Fine Dining with an Even Finer View

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A Review
Leslie Kelly
Staff writer Spokesman Review

eaven on earth has got to taste like a bowl of huckleberry ice cream at the end of a satisfying meal at Hill's Resort at Priest Lake.

On a late spring evening, after a rain shower left the air so clean you wanted to bottle it and take it home, our party of five pushed back from the table and drank in the amazing view from the candlelit dining room while marveling at the practically purple homemade ice cream.

Dusk had turned the smooth water of the lake inky, but you could still make out the outline of the mountains across the water. What a view!The ideal dining experience should be equal parts great food, good service and a pleasant atmosphere. The dining room at Hill's Resort certainly fills the bill on all counts, but it's the charming setting that puts it over the top.

The success of Hill's, a summer retreat for families around the Inland Northwest for more than 50 years, has a lot to do with maintaining traditions.

There are old-fashioned items on the menu, for instance, that have been there since my first visit more than 15 years ago.

And, with good reason. The signature baby back ribs are slow-smoked over mesquite wood charcoal and slathered at the end with a sticky-sweet sauce that makes you go "mmmmm."

The tender handmade ravioli is stuffed with Italian sausage and spinach and then smothered in a marinara that's an old family recipe.

And, then, of course there's the huckleberry desserts: the outstanding ice cream, a vibrant, violet-colored creation served with homemade toffee, or the simple and simply terrific huckleberry pie that doesn't bother to hide those tart treats under a top layer of crust.

The menu is rounded out with an assortment of pastas (chicken and morel mushroom linguine, angel hair served with bacon-wrapped shrimp, even a Thai seafood stew with glass noodles), seafood (salmon roasted on a cedar plank, the house specialty margarita shrimp) and a lineup of steaks.

During that recent dinner, I also sampled impressive items off chef Scott Hill's daily fresh sheet: a halibut baked with a fiery wasabi crumb crust served with garlic mashed potatoes, and the elk tenderloin with an unusual sauce of sauteed apples spiked with Jack Daniels. The elk was tender and tasted wild, but not too gamey. I was less excited about the sauce, which was a little on the sweet side.

We had started by sharing one of the ample appetizers: a portobello mushroom crostini. This grilled mushroom was sliced and served with a lemony, herb-crusted goat cheese and red peppers. The only problem was there weren't enough crostini (the toasted bread) to go with all the toppings.

Other appetizer options include brie with roasted garlic, coconut shrimp, duck and shiitake mushroom wontons, and grilled calamari steak finished with a lemon-caper butter.

Dinner arrived after our salad/soup course at a relaxed pace. There's nothing worse than feeling rushed when dinner is the evening's entertainment.
Our enthusiastic server deftly walked that fine line between being friendly and overly familiar. Granted, it was a quiet evening, but she was attentive without being overbearing.

After our memorable meal, we walked out on the dock and looked at the stars -- the perfect ending to the evening.

Being a destination resort, the Hill's dining room is a breakfast-lunch-dinner, every-day-of-the-week sort of place during the peak seasons. (Meals are served in the winter, too, but on weekends only.)I've enjoyed lunch on the deck outside the lounge many times over the years, but if I had to pick a favorite meal it would be breakfast.

There just aren't enough restaurants that feature fish on the morning menu. But at Hill's, you can have smoked trout folded into your scrambled eggs (the Idaho Special, which also includes cream cheese and capers).

Other fine scrambles feature local morel mushrooms or a spicy Italian sausage with spinach and mushrooms.

The huckleberry pancakes are outstanding, light and fluffy with a tang from the buttermilk batter that makes them the perfect partner for the sweet-tart berries. Just try making it all the way through those three dinner-plate size flapjacks without crying "uncle!"

I was also impressed with the huevos rancheros served with black beans and a chunky salsa.
After a weekend full of satisfying meals, I made the same vow that I always do when leaving Priest Lake: I've got to make a point of coming back here more often.

(208) 443-2551  •  4777 W. Lakeshore Rd., Priest Lake, Idaho  •  desk@hillsresort.com