When I was a boy learning to ski on Mount Alyeska, then a nascent ski resort 36 miles south of the city of Anchorage, the ramshackle old cabin was going through multiple purposes, consistently unprofitable. I seem to recall at one point a nominal fee bought a few feet of space on the floor for a sleeping bag.
Then along came Bob and Deanna Persons.
Bob was a traveling auditor in his first career. People who travel a lot come to believe they know a little something about food and restaurants. Bob thought he knew a lot.
Having wrangled himself a job in Alaska, Bob began to think about becoming a restaurateur. Before long he heard that the old building in Girdwood was once again for sale. He snapped it up and opened the Double Musky. Deanna was from Louisiana. Naturally the menu would be influenced by Louisiana cooking
There was only the two of them. They were working hard and getting nowhere. Then they came to a frightening realization. There is a huge divide between knowing a little something about food and running a restaurant. Bob decided they needed help.
On a whim, Bob called K Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, Chef Paul Prudhomme’s famed restaurant on Chartres Street in New Orleans’ Vieux Carre’. Amazingly, Prudhomme answered the phone.
Prudhomme had only recently introduced the world to blackened redfish. He was at the height of his fame.
Bob explained his dilemma. The famous chef listened.
“Why don’t y’all come on down here for a few weeks?” Prudhomme suggested.
So just like that, it was off to New Orleans to study under one of the nation’s finest chefs.
Several weeks later, the Persons were back in Girdwood, the Double Musky was open for business, and Alaska restaurant history was being written.
The Double Musky doesn’t take reservations and you’d better get there early. If you’re not in line by four o’clock, you probably won’t make the first seating when the restaurant opens an hour later.
Once inside, you’ll find wonderful Cajun food. Etouffee. Gumbo. Jambalaya. Boiled shrimp.
There’s fresh from the ocean Alaska seafood. Salmon. Halibut. King crab.
And, best of all, thick, juicy steaks that defy you to consume them in one sitting.
Oh, and Double Musky pie. That rich, chocolate delight that has consistently foiled my attempt to enjoy a slice immediately after dinner.
My last words at the Double Musky have always been, “Double Musky pie to go, please.”
