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48 Hours in Billings
March 06, 2009
 Uncovering Montana's most metro-hip town
Oven roasted mussels with garlic dipping butter
Entre: Pan roasted beef tenderloin
Goat cheese panna cotta, olive tapenade and herb flatbread
By DAVE REESE
Editor/Montana Living
It„s time to get out of town.
Tickets in hand we„re ready to take a short, 35-minute flight from Missoula to Billings and see what the town has to offer.
After a delicious lunch at Blue Canyon restaurant the Missoula Hilton, we board Big Sky airlines (tip: bring ear plugs). Flying over the Rocky Mountains between Missoula and Billings, a strong tailwind kicks us eastward.
We fly over patchwork quilts of forests and deep canyons, then out across the Montana prairie where the depth and drama of the mountains gives way to a sprawling brown tableau of wheat fields and buttes. Oil derricks, the tallest trees in this part of the state, dot the landscape, as oil prices rise and the once-dormant derricks return to life.
We approach Billings„ Logan International Airport just over the rimrock cliffs that surround Billings, Montana„s largest city. We left spring weather and snow in western Montana, and arriving in Billings a refreshing, warm, spring wind greets us on the tarmac. The lights of the city twinkle below as if beckoning us down to sample the city„s delights.
And we do.
Once a bastion of cattle ranching, wheat farming, oil drilling and coal mining, Billings is giving over to a metropolitan feel. While pickup trucks and men in cowboy hats still dominate the populace, there„s an urban feel that„s seeping into the city, with many Montanans returning home to set up businesses or retire. They„re bringing a big city feel with them, too.
Allison O„Donnell owns the Toucan Gallery on Montana Avenue, the town„s hip strip. Her shop is one of several modern art galleries and restaurants that line Montana Avenue, an artery just a few blocks from downtown Billings.
"Billings isn„t as western as some Montana towns,ï O„Donnell says. "We„ve always had contemporary art, and people appreciate that.ï
After checking in to our hotel, we make our first stop at Q, a metro-style bar and fine dining establishment that anchors Montana Avenue.
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Tamara Kraft is one of the top notch servers at Walkers Grille in downtown Billings. Photo by Dave Reese>
The rumble of railroad trains pierces the city night as we step into Q, whose modern design and architecture remind us of something in Seattle or Los Angeles.
Couples and city workers just finishing their work week stream steadily into Q on this Friday night. Cosmopolitans seem in order, so we order up a round and an appetizer before heading to dinner down the street. Jumbo shrimp, butterflied and flattened then tossed in coconut and fried, help stave off our hunger pangs.
Stepping out into the warm spring night, we walk the short distance to Walkers American Grille and Tapas Bar just as a happening Friday night crowd is already being assembled. The eclectic mix of patrons includes executives from nearby coal mines, women on a girls„ night out, a cowboy or two, and a mix of the older generation the people on whose backs Billings was developed. You„re as likely to be sitting next to a banker as you are a soccer mom or rancher.
With renewed vigor in the energy industries (coal, oil and oil refineries), there„s new money coming back into town. Add to that a vibrant health-care community and solid roots in agriculture and you„ve got a town on the move. Tamara Kraft is one of the young people who has returned to Billings to find a hometown much different than the one she left. "There„s more to do,ï says Kraft, a server at Walkers. "I see a lot of people going away but coming back. Because there„s more to come back to.ï
Sashimi grade tuna tartare with sesame vinaigrette is a delightful starter to your meal at Walker's Grille in Billings. Photo by Dave Reese
THE OPEN kitchen sits next to the long, dark-wood bar, adding to the melange of sounds at Walkers. Chef Marlo Hix is busy overseeing the line cooks in the kitchen. Here she has established a menu that is entirely contemporary and one that is being well received in Billings.
Walkers has a modern flair with a touch of western, with gigantic Gordon McConnell paintings framing the walls. Leather trim and barbed-wire chandeliers adorn the adjacent bar, adding to the chic ambiance.
Sitting at the bar we start our night with spaetzle, German for "little bird,ï and this delicacy is certainly fine.
Similar to pasta, spaetzle is made by grating or scraping dough into boiling water and continuously sieving out the batches that are cooked. Walkers„ version of the fried noodles was tossed with shiitake mushrooms, granny smith apples, braised greens, and toasted pecans with brown butter.
Moving into the dining room, we set about to some serious fine dining.
We begin with a sashimi grade tuna tartare with sesame vinaigrette, paired with a Mumm Cuve sparking wine from Napa Valley. It„s a delightful starter to our meal. Hence we move to oven-roasted mussels with garlic dipping butter. We pair this, successfully, with a 2000 Kris Pinot Grigio from Venizie, Italy, and are delighted.
Our server arrives with the soup of the day, an elk and white bean dish in a beef stock reduction. The cumin finish of the soup goes well with our 2005 Alamos Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina.
Sated and prepared for our final draw, we move to pan-roasted duck breast. It„s served with apple bread pudding, sauted winter greens and apple cider jus. We find the 2005 Casillero del Diablo Carmenere, from Chil, a fine compliment to the rare duck breast.
Chef Marlo Hix prepared a classic crme brule as the perfect exclamation mark to a perfect meal at Walkers.
Later that night, a deejay is pumping out beats to a hiphop crowd back at Q. The clientele is a bit too hiphop for us Ëfortysomethings,„ so we pass.
As we walk on into the night, the beats stream out onto Montana Avenue.
I think back on the Billings of old, where it was country music thumping out of old beaten up pickup trucks on Jensen Triaxials.
And this is not that town.
In fact, I think I like the new one better.
Art Beyond the Palette, the restaurant in the Yellowstone Art Museum in downtown Billings offers fine bistro fare. Photo by Dave Reese
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