JACKSON HOLE RESTAURANT REVIEW: Teton Tiger
Long ago, before Adrian Reviews was even a twinkle in my eye, I used to compile a list of my favorite Houston restaurants that I would email to interested friends every once in a while, which was later to expanded to include bars, and eventually some non-Houston establishments. The very first place I wrote down in this latter category was Teton Tiger. In my forever quest to try new things it's rare that I revisit somewhere multiple times, but this pan-Asian spot just off the main square in Jackson, Wyoming, is one of the few restaurants that I keep returning to again and again, every time I'm in town.
There's nothing quite like some explosive Asian flavors and enticing cocktails after a day on the slopes. This specific day happened to be New Year's Eve, the last night of my Colorado-Wyoming week. After watching Snow King's torchlight parade (I'd love to take part in one of these one day) and fireworks, we crunched our way across the snow-covered street to the restaurant. There's a lively bar area up front illuminated by pink neon, and a table section in the back, with something of a library theme: volumes of old books occupy multiple cubbies along the wall above wooden seating booths. Nice and cozy on a cold winter night.
You'll find dishes from all over Asia here, even if the menu is described as Indian-Thai inspired. I would typically lean towards the former, but since we had just eaten at a restaurant specializing in the subcontinent's delightful cuisine a couple of nights prior, I opted for more Siamese-fusion fare with a Wyoming twist: Bison Massaman Curry. Utilizing meat from the large bovine instead of the traditional chicken, this stew also included fingerling potatoes, shallots, yellow onions, coconut cream, peanuts, and was served with jasmine rice and naan bread. Massaman curry (which CNN Travel has ranked as literally the number one food in the world on multiple occasions) features influences from Persia and India, along with the typical Thai ingredients you'd expect in a kaeng. Usually relatively mild in capsaicin (though here you can select your heat level; I went with a 3/5), but rich, savory, and a bit sweet, this is perhaps "the king of curries". Spices like cinnamon, cumin, cloves, and others combine to deliver a deliciously complex base, and the bison was a neat choice that held up well to those bold flavors. And the rice and soft, buttery naan were a great way to soak it all up.
In the "Send Noods" (ha) section of the menu resides Mama's Ramen. I pretty much exclusively eat ramen from Tatsu-ya in Houston (a place so good they named the Astros' new pitcher after it), but I have to admit this one was pretty strong. An extremely generous portion of unctuous pork belly bathes in an aromatic tonkotsu broth, with a soft-boiled egg, seaweed, green onion, and of course, noodles. A clever twist here is the inclusion of crispy, fried noodles on top, providing some much-appreciated texture. The cloudy soup was rich and pork-forward, bursting with umami from the pig bones that simmered for hours to provide us with their bounty. Yum!
As mentioned, you won't just find Indian and Thai dishes here: there are options from Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and all kinds of other combinations as well. One of these were the Nomad Eggrolls, filled with marinated beef, cabbage, carrot, green onion, and glass noodles. These wonderfully crunchy cylinders were topped with pickled red cabbage and served with "Mama's secret sauce", a tangy, slightly spicy dipping liquid which went very well with the rolls. You don't get beef in egg rolls all that often, so I really enjoyed this version.
There are interesting cocktails here as well. The Pineapple Express (an extremely underrated movie, imo) had pineapple-infused mezcal, carrot juice, lime, simple syrup, and orange bitters. This came out a vividly bright orange color, and had nice acidity that was balanced with sweetness, smokiness, and the subtle earthy/licorice flavor of Bugs Bunny's favorite root vegetable. I don't think I've ever had an adult beverage with carrot juice before, but this may be a life hack to get more beta-carotene and improve vision without actually having to eat healthy. Will report back.
Another ingredient that I have rarely seen in drinks is saffron, highlighted here in the Saffron Sour. Mixed with saffron-infused Bulleit rye, Galliano (an Italian sweet herbal liqueur, noted for its distinct super-tall bottle), lemon, simple syrup, and egg white, this was a fun play on a whiskey sour, with the world's most expensive spice definitely at the forefront, both in its sweet, hay-like flavor and its classic yellowish pigment. I've always known saffron was costly, but I never really took the time to learn why: apparently harvesting it is very labor-intensive, requiring 40 hours of hand-picking to yield just one kilogram, which can cost over $5,000 on the open market. Fortunately this cocktail had quite a bit less than a kilogram of saffron in it, so it was still reasonably priced, even if it was the costliest one on the menu.
Nothing to report on the dessert front, as they only really have mochi, which I would never order. I wish I could have tried a few more dishes to write about, but the portions are pretty substantial, and I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew. Waste not, want not, as John Wesley said. One word of caution: service here can be a bit... inattentive at times. It was a busy New Year's Eve, but our waitress was not exactly omni-present. I'll excuse it, though, because everything else is tremendous.
Blips in pacing aside, this visit only reinforced my love for Teton Tiger, and I'll continue to eat here every time I'm in beautiful Jackson Hole. There are sister restaurants in Driggs, Idaho (which I actually drove through earlier that day) and Missoula, Montana, so maybe I'll try to branch out and visit those too.
RANKING UPDATE: Unsurprisingly maintains its spot in the best restaurants section of my Beyond Houston guide. Excitingly, this might be the first time one of the existing restaurants on that page has gotten a review, and now has a gorgeous red hyperlink! What a glorious day.
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