Restaurant Question for Fairbanks Locals

[Vagabond Knight]

I'm compiling a list of restaurants we may want to visit while we're in Fairbanks for a few days. One place that caught my eye is Bahn Thai Rama Restaurant, but Google has it listed as "Temporarily Closed."  Was wondering if that's an obsolete remnant of Covid or the labor shortage of last summer, or if it's truly closed (for renovation or vacation or whatever) and, if so, for how long?  Thanks! 

 

You're very fortunate to have such a varied assortment of highly rated ethnic restaurants up there!

[donaldsc]

I will bet that you can find their phone # on Google.  Try calling them.

 

DON

[Northern Aurora]

Bahn Thai has three locations with the original one being the one located on Third Avenue.  I believe the Steese Highway location is closed.  

 

Fairbanks has a number of Thai restaurants.  Our favorite is the Lemon Grass.  When not traveling we eat at Lemon Grass once a week.

[Vagabond Knight]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

Bahn Thai has three locations with the original one being the one located on Third Avenue.  I believe the Steese Highway location is closed.  

 

Fairbanks has a number of Thai restaurants.  Our favorite is the Lemon Grass.  When not traveling we eat at Lemon Grass once a week.

 

Ahh... that explains the conflict as to whether they're open or not and the different addresses I found. Thanks very much!  I'll also take a look at Lemon Grass. We prefer a nice sit-down place rather than a pick-up/drive-thru since we'll just be visiting and don't want to have to sit in our hotel room to eat. We're kind of starved for good Thai food right now since our local area at home doesn't seem to have a good Thai restaurant.

[Northern Aurora]

If you like Thai food than you are in luck in Fairbanks.  A friend and I were having lunch (actually at the Bahn Thai Third Avenue location) and we started naming the various Thai restaurants.  At that time we could name thirteen.

[Vagabond Knight]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

If you like Thai food than you are in luck in Fairbanks.  A friend and I were having lunch (actually at the Bahn Thai Third Avenue location) and we started naming the various Thai restaurants.  At that time we could name thirteen.

Yeah, I've been looking at Yelp, and you've got an amazing line-up of ethnic options. I wish we were going to be in town longer. We arrive late on a Thursday and we'll be boarding the train on Monday morning, so we can only fit in three lunches and three dinners. So many delicious sounding options from which to choose!

[Northern Aurora]

If you like Cuban food consider Jazz Bistro on Fourth Avenue.  They also often have live music.

 

Would Moldovan food be of interest -- then consider Soba on Second Avenue.

 

Both of these restaurants have menus on their respective websites.

 

It is unclear to me as to whether you are on a structured cruise tour or will have a car.  But the Tanana Valley Farmer's Market is open on Saturdays and Wednesdays.  They are located at 2600 College Road so are easy to drop by if you are moving between the Museum of the North and the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum.  In addition to crafts and veggies they have food vendors.  It is a popular place to stop by for quick lunch.  Their website should have a list of the vendors including the food vendors.

[Vagabond Knight]

@Northern Aurora  We'll be on a cruisetour (6 days on land, then a 7-day cruise from Seward to Vancouver). We're arriving a couple days early on Thursday night and will be totally on our own with a rental car all day Friday and until noon on Saturday. We just have to check in with the tour folks on Saturday afternoon to get the full schedule and sign up for any excursions we want to do during the land tour portion of our trip, but the rest of the day is ours. I made reservations at Soba a little while ago for Friday night, though I just realized I need to push the time up earlier. I had stupidly figured the time zone change in the wrong direction when I was making the reservation, and our stomachs will be looking for dinner earlier rather than later. Duh!  We'd never even heard of Moldovan food, so we're looking forward to a new taste adventure. 

 

We'll probably hit the Antique Auto Museum on Friday, and I'm not sure what else yet. Probably at least one or two of the breweries since my husband and I brew ourselves and we always enjoy checking out the local craft beer scene when we travel. The Museum of the North is included on our tour for Sunday, as is the Riverboat Discovery.  You've talked me into the Farmer's Market for Saturday morning... sounds like fun!  Thanks for the suggestions!

[calbred]

If you can make to the North Pole there is an excellent Chinese food restaurant called "Pagoda", I have eaten there several when I was there (it was that good), it is on Santa Claus Ln., and the North Pole really is a cute place to visit (if you are so inclined!)

