8 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.

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.

There are daily soup and sandwich specials at this family-style deli, where the bread is all homemade. The menu lists a lot of healthful choices, as well as salads, nachos, and baked potatoes.

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.