Restaurant review
The Bear Tooth Grill
1230 W. 27th Ave. 276-4200
Reviewed by Crystal Hutchens
When the owners of Moose’s Tooth opened the Bear Tooth Theatre, I thought I had died and gone to Portland, Oregon. It seemed modeled after the Bagdad Theatre, a popular theatre Pub in Portland’s busy Hawthorne district and it mirrored their philosophy: offer patrons an inexpensive movie experience where they can tip back a locally brewed beverage and eat a slice of unique home town pizza. Even their pizza seems more like pizza from Oregon than anything else in Alaska. Born in Oregon and having spent a couple years their on my own in my twenties, maybe that’s why I feel right at home in the Bear Tooth Theatre. With a uniform code of tie-dyed T-shirts, the Bear Tooth says, “welcome, relax, everything’s groovy.” It creates the kind of atmosphere and conscientious attitude known during tie dye’s hippy hay day; it has a laid back feel with the energy of art happening, and this spirit pervades all the way into the food.
The pizza and other offerings at the Pub are great, but where the Bear Tooth really shines is in its sister restaurant, The Grill. One of their more recent offerings, the grill-blackened Ahi ($14.95) fills my daydreams. Spicy, tender and perfect, it’s served with coconut rice (which I also discovered at a Portland restaurant) and ginger seasoned bok choy, snow peas and shitakes which give the dish an Asian feel. I’ve ordered it three times in the last two months and it never disappoints. What strikes me most about The Grill is the fresh, creative ingredients that, while popular in bigger cities, you find almost only in fine dining locales here in Alaska. But unlike fine dining, here you find very generous portions and reasonable prices. Before I gave up eating land animals I used to love the habanero chicken skewers ($6.95). Five generous chunks of chicken breast skewered on thin wood picks are fried with cornmeal for a thin crisp crust and served with deliciously sweet habanero pepper puree and ranch dipping sauce. It made for a meal in itself. In fact, most appetizers make for a full meal like one of my favorites, the calamari ($6.95). Lightly dusted with flour (doing away with the somewhat standard thicker crunchy batter) and fried, it’s served with an artichoke aioli and I have yet to find a better calamari dish in town. This is saying a lot since I order calamari almost anywhere it’s on the menu. But everything at The Grill has it’s own unique twist. Such as my favorite old standby, the chili rellenos dish ($12.95). This incredible plate is topped with two enormous rellenos, each bigger than a large Alaskan man’s fist. Not traditional at all, this rellenos starts with a poblano pepper (my favorite pepper since the first time I ordered this dish) which is stuffed with a blend of five cheeses, lightly breaded and deep fried. I have to rave about this breading for a spell. It’s almost difficult to describe because it is so far removed from the traditional thick egg batter you find in Mexican cooking. This batter is thin and crunchy and heavenly on the tongue. It has a light crisp crunch right before it melts in your mouth. The rellenos come swimming in a rich tomato-chile sauce with plenty of refried black beans and green cilantro flavored rice. There are all sorts of fun side dishes at The Grill and what’s probably most notable is the menu’s diversity. It can be almost overwhelming to choose from so many different styles of food. Everything from seafood and meat dishes to mexican plates, untraditional tacos (like my favorite, halibut) and pastas as well as a variety of salads that function as full meals come served with rices, potato dishes, veggies and beans choices. It’s also worth noting the plethora of choices for vegetarians. The menu pairs side dishes with entrees but you are also free to change your side dish or order from the Pub if a pizza or burrito is more up your alley. They offer luxury desserts like creme brulee and my favorite, the chocolate moose ($4.50), which is just like the menu describes, “pure chocolate bliss.”
The Bear Tooth offers so much to the community as a meeting place and is something of an art film house often offering films that wouldn’t otherwise have a home in our small town. They also host regular music events from great local musicians and bigger outside bands, most recently the Cowboy Junkies. I saw the most amazing stand-up bass player I’ve ever seen in a band called Twistin’ Tarantulas in the Bear Tooth’s theatre which houses a great sound stage in addition to the movie screen. Music events held there are often packed, even for home town gigs like local bands hosting First Tap parties when they preview new brews. Where else can you get incredible food with bargain entertainment?
I wondered about their local contributions, as far as where they bought their food from and how it supported our community. I found myself holding to speak to a manager twice before finally leaving my number. Apparently, they were so busy the manager couldn’t get back to me until just after nine o’clock in the evening. Granted it was a Friday and after the lunch rush passed a movie opened. Anyone who has tried to eat there on a weekend knows they will have to wait for a table. I finally spoke with a manager briefly who could only say that they ordered from multiple local vendors. He couldn’t say if the produce was locally grown, but directed me to talk with their ordering manager who didn’t get back to me before press time. I also asked if the employees enjoyed any benefits beyond the norm. Was there profit sharing? Having worked in the service industry for many years, his answer actually surprised me. It’s almost standard practice in the restaurant industry to offer no benefits beyond a free meal if your lucky. It is the service industry norm to expect tips as our main income source and forgo benefits found in office settings and other “nine-to five” jobs. The Bear Tooth manager told me that while their sister restaurant Moose’s Tooth actually does offer profit sharing, the Bear Tooth is yet to see a profit that would allow profit sharing. Since they were so busy it’s a little surprising that they’re not seeing a profit, but consider the reasonable prices and generous portions coupled with the high overhead of a large building. He did say they plan to start profit sharing by the end of the year. That is music to my ears: a local service industry business that actually cares enough about its employees to offer profit sharing. I give Bear Tooth Theatre high suns across the board.
The norm: 3 suns
Spirit: 3 suns
Justice: 3 suns
Community: 3 suns
(out of 3 suns)