Our family took a wonderful vacation to the Yellowstone Park area last week. This trip was about appreciating nature and having some family fun, so food was a relatively low priority. Because I need to catch up after being away for a week, I’ll write about the few food-related aspects of the trip in a series of postings.I’ll start with the end – our last, and best, restaurant meal of the trip. The breakfast at Bubba’s Bar-B-Que in Cody, Wyoming, was recommended to us by the owners of our motel there. They did not let us down.
The restaurant was very casual and the prices were reasonable. D. ordered one pancake from the children’s menu. Tom ordered French toast and bacon. B. ordered a kids breakfast combination that included grits – something new for him. He likes to try new things, which I think is great. I ordered a biscuit sandwich, which I thought would be a relatively light meal.
D.’s pancake was about the size of a Frisbee flying disc* and he really enjoyed it. Tom gave the French toast and bacon two thumbs-up. B. didn’t care for the grits, even after he added honey to them, but that has more to do with the fact that he wasn’t raised with them than with the cooking. I was shocked at the size of the biscuits, which B. and I both had on our plates. They were roughly the size of the Kaiser rolls you get here, and had a crumbly texture. My “biscuit sandwich,” which I thought would come with a single egg, had a cheese omelet draped over it. There was absolutely no way to pick up the “sandwich.” Instead, I used a knife and fork.
The smell of barbecue spices wafted through the restaurant, making me regret the fact that we hadn’t eaten there the night before. (I had chosen a Mexican restaurant for its outdoor patio, and the meal wasn’t worth writing about.)
Turns out, Bubba’s Bar-B-Que is a franchise, but I can’t find a Web site for it. I’m told there are locations in Cody and Jackson, Wyoming, as well as Idaho Falls, Idaho.
As for our motel, if you ever need a place to stay in Cody, I recommend the Big Bear Motel. It’s reasonably priced, and a quick walk to the rodeo (which is why we were in Cody). The rooms are simple but clean – and after two TV-free days in Yellowstone, my kids were thrilled to see a TV. Furthermore, the owners are exceptionally helpful. When keys were locked in our trunk (I won’t say who did it), Bill ably got us into our car so we could pop the trunk.
* Did you know “Frisbee” is a trademark, and you shouldn’t use it by itself? I found this out in college, when I was editorial page editor for the Marquette Tribune. We used “Frisbee” by itself in a cartoon, and I received a stern letter from the corporate attorney telling me not to do it again. Ah, the important things you learn in college...