New Hungry Horse Restaurant Aims to Satisfy
Located on U.S. Highway 2 near Glacier National Park, Tex and Jerry’s was inspired by the town’s mighty namesake steeds who nearly starved during the turn of the 20th century. Since opening this summer, however, the restaurant is earning a reputation for its mighty portions.
By Mike Kordenbrock
As the story goes, back in the winter of 1900 two freight horses named Tex and Jerry wandered away one day from the logging sled they’d been pulling in the area of the South Fork of the Flathead River.
A month later, they were found alive, albeit starved and greatly weakened by the ordeal of trying to survive in the deep snow that blanketed the region. But survive they did, and their eventual return to health was a shocking tale among area loggers, who opted to give the freight horses names more suitable to their now legendary stature. Their recovery was so significant, that Jerry went on to pull a fire wagon in Kalispell, and Tex hauled a wagon for the Kalispell Mercantile Company.
Thus, they were dubbed the “Mighty Hungry Horses,” and in time they became the namesake for the town of Hungry Horse.
It’s fitting, then, that Hungry Horse’s newest restaurant, which prides itself on its substantial portions and extended hours such that no customer need ever go hungry, goes by the name Tex and Jerry’s.
Located at 8942 Highway 2 East in Hungry Horse at a location that formerly housed the vegan restaurant Dan d’Lion, Tex and Jerry’s is the project of partners Neil Curtis, Steve Arons, Jeff Johnson, and Ted Thovson, who tapped chef Mike Scallen, formerly the chef and bartender at the Columbia Bar, to run the kitchen alongside his wife, Andrea.
Scallen had a devoted following at the Columbia, due in no small part to his storied Taco Tuesdays, which Tex and Jerry’s has revived. As Scallen shared, earlier in his culinary career, family meals served to the kitchen staff were often the creation of his coworkers from Mexico. He became enamored with their food and eventually convinced some of those same coworkers to show him how to replicate their recipes. It was the start of a journey into the world of tacos that Scallen has continued ever since.
When Scallen approached his coworkers all those years ago, he wasn’t interested in shortcuts, and the same spirit underpins Taco Tuesdays at Tex and Jerry’s, in which up to eight taco fillings are offered, with each one loaded into an extra-large taco shell that Mike and Andrea have fried themselves.
“We do the process. We don’t buy our product. We don’t flub it,” Mike said.
On a typical Taco Tuesday, diners might choose from selections including beef barbacoa with a dark, mild red sauce, pork carnitas (“with a heavier citrus note”), spicy Mandarin-glazed popcorn shrimp with a peach and mango habanero salsa, beer-battered cod with lime and cilantro coleslaw, chicken mole, a quinoa, black bean, corn and sweet potato vegan filling, and a filling made of braised pork belly seasoned with Chinese five spice and topped with watermelon-jicama salsa and lime crema.
Unfortunately for the taco lovers of the Flathead Valley, Tuesday only comes once a week. Still, Scallen has built out an everyday menu with portions big enough to feed a hungry horse, or two.
Take the smashburger, for example. A half-pound behemoth made of layers of quarter-pound ground beef patties and American cheese, topped with a tousle of shredded lettuce and sliced tomato, it’s a burger large enough to possess its own gravitational field. It can be an intimidating endeavor, but smashburgers have a miraculous way of calming the nerves of most any eater.
“That’s a damn good burger,” Scallen said.
There’s also a pressed Cubano-style sandwich on the menu that Scallen says was once a hot ticket item back at the Columbia. Other menu selections include “massive, massive” Reuben sandwiches and gyros. And of course, big servings of French fries are also on the menu, as are generously portioned salads.
“I think at least the theory, our philosophy in the kitchen is…” Scallen says, briefly trailing off. “I had all these words I was gonna say. Really, we just want to make good, presentable food for a reasonable price.”
One of his partners, Neil Curtis, sums it up as “quality food for a good price.”
Scallen said his food comes with a reputation for good portions, and he adds that at Tex and Jerry’s they’re striving for “a higher quality product.”
Tex and Jerry’s had a soft opening in July, and spent the back end of the summer offering a limited menu built around sandwiches and salads, including an Italian cold cut sub with ham, salami, capicola and mortadella; a club sandwich with ham, turkey, and bacon; and a hot pastrami sub. As things continue to settle into a rhythm, they plan on expanding the menu further, with ambitions to offer items like chicken wings, and a chicken sandwich, in addition to some of the aforementioned items.
There are also plans to introduce a Saturday and Sunday brunch menu. The idea is to be a place where people, including locals, can get a good meal even when it isn’t the summer time. But Tex and Jerry’s does hope to carve out a sizeable portion of business during the summertime, especially given the fact that it’s been open this summer from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and the restaurant will open even earlier on days when it’s serving brunch.
“We want to strive for people that are coming out of the park, that don’t want to cross the river, and are staying on this side camping, and they’re just looking for a late night, decent meal,” Curtis said.
Tex and Jerry’s does serve beer and wine, but Curtis said that they still want people to be able to bring their kids in and aren’t looking to establish a rowdy atmosphere.
With a sprawling, shaded back patio and deck, Tex and Jerry’s has also been bringing in live music multiple nights a week, weather permitting.
Mike and Andrea Scallen both come from what Mike called “higher-end culinary backgrounds,” and went to culinary school decades ago. Andrea was originally a pastry chef, and they bounced around from kitchen to kitchen. Mike Scallen said that early in his career he worked for the celebrity chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck, and continued to work for him for years at his various restaurants. He’s also spent time in Cajun restaurants, steakhouses, burger joints, pizza shops, Mediterranean restaurants, and he’s even dabbled in sushi.
Scallen is originally from the Flathead, but grew up in Minnesota. His dad, he notes, is from Butte. Earlier in life, Scallen said he lived as a ski bum, using his kitchen skills to bounce from town to town chasing the mountain lifestyle in places like Utah and Wyoming.
Eventually, he said he and Andrea got burned out on the high-end culinary world. But they didn’t give up on cooking entirely.
“I wanted to recreate that kind of structure, and that kind of aesthetic, but more approachable,” Mike said, a smile spreading across his face as he starts to laugh. “You know, for people like me. I got tired of feeding people I don’t hang out with.”