Photo Credit: Adam Jones

Many foods do not come cheap in the Yukon Territory due to the long distance they must travel. Moose, caribou, buffalo, and other wild game appear prominently on menus. Whitehorse and Dawson City contain Yukon Territory’s greatest number of restaurants, including many fast food chains commonly found in southern Canada and the United States. Alcohol is either difficult to find, very expensive or banned altogether outside of Yukon Territory’s bars and six Yukon Liquor Corporation stores.

Bars and Pubbing in Yukon Territory

Many of Whitehorse’s major watering holes are located within the capital’s hotels, such as the Yukon Inn’s Boiler Room (4220 Fourth Avenue, Whitehorse) and the Town and Mountain Hotel’s Lizards Lounge (401 Main Street, Whitehorse). Most Whitehorse bars feature live music and ales from Yukon Brewing Company, the territory’s main source of drafts.

Yukon Territory’s liveliest nightlife, however, may be found in the smaller Dawson City, especially during the seemingly endless warm summer nights. Live bands frequently perform at the pub and lounge bar at the Midnight Sun (Queen Street and Third Avenue, Dawson City), as well as the raucous Bombay Peggy’s (Princess Street and Second Avenue, Dawson City). However, Dawson City’s most infamous drink is served at the Downtown Hotel’s Sourdough Saloon (Queen Street and Second Avenue, Dawson City). Roughly 65,000 Sourtoe Cocktail Club members have successfully downed beverages containing preserved human toes.

Only one gambling hall from the Klondike era remains in Dawson City, Diamond Tooth Gertie’s, (Fourth Street and Queen Street, Dawson City). One step inside and you’re automatically transported back to the boom years, complete with nightly ragtime piano and cancan dances. All revenues from the hall’s slot machines, poker, roulette, and blackjack games go directly to Klondike historic preservation. Whitehorse offers similar Klondike-era entertainment, minus the gambling, at the Westmark Whitehorse Hotel’s Frantic Follies show.

Dining and Cuisine in Yukon Territory

Whitehorse’s most upscale restaurant may be the Edgewater Hotel’s Cellar Steakhouse and Wine Bar (101 Main St, Whitehorse), which serves a wide selection of appetizers and tapas before its entrees of steak, prime rib and fish. More affordable and vegetarian-friendly cuisine can be found on the menu at Pasta Palace (209 Main Street, Whitehorse) or at any number of the city’s growing coffeehouses, such as Midnight Sun Coffee Roastery (4168-C Fourth Avenue, Whitehorse).

Dawson City’s restaurants are fairly affordable, at least by Yukon Territory standards, but many of them drastically reduce their hours or close altogether once winter hits. One of the town’s most famous spots is Klondike Kate’s Restaurant, (King Street and Third Avenue, Dawson City), which serves classic Yukon cuisine alongside more experimental offerings inside one of the town’s oldest buildings. Aurora Inn (Fifth Avenue and Harper Street, Dawson City) offers generous tastes of Germany and Switzerland inside its friendly dining room, including a romantic cheese fondue for two.

Food options in Yukon Territory’s southernmost community, Watson Lake, include the Greeks at the Junction (Junction 37 and Alaska Highway, Watson Lake), one of the territory’s few Mediterranean restaurants, and the Pizza Palace Restaurant (P.O. Box 370, Watson Lake. Many Alaska Highway truckers stop at BeeJay’s Cafe, situated inside a dilapidated truck stop, for their generous portions of traditional diner dishes.

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