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Features
1 July 2014 2.00 h

Big in Anchorage

Can you rec­om­mend a place to have lunch with friends?
–If you love meat, you must go to Club Paris. It has been on An­chor­age's din­ing scene since 1957, be­fore Alaska had even gained its state­hood, and is the city's old­est steak­house. The restau­rant fre­quently gar­ners many local awards, in­clud­ing “best steak”. The menu of­fers as many as eight dif­fer­ent cuts of steak. Club Paris also spe­cial­izes in fresh seafood like prawns, scal­lops, lob­ster and crab. For lunch, you can order lighter fare, in­clud­ing quiche and sand­wiches.
Where would you have a spe­cial din­ner for two?
–As I men­tioned be­fore, it may be dif­fi­cult to get away from the typ­i­cal steaks-and-seafood restau­rants in Alaska, but one place to try is Sacks Cafe. Sure, there's king crab legs and fresh hal­ibut, but these are paired with Asian veg­etable slaw and co­conut curry, re­spec­tively.
When is the best time of year to plan a visit? 
–Sum­mer, def­i­nitely. With a range be­tween 10 and 26 de­grees, the weather is just per­fect.

Jordi Vera ar­rived in An­chor­age fol­low­ing his heart. He's mar­ried to an Alaskan who he met in Barcelona a few years ago and now he is in the con­struc­tion busi­ness.

Why did you leave Cat­alo­nia?
–I must admit that I never thought about leav­ing Cat­alo­nia. I had a good job there and my fam­ily and friends. Then I met this lovely girl from Alaska, and you can imag­ine the rest of the story!
Are you happy with the job op­por­tu­ni­ties in An­chor­age?
–Well, An­chor­age is Alaska's biggest city, with more than 300,000 in­hab­i­tants. Eco­nomic ac­tiv­ity is re­ally thriv­ing nowa­days, so you can find a nice job if you are will­ing to work hard.
What do you think is the best thing about liv­ing there?
–I know my an­swer might sound un­usual, but I love the weather here. Warm in the sum­mer, cold in the win­ter. It's the right place to be if you hate hot weather, like me.
What would you most like to change?
–Dis­tances. Here you have to drive or fly for hours every time you go any­where. I miss the short dis­tances we have in Cat­alo­nia and in Eu­rope in gen­eral. On the other hand, it's a small price to pay in order to enjoy some of the most beau­ti­ful spots in the world. Alaska is a par­adise.
What do you miss most from home?
–Prob­a­bly my mum's meals! It could be a lit­tle bor­ing here in Alaska if you don't like meat, be­cause they eat it a lot. They love bar­be­cues and they're not into the Mediter­ranean diet very much.
What do you con­sider the high­lights for any brief visit for the first time?
–I would sug­gest start­ing with a visit to the An­chor­age Mu­seum, which fea­tures per­ma­nent ex­hibits of Alaska art, his­tory, sci­ence and Alaska na­tive cul­ture. It also fea­tures a ro­tat­ing sched­ule of ex­hi­bi­tions from its per­ma­nent col­lec­tion, and trav­el­ling ex­hibits from other mu­se­ums in the Lower 48. The mu­seum also houses a plan­e­tar­ium and a restau­rant.
Are there any places to avoid at all costs?
–I'd say you should avoid Moun­tain View and Fair View. While the city is ac­tively try­ing to clean these areas up by putting in parks and trees, it still has a ways to go.
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