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Open & Shut: Patio dining revs up at Hilltop Ski Area, a pop-up Vietnamese eatery opens downtown, an Anchorage pet store adds another location and a winery shuts down
Anchorage-area adventurers now have access to mountain bike trails with berms, jumps and wood features coupled with burgers, sandwiches, local brews and wine that they can have on a dog-friendly patio with live music on Friday nights.
The outdoor seating area for Finn’s Kitchen at Hilltop Ski Area in Anchorage, photographed on Friday. Hilltop general manager Trevor Bird is hoping to reinvigorate the popular nonprofit-owned winter ski area during summer with its operations as a bike park and its new cafe, Finn’s Kitchen. They’re aiming to create another Anchorage community staple, he said. “The trails that we’re building are for all skill levels. The terrain that we have really lends well to mountain biking, and then you add in the food, the patio, the ambiance. It’s just a kind of a natural fit for a great hangout spot,” Bird said.Finn’s Kitchen at Hilltop Ski Area. The cafe, which opened in late January, is a departure from the previously offered powdered hot cocoa and hot dog fare during the ski season at Hilltop. Finn’s offers a full menu of sandwiches, burgers and several local beers and cider on tap. Its namesake is a friendly red-haired dog seen bounding around the park year-round and greeting newcomers, tongue lolling. As for the bike park, Bird said the Hilltop team has big plans: Two more trails will be built this summer, along with new features on current trails.There are currently three trails, Gnarnia for beginners, Schralp D’Huez for intermediate biking and an advanced trail called Taco Sauce. The park also has a pump track, and a jump line called Osteoblast. With fundraising efforts and a matching grant from the Rasmuson Foundation, they plan to build more trails next year and purchase rental bikes. But with the upswing in outdoor activity during the pandemic and a scarcity in bike parts, a fleet of bikes is too difficult to secure for this summer, Bird said. Still, Hilltop is offering a wide range of bike school classes for ages 8 and up this summer, along with individual coaching sessions, mountain bike skill clinics for adults, and women-specific clinics from ShredMaiden X Spoke Sisters. Almost everyone who grows up in Anchorage has a story about learning to ski or snowboard at Hilltop, Bird said. “Our goal is to do the same thing with biking,” Bird said. “Taking a small bike, getting you to feel comfortable on the bike and then putting you on trails that build up your skills so that we create a lifetime biker.”This pop-up diner in downtown Anchorage serves a small seasonal menu of six traditional Vietnamese dishes with a modern twist. Robert Guarco is co-owner of Phan Le Vietnamese Restaurant, which he recently opened in a shared space at Cafe 817 on Sixth Avenue in downtown Anchorage. Photographed on Thursday. About three weeks ago, Robert Guarco began serving his creations in the evenings, Thursdays-Sundays, out of the kitchen at 817 W. Sixth Ave. The space is occupied by a different business during the day, a longtime Anchorage breakfast and lunch spot, Cafe 817. Guarco began Phan Le with the help of his mother, Jaclyn Jackson. The two co-own the business. They intend to find their own kitchen space soon, he said. But for now, Guarco, the creative mind behind the menu, is focused on building a solid foundation for his restaurant — perfecting the dishes on the menu, getting the word out about the business and finding more local produce to use. Guarco said he used his experience in French cooking and fine dining to develop his own take on traditional foods served in Vietnam. The menu includes locally sourced meats — Alaskan ribeyes in his version of Shaking Beef and Guarco’s halibut with turmeric and dill . He said he’s also particularly happy with his vegan pho, served with locally grown mung bean sprouts.Phan Le also serves “true Vietnamese coffee,” a rare find in Anchorage, according to Guarco.Guarco grew up in Eagle River and he said he fell in love with cooking while working as a server in local restaurants. He began working as a cook in higher-end restaurants around Anchorage to learn as much as he could, most recently doing a stint as a fish cook at the Crow’s Nest. Guarco’s grandmother and mother had fled from Vietnam during the war and came to the U.S., eventually landing in Alaska.When naming his new venture, Guarco and his mother picked Phan Le without realizing that flipped, the words are the name of his great-grandmother, Le Phan.Marketing itself as “intensely Alaskan,” this locally owned pet supply store opened its first spot six years ago in South Anchorage. But business has grown. That’s partly because COVID-19 kept more people home, tending to pets’ needs or adopting new ones, said owner Mark Robokoff. Cleo Pettitt, an artist visiting Alaska from London, works on a mural of dogs on the new AK Bark building on Fireweed Lane in Anchorage on Friday. Mark Robokoff, owner of AK Bark, is longtime friends with Pettitt and asked her to paint the mural on the facade of the building which will house his second AK Bark business. Pettitt is painting 13 different dogs that resemble customer pets. That’s demonstrated by the fact that people are increasingly buying pet birthday cakes that the store sells, he said.In mid-June, AK Bark plans to open its second and much bigger location in Midtown Anchorage, near the corner of Fireweed Lane and Eagle Street. AK Bark offers standard pet store merchandise, but it stands out from national brands in part because it sells hard-to-find gear for the north, Robokoff said. There are snowsuits for pets, lots of booties and skijoring gear. The store even sells a spiked Kevlar predator vest for small dogs, to protect against potential attacks from eagles, wolverines and other wildlife, he said.