One of my favorite nights of our Jackson Hole, Wyoming trip was the evening we drove to Teton Village. We were staying at Spring Creek Ranch, which is right in between downtown Jackson and Teton Village, so it was easy for us to get to both bustling areas.
Teton Village feels much more like a resort. It has multiple hotels, a plethora of dining and shopping options, and of course, all the attractions that come with visting Jackson Mountain.
In the winter, Jackson Mountain is packed with skiers. In the summer, it's a popular hiking and mountain biking spot. We took the gondola up to the top for happy hour at Piste. More on that in an upcoming post.
After our gondola ride, we headed to Teton Thai for dinner. This restaurant came highly recommended, but everyone warned us that they do not take reservations.
We parked behind the restaurant, and as we walked toward the patio we could see that every table was taken and a line had already formed to put your name down. The host quoted us a wait time of 30-40 minutes, but told us we were welcome to order drinks and he'd bring them to us while we waited.
We ordered a smattering of cocktails. The stand out of the group with the Thai iced tea spiked with vanilla vodka. The girl sipping that said, "This is simply perfect. In every way."
The rest of us didn't have as much luck. The margarita was bland, and the two of us who ordered the Orchid of Siam cocktail (Tito's vodka, St. Germain, fresh lemon juice, club soda) felt it tasted like watered down, flavorless lemonade. A huge bust.
When our name was called, the host ushered us inside to a table tucked into the front corner of the dining room. While we had hoped for a table on the patio, at this point we were too hungry to wait.
We ordered three appetizers. The first to arrive was the fried dumplings. They were stuffed with a mix of chicken, shrimp, pork, shiitake mushrooms, dried garlic and green onions, served with a sweet soy sauce.
As the girls enjoyed them, one commented, "These have awesome flavor. The outside is so crispy." Another friend loved her first bite, but also warned it was super hot (temperature-wise). She actually wound up burning the roof of her mouth.
Next came the egg rolls. A light and crispy shell packed with veggies and glassy noodles and served with a sweet and sour sauce and crushed peanuts.
These were super delicious and addicting. They had cut them all in half, so you could easily eat 4-5 pieces without even thinking.
To complete our appetizer trifecta, we also ordered the green beans, which were stir fried in Thai black sauce with garlic and topped with sesame seeds.
These were super yummy. The sauce was sticky, in the best way.
For the main course, three of us ordered Pad Thai. These were huge portions. A mountain of noodles!
Each plate was garnished with a large amount of carrots. Not quite sure what that was about, but none of us wound up touching that part of our plates.
To my left, a friend had ordered the Pad See Ew, which is flat ice noodles, egg, broccoli, cabbage and a sweet soy sauce.
After a few bites, she admitted, "This isn't the best version of this dish that I've had. I wished it was wide noodles. That said, they did give me a lot of tofu and broccoli. I would give it a B."
Next to her, a friend was enjoying the Pad Woo Sen, which is glassy noodles, egg, cabbage, celery, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, bean sprouts, and a Prick Nam Pla sauce.
"This dressing was delicious! It had a strong lime flavor. I love this style of noodle and they cooked the tofu really well," she said.
Each of us barely made it half way through our massive plates of noodles and we wound up asking for five boxes so we could take it all home.
Our waitress, Jess, deserves a serious shout out. Every seat at Teton Thai was taken for the entire two hours we were there and the line never shortened. She and the rest of the team worked their butts off all night, running from table to table. Despite how busy it was, she was still so friendly, kind and even cracked a few jokes with us.
If you want to experience Teton Thai during your Jackson Hole visit, I recommend going early. There will surely be a wait at any time, but going right when they open will give you the best chance for a patio seat.
They are open for lunch too (starting at 12pm), Monday - Saturday. They are closed on Sundays.
Teton Thai is located at 7342 Granite Loop Road, Teton Village, WY 83025.
