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(snip) I've had good luck getting a decent steak at Sizzler here in CA. Are there restaurants that serve bison, elk and so forth? I've never tried either but have heard they're both very good (I suppose it's all in the prep).
The Sizzler chain packed it in some years ago in this region. IIRC, it was around the late 1990's; they were long very forgettable in the dining scene. The closest you'll find them to WY now is in Utah.
Bison becoming more common in some of the upscale restaurants as the supply has greatly increased in the last few years. Generally pricey compared to beef, but some folk prefer it and will seek it out. A different flavor than beef, but not to the extreme of needing to be an "acquired" taste.
Elk can be found in a few restaurants that feature game animals from time to time on their menu's. The closest big game to beef for flavor. Usually this is farm raised Elk rather than the wild game animals, so the flavor in a restaurant may not be what your hunting neighbor has in his freezer.
You'll also find game birds from time to time on some restaurant menu's. Farm raised for commercial production, not wild game. Most commonly pheasant.
Rocky Mtn Oysters are the parts from when they turn bulls into steers. Not something that I'd order when dining out, but there are folk who apparently like this item. Typically battered and deep fat fried, which is a food prep that I try to avoid as much as possible. As HiWY points out, most places serving these buy frozen prepared IQF and fry them up for their portions. The Buckhorn Exchange in Denver is a well-known place for the foods of "the old West" with game animals on their menu. As well, you might try The Fort, overlooking Denver and Sam Arnold's re-creation of a stockade fort of years ago; a generally decent restaurant but it's up there in the price ranges and I've had a few meals there that were spectacular ... and some that kinda' disappointed.
Steakhouses in the region ... Svilar's in Hudson is a well known stop. Famous for having been on Duncan Hines' list of great dining places across the USA. I've had some great meals there, and some "average" meals there through the years. Worth trying, IMO, and know that it's getting a little long in the tooth for decor these days.
On other threads, folks have posted their experiences with some WY restaurants ... our tastes may differ and I've found, much to my dismay, that some of their popular restaurants fit into the commercial/industrial food purveyor group. You'll have to let your culinary expectations and pocketbook guide you through this maze in WY. Understand that the small population base here doesn't support a lot of quality restaurants ... for example, we had a Northern Italian chef of excellent credentials open a place up in Jackson some years ago to cater to the high end clientele there. The place went broke in short order, he didn't have enough business in the tourist season to survive the rest of the year. He relocated to Dubois WY to a smaller but very comfortably cozy place (with much less overhead but still the same seasonable traffic limitations) and served some of the finest italian food that I'd ever experienced (and I had a couple years in my consulting biz where I was wined and dined at "the best" places in NYC by knowledgeable 1st generation Italians here in the USA. We went to authentic places rather than "tourist" places, where food was paramount over price. Some were surprisingly inexpensive by NYC standards, but you were pleasantly transported back to their native Italy and family restaurants there.). He lasted about a year in Dubois before packing it in; same problem, not enough traffic/sales volume to support the price points that he needed to survive. Comparable, perhaps better than the food at places like My Three Sons in Denver.
Denver dining has seen a lot of turnover of the old stand-by "bests" in town with the recent retirements of some of the best after years of excellent consistent food. But there are some top name steakhouses there which do very well at the top end of the game. Consider, too, places like Keys on the Green in Evergreen. Good food, reasonable prices. Almost as good a steak as Peter Luger's in NYC and without the sass and intimidating neighborhood ... and more conveniently located and less expensive. Then there's places like Morton's in Denver; top dollar, but very consistent product and service at the top rungs of a steakhouse. You'd do best to make reservations at these high end places. (and avoid places like Stuart Anderson's Black Angus ... bluck, we're back to factory food).
OTOH, there's utility steakhouses in Denver such as Pete's. Short on atmosphere and styled as a low cost no-frills joint to eat, these places can present a very good value. A reasonable steak, reasonable prices, reasonable side dishes, and no pretentions. If you're just seeking a decent steak meal without any of the frills of a special dining out meal, these can be the place ... but know in advance that these aren't going to match the beef at the top dollar places. There was also a dining niche filled for awhile by the Golden Steer or Cork 'n Cleaver and similar outlets, but they seem to have all folded in the last few years in the face of comparable price points by the chains such as Outback. Denver's dining scene loss, these places served much better food than the chains/franchise establishments. It's all about making money ....
...Rocky Mtn Oysters are the parts from when they turn bulls into steers. Not something that I'd order when dining out, but there are folk who apparently like this item....
I spent 6 months in Mitchell, SD on a consulting job several years ago and one night joined some of the staff at a bar that served free Rocky Mountain Oysters during happy hour. One of the guys in our group was from Chicago but was dating our office manager so joined us at the bar.
He was going nuts (that wasn't on purpose) over the Rocky Mountain Oysters, eating all of them that were served to our table and asking for more. Finally his girlfriend leaned over and whispered in his ear what they were. I swear, he turned green! He left the table for the bathroom, which I later learned was so he could upchuck, finally came back and was angry with his gf and the rest of us for not explaining what RM Oysters were. I figured he knew. He was my age, mid 40s at the time, college educated and had lived in South Dakota for a few years. :roll eyes:
His girlfriend (later wife, later ex-wife) is on my Facebook list. I reminded her of that a few months ago. She still remembered it well.
