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Après-ski in Teton Village means five-star food at (almost) ski-bum prices.
Digging into the nachos and giant sliders at Cascade Restaurant.
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It’s 9:30 a.m. on the Apres Vous chairlift. Two local women discuss an obviously important matter: Where to eat after they are done skiing for the day. The conversation reveals that the choices are many.
“We could nibble fondue by the fire,” one says.
“We could nosh a pizza and not feel guilty,” says the other.
Finally, after tossing around several other options, they agree on margaritas and fries.
“Do you guys ski just so you can eat?” asks the third passenger, a man who’s visiting Jackson Hole on a ski vacation.
The two women look at each other through goggles and giggles—a response that says, well, yeah, sort of.
Après Ski. French for “after skiing.” Or, more specifically, fun, social, appetite-appeasing things to do following a day on the slopes. Many believe the ski day is incomplete without it.
“Après is kind of the first significant meal of the day after breakfast,” says local photographer Taylor Richards Glenn. “You’ve been out skiing all day, and you want a hearty, staple meal like nachos, burgers, and beers. It’s the perfect thing to follow up a day of hard skiing and a way of sharing the adventure of skiing you just had with your friends.”
On a powder day, many a die-hard snow rider goes a full day on breakfast, maybe grabbing a quick cookie or slice of pizza to refuel while waiting in the tram line. So, around 4 p.m., hordes of skiers and snowboarders begin streaming into restaurants at the ski resort base, looking to fill their bellies and toast the day’s turns with a cold beverage or three.
Gone are the afternoons of choosing from microwaved mozzarella sticks, a piece of recently defrosted frozen pizza, or a half-pound beefpatty unwrapped from its cellophane packaging and tossed on the grill. Today’s food is decidedly more upscale, even in the ski-
bummiest of places. Après ski menus now feature such items as cheese melted into elaborate fondues; pizzas topped with pancetta, roasted cauliflower, and Big Piney-raised Wyomatoes; and burger-and-fries replacements like buffalo sliders and pomme frites … truffled, of course.