[Vagabond Knight]

Thank you @calbred and @Northern Aurora!

[NengEuis]

Fairbanks has some of the best Thai restaurants. Lemongrass is a definite yes, but the manager also runs YES Noodle Soup downtown and they serve many of the same dishes with larger portions and for less money. I love their Thai Curry Soup, which is exactly the same at both locations. If you're there, you're only a block away from Marlo's Bakery which has amazing kolaches, scones, and soups. Pita Place on College has amazing felafel. Also downtown is Suka's Polynesian which has amazing barbecue and musubi. Fairbanks has awesome food from all over the world. Try to track down the Spice it Up food truck for awesome Indian food or El Ranchero for amazing birria tacos! Hope you have a great time. 

[Vagabond Knight]

9 hours ago, NengEuis said:

Hope you have a great time. 

 

Thank you!  I don't see how we can't have a wonderful time in Fairbanks when it comes to the food scene. We're going to have to eat well there, because we move on to Denali for the next part of the land tour where we'll be somewhat captive and have no choice but to eat at the restaurant at the lodge. I've looked at the menu and it doesn't excite me in the least. ☹️

[Northern Aurora]

Actually, the former Lemongrass manager runs "Yes Noodle Soup."  I haven't seen him at Lemongrass since he opened his own business.

 

And to @Vagabond Knight -- where will you be staying while at Denali?

[Vagabond Knight]

5 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

And to @Vagabond Knight -- where will you be staying while at Denali?

 

Denali Park Village

[Northern Aurora]

7 hours ago, Vagabond Knight said:

 

Denali Park Village

 

 

We have never even driven down the hill off of the George Parks Highway into the Denali Park Village.  So we have never stayed there.  But prior to the covid pandemic there was a shuttle from DPV to the "Glitter Gulch" area outside of the entrance to Denali National Park.  No idea of that has continued since the resumption of a more normal life following the pandemic.

[Vagabond Knight]

15 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

We have never even driven down the hill off of the George Parks Highway into the Denali Park Village.  So we have never stayed there.  But prior to the covid pandemic there was a shuttle from DPV to the "Glitter Gulch" area outside of the entrance to Denali National Park.  No idea of that has continued since the resumption of a more normal life following the pandemic.

 

I've noticed many more remnants of the pandemic in my Alaska research than I'm used to seeing elsewhere. Still many references to masks and to activities that have been suspended, with no mention of them starting up again. Of course, Florida never did the huge shutdown that other states did and so it's probably even more noticeable to us. We were absolutely floored a couple of years ago when we went out to California to visit my daughters and their families. With so many indoor attractions and activities closed, we headed over to the beach to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air, and when we went to do one of the outdoor beach walks we found the gate padlocked with sign saying that it was closed due to Covid. Huh???

 

There is a courtesy shuttle at DPV, but it seems like it just goes to the park's visitor center area. I see a small store mentioned, but with no refrigerator or microwave in the rooms, the store is pretty useless as a food source. So, we'll rough it when is comes to meals for a few days I guess.

[Northern Aurora]

1 hour ago, Vagabond Knight said:

 

....

 

There is a courtesy shuttle at DPV, but it seems like it just goes to the park's visitor center area. I see a small store mentioned, but with no refrigerator or microwave in the rooms, the store is pretty useless as a food source. So, we'll rough it when is comes to meals for a few days I guess.

 

If the DPV shuttle goes to the DNP visitor center in addition to the visitor's center itself there is a book store and the Morino Grill.  The Morino Grill offers "grab and go" food in addition to hamburgers and so forth.

 

The pandemic hit the hospitality industry in Alaska very hard.  And the other issue had to a deal with was the lack of J-1 Visas which brought foreign workers to the state.  And for some reason we have a serious shortage of folks with commercial driver's licenses.  This has hit Alaskan school districts hard and many school bus routes are now limited.  In Fairbanks kids are walking much farther to their school bus pick up stops than they did prior to the pandemic.  A business in Fairbanks which owns several hotels (in addition to commercial property rentals) for years ran a trolley type shuttle on a fixed route through the community which was a nice feature for their hotel guests.  Now after the pandemic it has not been restarted.