I'm afraid that I will likely graciously decline such a delicacy
You must really run from hot dogs. They not only contain testicles, but penises, lips, noses, and everything else except the oink or moo.
You may find yourself to be the butt of a few jokes when you move here. People do have fun with obvious city slickers.
I have never understood why people eat steaks in restaurants; they can do as well at home. I eat food in restaurants that I either can't cook or it would be impractical to do so.
So what is the status of your job search and move? One thing great about Cheyenne is the close proximity to Denver! Unless it snows, which is all the time. I lived in Denver and enjoyed it. Your kids would love to ski. Hope all goes well.
My family escaped SoCal back in Feb. As I was stationed at Edwards AFB in the Mojave desert, I will say the winds here that people warn about are no big deal. Since I have been here, the highest I have seen was gusting 37 which is the standard in the Mojave Desert. Everyone says the winters are bad for winds but Cali has Santa Anna season too.
As far as your price point for homes go, don't expect much. We had to step up to $340k to get what we wanted which is just a decently finished home 3k sqft single family home on a 9300sqft lot (newer build). We also did not get our first or second house as they were lost in bidding wars. Essentially, asking price is the price you will pay, if not more. Feel free to check out the schools on your own as the Elementary schools in the south are not rated very well. Of course, the south part of Cheyenne is the less economically established part of town.
We moved here as I retired from the Air Force. My wife, a Cali native and pure "Valley Girl", had a hard time getting hired. It was not due to a lack of her skillset or references, but rather because Wyomingites don't share a particular fondness for Liberals. She is not a Liberal but being from Cali automatically made her one. I don't blame them as I despise Liberals as well hence I chose to retire in the most Right Wing state in the nation. This is just my warning to you that you should leave Cali talk and associations in Cali. We dropped our CA plates from our vehicles the day after we closed on our home.
LOL ... yup, 7 months here and he's an expert, seen it all ...
"My family escaped SoCal back in Feb. As I was stationed at Edwards AFB in the Mojave desert, I will say the winds here that people warn about are no big deal. Since I have been here, the highest I have seen was gusting 37 which is the standard in the Mojave Desert. Everyone says the winters are bad for winds but Cali has Santa Anna season too."
Sir, the winter months are ahead, which historically bring the high winds of the region that we post about here.
Please, take a look at the NOAA Wind Energy Density Charts for the region. The Mojave desert doesn't come close to what is typical here in Cheyenne. https://www.google.com/search?q=wind...D28U1oXSA4M%3A is the NREL chart a bit higher off the ground, and there are many other charts which depict the average wind energy densities close to the ground, such as would be useful for determining sites for wind generators.
As well, I've flown (via my C182) the Wyoming area, Rocky Mountain Region, and headed to CA for decades. One gets very acclimated to the realities of winds across the region via aviation weather and flight planning ... particularly for those of us who generally fly only 1,500'-2,000' AGL to minimze the impact of adverse winds on our ground speed. I've had more than a few trips where the cars below me on the highways were passing me when I was traveling 150 mph cruise speed as I traveled across WY. Conversely, of course, when the wind was a tailwind, I could routinely see well over 200 mph over the ground. One of my hangar neighbors runs an AG Spray biz in this area, and he's been stymied for days this year with winds in excess of 50 mph, far in excess of the calm that he needs to be able to aerial spray. Other than one day of small twisters hitting the ground in the area of Barstow when I landed near there (to deliver fish from a fishing trip to Seattle), I've never encountered such adverse ground level winds in CA as I have in the Rocky Mountain region ... and that includes Santa Ana winds (of which I'm more than familiar, having grown up in Point Loma and spent many years since heading back to my old YC's to race sailboats for 50 years now after leaving the area).
I've seen 65+ mph gusts come through our ranch this year, and in the winter months earlier this year ... 100 mph gusts. There's a reason why the local building code specifies 110 mph roof wind loads here in the Cheyenne area.
Welcome to Wyoming.
PS: Cheyenne airport reported 34 mph gusts this last week, and this is still the "calm" season of the year. "Peak Gust" of 37 mph, indeed ... are not the stuff of the WYDOT "high wind warnings" when high profile vehicles are advised to not travel the highways of this area which can be frequently issued during those months of such weather activity.
Loadtoad, may I humbly suggest that you spend a winter or two here before making generalizations about Wyoming weather during seasons which you apparently have yet to actually experience?
I saw numerous structure and buildings damage this last winter due to the high winds/gusts which presented in the area, in addition to the usual numbers of cars/trucks blown off the road this last winter. I have neighbors whose winter business is accident/vehicle recovery ... semi-trailer load recovery/clean-ups from the trailers off the road, on call 24/7 and able to mobilize a sizable crew to hand unload/reload cargo loads. They were as busy as ever this last winter.
Last edited by sunsprit; 10-19-2015 at 11:20 AM..
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) over the Rocky Mountain Oysters, eating all of them that were served to our table and asking for more. Finally his girlfriend leaned over and whispered in his ear what they were. I swear, he turned green! He left the table for the bathroom, which I later learned was so he could upchuck, finally came back and was angry with his gf and the rest of us for not explaining what RM Oysters were. I figured he knew. He was my age, mid 40s at the time, college educated and had lived in South Dakota for a few years. :roll eyes: 
