Tasters Trio: Opheim Outpost

The Outpost Cafe in Opheim is definitely in the running for the official eatery of the Very Last Best Place. Located 10 miles from Canada in the quiet farming and ranching community, the cafe serves a local clientele consisting of working people, hunters and sportsmen, and the churchgoing crowd on Sundays.

Owner Coreen Dear took over the Outpost after working in restaurants in Great Falls and elsewhere for more than 15 years. She brings business experience to the role and experience in Opheim as well. Dear graduated from Opheim High School and daughter Morgan Schumacher also works at the restaurant. Her other employees include Samantha Floyd, Mariah Linder, Lori Pankratz, Sue Stahl, and OHS students Grace Carrol and Kira Rosencrans.

The establishment serves breakfast until 11 a.m. most days, and lunch items which could easily pass for full dinners until 7 p.m., Thursday-Saturday, with abbreviated evening hours on other days. Prior to the arrival of the Tasters, Glasgow newcomer Ginevra Kirkland and I (James) stopped in for a bit of lunch, apropos of nothing. The fare was good enough to prompt a quick return the following morning with Georgie Kulczyk in tow.

Standard Breakfast: My own choice of breakfast foods was obvious enough-two eggs, over medium, with coffee (better than expected), hashbrowns and wheat toast. The selling point was the Reynold's patty sausage, though the bacon on my colleague's plate was very tempting. The eggs were perfect and the portions generous, as befits any establishment that caters to people who know how to work up an appetite. My lunch the previous day consisted of a Chicken Ranch Wrap. Built like a burrito, the wrap was delicious and benefitted from the fact that the dressing is made in-house. -James Walling

Biscuits and Gravy: I've never been to the Outpost Café in Opheim before. I've been to and through Opheim plenty of times, but had never had a meal. Other than the curious stares and skeptical looks from the already-there customers, the atmosphere was very welcoming. The dining room was clean and had a good amount of natural light. Coreen, the owner, waitress, cook, dishwasher, etc. was pleasant and eager to provide great service. The menu is small, but adequate. There are enough items on the breakfast menu that I did have some trouble deciding what to order. Eventually, I chose a half order of biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs and hashbrowns.

Biscuits and gravy may seem the safe option on a breakfast menu, but not always. More than once, I've had some awful biscuits and gravy. Fortunately, Coreen uses her mother's recipe for the gravy. It was good. For me, the biscuits were baked perfectly. They had a light texture with a soft middle and just a little crunch on the outside. A person may also think that it's difficult to mess up making scrambled eggs, but I've had bad eggs, too. Honestly, the scrambled eggs were pretty. They had such a nice color, that's what I noticed first. They were cooked well, too ... not over-done or under-done. It maybe isn't fair for me to review the hashbrowns. Really, they are just shredded potatoes, so I'm rarely impressed with them, but they were okay. I would have liked them to be crispier, but I was thankful they weren't greasy. All in all, the meal was great, and I wouldn't hesitate to stop in and have another meal. -Georgie Kulczyk

Breakfast Burrito: Bacon is always good, but good bacon is a great find. The side at Outpost is perfectly cooked and obviously not your typical generic variety. I'm planning to come back just to try the BLT. The breakfast burrito itself was a healthy portion without being an oversized monster; carefully plated with a mix of eggs, cheese, fresh grilled peppers and onions, with a side of both sour cream and mild salsa, which I spiked with a bit of Tabasco. The hash browns were a bit underdone for my liking, but I'm sure you could ask for them to be more well-done. That bacon, though. The previous day, I'd eaten the bacon cheeseburger, and the bacon was again spot-on, and the sides of fries and onion rings we ordered came out perfectly done. We even managed to catch some college football on an unobtrusive TV on Saturday. The other patrons were obviously just as pleased with the family atmosphere and home-cooked meal. -Ginevra Kirkland

The Outpost Cafe is located at 92 Main St. in Opheim, 762-3330. Winter hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays. Check with Coreen for extended summer and spring hours.