Foodie Friday, featuring the nation's tastiest après ski food.
The spread was like something out of a Soprano's wedding scene. A table that ran the entire length of the room stood before us, filled with delectable goodies like sashimi tuna, a variety of sliders, gourmet salads,and roasted vegetables. They even had a "build your own" hot bowl station with more sashimi tuna and the much heralded wagyu beef. With so many mouth watering choices, how could I possibly choose. So having worked up appetite from a few hours skiing, I did what any other starving person would do, I started at the beginning, worked my way to the end, and tried it all.
Used to mainly drinking my lunch at other resorts in the form of a Bloody Mary, I always make a point to stop at Epic, one of my favorite restaurants at Okemo Mountain. As you can see, they have a wide-range of food choices a good Bloody Mary and few good beer choices on tap to help prevent stiffening up while eating. The atmosphere is not your traditional lodge like setting. More modern in a way, but still inviting enough that combined with the food could suck you in and make you miss your afternoon runs that you so covet.
The only tuna that I get at my house is out of a can. With a wife who hates sashimi tuna and three young daughters who have no interest in trying it, it is never on the menu for me. With that in mind, I jumped on the opportunity to eat some of these perfectly cooked slices. Combined with the vegetable salad and anchovy vinaigrette dressing, this served as the perfect bed to my completely full plate. On top of that, I piled an array of sliders. This included a Jamaican Jerk slider topped with a plantain whose Caribbean flavors were welcoming in this cold, mountain environment.
The real treat, however, was the build your own hot bowl. If you've never had wagyu beef, you are really missing out. There are some great cuts of meat out there but few compare to wagyu which, with its fine marbling, seems to melt in your mouth. Throw it in a hot bowl with some kimchi, more tuna, noodles and broth and you've got yourself the ideal ski lunch. Complete with protein, carbs and a hot broth, it will have you replenished, warmed up and ready to go in no time, and that's exactly what we did. Having polished off the last of this tasty lunch at Epic, we headed back out for some more early season laps at Solitude.
