• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

A breakfast buffet at Cristina's.   (Photo: Kirsten Shultz )

A carb-loaded breakfast is essential in Sun Valley, so start off early at Cristina’s (520 Second St. E.; 208-726-4499) with a chorizo-and-cheddar omelette or berry-drenched French toast. Not that hungry? Have a muffin and the steaming chocolate-and-coffee “Bowl of Soul” at Java on Fourth (191 Fourth St. W.; 208-726-2882).

The Pioneer Saloon, grilling thick-as-your-wrist steaks since 1950, is the Peter Luger of Ketchum, but with mounted bison heads on the walls.

Rickshaw (460 N. Washington Ave.; 208-726-8481) brings Asian fusion to the bucolic Mountain West with such cosmopolitan inventions as sake mojitos and seaweed-and-ahi salads.

The most innovative local cooking lies seven miles out of town at CK’s (320 S. Main St., Hailey, Idaho; 208-788-1223), where a slow-food ethos means free-range local lamb and homemade sorbet.

Published on November 22, 2006 as a web exclusive.