So if you haven’t had the chance to leave the office or the ranch this summer, now is the time to make your plans to let Kathleen and her staff spoil you rotten with good food, good wine and a comfortable bed.

Our fall package includes:

♦Two nights of lodging for two
♦Gourmet dinner for two each evening with a bottle of wine personally selected by Chef Kate to compliment your meal. (Dinner includes one appetizer, two organic lodge salads, two entrees and one dessert.)
♦Gourmet breakfast for two each morning including French Roast Coffee and freshly baked scones.
Package Price $289 (gratuity not included)

Our autumn package is available September 7 – October 30, Wednesday to Sunday only.

Optional add-ons:  

Enjoy a two hour trail ride up the Swan Front to view the magnificent autumn colors. Two hour ride for two – $140

Experience the beauty of Swan River in all of its glorious fall foliage with a Guided River Float for two. Three hour float with brown bag lunch for two – $150

Bliss out with your own private in-room (or weather-permitting, lake-side) massage. One hour massage $75, two consecutive massages $140.

When Booking Your Autumn Escape: When making your secure on-line reservations, select your two nights and in the note field write: Autumn Special. Include in the notes any add-ons. Upon finishing your reservation, you will receive an automatic confirmation for rooms only…Kathleen will adjust your reservation with package details and pricing and resend a new confirmation.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Horse.

Put your taste for epicurean adventure (say that fast three times!) into our hands for an evening of beautiful food inspired by the great chefs of Singapore, Maui and Kauai, Hong Kong and even San Francisco. We’ll be featuring all natural meats, wild fish, organic cheeses, and, for the first time, organic greens and vegetables from the Horse’s garden! Each course will be matched with a wine selected by Rocky Mountain Wine Distributors.

Our Pacific Rim Menu

Ceviche of Prawns, Scallops and Lobster  -in passion fruit citrus over organic spicy micro greens and slivered green papaya

 Brie and Mango Quesadilla in Roasted Tomato Tortilla   -with cilantro macadamia nut pesto 

Roasted Maui Onion and Goat Cheese Salad  -organic Tyee spinach and fresh mandarin orange with Haixin basil vinaigrette

Grilled Natural Pork Tenderloin Medallion and Wild Mushroom Polenta  -marinade of Makers Mark and fresh pineapple juice with warm pineapple chutney

Chilled Sticky Black Rice Ball Infused with Ginger and Maui Honey  -with young coconut ice cream

Secured reservations are limited to 24 people. Dining room opens at 6:30pm, dinner begins at 7:00pm. $65 per person with wine, $39 without wine.

To make your reservations, call Chef Kate at 406-886-2080 or email laughinghorselodge@gmail.com.  Laughing Horse Lodge is ranked #1 on TripAdvisor.com.

This summer our popular Chef’s Tasting and Wine Dinners become Freefall Tuesdays, where you put your taste for adventure into the capable hands of Chef Kate and her creative kitchen staff.  Freefall is a five course tasting experience loosely inspired by a specific region of the world, with each course paired with wine selected by the chef and a local wine expert. Using only the freshest ingredients available from local farm-to-market growers, organic meats and wild fish, each menu is sure to stimulate and please the most discerning of foodies.

Freefall is limited to 24 guests with secured reservations required. Freefall is $129 per couple with wine, ($34 per person without wine).

Last summer’s series was a sell-out, so reserve early!

Our epicurean explorations:

June 14 – Polynesia

June 28 – Portugal

July 12 – Tasmania

July 26 – Afghanistan

August 9 – Sri Lanka

August 23 – Guadalajara

September 13 Freefall End of the Season Missoula Farmer’s Market Menu with Guest Chef

 For reservations: email Kate at laughinghorselodge@gmail.com

The morning begins well before sunrise with a boat ride  to Boca Chica to meet up with Chef Ricardo who is taking me on my first shopping expedition in the provincial town of David. There are no large grocery stores in David  thus our first stop of the morning is a triple wide garage off a residential side street filled with the morning’s fresh produce…melons, peppers, yucca, papaya, guava, pineapple and a variety of lettuces and cabbages overflow boxes and bins. There is a riot of color and chaos reigning in the aisles as farmers bring in their offerings, trading or selling fresh carrots and broccoli, bartering still warm jugs of milk and cream for a bag of butter beans or squash. As I walk around and select what I want to use in the restaurant for the next week, I am amused by the dichotomy of this market experience and those experienced last fall during my trip to Languedoc. Like produce, familiar Latinate faces, but there the similarities end.

The European markets are masterpieces of visual splendor…it is not enough to have a stack of carrots for sale at the Menton halle, no, the carrots have to be laid out in an intricate design, framed by vivid aubergines and the delicategreen gold of artichokes – each farmer’s display trying to out do that of his neighbors’.  In the David market, no such attempt is made. This is a working man’s tiende, the only real display being one of beautiful bags of garlic – grown in China.

