Recent menu items have included a spinach artichoke jalapeño stuffed portobello served with a salmon quinoa patty and braised sesame cabbage, the kind of dish you don’t expect to find in a fishing town.
When our crew is arriving or leaving Petersburg, this is the first and last stop, without fail. Walk in and there’s almost always a line. Get to the counter and you’re greeted by a glass case built from an old red window frame, packed with quiches, tray bakes, giant salads, and sandwiches that hit you with smell before you even order. The menu changes constantly, but the baked goods are the one constant worth planning your morning around.
📍 14 Harbor Way, Petersburg, AK | (907) 772-2665 | 6:30am–2:30pm, closed Sun–Mon
Full details in our Petersburg restaurants guide.
El Zarape (Petersburg)
This joint is one of my favorite restaurants in Petersburg, Alaska, and has a warm place in my heart. It’s been one of the most reliable restaurants in Petersburg ever since I started traveling there. Too many times to count, I’ve arrived in town too late for most of the restaurants to be open in the winter, but El Zarape was still lit up on Nordic Ave, welcoming me and my hungry colleagues. The rockfish tacos are always a crew favorite.
It’s been fun watching this small business grow over the years. They now serve a breakfast menu, beer, and have added an outside seating area.
📍 114 N Nordic Dr, Petersburg, AK | (907) 518-1611 | Daily 8am–8pm
Best Restaurants in Fairbanks and The Interior
There’s not much I like about Fairbanks and Alaska’s interior. In the summer its buggy as hell and in the winter its colder than my step mom during a bad menopause flare up. But the town knows how to eat and drink, so there is that.
The Pump House Restaurant & Saloon (Fairbanks)
Set in a restored 1930s gold-mining pump station right on the Chena River, this is the restaurant Fairbanks locals actually recommend, not just the one tourists find. Seafood chowder and pistachio halibut are the standouts, with reindeer and elk on the menu for anyone wanting to go full Alaska.
📍 796 Chena Pump Rd, Fairbanks, AK | (907) 479-8452 | Mon–Thu 4–9pm, Fri–Sat 4–10pm, Sun 10am–2pm
Lemongrass (Fairbanks)
The Pump House is the classic pick, a historic riverside spot that’s been a Fairbanks staple for decades, and it earns that reputation. But what I actually crave in Fairbanks is green curry, theres nothing better on a cold subzero day. One wouldn’t expect to be able to get legit, authentic Thai food smack dab in the middle of the Arctic. But Fairbanks has a genuinely wild Thai food scene, and Lemongrass sits at the pinnacle of it.
Thai food didn’t show up in Fairbanks until 1989, when a restaurant called Thai House opened south of the Chena River. Lemongrass’s own founder, Tutu Navachai, actually moved up with Thai House’s founder after time in San Francisco; they’re both from the same town in northern Thailand. One restaurant turned into a scene, and now Fairbanks runs the most Thai restaurants per capita of any city in Alaska. As if Thai food was meant to melt the snow away.
📍 388 Old Chena Pump Rd, Fairbanks, AK | (907) 456-2200 | Mon–Sat 11am–3:30pm & 5–9pm, closed Sun
East Ramp Wood-Fired Pizza (Fairbanks)
Simplicity is the whole secret to a great margherita, and East Ramp gets it. Caputo 00 flour, Ciao tomatoes, wood-stone oven. A few good ingredients, done right. It’s not just the best pizza in Fairbanks, it’s the best pizza in the state, and thats why its on this list.
Bonus: it sits right on the Fairbanks airport tarmac, packed with aviation memorabilia. Order a pie and watch bush planes swarm the runway like mosquitos on a pond.
📍 3788 S University Ave, Fairbanks, AK | (907) 451-7492 | Sun 3–7pm, Mon–Wed 11am–7pm, Thu–Sat 11am–8pm
Full ranking in our Fairbanks pizza guide.
Denali Brewing Co. (Talkeetna)
When Paul first visited the Denali Brewpub while working on a tv show called Airplane Repo well over a decade ago, it was a small village brewery. Great beer, cozy atmosphere, right on Main Street with everything else in town. Today, Denali Brewing is a lot bigger than Talkeetna. Their Twister Creek IPA, my favorite Alaskan beer, and Single Engine Red are in liquor stores across Alaska and a few down south.
The Brewpub itself is still right on Main Street, serving their famous beer alongside genuinely good food. Burgers, fish and chips, pesto chicken sandwiches, reindeer meatloaf, and vegetarian options.
📍 13605 E Main St, Talkeetna, AK | (907) 733-2537 | Daily 11am–10pm
Full rundown in our Talkeetna restaurants guide.
Best Restaurants in Alaska’s Mat-Su Valley
The first show I ever worked on in Alaska was a silly MTV show called Slednecks. While filming the crew and I lived in Wasilla for almost 5 months, so I got to know the local dinning options pretty well, which was mostly a bummer. These are some of the exceptions:
Turkey Red (Palmer)
Locally sourced Mediterranean inspired fare is the focus of this Palmer, Alaska restaurant. They take a lot of pride in the farm to table approach and claim that “71 percent of their purchases in 2012 came from businesses in Alaska”. Numbers to brag about indeed.
