Taste of the Slopes

The only thing better than skiing through a fresh coat of powder on a clear, sunny day is making your way to the après ski spot for a hot meal and a tasty drink. Whether you’re looking to warm up with a bowl of Thai noodles, chow down on a hearty dish of steak and potatoes, or sip on a creative cocktail, these four restaurants are great places to hit after you’re done with the slopes.  

Near Gunstock Mountain: Junction Restaurant & Provisions
51 Elm St., Laconia

The Crispy Brussels with pork belly croutons and maple vinaigrette make for a hearty starter. Photos courtesy Junction Restaurant & Provisions

Skiers coming off Gunstock Mountain can warm up, quite literally, with a flaming cocktail at Junction Restaurant & Provisions.  

“Around this area, there aren’t too many craft cocktail places,” says owner Terrence Burney. “We spend a little extra time doing some of our cocktails, but I think people that come here and try them understand why we do that.” 

The presentation is flashy and often involves live flames: The Ember Margarita is lit on fire before it’s brought to the customer; the Inflated Manhattan comes with a fake $100 bill on top that also gets a tableside burning. 

Junction’s Fried Chicken Sand features sweet tea-brined chicken, homemade pickles, and a buttermilk and chive dressing.

Burney grew up on Sanibel Island, Florida,  and started working in restaurants when he was 13. After a brief stint in college, he got back into the dining game as a corporate trainer, opening up new locations of a chain restaurant across the country, which he says helped him become efficient at the backend parts of running a restaurant. 

After opening his own restaurants in Florida, he made a COVID-inspired move up to New Hampshire. Junction Restaurant opened in the summer of 2025.

“I wanted to do something a little different from the norm for this area,” Burney says of Junction’s food menu. “You don’t really see a lot of Southern takes on (food) up here.” 

He says about 50 percent of the menu has a Southern spin. Seafood etouffee, a New Orleans stew, was a huge hit over the summer, as was the wild boar ragu.

The lobster popeye is also popular, though it goes off the menu in the winter since lobster prices skyrocket. Duck poutine isn’t necessarily Southern but sells quite well —it would be a nice way to carbo-load after a day on the slopes. A new winter menu features pimento cheese dip and a shrimp and grits dish with a deep-fried great cake.

In addition to the sit-down restaurant, Junction has a small market with prepared meals and provisions from local vendors for sale. If skiers don’t have time to have a full meal, they can grab a beer and a meal to go. It’s also a good place to stop avant ski: They make breakfast sandwiches from 8 a.m. to noon every day. 

Near Cannon Mountain: Chang Thai Cafe
77 Main St., Littleton 

Chang Thai offers a variety of warming curry dishes that can be made to your preferred spice level. Photo by Jenn Bakos

Thailand native Emshika Alberini moved to New York in the early 2000s to attend graduate school for organizational management. 

While she was studying in Albany, her sister, Sriwipha Phathan, was working as a chef in Englewood, New Jersey. The two planned to open a restaurant together, but then Phathan died suddenly, leaving Alberini to spearhead the endeavor. “I never said, ‘I’m going to be a chef,’ but (my sister’s) tragic accident drove me to accomplish this, not knowing if I can do it,” Alberini says. “But I did it anyway, with my mom on my side.” 

Chang Thai opened in 2008, the first Thai restaurant on Main Street in Littleton. Alberini says she avoids words like “authentic” or “traditional” to describe the menu, because there is no one “authentic” way to make Thai food. “There’s so much variation in Thailand,” she says. “Pad Thai can be, like, 15 versions in different regions.” Instead, she says the food she serves is contemporary, a mix between traditional, authentic and modern techniques. 

Alberini’s mom, who goes by Mama Nee, is the sous chef and director of kitchen operations at Chang Thai. 

“She doesn’t speak English,” Alberini says. “However, she can read all the tickets in the restaurant, and we have over 100 items (on the menu.) I don’t know how she learned to do that. She’s a very talented woman. She has a cooking skill that has a lot of rich history.”

The Ham Pineapple Fried Rice is a delightful sweet and savory blend. Photo by John Tully Studio

Alberini has learned from her, both by following her recipes and just watching her cook. “My mom taught me to go with the flavor,” Alberini says of her inherited cooking techniques. “Don’t go by measurement, go with the flavor. We taste (the food) and say, ‘Oh, this is what is good.’ ” 

Alberini says people often come to the restaurant after a ski day to “get comfort food, to warm their bellies up” with meals made in a way Alberini says you can’t find anywhere else. One popular winter dish is the traditional Thai-style noodles in a “very spicy” Tom Yum broth. Alberini also shouts out the Tamarind Duck, which simmers for an hour in a base Mama Nee makes from scratch. The Curry Steak also is her mom’s twist on a traditional Thai dish. 

“My mom will marinate it with chili paste for 24 hours at least. Then we make curry paste and we put that on top of (the steak),” Alberini says. “Usually, this curry paste goes with a seafood … but we feel like they go well together.”

Alberini is determined to stay fresh despite being a local staple for 18 years. “You can’t be the same. Every year is different. There’s a learning curve every single year.” 

