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We're cruising Alaska inside passage, glaciers, etc., in September. We have a free evening in Juneau. Any suggestions for dining out there? Also have a day + night in Seattle before and after, too... any restaurant ideas would be appreciated (Not The Fisherman's... we already have that in San Clemente.) Thanks!

If you get to Valdez, try a place called Mikes. It looks like a dive, but the food was fabulous...

Ah Mike's...

I was there 2 years ago. We went to Alaska in the last week of Sept to fish for late season rainbow trout. We thought we'd beat the snow by 2-3 weeks.

Well, winter came early and instead of terrific fishing, we wandered from Talkeetna way, way over to Valdez. We'd already fished theKenai penninsula which was so-so and were hoping that a couple of the creeks near Valdez would have some late season silver salmon/dolly varden.

Valdez was completely fogged in and we were strongly advised by the locals to not go down to the creeks because the silver run was poor and the bears were starving. I doubted this, and wondered if we were being sold a tall tale to keep tourists off the river. My brother in law, though, took the advice as gospel and refused to fish anywhere near Valdez.

So we had a night to kill in Valdez...We ended up at Mikes. The only people in the place were two oil workers who stared at us the entire hour we were there eating dinner. I'm guessing they were hoping to pick a fight as there was ABSOLUTELY nothing to do in Valdez, AK in late September.

I'm guessing you wont go up to Valdez or Seward as the cruise lines typically don't go that far when the weather can turn bad in Sept.

As to Juneau - never been there but Alaskan Amber - the main beer of Alaska, is brewed at the Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau. If you're a beer fan, I'd go there as you'll likely be able to sample many of their very yummy beers!

Also, if you're a fisher person, September is a GREAT month to go on a fly fishing guided trip as the streams near Juneau will be full of fish including silver salmon which fight magnificently in their first couple weeks out of the ocean.

You will have an amazing time...

Nope don't fish, although we don't mind watching other people do it, or eating them!
Jimmy has been practicing on the Alaska Amber for a few weeks now. Our usual is Mt. Gay rum, but a little beer never hurts, and we've just been down in the Land of Dos XX.
Funny you should mention the snow... before Alaska, we are going up to the Lassen area LD wknd., and when we did a couple years ago, we ran into 8" of early September snow at Lassen NP!! We had to drive around the base to get from the kin in Shingletown to Drakesbad. It was kinda startling. We think our cruise week is the last or second to last week they go. Jim was saying he could use a little snow, so maybe we'll get some.
Will file the Valdez tips... even tho' this time it's a cruise we may go back and do the using-the-coastal-ferries route.
IMPORTANT! Speaking of fish, since coming to CA 2 years ago, have been doing this sort of ongoing but informal research into fish tacos, and having just been to Ensenada... southern CA people (Santa Barbara and south) where in your opinion, can you find the best fish tacos? My so far 'best' is the Taco Surf in Sunset, just that location. Have tried many others from Dini's to Fisherman's to Las Olas to Wahoo's, even though it's a chain, to Beach Fire, etc. etc. Need some more research samples. Any suggestions?