Fresh baked bread and baked goods are the star during breakfast and lunch hours, but come to Turkey Red for dinner and get spoiled with stuff like home made crab pasta, baked rockfish with orange salsa, and bacon pesto seared scallops. Yum!
📍 550 S Alaska St, Ste 100, Palmer, AK | (907) 746-5544 | Tue–Sat 7am–9pm, closed Sun–Mon
Full details in the Palmer restaurants guide.
Cafe Khao Neow (Wasilla)
Also known as Cafe Sticky Rice, this is the only place in Alaska serving traditional Lao cuisine. The name comes from khao neow, Lao for sticky rice, and it shows up served the traditional way: in a woven bamboo basket, meant to be eaten by hand. Family recipes include laab moo (pork salad), nam khao (crispy rice salad), sweet pork stew balanced with soy sauce and quail eggs, and papaya salad. It’s tucked inside Creekside Plaza, small and unassuming from the outside, which is part of the fun.
📍 1830 E Parks Hwy, Ste A-131, Wasilla, AK | (907) 376-5426 | Tue–Sat 11am–8pm, closed Sun–Mon
See the full Wasilla restaurants guide for the rest of the (short) list.
Best Restaurants on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula
Tutka Bay Lodge (Kachemak Bay)
While I reckon it’s technically a Homer address, it’s not in town. You’ll need a water taxi to cross Kachemak Bay to reach this Alaska restaurant, about a 25 minute ride from the Homer Spit. But it’s worth the trip out, Chef Mandy Dixon has built one of the more quietly serious kitchens in the state, and the James Beard Foundation has taken notice with an Outstanding Hospitality nod.
Dinner runs three or four courses, kicked off by an appetizer hour with wine tastings and cheese flown in weekly from Murray’s Cheese Shop in Manhattan. The kitchen leans hard into what’s actually swimming and growing around the lodge — think crab omelets folded like a letter, hot-smoked salmon croquettes, grilled oysters with salmon bacon, and a Tutka Bay summer paella loaded with the best seafood Kachemak Bay has to offer. It’s coastal Alaska cuisine done with real technique, not just good ingredients left alone.
📍 SE coast, Kachemak Bay | (907) 235-3905 | Seasonal, May 1–Sept 30 | Breakfast 8am, Lunch 1pm, Dinner 7pm
The Cookery (Seward)
Chef Kevin Lane picked up a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2025, and it was well earned, fresh oysters delivered daily, locally farmed meats, and a wine list that punches above what you’d expect for a touristy cruise ship town. No reservations, so arrive early.
📍 209 5th Ave, Seward, AK | (907) 422-7459 | Tue–Sat 5–9:30pm, closed Sun–Mon
Full guide to the rest of Seward’s scene in our Seward restaurants article.
Two Sisters Bakery (Homer)
Paul and I worked and lived in Homer for years working on Discovery Channel’s Alaska: The Last Frontier. Two Sisters Bakery in Old Town was one of our absolute favorite spots. The smell hits you the second you open the door, and the pastry case is reason enough to fly to Homer. They started in 1993 and built a local empire on doing the simple things at a level most bakeries can’t touch.
The shop sits a short walk from a trail that drops down to the beach, and grabbing a coffee and a pastry before wandering down to the water became one of Paul’s standing Homer routines.
📍233 E Bunnell Ave // (907) 235-2280 // Wed–Sat 10am–3pm, closed Sun–Tue
See our full Homer restaurants guide for everything in between, including where the fishermen actually eat.
Jack Sprat (Girdwood)
Somewhere in the middle of all the years working, eating, and drinking with Paul, he did the noble, brave thing I could never do, he became a vegan. That’s made finding a restaurant in Alaska we can both enjoy pretty difficult. He literally travels with bags of beans in his suitcase. When we’re out his order is usually just red wine and French fries. But Jack Sprat is one place that makes both of us happy. The kitchen runs on the motto “Fat & Lean,” meaning it takes carnivores and vegans equally seriously: fresh caught Alaskan seafood and humanely raised meats sit right alongside a genuinely serious vegan menu.
The Alaskan Bouillabaisse is a standout, king crab, local mussels, and seasonal fish in a tomato saffron broth with house-baked bread. The Korean bibimbap, served in a hot stone bowl with house made kimchi and a fried egg, shows the kitchen isn’t afraid to wander outside strictly Alaskan territory. The wine list is deep and reasonably priced, and there’s a full espresso bar for dessert pairings, including a well-loved vegan cashew cheesecake.
📍 165 Olympic Mountain Loop, Girdwood, AK | (907) 783-5225 | Mon, Wed–Sun 4:30pm–10pm, closed Tue
Full Girdwood rundown in our Girdwood restaurants guide.
