Far East meets Wild West in Fort Benton: Kimonos & cowboys
Grand Union event puts spotlight on Asian cooking, art
By POLLY KOLSTAD For the Tribune
The Wild West and the Far East merge this weekend at the historic Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton, and the results promise to be quite tasty.
The Grand Union’s Kimonos to Cowboys event showcases Asian art, Western and Far East cooking classes and the culinary creations of guest chef Barry Shinto, who comes to Fort Benton from the Cliff House restaurant in San Francisco.
Shinto teams up with Grand Union chef Nick Mehmke for Far East and Wild West menu tastings on Saturday and Sunday evenings and a Sunday morning brunch.
The tasting menu includes shrimp and crab pot stickers, boar satay, crispy duck breast and confit leg, ginger pork loin and roasted pheasant. Entrees range from $19 to $32.
Saturday’s tasting begins at 5 p.m. Lewistown’s Silver River band will play afterward. Sunday’s event begins at 5:30 p.m.
Costumes from the Far East and the Wild West are encouraged both nights, and reduced room rates are being offered.
Sunday’s brunch, which runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., features five-spice French toast, shitake mushroom omelet, sourdough ricotta pancakes and pan-roasted trout. Prices range from $19 to $24. Reservations are recommended.
Shinto is a graduate of the Los Angeles Trade Technical Culinary Arts Program and has worked with Wolfgang Puck at Chinois Restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif., owned the Piranha Restaurant in Santa Barbara, and currently is working at the Cliff House in San Francisco. He will focus on Asian cuisine, primarily Japanese, Thai and Chinese.
He will lead a cooking class on Asian appetizers at noon on Monday. The class costs $70, and according to organizers, it’s filling up fast. At the end of the class, participants will sample what they’ve prepared.
A shuttle will take class members to the Riverview Green House for an Asian flower arrangement lesson.
Mehmke will offer his cooking class at noon on Tuesday, helping participants to create a four-course Montana meal with a French twist. The class costs $100 and also is filling fast. Students get to chow down after the class.
Asian art on display The Grand Union will offer a feast for the eyes as well this weekend. Inspired by the beautiful art she has seen during her travels to Asia, Grand Union Hotel owner Cheryl Gagnon will feature Montana’s Asian artists and those who create Asian art. Gagnon’s husband, Jim, works in Hong Kong.
Gagnon discovered Chiyoko Lewis, a Japanese artist who has mastered “Chigiri,” the Japanese art of making pictures from torn pieces of paper. Lewis lives in Livingston with her husband, country musician Jimmy Lewis. They met in Kumamoto, Japan, when he played a concert there with Rob Quist. Lewis’s life has been featured in the documentary “Someday Flowers Bloom.”
Jewelry designer Toni Patrizio will show her line of jewelry, combining jade, coral, turquoise and Asian artifacts with a New Age contemporary twist. Patrizio has designed for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and numerous boutiques worldwide.
The interior of the hotel will be decorated with large paper kimonos done by local artist, Vickie Meguire.
Event: East meets West in Fort Benton this weekend. She created the stylized gowns after a month-long stay in Japan.
Chinese porcelain, Japanese watercolors, Japanese rice paper, and Western oils, watercolors, pottery and photography will be on display from Billings, Bozeman, Lewistown and Stanford artists.
The art will be on display all weekend with a special viewing on Sunday from noon to 5 at the hotel with Asian tea and cowboy coffee.
Fort Benton and the Far East Fort Benton’s long history has several ties to the Far East.
The Asian presence in Fort Benton flourished in the 1870s and 1880s when the river town featured several Asian restaurants. Some of the town’s earliest Chinese residents clustered on Main Street, the site of a laundry for many years. A silk and tea merchant named Frank Lee Hung made his home there.
Japanese-American Tommy Masumoto came to the U.S. in 1900 and built the Club Cafe in Fort Benton. Later, he moved to Great Falls to open the popular Club Cafeteria.
For a complete schedule of Kimonos to Cowboys events and for reservations, call the Grand Union Hotel 406-622-1882
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Flathead River cruise filled with fun, information
Flathead River cruise filled with fun, information
by Polly Kolstad
Nineteen of us piled into the Labatt Blue Heron, a comfortable pontoon vessel docked at Eagle Bend Marina on the north end of Flathead Lake. Music rose from the boat’s speakers as we began our 25-mile journey along the Flathead River, which twists and turns like taffy.
As we floated along the pristine waters, historian Fred Laroque shared the history of the area.
Thousands of years ago a glacier carved out the area that is now Flathead Lake. Much later, the Salish, Kootenai and Pondera Indians moved to the west shore of the lake. Jesuit fathers and French Canadian fur trappers eventually settled in the area and white encampments soon followed, occupying this fertile valley.
Logging ensued, propelled by “really tough guys wearing hobnail boots,” Laroque said. These men were known as “river pigs” as they maneuvered timbers across the lake.
