At the end of last summer, the Backslope Brewing crew was exhausted.
That could be said for just about any summer and at just about any restaurant in the Flathead Valley, which deals with an onslaught of summer visitors almost non-stop from Memorial Day to Labor Day (and often a little before and after as well). However, last summer was especially challenging, and owner Carla Fisher along with head chef Kenneth Smith knew that something needed to change.
Now, as the brewery enters its 10th summer in Columbia Falls, that something has arrived: a brand new, revamped menu featuring Mediterranean-inspired eats that is winning praise from those who try it. But while much of the menu has changed, a few fan favorites have survived (most notably, everyone’s favorite hand-cut French fries).
Backslope Brewing opened in the spring of 2016, the brainchild of husband and wife Darin and Carla Fisher. It was Darin’s dream to open a brewery and Columbia Falls was ripe for one, as at the time, it was the only community in the Flathead Valley without one (the short-lived Desert Mountain Brewing had closed two years earlier). In March of that year, the brewery opened up along U.S. Highway 2 with eight craft beers on tap and something that set it apart from other breweries around the valley: a full dining menu. The Fishers were not content with just serving their beer alongside dusty old peanuts and stale pretzels. Backslope Brewing opened with a full slate of burgers, sandwiches and salads, that along with the beer, helped it quickly build a dedicated following among locals and visitors alike.
A key to that success, Carla said, was the restaurant’s dedication to freshness. While some restaurant owners were content with whatever frozen fare they could get from the local wholesale food distributor, Backslope was making everything to order. And we mean everything. Take the ever-popular fried chicken sandwich. Each chicken thigh was sliced and trimmed to order, breaded by hand and then deep fried before immediately being put right on the plate (along with a bun, freshly made slaw, house barbecue sauce and fresh-cut fries). From the moment a cook in the kitchen grabbed the ticket out of the printer to when that sandwich was finally plated and on its way to the patron, a minimum of 15 minutes might have passed. Of course, when enjoying a handcrafted beer (my personal favorite is the Crooked Wind IPA), waiting a little while for food is ok. If it’s really busy, as it often is during the heat of summer, order another pint. You’ll be fine.
However, that growing popularity and dedication to quality ran headfirst into a different problem over the last few years: staffing. In a perfect world, Backslope Brewing would have a daily kitchen crew of about a dozen people, but Carla said in the last year or so, they could only get about eight per day. And it’s not like the brewery wasn’t trying its best to hire and retain people: it’s known for offering competitive wages, health insurance, retirement benefits, long-term disability and even paid time off for their full-time employees, all rare perks in the service industry. A few years ago, they even bought the building next door to turn into an expanded kitchen and dormitory for employees who need housing (Carla pins the brewery’s staffing issues squarely on a lack of affordable housing in the Flathead). In recent years, the brewery has also come to rely on exchange students working under J-1 visas, but they’re often only available during the heat of summer and are gone by early September. Despite all that, Carla said the brewery just couldn’t get enough help in the kitchen.
“Everything is made from scratch and everything is made fresh to order,” Carla said. “That’s a process that takes a lot of people.”
Something had to change. One option was to lower their standards, such as using frozen French fries and pre-cooked burger patties (also frozen). But Carla knew that just wasn’t the right answer: one of the reasons people came back to Backslope was the quality, and cutting corners would inevitably damage their hard-earned reputation.
“We needed a menu that could be prepared by the kitchen staff we have, not the kitchen staff we wished we had,” Carla said.
And so, over the winter, Carla and Kenneth began plotting a refresh. In fact, “refresh” might be too weak of a word to describe it. The Backslope crew decided to toss the entire menu and start from scratch, crafting something that would maintain the brewery’s dedication to quality while also giving the kitchen staff a little more room to breathe. Pairing the menu down just to a few popular items — just burgers and fries — was an option, but one that didn’t excite the kitchen crew. So Kenneth started to look out across the Flathead Valley to figure out what it needed. Mediterranean food was the answer.
Kenneth has long been a fan of the cuisine emanating from the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, such as Morocco, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Greece. The cuisine features a mix of influences, often using ingredients common to the region, such as olives. It also heavily relies on meat cooked on spits (usually pork, beef or chicken that has been skewered into a tower and cooked while rotating. It then can be sliced to order).
“I love Mediterranean food, and when it’s done right, it’s so delicious,” Kenneth said.
Main courses are now dominated by pita sandwiches, including the Shawarma Pita, featuring a choice of pork or house-made falafel, tahini sauce, hot sauce, pickled red onion, cucumber, tomato, cabbage, feta, and cilantro served in a pita with house fries (it can also be ordered as a bowl). The American Pita features pork or falafel with mixed greens, cheddar, Monterey jack cheese and garlic mayo. Appetizers include a House Hummus plate with olives, feta, pickled vegetables and warm pita, or a plate of house falafels. Kenneth notes that some of the dishes are an Americanized version of Mediterranean food, but they wanted to make sure that everyone who comes to Backslope could find something on the menu to enjoy. Of course, for those looking for more traditional fare, Backslope’s popular Standard Burger remains on the menu.
Kenneth said a big advantage to the new menu is that it’s much healthier than the previous one, and the amount of sugar used in the kitchen has dropped significantly (in fact, the predominant sweetener used in the kitchen now is pineapple juice and dates).
But the biggest advantage to the new menu is the time it takes to produce each dish, which has dropped dramatically. With the old menu, an entree might take 15 minutes to go from order to plated (what the folks in the kitchen called “ticket time”). But now, it can be on the plate in three minutes.
“We have created a system that allows us to keep being a ‘made from scratch’ kitchen,” Carla said. “And it’s now a manageable level of work for the kitchen.”
While some long-time regulars have lamented the departure of their favorite dishes, Carla said those who have tried the menu have loved it. And it’s possible that old favorites will make a return to the menu in the future, particularly during winter when things are a little slower.
Backslope Brewing is located at 1107 9th Street West, along U.S. Highway 2, in Columbia Falls. The restaurant and brewery is usually open Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., although they hope to be open seven days a week this summer. For a look at the new menu or to get the most current hours, visit backslopebrewing.com or call (406) 897-2850.