“I’m just a dog person, but we’ve found out there’s a lot of things that Alaskans want to get for their pets but that you can’t find at a big box store up here,” he said.Connor Heid, 21, said he and his aunt and uncle, Camille and Owen Ala, own the franchise rights in Alaska for the fast-growing chain.The Utah-based chain has exploded since its founding in 2017, Heid said. It has more than 450 locations in dozens of states. It features several rotating cookie flavors each week, from about 200. It also has an ever-present staple, a milk chocolate chip cookie. “So it might be raspberry cheesecake, s’mores, key lime pie” or other cookie types, depending on the week, he said. The Anchorage Chamber of Commerce is teaming up with the business to hold a ribbon-cutting event for Crumbl’s soft opening on Thursday morning. Friday’s grand opening starts at 8 a.m., and will feature a DJ and free swag for guests, Heid said. It’s located at Tikahtnu Commons, at 1118 N. Muldoon Road, Unit 145, where the Denali Federal Credit Union had been located.This casual Tex-Mex establishment will make its Alaska debut in mid-June. It will be Anchorage restaurateur Jack Lewis’ latest venture, the Texas-based chain said in a statement. With more 120 joints nationally, On the Border is known in part for its fajitas grilled over mesquite wood, plus margaritas. It will open at the Tikahtnu Commons shopping center in East Anchorage, and expects to employ about 80 people. In Alaska, Lewis has opened a number of other businesses, including Sourdough Mining Co., Firetap Alehouse, The New Peanut Farm Sports Grill, BurgerFi and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.The Hotel Captain Cook has expanded and updated this once-tiny coffee bar on the bottom floor. The now spacious Cubby at the downtown Anchorage hotel is about four times its former size. It’s now more of a place to linger with tableside windows along K Street, said Raquel Edelen, vice president of operations at the hotel. There’s complimentary Wi-Fi, plenty of outlets, featured work by local artists and food like breakfast burritos, sandwiches and ice cream, Edelen said. “We wanted to make sure people had the opportunity to sit and look out the beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows,” she said. “And we wanted to make it very business-friendly.”It’s currently open from 5:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., but those afternoon hours will be expanded soon, to 8 p.m. It’s designed to be a good place for meetings, with its speaker system and long conference table, she said.The pandemic put the remodel on hold for around a year as the economy ground to a halt during shutdowns, she said.Two brothers who spent about 25 years manning the former paint shop at Curtis and Campbell have opened this new paint store in South Anchorage.Curtis and Campbell late last year. But that opened a new door for Walt and Steve Lozano. An owner of Yes Floors, Jason Smith, asked the Lozano brothers if they’d like to manage a paint shop for him, Walt Lozano said. Now, the brothers are selling Benjamin Moore paint and different brands of stains at Yes Paint. They share space with Yes Floors at 7120 Old Seward Highway, Suite 101, in the Taku Mall.“This was a blessing from God, and now we’re here and it’s getting crazy business,” Walt said.Brothers Dan and Chris Morris planned to buy vans this summer and launch a business leading day tours outside Anchorage. But the microchip shortage disrupted auto manufacturing, and Ford paused production of the big passenger vans the brothers needed.Dan Morris — who owns the tour company Alaskan Footprints with his brother Chris Morris — guides a small tour group to their last stop, Tent City Taphouse, in downtown Anchorage on Friday. An afternoon food tour features Alaska fare whenever possible, with stops at several downtown eateries, including Tent City Taphouse and the gelato shop Gelatte. The Morrises have lined up deals with the eateries, so the drinks and food are part of the tour price.Dan said he and his younger brother, originally from Wasilla, gave up office jobs to start the tours. They highlight Alaska stories, landmarks and people.Benjamin Ormsby said he took over the business at 11901 Industry Way, Building A, No. 1, in July 2020, shortly after the pandemic began. Shutdowns for indoor service soon hurt business too much and he and his partner didn’t receive the pandemic assistance that kept many businesses afloat, he said.
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