For more than half a century, the camaraderie built among guests and staff continues to be enhanced by food that nourishes, delights the eye, and pleases the palate.
We plate and serve breakfast and dinner in the dining room, arranging the tables for family-style seating. One entrée is featured at each meal. There are always vegetarian options at breakfast and a vegetarian entrée each night at dinner.
The breakfast bell rings at 7:30 a.m. Your hosts and a few naturalist guides join you for the meal. A breakfast bar with house made granola, whole grain hot cereal, homemade yogurt, and a selection of cold cereals is available each morning. The hot breakfast entrée, plated and served from the kitchen, may include sourdough pancakes with fresh-from-the-tundra lingonberry sauce, or an egg soufflé made with greenhouse herbs and cheddar cheese served with a vegetable-potato hash and croissants made by one of our bakers.
Following breakfast, we set out a full spread of sandwich makings, including lunch bread from our bakery, sandwich spreads, roasted vegetables, and sliced meat roasted in-house. Fill the remainder of your lunch sack with fresh fruit, carrot sticks, homemade trail mix, and fresh cookies. Whether on a naturalist-guided hike or canoeing with your family across Wonder Lake, there is no need to return to the lodge, as you have lunch along wherever the day should take you.
After your day in the park, a three-course dinner is served at 6:30 p.m. Camaraderie and recounting of the day’s events enhance the fine cuisine at the evening meal. A first course of either soup or salad, such as Alaska crab bisque, or an Alaska roasted beet and goat cheese salad featuring lettuces from our greenhouse, begins the meal. Fresh-baked bread accompanies the starter. The main entrée of meat or fish follows, with sides cooked by the dinner chef and inspired by items locally grown or harvested. Some past summer favorites have included slowly braised beef short ribs, barbecued Alaskan salmon, or stuffed pork tenderloin. A balanced vegetarian dish is always an option. To complete the meal, we offer another taste of our baker’s handiwork—perhaps a dessert made with tundra blueberries, hand-cranked ice cream, or a triple chocolate cake.
Camp Denali does not sell alcohol or soft drinks, but you are welcome to bring your own to enjoy before, after, and during meals. We do provide wine glasses, corkscrews and bottle openers.
Camp Denali is far from lines of supply. We do our best to meet dietary requirements that are directly related to a serious health issue or food allergy. When notified in advance, we are able to accommodate gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and vegan diets as well as most food allergies.