Have you seen the newly designed Montana Standard Website?

I love it. It’s beautiful, functional, and everyone responsible deserves a big round of kudos.

It is a long time coming and it came together wonderfully.

Check it out!

Tucked below street level on Park Street, Dodge Brothers Restaurant is a delight for the eye and the palate.

Featuring Brazilian style meats served on swords, Dodge Brothers also offers more traditional fare. My fellow critics sampled salmon with raspberry sauce and grilled chicken with red peppers. I tried the New York steak with bleu cheese.

We started our evening by taking a quick look at the layout of the restaurant. John Richen, owner, has done an incredible renovation. He is an architect and artist, and his touches are everywhere evident, from the warm woodwork to the stained glass panels depicting mountain vistas. One spot not to miss on your way in is the wine cellar, which is at restaurant level (because we are already in the basement.) It is painted with colored light, as is a quirky little alcove just outside the window of the dining area. The atmosphere is elegant, yet fun, as many of the restaurants in more urban areas of the country. Even the ladies’ bathroom has a crystal chandelier.

Our service was prompt and courteous. We quickly gained a pleasant booth in the dining area and were directed to the salad bar after ordering. There we were greeted with a sumptuous array of fresh leaf lettuce, a bow-tie pasta salad, and a cucumber and onion dish. The soup was a warm, spicy beef and bean.

Our meal came quickly, hot and precisely as we had ordered it. My steak was tender, succulent, and very well complimented by the bleu cheese. My fellow critic’s salmon was well prepared, and the raspberry sauce was a sweet compliment to the light, clean salmon flavor. My other fellow critic’s chicken dish was completely divine. The chicken was savory with the flavor of grilling and judicious spices, and the seasoned rice that accompanied it made me envy my dinner companion’s choice, as I had plain mashed potatoes with my steak.

When the dessert cart came, we marveled at a caramel-glazed cheesecake, a huge chocolate mousse in a long-stemmed goblet, and three other delicious trifles. I had eaten way too much of my 14 ounce steak to want to tackle the mousse, but I did nibble on my companion’s cheesecake, and it was sinfully rich and creamy. It was the kind of cheesecake that must have inspired the expression for sexy pinup girls.

We skipped the after dinner drink in the bar, but we did look in, and it was small but well appointed and had a good stock of popular liquors.

Whether you are entertaining clients or taking the family and friends out for a special dining occasion, we can highly recommend Dodge Brothers Restaurant and Bar. The prices are within reason for local fine dining, the service is prompt and courteous, and the atmosphere is cozy and intimate. Our server was a delight, even sharing a laugh with us at the end of the meal when we asked if we couldn’t all just curl up and take a twenty minute nap.

Don’t miss the Dodge Brothers Coffee Shop on street level, either. It’s a comfortable and affordable place to have a deli-style sandwich, salads, deviled eggs, deserts, and quality beers and coffees. Locals, be warned that it gets very busy during the peak lunch hours, so you may want to schedule your lunch either before eleven or after 1 p.m. if you have a tight schedule.

Did you know there’s a new cafe/diner type eatery in the Mining City? It’s located in the space left empty after the closure of Rancho Los Arcos on Front Street.

Their sign declares that they’ve got “Just Good Food” and I do so enjoy good food–so I invited a friend to give it a whirl with me for lunch this week.

Their selection is fairly decent–with your typical Butte (and most other places) diner fare. The prices are comparable to places around town like the Hangin’ 5 or Perkins. It’s slightly more expensive than places like Copper City Casino (which we’ve reviewed before).

I had the chicken strips and fries and my dining companion had the lunch special–a mushroom swiss burger and fries. Both came with soup or salad and we both chose the salad, which was not too shabby. It looked small, but turned out to be just enough salad. The French dressing was good–nice and thick, which is something I personally look for in a salad dressing.

The chicken strips were good, and my friend enjoyed his burger. The fries were crinkle cut, which is something you don’t see too often and was a nice switch. The only real issue I had was that I asked for barbecue sauce for my chicken strips and was given sweet & sour instead. Luckily, I like sweet & sour. Additionally, the menu said that my meal came with Texas Toast and it wasn’t present when my food came. It didn’t matter to me too much other than on principle.

