Bodacious Breakfast: Jackson Hole

Contributing Writer Cathy Healy is just back from a visit to Wyoming with family, and was ready to dish with us about her favorite breakfast joint.

TETON VILLAGE, Wyo. – Outside the deck of our house at the base of the ski mountain, a mother moose and her calf snuggle in last night’s snow. My family—sibs, spouses, nephews, and wives—are slipping into their third layer of miracle fibers. Not me, I live in D.C. now. I need a fix of politics.

I borrow my brother’s vehicle and head into town for breakfast at Jedediah’s, a snug 1910 log cabin just off the town square where “juice” means more than OJ, and although the thick bacon crunches, you can chew for a long time on what’s happening here and there. As the saying goes: “Everything is political in Wyoming, except politics, which is personal.”

I greet the founder and owner, Mike Gierau, a born host who knows his way around politics as well as he does kitchens – he’s chaired the Wyoming Democratic Committee and served on the DNC. As we talk primaries, I tuck into his crepe-thin sourdough pancakes that come loaded with tiny wild Maine blueberries, which don’t make the pancakes soggy like big, fat blueberries do. The sourdough comes from 1870s starter used by ranchers in the Valley, the bacon is ‘specially cut. Mike gets the details.

And it’s this attention that’d led Mike to cater to almost all of the private jets that land at Jackson Hole Airport—thousands of them–from his new outpost there. 

But while jets are a 24/7 business, the Jedediah’s on the mountain only serves breakfast and lunch. So where does a guy who loves good food and wants great service go for dinner in Jackson Hole?

“Name the top three,” I ask.

Mike hedges. Always the politician, he offers, “You can come here for two weeks and go to a different place every night and get excellent food.” I nudge; Mike votes.

1. Rendezvous Bistro. “For new Jackson, this is the place to be seen…and it’s moderately priced. My favorite dish is Duck Confit.”

2. Snake River Grill.

“This was the first of the restaurants here that caters solely to a wealthy clientele. It’s still very, very good and it’s still the place to go…The menu is varied, the place is comfortable and it’s gorgeous. “

3. North Grille, the rebuilt restaurant at the Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Club out by the airport. “It’s new on the scene so not a lot of people are talking about it. I’ve had two meals there – two of the finest I’ve ever had in this valley. It has spectacular views of the Tetons.”

Do you know Jackson? Which three restaurants would you recommend?  

Cathy Healy lives in Washington, DC and is active in her home state of Wyoming.

Photo: Mike Healy