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 Café Kandahar near Whitefish can
seat maybe 60 in a pinch. The kitchen (two ovens, one grill, six
burners) is minute. Still, executive chef Andy Blanton's inventive,
Modern American cuisine is drawing big reviews.
Nightly, diners settle at linen-topped tables in the restaurant's cozy
dining room, complete with a wood-timbered ceiling and knotty pine
walls lined with historical ski photos, for dishes that reflect both
Blanton's classic French techniques and past stints in top New Orleans
kitchens.
For starters, Chef Blanton crafts dishes such as andouille
sausage-stuffed and roasted quail served atop a wild mushroom cake with
field greens and cane syrup-sherry vinaigrette.
Entrees show creativity as well. Grilled salmon, for example, is
garnished with osetra caviar buerre blanc and paired with a sun-dried
tomato polenta cake. Roasted rack of lamb is dusted with rosemary and
served with Gruyere and mushroom potato gratin. And paneed veal
scallops come with blue crab shiitake ragout and a Riesling and lemon
jus.
Pair it all with wines from a list that for years has received the Wine
Spectator Award of Excellence. For desert, my favorites are the Montana
huckleberry cheesecake or vanilla bean creme brulee.
Afterward, amble back to the appropriately named Snug Bar in the lodge
for a nightcap. Or, better yet, up the stairs to your comfortable room
where, almost certainly, you will fall asleep the moment your head
touches your pillow. The cool mountain air does that.
Check out our website (www.mountainliving.com) for Chef
Blanton's seared duck salad, a delicious summertime dish that you can
easily make at home.
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