The decor of Annie’s Cafe is understated–as a matter of fact it’s pretty much the same as it was when it was Rancho Los Arcos, with the Coca-Cola theme in addition to the Spanish-looking tiled look.

The food was good, and I’m sure I’ll return again. Hopefully next time they’ll have ironed out the kinks in their menu/service.

The Anaconda Ancient Order of Hibernians and Knights of Columbus are sponsoring a free matinee on Saturday, December 23rd at 1 p.m. in the Washoe Theater of Anaconda. The movie is Everyone’s Hero (rated G.) Members of the AOH and KC are inviting one and all to come and enjoy the movie. Merry Christmas!

Marx and I had been trying to make it to the Covellite Theatre all season, and we finally made it on the last weekend. I’m glad we didn’t just decide we were too busy and decide not to go.

The current show, Hidden in the Hill is an interesting story and well-told.

“Hidden in the Hill” is a full length suspensful drama that deals with a couple of Butte’s most well known ghost stories.

A collection of ghostly happenings and haunts that take place in Uptown Butte. Find out what’s behind all of the historic buildings and hidden under the mines.

One thing that was interesting about the way the show was run that was the live acting was interspersed with pre-filmed bits, which allowed the action to take place at a variety of places in Uptown Butte–the BSB Courthouse, the Dumas Brothel, and the BSB Archives.

According to their website, it’s a pretty unique set-up:

The 17′ x 11′ projection screen and the band stand allow the Buttenik Ensemble to combine short films and live performances, creating a genre of live theatre that isn’t offered anywhere else in Montana.

It certainly makes the action more involved, and allowed the viewer to understand more clearly what was going on. It is also very apparent that a lot of hard work went into putting the whole thing together so that the transitions between the live acting and the video stuff went smoothly.

It’s pretty clear that the entire thing is one heck of a lot of work and the show is definately worth seeing. It will only run twice more before the season ends (Saturday and Sunday nights at 8 p.m.) but if you’ve been contemplating it, I recommend seeing the show.

I also had not been in the building and I was quite impressed at what they have accomplished with what was once just a shell of a building. Between the downstairs, where the box office and the Dead Cat Cafe are located, and the theater upstairs–the building is interesting and well-apportioned.

The only point of contention I’d have is that it was not a very busy night, and we were given specific seat numbers to sit in, but none of the seats are labeled so we were walking around in the dark, disturbing other people looking for our seats. In the end it didn’t matter, because we just sat down somewhere (in the wrong row) and watched the show. Had we sat in our assigned seats, the entire audience would have been crowded into the first few rows, but this way we were able to spread out and have some buffer zones from others.

I don’t know how it works out on their busier nights with a packed house though. When we went to the Virginia City Players earlier this summer, the cast members act as ushers and show you to your seats. I think that’s an excellent way to bridge the gap between the public and the cast, and it helps folks find their seats.

Overall, I’d highly recommend seeing anything the Butteniks do. If you can’t catch them this season, line up next year when they open for their third season.

The Venus Rising Cafe & Arts Center is an undertaking of the Butte-Silver Bow Arts Foundation. Here you can drink coffee, eat a healthy breakfast or lunch, surf the web on the provided wifi, view a variety of art in the gallery, do a little shopping, or just hang out.

The building is quirky and apportioned with comfortable, mismatched furnishings great for lounging and spending some time with a book or your laptop or chatting with friends.

The coffee has been consistently delicious on every visit I’ve paid. Recently, a broken espresso machine put them out of the coffee business for a few days but they’re back with a new machine and the coffee is just as good as ever.

The prices aren’t bad either.

For between $3 and $5 you can get a sandwich made-to-order (you pick the bread, meat, cheese and other toppings). Sandwiches are served with chips are a good value for the money.

The environment is very relaxing and calming at the Venus Rising, and the staff takes a laid-back approach to preparing your order well so if you want a coffee in a hurry, I’d suggest going elsewhere. But if you’ve got some time to kill and are looking for a killer cuppa joe, I’d recommend you give the Venus a try. You may just discover your new hangout.