Early freight shipments were hauled by wagons and by boats, which found their way up the Flathead River to settlements such as Lees Landing (Holt) and Demersville (Foys Bend).
A few miles up the river, in 60 feet of water, we came upon the remnants of an old pier still nodding in the boatdriven waves. This was where the ferry boat, Helena, once docked.
Nearby, sat what’s left of the general store at Holt. Across the way, a decaying roof still holds up parts of the dance hall.
And not too far from there you’ll find Kehoe’s Agate Shop, owned by a family that has helped document the history of the area.
As we meandered along the calm emerald waters, Mother Nature served up a treat. To the left, blue heron nests loomed high in the branches of riverside trees. The rookery boasts 12 nests, and a few of the birds hovered restlessly.
Now and then, a quizzical doe and fawn appeared in the fields. On the shoreline were small farms and lovely homes.
Finally, projecting out from the muddy shore, we spotted the spindly spires of a sunken dock, the remains of the boom-and-bust town of Demersville.
The story goes that Jack Demers, a French businessman, established a trading post here in 1887 that became a flourishing port. Demersville was the terminus of the freight boats that traveled the Flathead River.
From 1887 to 1891, the town grew, anticipating the arrival of the railroad. Downtown Demersville boasted the Cliff House Hotel, lake steamboats, a military post and lots of people.
Charles E. Conrad, owner of the Kalispell townsite, plotted a new community just three miles north of Demersville. In 1890, the railroad chose Kalispell thanks in part, many believe, to Conrad’s wealth and political influence.
When this decision was made, the buildings of Demersville were literally picked and moved to Kalispell, leaving only an old pier.
We disembarked and climbed the riverbank to see the Demersville cemetery, near U.S. Highway 93.
Turning around, we launched down river, our focus turning to art as we cruised up Rose Creek to artist Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey’s home, studio and gallery. Nancy and her husband, Steve, graciously waved us into their dock and warmly welcomed us.
Nancy led us to her studio where she demonstrated painting on silk with dyes. With her brilliant use of the brush, Nancy brought horses, foxes and flowers to life.
Hailing the discoveries of the day, we sailed back to the marina.
by Polly Kolstad
Nineteen of us piled into the Labatt Blue Heron, a comfortable pontoon vessel docked at Eagle Bend Marina on the north end of Flathead Lake. Music rose from the boat’s speakers as we began our 25-mile journey along the Flathead River, which twists and turns like taffy.
As we floated along the pristine waters, historian Fred Laroque shared the history of the area.
Thousands of years ago a glacier carved out the area that is now Flathead Lake. Much later, the Salish, Kootenai and Pondera Indians moved to the west shore of the lake. Jesuit fathers and French Canadian fur trappers eventually settled in the area and white encampments soon followed, occupying this fertile valley.
Logging ensued, propelled by “really tough guys wearing hobnail boots,” Laroque said. These men were known as “river pigs” as they maneuvered timbers across the lake.
Early freight shipments were hauled by wagons and by boats, which found their way up the Flathead River to settlements such as Lees Landing (Holt) and Demersville (Foys Bend).
A few miles up the river, in 60 feet of water, we came upon the remnants of an old pier still nodding in the boatdriven waves. This was where the ferry boat, Helena, once docked.
Nearby, sat what’s left of the general store at Holt. Across the way, a decaying roof still holds up parts of the dance hall.
And not too far from there you’ll find Kehoe’s Agate Shop, owned by a family that has helped document the history of the area.
As we meandered along the calm emerald waters, Mother Nature served up a treat. To the left, blue heron nests loomed high in the branches of riverside trees. The rookery boasts 12 nests, and a few of the birds hovered restlessly.
Now and then, a quizzical doe and fawn appeared in the fields. On the shoreline were small farms and lovely homes.
Finally, projecting out from the muddy shore, we spotted the spindly spires of a sunken dock, the remains of the boom-and-bust town of Demersville.
The story goes that Jack Demers, a French businessman, established a trading post here in 1887 that became a flourishing port. Demersville was the terminus of the freight boats that traveled the Flathead River.
From 1887 to 1891, the town grew, anticipating the arrival of the railroad. Downtown Demersville boasted the Cliff House Hotel, lake steamboats, a military post and lots of people.
Charles E. Conrad, owner of the Kalispell townsite, plotted a new community just three miles north of Demersville. In 1890, the railroad chose Kalispell thanks in part, many believe, to Conrad’s wealth and political influence.
When this decision was made, the buildings of Demersville were literally picked and moved to Kalispell, leaving only an old pier.
We disembarked and climbed the riverbank to see the Demersville cemetery, near U.S. Highway 93.
Turning around, we launched down river, our focus turning to art as we cruised up Rose Creek to artist Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey’s home, studio and gallery. Nancy and her husband, Steve, graciously waved us into their dock and warmly welcomed us.
Nancy led us to her studio where she demonstrated painting on silk with dyes. With her brilliant use of the brush, Nancy brought horses, foxes and flowers to life.
Hailing the discoveries of the day, we sailed back to the marina.
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