Alaska's answer to good food: Blackened halibut pizza.
In a word: delicious.

Friends, you’ll all be happy to hear that I survived my trip up North—no bear attacks (or even bear sightings) to report. Moose, bald eagles, reindeer sausage (good, but does not taste like chicken) and lots of dramatic vistas, but nary a Grizzly in sight. No giant vegetables, either. I conducted a heroic search for a farmer in Homer, Alaska, who might be able to supply us with tender fresh lettuces, but learned that it’s a bit too—wait for it—EARLY for lettuce. As in, too cold. With snow falling oftentimes in September, I was thinking, when will it be lettuce season, if not July? We’ve got it good, that’s all I’m saying.

Yup, rolling into town on Wednesday night, I reveled in the dining options in our fair city. Biryani for dinner, or Vietnamese beef salad, or maybe a big huge salad? Easy to come by. What’s more, in the week I was away, it seems that ten new restaurants have opened here. Mexico DF is serving up carnitas by the pound on Steuart Street, Sudachi is offering jazz and sushi on Polk. In Glen Park, Le P’tit Laurent  has opened at long last (on the corner of Diamond and Chenery, with a menu featuring some French bistro classics, including steak frites and frisée salad with poached egg and bacon lardons), and it seems we’re days away from another spot in Bernal Heights (Tinderbox).

OK, so maybe we don’t have everything. One specialty of Anchorage, Alaska, is the pizza from the Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria, topped with blackened local halibut, red onions, roma tomatoes, spicy sour cream, parsley and mozzarella. My friend Stacy, visiting Anchorage from Brooklyn, said aptly, “I’m from New York. I won’t like Alaskan pizza.” But you know what? She did. It was delicious.