One way they’ve grown is by incorporating more local ingredients when they can. 

“I don’t call us ‘farm to table’ … but I’m part of helping local farms by using their ingredients seasonally based on what’s available that month,” Alberini says. Being an active member of the local community is crucial to success. “It’s not a trend to become part of the community,” she says. “Our little town is small, but its quality is big. Come visit us!”

Near Loon Mountain: Gordi’s Fish & Steak House
260 Main St. at the Depot, Kancamagus Highway, Lincoln

Decades-worth of ski paraphernalia cover the walls at Gordi’s. Photo Courtesy Gordi’s Fish & Steak House

Ever since Gordi’s Fish & Steak House opened in 1986, it’s been a tribute to the ski community. Two of the four founders were Olympic skiers themselves: Gordi Eaton was on the 1960 and 1964 Olympic ski teams; and Karen Budge Eaton was on the 1968 and 1972 Olympic teams. 

These days, 40 years’ worth of memorabilia — like a signed photo of American World Cup alpine ski racer River Radamus, whose mom the Eatons used to coach — plasters the walls.  

The Eatons may have brought the ski connection, but it’s Irene “Muffy” Copenhaver who’s “the real brains behind the operation,” according to the restaurant’s general manager, Bob Shaw. Muffy’s husband, a different Bob, grew up with Gordi in Littleton; eventually, they decided to go into the restaurant business together, with Muffy as their foodie guide.

Shaw has been there for 35 of the restaurant’s 40 years. He says that although the menu has changed slightly over the past 40 years, Gordi’s has been “steak and seafood from day one.” 

“We have everything from filets and ribeyes to salmon and scallops and a lot of fried seafood,” he says. “We also have a lot of chicken dishes and some burgers and sandwiches.” 

One of the staples is the clam chowder, Muffy’s recipe “that we’re not allowed to tinker with at all.” While he won’t share the full secret recipe, Shaw says that what sets it apart is that it’s made without any flour. This makes it a lighter appetizer, and great for people seeking gluten-free options. 

As soon as Loon Mountain’s season starts, Gordi’s offers après ski specials in the bar area: half-price appetizers and a discounted draft beer every day from when they open until 5:30 p.m. For the main course, popular dishes include Gordi’s bleu cheese filet mignon (topped with spicy walnuts, bleu cheese and a lemon demi-glace), the grilled Atlantic salmon (topped with a maple horseradish glaze made from Fadden’s General Store’s award-winning syrup), the chicken “Gordon” blue (sauteed chicken breasts topped with ham, melted Swiss and a cheesy mornay sauce), and many surf-and-turf combos. 

In other words: Gordi’s makes food that’ll stick to your ribs. “We’re not your micro pub with your fancy 2-ounce appetizer that costs you 30 bucks,” Shaw says with a chuckle.

“You’re going to be full when you leave.”

Near Mount Sunapee: Suna
6 Brook Road, Sunapee

Suna’s popular Filet Mignon comes with a side of creamy mash and grilled asparagus, drizzled with béarnaise sauce. Photo Courtesy Magic Foods Restaurant Group

Suna is the newest of the five New Hampshire restaurants that make up Magic Foods Restaurant Group. Scott Ouellette, who co-owns Magic Foods along with Andy Juhasz, started his cooking career as a chef in Atlanta. “I migrated back home just after the ’96 Olympics down there,” he says. “I was a chef for the Australian Olympic team.”  

Ouellette doesn’t consider Magic Foods a chain, but there are some similarities between the restaurants. “We’ve been very fortunate to have a good following, which we attribute to all of our employees, our chefs and our managers,” he says. “(Customers) trust they’re going to get the same quality and service at all the locations.” They can also get some of the same favorite dishes, like the lobster mac and cheese, the Thai-style calamari, USDA Prime New York strip steaks, and the warm blue cheese chips
appetizer, at all locations. 

Where each restaurant sets itself apart is in the specials menu, and Suna has become the location where diners can get a taste of proteins they’ve likely never tried before. Chef Kevin Bedard loves to experiment with unexpected game meat: alligator, antelope, camel and kangaroo have all been on the menu, along with more regionally familiar venison and rabbit. 

These meats provide a fun challenge for Bedard as he figures out how best to prepare them. Kangaroo, which Bedard says tastes like a less-gamey venison, has been served as fajita, “on a sizzle platter and everything.” He usually makes alligator into fritters or stew since it can be a bit tough. With camel, he makes sliders topped with a pineapple salsa. While these animals certainly aren’t local to New England, Bedard says they source from U.S. farms that raise them. 

“People say, ‘I can’t believe I can come to northern New Hampshire and get something this good,’ ” he says.

The cocktail menu, spearheaded by Suki Brown, features familiar favorites like a blueberry lemon drop and cosmopolitan as well as items less commonly spotted in New England, like Cuba libres and Batangas. They offer a happy hour from 3:30 to 5 p.m. every day.

Both Ouellette and Bedard describe the vibe as an upscale menu in a comfortable, casual setting. As Bedard puts it: “We do a
lot of fine dining that you just won’t find in New Hampshire.”