Pi Day in Palmer Town

Thursday is another favorite holiday celebrated in Palmer. For you proud math geeks, this of course means Pi Day, which is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol for 3.14159. Pi Day is our annual opportunity to talk about numbers, say Happy Birthday to Albert Einstein and eat Palmer Pie.

Palmer Pie Time—A tiny tradition in Palmer is to eat pie at this exactly 3:14pm as a part of the celebration. Here are some Palmer Pie choices for your indulgence and celebration:

• Vagabonds offers Banana Cream Pie

• NonEssentials offers special Blueberry pie with a super special crust

• Turkey Red offers coconut cream pie and a peanut butter mousse pie.

• Downtown Baby Pies are available at the Palmer Downtown Deli for $3.14 in the flavors of apple, cherry, strawberry cream, chocolate, blueberry, pecan, mixed berry, and coconut.

• A full array of attractive pies are always waiting for you in the happy pie case at the Valley Hotel,

Palmer Green Day Gallop—The Green Day Gallop is Sunday and it is a St. Patricks day running event that Mat-Su Miners and Active Soles Performance Footwear host. Folks are encouraged to get together and stay active! There is a full marathon, half marathon, 5K and a free kids 1 miler run. All races start and end at the Palmer Depot along with registration and bib pickup.

St Patrick’s Day in Palmer—Once again the Downtown Deli scores with their Irish specialties in preparation for Saint Patrick’s day. Dinner service will be family style Irish and Irish American. House cured corned beef (with Alaskan cabbage, carrots, and potatoes), colcannon, Irish Stew, lamb shepherd’s pie.

More Downtown Dining—It’s low light on a grey Palmer dusk Saturday evening. Street lamps are on and the mountains are in dark profile. There are candles on the restaurant tables, art on the walls and acoustic guitar instrumentals in the background. It’s time to relax and enjoy a fine dining experience in Palmer.

Palmer Chef Chip Dunlap and sous chef in training Jacob Frye collaborated and created a masterful dining experience this past weekend at the Palmer Downtown Deli. The meal began with roasted shrimp cocktails, sea scallop and shrimp ceviche and hot bubbly smoked salmon dip. And that was just the appetizers! Root cellar salad and Creole Caesar Salad were next. Main courses were Seafood Manicotti Arrabbiata, Stuffed Rockfish in Pastry and Shimp & Grits. Finally there was Strawberry Shortcake and Bread Pudding with a Whiskey Sauce.

The entire seafood theme is out of respect for the Lenten season which just began last week. Grilled asparagus was perfection. The ceviche was delicious mouthfuls of bay shrimp, scallops, lime and lemon drowning in their own savory juices. The root cellar salad wore sweet little radish and carrot hats balanced on chunks of beets, and turnips. The Alaskan rockfish was stuffed with artichoke parmesan and jalapeño filling, all wrapped up sweetly into a tiny parcel made of buttered filo dough. Because Kevin Brown, the owner of the Palmer Downtown Deli is a “southern boy,” often you will see some “southern cooking” surface. This is surely true with the big, fat shrimp and cheesy stone ground corn grits, swimming in just a touch of savory sauce. Okay. Now here is the exquisite finale: desserts. The strawberry shortcake with house-made clotted cream, fresh berries and fresh basil was beautiful. But oh my….the bread pudding with whiskey cream sauce was the firecracker.

Elegant Meals on Mainstreet—When you are indulging in fantastic food like this, it’s hard to remember you’re dining in little, cozy Palmer, Alaska. Turkey Red has always been the finest and fanciest. But the Palmer Downtown Deli and Edelweiss at the Colony Inn are raising the bar in terms of culinary excellence weekend opportunities in Palmer Alaska. We are so fortunate to have several restaurants of this fine dining quality in our town.

Barbara Hunt is both Palmer writer and artist. She works hard to keep the robust pulse of Palmer, Alaska. She shares the good stuff and occasional reviews on the weekly Palmer Alaska Buzz in the Mat Su Valley Frontiersman and daily on the Palmer Alaska Buzz Facebook Group. Contact at bhunt@mtaonline.net