13 Best Restaurants in Billings, Little Big Horn, and the Montana Plains, Montana

Award-winning Hawaiian-born chef Carl Kurokawa's menu changes monthly, but you can count on fresh fish, often flown in the day before from Hawaii. Other offerings might include proscuitto-wrapped chicken marsala, and London broil made with local beef. Inspired by Pacific and European flavors, yet distinctly American, Carl's cooking is some of the best in the state. The intimate dining areas' decor is impressive, with a pressed tin ceiling in one room and painted scenes of a grape-carrying Bacchus in another. Situated behind a hedge on a residential street, and thus not easily spotted, the building was formerly a stable for the turn-of-the-20th-century sandstone mansion next door. In warm weather patio dining is a popular option.

A restored flour mill houses this restaurant, which prides itself on serving locally raised and processed proteins. Steaks, chicken, and pasta are mainstays, but the seafood selection is also noteworthy. Like outdoor seating options at most Billings restaurants, the patio here is very popular in summer.

People come to this attractive chalet-style building for European, pan-Asian, and American specialties such as quinoa tajine, veal picatta, coconut prawns in Thai curry sauce, and wood-fired pizzas.

Discerning diners flock to Black Eagle, a small community that borders the northeast edge of Great Falls, for dinner at Borries. Regulars favor the steaks, fried chicken, lobster, and burgers, and the huge portions of spaghetti, ravioli, and rigatoni are legendary. Historic photos of Great Falls line the walls, but they're hard to appreciate in the dim lighting.

With its stock of T-shirts, inexpensive jewelry, Indian fry bread mix, and dream catchers, the trading post is touristy, but the small attached restaurant is quite good—as evidenced by the locals who regularly congregate here. Steak is the dish of choice, and there are no fewer than three ways to get it on a sandwich. The several variations of Indian tacos, featuring fry bread as big as a plate, are especially popular.

The menu at this restaurant, part of a regional chain of steak houses, offers a large array of enticing appetizers, such as the rim-fire shrimp cocktail served with wasabi-infused cocktail sauce, creative salads, signature burgers, more elaborate dishes such as seafood linguini, almond-crusted halibut, and filet à la Jakers, a steak topped with crab, asparagus, and béarnaise sauce. Dress is casual, although the cherrywood interior adds a feeling of sophistication.

The historic bar serves excellent pizza and offers the best selection of draught beer and top-shelf whiskey in eastern Montana. Play pool or darts while quaffing one of 40 beers on tap and enjoying a slice or three from one of Mama Stella's locally famous pizzas. There's even a breakfast pizza with scrambled eggs, gravy, and bacon. The bar is kid-friendly except on weekend nights.

Situated downtown near the Alberta Bair Theater, this prime people-watching restaurant has a loyal dinner following, understandable considering its casual yet elegant decor, pleasant, attentive service, and such entrées as buttermilk fried chicken, Alaska king salmon, apple-brined pork shank, and made-from-scratch pastas. Walkers also has an upscale bar scene, attracted, in part, by a tempting selection of craft cocktails served by bartenders so hip they look like they belong in Brooklyn. This is where politicians (such as President Bill Clinton), celebrities and other famous folks dine when they're in town.