Big Timber Family Restaurant in Fossil, Oregon

There is nothing quite like a BLT after a rousing training on the AmeriCorps Education Award and taxes. Especially if you’re the one giving the training. After settling in at Big Timber Family Restaurant, I opted against the much-recommended chicken ceaser salad wrap and cheeseburger with fries in favor of bacon and the intriguing “local hazelnut bread.”

Major points for the bread, I am a fan. Not sure it was the right choice for a BLT; I probably would do it with only butter in the future, toasted, maybe with a little honey. Nonetheless, it was excellent.

The bacon was fairly standard. When trying new places, I usually ask for the bacon extra crispy, but I didn’t want to seem too demanding. I regret that. Next time: definitely asking for the bacon to stay a little longer on the fryer.

BLT at Big Timber

Other folks (the ones who just endured my training on the AmeriCorps Education Award and taxes), selected the afore-mentioned wrap, a mandarin chicken salad (which was very quickly consumed by the orderer) and the chicken strip basket. The chicken strip basket looked delectable, and I will certainly order that next time. Although apparently this chicken ceaser wrap is phenomenal. I just couldn’t do a wrap in ranch country, which brings to me my next point: when in ranch country, eat things people you know have killed.

Seriously.

For dinner, one of the AmeriCorps members out here made an elk stir fry with meat from a friend’s hunt. Awesome.

BFossil Rod and Gun Club Meat Shoot flyer at the Fossil Mercantile

The elk was tender; the taste was more delicate than gamey. It was incredible. And the cook, Nathan, didn’t overwhelm the meat with too many spices. The vegetables simmered happily away in the elk juices, melding into a delightful experience.

My previous dinner in Fossil a year ago involved beef enchiladas with beef from the hostess’s ranch, which is all no hormone, range-raised and fed, and humanely killed in the field (apparently, the cows never see the interior of a building from beginning to end of life). That beef was also divine. Although slightly hidden inside the cheesy goodness of the enchiladas.

Fossil has been on the culinary map for a few years with Painted Hills Beef, which is decidedly superior. Although I would vote that most meat killed in the vicinity is many times better than what high-end Portland restaurants can offer. Unless the chefs have joined the hunting club and are hauling their trophies back to the kitchen. That melty taste of an animal that spent its life roaming the sage brush and experienced minimal stress in dying, that taste is sublime.

My recommendation: follow the signs for the meat shoot, and enjoy the rewards!

Tags: AmeriCorps, beef, big timber, blt, elk, fossil, friends, hunting, meat, oregon, painted hills