Coldfoot Alaska: The Trucker's Cafe

The Truckers Cafe

If you are heading up to Coldfoot Camp, you might be wondering what to expect in terms of food. Well, you options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are conveniently narrowed down to one option: The Truckers Cafe.
But what exactly does that mean?
1.) It means that ANY food you do not bring with you will be purchased in the cafe. There are no quickie-marts, vending machines, hot dog stands, salad bars, no nothing.
2.) The menu is practical for where the truck stop is located and for the people in charge of cooking (i.e. it's a long way to transport fresh produce that only keeps for a day or two, and (surprise) there is no executive chef.) There are mostly things like burgers, fried cod, chicken fingers, sandwiches, melts, tater-tots, fries, pancakes, eggs, bacon, and grilled cheese. All delicious but probably not so low on calories.
3.) That being said, there are some healthier options available. You can get a sandwich on wheat bread, a garden salad with a side of grilled chicken on it, and their soups of the day are not only homemade, but quite delicious. I had soup almost everyday for lunch or dinner. And they make oatmeal for breakfast.
4.) The menu is not so bad for vegetarians. There are egg sandwiches, pancakes, egg salad sandwiches, salad, some of the soups, grilled cheese), but pretty tough for vegans. In terms of breakfast it is limited to oatmeal, or hash browns and ketchup (or maybe with some veggies on it if they have them), and for lunch either salad, peanut butter and jelly, tots, and fries. My vegan brother actually ordered a salad with tots on it and it looked pretty good. But in general it's slim pickings. The pancakes have milk, and most of the other stuff that could be vegan had some kind of dairy product in it. I'd suggest if you are vegan and planning to spend a few days up there to bring some of your own supplemental  food.
5.) The Arctic Safari tour gets its lunches from the Cafe, and it's actually pretty great! Your choice of sandwich, condiments, chips, fruit, cookie, and beverage. I would have been the coolest kind in school if I'd have brought lunches like that every day. The sandwiches are big, and as good as most places. And I think you can order a lunch to go, if you are heading up the road, or back down to Fairbanks.
6.) There are a couple highlights on the menu (this is based on my personal opinion). For breakfast it's the oatmeal (it's not slimy or watery, and comes with milk, brown sugar and raisins), and the reindeer sausage. If you do order the sausage (comes as 2 links, each split in half), note that it's probably enough for 2 people to share. I love it, but can only eat one link at a time. It's salty and tasty, and in my humble opinion is a nice balance to the healthy semi-sweet brown sugar and oatmeal. The club sandwich is probably my favorite thing on the whole menu. I don't know why it tastes better than any other club I've ever had, but it just does. It probably has about 1000 calories, but it's truly worth every one. I paired it with soup or salad instead of fries, just to alleviate some of the guilt I felt at ordering it every other day. The soup's of the day were excellent, and so perfect for those -30 degree evenings. They are all made from scratch, and I found every one I tried to be wonderful and totally tasty.
7.) The Cafe is the only place to get coffee, and it ain't no Starbucks. The regular is OK, and pretty much always fresh. The decaf is not so great. It comes in a tea bag. But it is drinkable. They have a great selection of teas, and an endless supply of hot chocolate. I mixed decaf and hot chocolate, and it was better than the decaf by itself. All of the tours provide hot water and the above options (although the regular coffee is instant on the tours) and are especially wonderful on the late night Aurora tours up to Wiseman.
8.) Around the corner (in the same building) is the saloon, and the only place in camp to buy alcohol. They have a selection of Silver Gulch beers, and the usual Bud, Miller options. And they have individual bottles of red and white wine (one option for red, one for white). There is no liquor. If you want to drink a beer with dinner you must sit and the saloon. The menu is the same as in the Cafe.
Well, That pretty much sums up everything I can think of concerning the menu/food options at Coldfoot Camp. See below for some photos of the food!

The Lunch/Dinner Menu

Decaf in a tea bag.

The delicious Club Sandwich!

Big bowl of Oatmeal

Breakfast Sandwich

Reindeer Sausage!

Delicious tater-tots (and another Club)