Gourmet Glamping Getaway
If you’re looking for a romantic foodie getaway that mixes the great outdoors and cuisine from Top Chefs, pack your cowboy boots and head to Montana.
The Resort at Paws Up
You’ll Be
(pawsup.com) is located 45
Not-so-
minutes from the Missoula
Roughing It
roughing it surrounded by western chic décor, wifi, ensuite bathrooms, and comfy beds. There are heated blankets to keep you toasty warm on cool Montana mornings. Each camp has a butler on hand to provide personal service… and help you up your S’mores making game.
International Airport.
Surrounded
Top Chef Grits Happy Glampers From May through October, it’s all about glamping in
Top Chef alumus Dale Levitski (of Chicago’s Sprout and Frog N Snail restaurants) is currently the resort’s one of the luxury safari-
Bathrooms,
Resident Guest Chef. He serves style tents. You’ll be not-so-
And Comfy
refined yet rustic cuisine at Pomp
Beds.
Restaurant, showcasing local flavors like elk, trout and quail.
During my visit, chef Dale Levitski held a Secret Dining Society farm-to-table dinner celebrating the best fruits, vegetables, and flowers from the local Farmers Market. All the produce was grown within 50 miles of Missoula.
Culinary highlights of the evening included Big Sky Pie made with leek, cheddar and truffle served with cauliflower crème fraiche and Montana mystery pear. The Dry Aged Picnic — rib eye served with huckleberry barbeque sauce and rainbow chard — paired exceptionally well with the bold 2005 Joseph Phelps Insignia Cabernet Sauvignon.
Paws Up features several foodie events throughout the year. This Columbus Day weekend, there’s a sophisticated pie camp called Upper Crust. Next May brings Master Grillers, a weekend dedicated to deliciousness cooked on a open flame. In June and July, the Montana Long Table event celebrates the finest regional flavors. Master Chefs, a food and wine festival featuring several former Top Chef contestants, happens in September.
Rustle Up An Appetite There are a lot of activities to choose from at Paws Up, but the Cattle Drive should not be missed. It is so much fun exploring the resort’s 37,000 acres on horseback and learning how to move a herd of Corriente cows. The expert wranglers had me rocking cowgirl know-how by the time I headed ‘em into the sorting pen. If you prefer horsepower to horses, take an ATV tour to nearby Garnet Ghost Town.
Cowboy Poetry Slam at the Chuck Wagon Draft horses Pete and repete pull a wagon full of guests to the banks of the Blackfoot River, where the Chuck Wagon Dinner takes place. I dined on western staples like tri-tip, grilled corn, and huckleberry cobbler and washed it down with Moose Drool Brown Ale. Cowboy poets provide the evening’s entertainment under Montana’s Big Sky.
Clink Glasses at Tank Tank is the on-site watering hole. Allen, the resident bartender, mixes a mean margarita (he’s got a specialty menu of five). The Huckleberry Lemon Drop martini and House Made Artisan Sodas also won rave reviews.
Western Winter Wonderland From December through January, book one of the cozy vacation homes and take part in winter activities like dog sledding and snowmobiling. Draft horses Pete and repete get decked out in Santa hats and are on hand to give sleigh rides.