Check out all our photos from the Venus Rising.

We hit up the World Museum of Mining today for the 2006 Ghost Walk. It’s sponsored by Butte Cares, The World Museum of Mining and the Butte High History Club (with Butte High History teacher Chris Fisk at the helm).

As per usual, we took a lot of photos for you guys.

One of the most notable moments was the bit about prohibition and the Rookwood Speakeasy, which was done by the folks from Old Butte Historical Adventures and was quite a hoot.

Obviously, a lot of work went into this year’s Ghost Walk and the weather certainly cooperated. We had a great time and a lot of laughs. We’ll be sure to check out future Ghost Walks and we encourage you to do the same.

Check out all our pictures from today and if you’ve got anything to say about the Ghost Walks: comment away!

Well peeps, we told you that as soon as we were able to eat at MacKenzie River Pizza we would write a review. We had a chance to eat lunch there the other day.

It was very good overall, but we felt rushed by our server especially as the end of our meal neared. They were busy and had people waiting at the door for tables but only a few minutes after we recieved our main course, our server came back and asked us if we needed a to-go box. Honestly, we barely had time to take a bite.

Isn’t it the golden rule that even if they want your table for another customer, they should not make it apparent to you? She was very nice, asking if there was anything we needed, but she came about every two minutes, which also made us feel rushed. It is difficult for one to have a conversation at lunch if you’re constantly being interrupted by a server.

Like we mentioned above, the food was excellent. We both ordered the House Salad for an appetizer which is the same old-fashioned salad with a new twist. They had the brilliant idea of putting grape-nuts and pears on their salad, which made the salad absolutely heavenly.

For the main course, we ordered the Flathead Pizza.

Creamy white sauce with fajita chicken, spinach, garlic, diced tomatoes and mushrooms. It’s even better with bacon.

The pizza wasn’t very big, especially for the price (around $15). However, it was very very good.

We’ll definately be back, but only for special occasions. We recommend that you try out Butte’s newest venue (though you may want to wait until payday).

Alright, I finally got time to sit down at my computer after these hectic couple days.

Don’t Come Knocking made its Butte premiere last night at the Mother Lode Theater. The movie is about a western movie star named Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) who leaves his movie shoot unexpectedly due to problems with the law. For refuge, he calls his mom (Eva Marie Saint), who he hasn’t seen or spoken to in over 30 years, looking for a place to stay. Being the mom she is, she agrees to hide him for as long as needed.

During Howard’s stay, his mom tells him that a girl who he met while shooting a movie in Montana a few years back recently contacted her with some interesting news. Howard impregnated her. He decides to head up to Butte, Montana to try and get in contact with his one-night-stand, Doreen (Jessica Lange), and his son, Earl (Gabriel Mann).

I won’t tell you what happens in case you haven’t seen the movie yet. You’ll definately have to purchase it once it is released.

The movie features quite a few Butte landmarks (such as the M&M, the Finlen Hotel, the Irish Times, and many more). The movie’s cinematography is awesome. However, the plot does have its weak points for sure. I was also unhappy with the language use in the movie, as that made it rated “R” so the youngans can’t enjoy it.

Altogether, it was a good start for Butte’s potential movie career. Any Butte resident should see it for themselves and form their own opinion.

Despite touch-and-go reviews from the critics, the movie will especially resonate with Butte residents. It’s easy to pan a film when you have no connection to Butte or to small-town-life in general. The big city critics were especially harsh. See all of the critic’s quotes at RottenTomato.com’s Don’t Come Knocking page. Noted critic Roger Ebert gave it a thumbs-down, while his partner Richard Roeper gave it a thumbs up and said it was a good film despite its obvious flaws.

Special thanks to Bresnan Communications and Starz Entertainment Group for making the premiere possible.

P.S. – Thanks Delaney for covering for me last night! I was truely exhausted. :O)

Marx was way too tired after all the excitement of the DCK Butte premiere last night to write anything. Don’t worry, his review is coming. Just delayed a little…..

Stay Tuned….