The best follow-up to a trip through Glacier National Park is a mountain-size cut of beef at this top-notch steakhouse, just east of Many Glacier. Pull up a red captain's chair in the bar and toss back a beer with the Blackfeet Reservation locals before heading upstairs to the cavernous dining room, decorated with taxidermy and Native American art. The 28-oz. rib eye is the most popular item on the menu, but it's not just about quantity: This is some of the best beef and bison in the West. The dress? Montana formal—don't bother changing out of your jeans, but you should probably tuck your shirt in.

Open daily 5 to 10 pm, May through mid-October.

Southwest Montana's best small restaurant is recognizable by the distinctive sign: The back end of a gas tanker, parked in front. Makes sense, since the Gourmet Gas Station was originally located behind an Exxon station on Route 191 at Gallatin Gateway. The restaurant is still located on 191 (also known as Gallatin Road), but now much closer to central Bozeman, about a mile south of Four Corners. While the prime rib is a big seller, go for the Mexican dishes, especially the signature Baja fish tacos (yeah, go figure!) or the Wednesday night special, beer-battered chile rellenos. The kitchen's open until at least 9 pm in the summer, making it a popular stop for raccoon-tanned fishing guides and whitewater kayakers headed back from the river.

Open Mondays through Fridays 11 am to 9 pm; Saturdays and Sundays 8 am to 9 pm.

Maybe it's Missoula's northern latitude and long summer evenings that call for lingering downtown, getting an outdoor table, and grabbing a simple grilled burger with a local pint from Kettle House Brewing. The Iron Horse, near Missoula's historic rail station, is a fine place to eat, kick back, and watch the crowds pass. While a 2004 renovation brought a new lounge upstairs and an expanded menu with highfalutin' dishes such as sashimi tuna salad and wild mushroom ravioli, the classic Griz Burger—a half pound of Black Angus topped with bacon, blue cheese, and mushrooms—is still the best thing on the menu.

After turns at the Four Seasons London and the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida, chef Marc Guizel brings southern French cuisine to Big Fork, an upscale resort town on Flathead Lake that attracts Gold Coast golfers and sailors along with wealthy second-homers (kind of like Naples—no wonder Guizel feels at home). Sit in the garden patio, not far from the lake's eastern shore, and try the perennial favorites of French onion soup with Gruyère and fresh fish garnished with grain mustard and saffron risotto.

Livingston, a tiny town at the mouth of Paradise Valley, is home to writer, artist, and actor transplants (including Tim Cahill, Peter Fonda, and Margot Kidder). The Second Street Bistro, located in the vintage Murray Hotel, caters to the unusual local population with French bistro fare with some North African and American twists. Although the dining room's design (basic bar stools pulled up to plain-set tables) is nothing to write home about, dishes like lamb seasoned with Moroccan spices and fried in phyllo dough, flash-fried soft-shell crabs, and pan-seared sea scallops over a crawfish-and-basil risotto are a refreshing change of pace after a few days on the beef-heavy Montana diet.

Open Tuesdays through Saturdays 5 to 9 pm, Sundays 10 am to 2 pm.

The best steakhouse in Montana. You'll find yourself in front of a phonebook-sized T-bone steak so tender you'll wonder why your server brought a steak knife. Sir Scott's is 20 minutes west of Bozeman in the tiny town of Manhattan. (For the best steaks in that other Manhattan, check our New York City restaurant guide.) The license plates in the parking lot are mostly local, and the menu is simple, offering a dozen or so steaks in various sizes and cuts, including a prime rib that's aged in-house for a month. The bar is a popular after-work stop for beers, a game of pool, or a 14-ounce steak for 12 bucks.

An intimate place with a likable mix of influences, not unlike Whitefish itself, a logging and rail town turned high-end resort community. You'll find tourists and second-home owners eating Southern dishes such as a Cajun combo with crawfish étouffée and jambalaya, and cow-country standards like bacon-wrapped tenderloin. Good stuff.