I wish I had a photo of Moose’s. Not the large antlered animals, but the restaurant/bar in downtown Kalispell. But my first pictures of Moose’s Saloon, from our visit last summer, disappeared in “the hard drive crash of ’06“, and this evening I simply forgot to take out my camera.
After a long day at the laptop, a day in which absolutely nothing of note happened, it was great to head up to Kalispell for dinner at Moose’s with Eleanor, Emma, Bert and Janie. That’s because a place like Moose’s is a simple pleasure. It’s a place where you can throw your peanut shells on the sawdust-covered floor. A place where the pizza is just fine, and the topping list is limited to the familiar basics — no shrimp, spinach, or chocolate shavings.
At Moose’s you are apparently allowed (perhaps even encouraged) to crave your name on the wall and on the booth, because it has been done so much that not an inch of the place remains pristine. The plates are basic Boy Scout camp-ware, flat aluminum and slightly dented. The drinking glasses are cold and heavy goblets, so thick at the lip that you can barely drink from them.
A square bar makes up half of Moose’s and a dozen or so tall booths of dark wood are the other half. Waitress service is limited to someone delivering your pizza (after you order it at a stand-up window) and picking up the remains. It’s not a place where someone tucks in your bib or even offers little moist towelettes. But it is a place to hang with your good friends over a couple of 15” pizzas and share a pitcher.
It’s also not a photogenic place. From the outside Moose’s is a flat storefront without even an interesting neon sign to beckon you in. From the inside, it’s sleazy-dive dark (but refreshingly free of smoke). It would be a photographic challenge to get a picture that really represented the atmosphere.
If I hadn’t been so busy talking and eating pizza, I might even have remembered to break out my camera and tripod. Maybe I would have gotten a picture for the blog. But that’s what happens at Moose’s. It’s too easy to relax in there.