But at the end of the day, a carrot is a carrot and a pomelo (grapefruit) will taste the same whether it was crowded in a burlap bag in Panama, or in a geometrically perfect pyramid interspersed with vibrant purple plums in France. So the carrots and the pomelos and a dozen or more relatives are bagged up and loaded into the back of a rented white Kia work truck and off we go to the Super Baru – a combination general store offering hardware, groceries, clothing and butchery…a little bit of everything, and not a lot of anything (except Olive Oil of which there are 27 varieties!).

 It takes two hours going up and down and back up the aisles translating labels and doing menu exchanges in my head to get close to what I want and am envisioning for the dining room in the coming week when it is my turn to head up the kitchen.

Another hour to check out and then back to Boca Chica to meet up with Chombo and the Cala Mia boat.

Loading fresh produce onto Chombo's boat.

When I consider the physical difficulty of getting raw ingredients to this isolated island, the dedication of Cala Mia’s owners and staff to presenting exceptional food is singularly inspiring.

Well, the sky is darkening and a few stars are peaking through the remaining clouds…it is time to head to the kitchen and begin assembling tonight’s offering. Chef has asked me to create a first course using locally harvested lobsters and I am happy to oblige, especially since I have those beautiful pomelos…

Ceviche de Angosta con Pomelo

Ingredients: 

Freshly poached lobster tail, chilled and loosely diced in large chunks

Grapefruit segments, skins and seeds removed

Cilantro (minced)

Red and Yellow Peppers (demeated), minced

Garlic, minced

Red Onion, minced

Lime juice

Passion Fruit juice

Olive Oil

Salt and White Pepper

Hot Pepper Flakes

Arugula and Mustard Greens

Toss cilantro, peppers, garlic and onion with the lime and passion fruit juices, add a splash of extra virgin olive oil and pepper flakes. Chill for an hour to let the flavors meld. Toss in lobster and grapefruit segments and refrigerate for another hour, stirring occasionally.

Place fresh greens in the bottom of  large martini glasses, leaving a few sprigs sticking out as garnish. Place ceviche into the glasses, distributing the remaining liquid as a dressing for the greens. Serve immediately

Bon apetite!

 

Not willing ‘to go to the dogs’? Please join us for Christmas Supper. $35 per person, one seating only at 5pm, December 25, call 406-886-2080 to make your secured reservations.

Sunday Brunch at the Horse runs from 9am to 2pm. Reservations for parties of 5 or more are required due to limited seating.

 Join us at the Horse for our Eastern Standard Time Cowboy New Year’s Eve Dinner and Dance! Yes, you can celebrate the beginning of a new year and still be home safe by midnight (or at another party!).

You and your friends will enjoy a 5 course meal prepared by Chef Kate including a champagne toast with the fall of the ball in Times Square. You’ll also enjoy listening and dancing to the western rhythm of Joe Zambrano and Blue Smoke. So put on your dancing boots and bring your appetite for a fun and light evening at the Horse.

$159/couple. Secured reservations required.

Overnight lodging available, $105/double occupancy including a delicious breakfast in the morning.

Limited seating, so make your reservations early!

One such trout – a particularly rotund specimen of approximately 20 inches – has forced me to alter my dining room schedule for the fall allowing me one more evening to try to land ‘her holiness’.  There are many  great reasons to live in Montana, fall trout fishing is one of the best…and spending a stolen evening on the river with a 5 wt in my hand beats standing over a hot stove, even if I’m cooking up some special fare for great friends and visitors. So please forgive me, but I’ve changed my dining room hours to Thursday – Sunday, 5pm – 9pm for dinner and Sunday Brunch, 9am – 2pm…on the flip side, I have extended my season through the holidays.

The lodge dining room is available Monday – Wednesday for private dinners and events for 12  to 56 persons. So if you are planning a holiday party, special family get-together or just a night with good friends, include the Horse in your plans. We’d love to host your event here or help you give a stellar performance in your home.

So here’s to a great fall, brilliant fishing and a delicious dinner at the Horse..see you soon. Kathleen

Our Menu

 Borek with Ezme – Delicate phyllo rolls filled with organic spinach and Feta floating in a chunky roasted tomato and bell pepper sauce. The Pour: Lachini Rose of Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Salad of Watermelon, Chevre, and Organic Blueberries in Kafir Lime and Mint Vinaigrette.  The Pour: Domaine de La Greffiere Macon Charnay, France

Roasted Baby Eggplant with Lebni – Organic eggplant stuffed with charred vegetable salad drizzled with a yogurt, garlic and walnut sauce.  The Pour: St. Innocent “Zenith” Pinot Noir, Mark Vlossak, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Veal Manti – tender veal dumplings in roasted garlic and butter sauce.   The Pour: Domaine DuSeigneur Lirac “Antares”, France

Char grilled Minted Lamb Kebab with Cypriot Rice Pilaf.   The Pour: Carlisle “Pelkan Ranch” Syrah, Mike Officer, Sonoma, California

Traditional Baklava and Almonde Chocolate Pistache with Chilled Honey Pistachio Soup.  The Pour: Turkish Coffee

$109 per couple, Limited Seating, Secured Reservations Call Kathleen 406-886-2080 x 3 Laughing Horse Lodge, MM 71.5 Hwy 83, Swan Lake