Rose's Cafe - Healy, Alaska

Rose’s Diner, Healy Alaska
Milepost 249.5 Parks Highway, Healy, Alaska
(907)683-7673
August 2010

Healy is located about midway on the highway from Anchorage to Fairbanks. It is just north of the entrance to Denali National Park. Summertime activities connected to the park, as well as hunting and fishing, provide some work for the locals. However the main employer would seem to be the Usibelli Coal Mine, a dig that averages about 1 and 1/2 million tons of coal a year. Healy also provides several motels for the Denali overflow crowd and the traveler weary from the long winter drive from Anchorage to Fairbanks. It is an isolated haven in the wilds of the permafrost arctic taiga.
If you are going to stay overnight, as we were, you just might want a bite to eat. One of the motels has its own coffee shop restaurant and then there is Rose’s Café. (http://www.rosescafealaska.com/) Being about the only gathering venue in town, it seems to be the de facto gathering place for the local, well-behaved youth as well as many seniors seeking a meal. A busy parking lot is always a good sign even if all the other choices are limited.
While we were there it was very busy, not full as you could just about always find an empty table, but a constant turnover making for lively greeting and chatter. It wasn’t raucous but table side conversation was a little bit strained. Then menu offers a wide selection of breakfast and lunch items including their own extravaganza dish, the 1 pound grizzly burger ($15.50). If you eat the entire meal (including the egg and ham slice topping as well as the side of fries or potato salad) you get your picture on the Grizzly Wall. One person completed a five pound Grizzly Burger (five one-pound patties stacked) and is the reigning 5-Pound Grizzly King.
It was late morning and Dick was hungry for traditional breakfast fare. He chose the pork chops and two eggs combination, served with a choice of potatoes (cottage fries) and toast, $14.25. I looked momentarily at the Grizzly Burger, not so much to finish it then but to have a doggie bag full of hamburger and fries for a late night snack. Discretion intervened and I chose the regular cheeseburger ($9.50) and selected the fries from a choice of French fries or potato salad.
About now you have noted the prices are a bit high. Please realize that this is Alaska and Healy is a long 200 mile one-way run for supplies. Not too bad in the summer with the long and mild days but a real dog in the short, cold, snowy, windy and icy days winters. If you ever travel to Alaska, and you really should, you will notice how quickly the prices rise the farther away from Anchorage or Fairbanks you get, which makes Rose’s prices fairly reasonable.
Dick’s breakfast was a platter full of three pork chops, a large serving of cottage fries, two eggs to order and two slices of toast. That is another thing you will learn about Alaska. Where the working man eats the servings are large just because it takes a lot of calories just to stay warm in the cold of winter let alone do any work. The chops were nicely browned, were moist although a bit on the tough side. It was a large serving of meat. The fries were also nicely browned and well seasoned. The eggs were to order, over medium and the yolks intact. The toast was cooked just right. Dick gave it the thumbs up and was certainly full when he finished the meal.
My hamburger was a large hamburger, a large patty served on a large Whopper-sized bun. I estimate it was a full 1/3 pound if not ½ pound. The lettuce and tomato were fresh, a noteworthy achievement considering where we were. The fries were the natural style with bits of the skin still on. There were hot when served, a bit crispy but not oily or greasy. I did finish this burger but I was glad in retrospect that I did not order the Grizzly Burger, at least twice as large as the one I could just manage easily.
There seemed to be a missing person in the staff and the one waitress in the dining room was literally running to keep up with the orders. It seemed to be a bit of a wait before our meals were served but it wasn’t because anyone was sitting around; everyone was very busy. There was a momentary flub when the meals arrive and a mix up of which meal went to which table. Quickly resolved, it was the only minor jinx in the entirety of the meal. We were both happy with what we got, enjoyed the meal and left full, sated, ready to face the rest of the day.
This was my first visit to Rose’s. I will certainly feel confident to stop by again when I am acting the tour guide to the wonders of Alaska.