Best Restaurants in Anchorage, Alaska
Some of the best restaurants in Alaska are in Anchorage, probably most of them. But we wanted to showcase the surprising spots the rest of the state has to offer before we listed the more obvious ones. Without ranking anything, here are our favorite joints in ANC.
Whisky & Ramen (Anchorage)
Whisky & Ramen turned into the city’s most talked about room almost overnight, an open kitchen, a proper ramen counter built the way they’re built in Japan, and a whisky wall deep enough to match. Chef Mike Dodge, a 2026 James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Chef Northwest & Pacific, runs bowls built on long simmered stock alongside a rotating board of Japanese small plates. It’s loud, it’s counter first, and weekend stools go fast. The best move is to come solo or in a pair and slide into the open kitchen seats rather than waiting on a table.
📍 436 W 4th Ave, Anchorage, AK | (907) 717-0737 | Sun–Thu 5–10:30pm, Fri–Sat 5pm–12am
Altura Bistro (Anchorage)
Tucked into a midtown strip with no visible menu or sign in the window, Altura is leveling up Anchorage fine dining. Chef Nathan Bentley has racked up James Beard nominations for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific nearly every year since 2022, and the menu backs it up: miso-glazed black cod, king crab tempura, and the best halibut burger in the city.
📍 4240 Old Seward Hwy, Ste 20, Anchorage, AK | (907) 561-2373 | Wed–Thu 5–9pm, Fri–Sat 5–10pm, Sun 5–9pm, closed Mon–Tue
Crow’s Nest (Anchorage)
Perched atop Tower 3 of the Hotel Captain Cook, Crow’s Nest offers 360 degree views over downtown, the Chugach Mountains, and Cook Inlet, paired with a wine cellar running over 10,000 bottles, Paul’s dream. Chef Cameron Richardson, a lifelong Alaskan, builds a French and New American menu around what’s available in Alaska. Think venison loin and king crab legs. It’s fine dining the way your grandpa knows fine dining, the kind of place people book for anniversaries.
📍 939 W 5th Ave, Anchorage, AK | (907) 343-2217 | Tue–Thu 5–10pm, Fri–Sat 5–10:30pm, closed Sun–Mon
Ginger (Anchorage)
We used to do a lot of crew meals here for Life Below Zero. Production always said to try and keep it under $25 a head, and I never once managed that. Not at Ginger. It’s not easy to stay disciplined at a place with a Kobe beef cheeseburger and a filet mignon on the menu; I wanted the good stuff, budget be damned.
Open since 2007 in historic downtown Anchorage, it’s built around Pacific Rim and Asian fusion cooking, think General Tso’s chicken done properly, baked sea scallop mac and cheese, and a cocktail program that I still think about.
📍 425 W 5th Ave, Anchorage, AK | (907) 929-3680 | Tue–Thu, Sun 5–9pm; Fri–Sat 5–10pm; closed Mon
For more recommendations of were to drink in Anchorage, check out our guide: Best Bars in Anchorage: Breweries, Lounges & Dives (Local Guide)
Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop (Anchorage)
Anchorage’s most credentialed bakery. Fire Island earned a 2026 James Beard semifinalist nod for Outstanding Bakery, the first bakery in Alaska to get that recognition. Family run since 2009, it’s all crusty scratch made bread, croissants, and scones baked fresh daily, with the breakfast focaccia and cinnamon rolls the things to build your mornings around.
📍 718 K St, Anchorage, AK | (907) 569-0001 | Wed–Sun 7am–4pm, closed Mon–Tue
Best Restaurants in Alaska FAQs
Which Alaska restaurants have won James Beard Awards?
None yet. Seven Alaska chefs and kitchens have been semifinalists or finalists in recent years: Beau Schooler, Kevin Lane, Rene Trafton, Nathan Bentley, Mike Dodge, Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop, and Tutka Bay Lodge.
What’s the best restaurant in Alaska, outside of Anchorage?
Beak in Sitka is my favorite restaurant outside of Anchorage, it’s shockingly good for being in such a small remote city.
Are reservations necessary at the best restaurants in Alaska?
For the fine-dining picks (Crow’s Nest, In Bocca al Lupo, Tutka Bay Lodge), yes, especially in summer. Most other spots you won’t need one, but it’s always good to call ahead to make sure.
What’s the best most remote restaurant in Alaska?
The Potato in McCarthy. It’s only reachable by a 60-mile gravel road, after a 6 hour drive from Anchorage, followed by a footbridge crossing, since no roads actually run into town. We have a guide on how to get there.
More Alaska Restaurant Guides
- Nome Alaska Restaurants: All 9 Arctic Eateries Ranked
- Homer Alaska Restaurants: Best Spots to Eat & Drink
- Best Ketchikan, Alaska Restaurants
- Petersburg Alaska Restaurants
- Restaurants in Seward, Alaska
- Best Restaurants in Palmer Alaska
- Best Restaurants in Wasilla, Alaska
- 6 Stellar Girdwood Restaurants
- Restaurants in Talkeetna, Alaska
- 6 Spectacular Valdez Restaurants
- Best Bars in Alaska