Dining and Drinking

Jasper is well known as an international resort destination offering cuisine from around the globe. The boisterous ski town serves legions of thirsty skiers with ferocious appetites for food and drink. The town is relatively quiet during the daylight hours, which gives food connoisseurs the opportunity to sample Jasper's finest fare in peace. Things get busier when the ski lifts close for the night and the bars open their doors. Most of the independent restaurants can be found on Patricia Street or Connaught Drive in the heart of downtown.

Any self-respecting Alberta restaurant has steak on its menu. Albertans are very proud of their beef and manage to integrate it into almost every meal and dish. While steak is the backbone of most menus, you can usually find some more exotic dishes. Buffalo,
caribou and elk are often featured and provide a flavourful alternative to beefsteak. Other common entrees include British Columbian salmon, halibut and shrimp, along with locally raised duck and goose. There is no roast hound at the The De'd Dog Bar & Grill, but you will find a cozy local hangout that is always open, with some of the fastest service in town.

Jasper has managed to keep almost all of the large chain fast-food restaurants out of town, so the selection of greasy burgers and fries is quite limited. On the plus side, there is a constantly-changing assortment of small restaurants which, for a dollar or two more, will serve you all your favourite short-order foods with far superior ingredients. There are no “greasy spoon” diners in town either; wherever you go, you can be assured of a fine dining experience.

If your tastes are a little more international, most restaurant genres are well represented. Superb Greek food can be found at the Kontos on Patricia Street, and fans of Italian will get their pizza and pasta fix from Michenellis. If you just can’t be kept away from your e-mail responsibilities for a few days, there are several Internet cafes, including the Soft Rock Internet Cafe and The Tuning Point. If a steaming bowl of noodles and prawns is more your style, the Denjiro Japanese Restaurant lends a zesty Eastern spice to the mountain air. For those with a persistent sweet tooth, The Fudgery churns out great vats of sweet, sticky delight on Caunnaght Drive, near the railway tracks.

One advantage to being such a small town is that everything is very close together, and all of the bars are within walking distance of the downtown hotels. This rules out the need for a taxi ride after a night of celebration. The Jasper nightlife is not as consistent as that in Banff, and some nights the bars are virtually deserted. On other nights, particularly after a unusually large snowfall at the Marmot Basin Ski Area, it is tough to find room in any of the more popular establishments. The D’ed Dog Cafe, Atha-B Tavern and Peter’s Place are the three most boisterous nightclubs; they keep many an exhausted skier on their feet and dancing long into the morning hours. For a more relaxed lounge atmosphere, the Whistle Stop Pub, conveniently located on the main floor of the Whistle Stop Inn on Main Street has all the dark oaken decor and even darker Irish beer you can handle. This pub is frequently visited by film crews and extreme skiers, and it is not unusual to see world-class daredevils pounding back ale after spending a long day defying death on the slopes.

There are very few martini lounges and other more refined drinking establishments in Jasper. If you are in the mood for a relaxed evening, most hotels have guests-only lounges, which serve vintage wines and scotches and occasionally, micro-brewed beers.

While drinking in Jasper, it is a good idea to get to know a few of the locals. Every bar or lounge in town has a particular night of the week when you can expect to find more action than any other. Ask around at the ski shops or in the cafes to find out the most recent scoop on the nightlife. The locals are quite proud of the rough and ready nature of their town and quickly convert many tourists. Enjoy your stay, but mind the local wildlife!

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