As described in the hotel’s web site: “In the rip-roaring days of early Wyoming, the saloon at the Occidental Hotel was famous far and wide. In the barroom, the lawful and the lawless played faro and poker…flirted with pretty ladies…drank copious quantities of powerful spirits – and occasionally shot up the place. One visitor in the early days called the Occidental Saloon ‘a regular gambling hell,’
With its long mirrored dark wood bar, multiple stuffed animal heads, and pressed tin ceiling, I could imagine that The Saloon was the scene of considerable carousing – both past and present. The ceiling still bears a bullet hole. It appears that a gentleman was being entertained upstairs by one of the local prostitutes.
This wasn’t our first meal at The Saloon. Two nights earlier we shared a very good shrimp and crab sandwich (whole shrimp and shredded king crab – real crab and not that fake surimi stuff) that came with a wonderful cole slaw. A photographic record of that meal doesn’t exist, since we decided that flash photography in a saloon full of drinking cowboys listening to blue grass (which sounded more like country to me) is never a wise idea.
That evening we shared our table with a couple of other full-time RV’ers.
While I was pretending to be Martha Jane Cannary Burke (aka famous frontierswoman Calamity Jane and a visitor to the Occidental Hotel), I took a second look at the short menu.
Chuck’s choice was the pulled pork sandwich with the same slaw and chips.
Both of our orders came with the same great slaw. I spent considerable time trying to identify its unusual flavor. Is it mustard? No. What is it? Finally it came to me – it’s either horseradish or wasabi. Then I saw the cook (Not Chef Norm – this was a cook) exit the kitchen and walk to the bar. So I went over and asked if he shared his secrets. What do I taste in the slaw? I was right. It was horseradish. He adds roughly a quarter of a cup for every quart of slaw. Since I add a large spoonful of horseradish to my spicy V-8 every morning, it is something that I always have on hand. The next time the mood strikes to make homemade slaw, horseradish will be added. I hope Chuck likes it.
We’re not talking gourmet vittles (Do the words gourmet and vittles go together?), but a good food tip is worth at least a half an Addie, and I give The Saloon at the Occidental a 4.0 Addie rating.
Before leaving the Occidental Hotel, we took a quick walk through the
Some people believe he wrote parts of the book while staying at the Hotel, and many historians maintain that the author placed the final shootout in front of the Occidental.
Chef Norm Henry has owned his own restaurant, Salt H2O Cafe, which was featured on the Food Network. Prior to coming to the Virginian, Norman was the Private Chef at the Hearst Family's summer retreat, Wyntoon, in McCloud, California.
Dishes made from organic beef range from buffalo rib eye to chateaubriand and filet mignon with béarnaise sauce are served amid the splendor of antique mirrors, Western art, and Victorian lamps.
Diners may also choose to dine in candlelit seclusion within a truly unique setting--the old Stockmen's bank vault.
Many thanks to Dawn and John Wexo for their vision of what the deteriorated Occidental Hotel could become and the citizens of Buffalo, WY, who helped the vision become a reality.
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