The Krewe du Review has saved the best for the last installment of the Killer Rubboard magazine. As far as we know the Double Musky was Alaska's first Cajun restaurant and it is still the gold standard for consistently superb Cajun and Creole food. They were the inspiration for our Cajun food quest----as Mardi Gras season approached we wondered what other venues were cooking up Louisiana-inspired cuisine. Our review is based on dozens of visits to the Grande Dame of Alaskan Cajun cooking.
The restaurant is owned and operated by Bob and Deanna Persons. They bought the place in 1979 and sought out training with New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme and his staff to develop their menu and cooking style. The rest is history! They stick to a solid menu of Cajun and Creole dishes-the best gumbo I've ever had (see Aileen's article on making roux in rubboard issue #2), tasty appetizers, etoufees, seafood and meat dishes, and desserts so good that they'll have your bathroom scale shrieking in horror. They use the best ingredients available (just try to purchase a piece of beef as good as you will be served here), and everything is cooked fresh and to perfection. The Persons recently published their second cookbook that has great recipes and cooking tips, and I was surprised to find that the restaurant has four chefs trained at Le Cordon Bleu, one of whom is their son Justin.
Steve and I make the pilgrimage to the Double Musky to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, visits with out-of-town guests, etc. Our favorite routine is to spend the day hiking up the Crow Creek trail (just up the road from the restaurant) to the pass where there is a spectacular view of the Raven Glacier. We then trudge back down the hill, clean ourselves up a bit, change out of hiking clothes in the trailhead parking lot, then head to the Double Musky for a great meal----I mean we are in "calorie debt" you know! The restaurant is definitely an Alaskan establishment-no pretentiousness whatsoever, so we feel fine about coming in wearing jeans. It's always a wild hodgepodge of patrons-fisherman in the summer, skiers in winter, wedding parties, politicians, prom couples and tourists.
The parking lot is usually jam-packed with everything from hippie vans to pick-up trucks and limousines. Don't you just love Alaska? The restaurant takes no reservations so everyone has to wait it out together-usually in the bar. People are generally friendly so share table space, chairs, etc. The décor is difficult to describe-stuff is hanging from or tacked up to every available space---Mardi Gras masks and beads, signs of all sorts, stuff from liquor distributors, stained glass pieces, notes from past Olympic ski team members, etc. There is a limit to the stuff plastered up-no unmentionables tacked up as in some other infamous establishments.
The wait can be long, so you do have to be prepared for it (they are open for dinner only, and sometimes people line up early to get in right away). There's plenty to look at in the restaurant, and in the summer it's beautifully landscaped with gorgeous flowers-showy dahlias to local wildflowers. Sometimes people are content to order gumbo or appetizers in the bar. The portions are very generous and make a tasty, complete meal.
Steve and I are creatures of habit and even when we tell ourselves that we are going to mix it up and try something different on the menu, we always order the same thing. We start with a bowl of gumbo-rich, almost black roux, spiced just right with freshest shrimp you'll ever eat. It's served with a little scoop of rice and a great corn muffin. We should stop there, but no…..I always order the Sausage and Shrimp Jambalaya and Steve has the French Pepper Steak. The jambalaya is notably the spiciest dish on the menu---keep your hanky handy! It's full of peppers, onions, sausage and that wonderful shrimp. Steve swears that the pepper steak is consistently the best beef he's ever eaten. It is a perfectly marbled large piece of beef, covered with a black pepper sauce, made again with that wonderful "black" roux and laced with burgundy. The meals are served with outrageously huge and delicious cheese jalapeno rolls, a fresh green salad, and perfectly cooked fresh vegetables, still almost crisp and lightly tossed with a bit of butter and their own seasoning blend. The portions are enormous here, so we try to pace ourselves and take some of it home. My jambalaya will often provide two more meals (that is if Steve doesn't get into it first). If we've really hiked hard that day, we'll order dessert. The selection is killer-Double Musky Pie (pecan/meringue crust, chocolate brownie-like center, whipped cream topping), Cajun Delite (lots of chocolate, pecans, pudding and whipped cream), crème brulee, chocolate pecan pie, their famous carrot cake, cheesecakes of various sorts….this is dangerous territory!
Aileen recommends the stuffed mushrooms (stuffed with their own Cajun spiced mixture), the French pepper steak tips appetizer (then you can have a bit of the steak as well as some other selections) and, of course, their great gumbo. I have tried their crab-stuffed halibut with Creole beurre blanc sauce, and other fish dishes-all are wonderful.
The Krewe du Review clearly holds this restaurant as a favorite, and to celebrate the close of this year's Killer Rubboard season, we plan a visit to enjoy it and toast our gracious editor Aileen for a job "well done" (no pun intended). As we close up our last review we note that we're pretty lousy as food critics, but we've learned how much we enjoy visiting with people about the food they love and their own spin on interpreting and adding to the great tradition of Louisiana cooking. And best of all, we had an excuse to get together and share food and stories with our friends---isn't that what eating should be about? We'll raise a glass (and a fork) on Mardi Gras, this year really feeling the meaning of fat Tuesday!
Food
Atmosphere: The Double Musky is fun and funky, but pretty crowded and noisy.
Mardi Gras Spirit: No restaurant has as much Mardi Gras memorabilia and "stuff"!
Lagniappe: Always good, friendly service, consistently superb food and a welcoming attitude. The desserts alone put it into the stellar category!
