If you didn’t know where Becky was from, I could give 1 million guesses at what her favorite restaurant was and you wouldn’t get it. But even if you knew where she was from and I walked you into this restaurant, you wouldn’t guess it. Since the restaurant only serves her favorite food from 6pm to 9pm on Saturday nights, you could be at this restaurant most of the week and have no idea why she likes it.
The Bunkhouse in Agar, SD is Becky’s favorite restaurant. It certainly isn’t for the atmosphere – it’s in an old wood-sided building that’s divided into four sections. The front of the building is the cafe/town grocery store (Agar only boasts 82 inhabitants), the second section is the pool table and the bathrooms (and the kitchen behind the wall), the third section is the bar, and the back section is the restaurant/dance floor/library. The back section has seating for about 50 people and it also features a disco ball and a section of the room where there are books and a computer (used to be a guitar there too). I have no idea the purpose of that room. The restaurant is very poorly lit, and it’s one of the few places in the civilized world where you’re allowed to smoke still.
So, if it’s not the atmosphere, it must be the service. Wrong. It actually took us 50 minutes to get our entrees last night when we were there and that’s pretty much par for the course. Usually, they don’t notice you came in, so you sit there for 15 minutes before you can get a drink. They have three people waiting on all the bar folk and the restaurant, so if you think you’ll be getting your water topped off anytime soon, it’s not happening.
Okay, so it must be the food. On Saturday night, starting at 6 and running until they run out (don’t ask for it earlier – you won’t get it earlier), the Bunkhouse serves Mexican food. The appetizers are chips and salsa with chili verde and the main course is enchiladas. There are no Mexicans or people of Spanish descent running this restaurant, so where they got this recipe is a mystery. The chips are not terribly special, but good. The salsa is really unlike any other I’ve tasted. It’s a dark red salsa with perhaps more of a bean taste than typical. It doesn’t have onions or green peppers sticking out. So the salsa is definitely above average. It’s the chili verde that’s Becky’s favorite food in the world. It’s hamburger, potatoes (in a cubed shape) and red soup. She’s tried to make this at home, but never can seem to duplicate the red soup part. I like it too, and pretty much everyone in Becky’s family likes it as well. The enchiladas are good, but not better than others I’ve tasted. They are hamburger enchiladas with lettuce, cheese and tomatoes with a heavy gravy which is pretty good. It tastes the best with their salsa on top.
So next time you’re in Agar, drive to the only place in town with its lights on and take in the best Mexican food north of the border. We ate their for our grooms dinner, so if you don’t come on Saturday night, you’d better call ahead.
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