Built in a formal age when ladies were ladies in long skirts, gentlemen were gentlemen in starched shirts and ties, and decorum ruled among the guests who could afford to travel and to stay in these baronial accommodations, they have now adapted remarkably to today's times: spas, Internet access, flat-screen televisions and informal restaurants. I just dined at two of them. First, the Glacier Saloon.
Walk through the swinging doors of the Glacier Saloon and you have a luxury hotel's interpretation of a Wild West Saloon. Lots of natural wood. Lots of noise. Lots of families with small children. Lots of young people giggling around tables or bending elbows at the bar. The menu includes starters to nibble and share, sandwiches, pizzas and full-on entrées. Even in the rough-and-ready saloon ambiance, the ingredients are organic and, when possible, local and sustainable. I took the food photos below at all sorts of odd-ball angles, beseeching my companions not to eat until I snapped a shot and reaching across the table and in front of people. But here are examples of what the Saloon serves:
Crisp fried calamari (below) comes in a cast-iron pan with pimento and caper relish on top, zesty chipotle dip on the side and half a lemon neatly tied in a little mesh bundle. Even in an informal place like the Saloon, the Chateau's penchant for service comes through. They don't want a diner accidentally biting into a lemon seed.
Open Fire Ribs is what the Saloon calls its marinated baby back ribs blanketed in smoke Dijon barbecue sauce. Neatly piled fries add the restaurant's own slaw are classic sides.
The Cowboy Caesar salad features strips of peppered bacon and a large Bannock crouton atop romaine lettuce. Creamy Caesar is the dressing.
The menu lists just four 12-inch pizzas. None are the standards, but they suit pizza lovers from vegetarians to carnivores. This Cattleman's BBQ Chicken Pizza is a thin crust topped with applewood-smoked chicken, dark ale barbecue sauce, red onions, slow-roasted garlic and cilantro.
Glazed AAA ribeye steak with buttermilk mashed potatoes, citrus and ale demi-glace and mixed vegetables.
The Trailrider Chicken Burger is comes open-faced on a sesame Kaiser bun with spicy Jack cheese, red onion rings (the menu says they're fried, but they aren't), pico de gallo, guacamole and chipotle may. A ramekin of ketchup for dipping the fries completes the assemblage.
The Grilled Chicken and Mandarin Salad incorporates some tastes of Asia into a salad served in this determinedly Western eatery. Romaine and butter leaf lettuce with julienned sweet peppers, Mandarin orange slices and fried glass noodles are tossed in a hoisin and sesame oil vinaigrette.
The Glacier Saloon is in The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, located at the end of Lake Louise Drive, near Banff.