Wild Burro - South Dakota

I've done a previous post on wild burros in Nevada.  They looked quite uniform: white muzzle, underside and around the eyes; gray coat; black stripe down the back and tail, black stripes on the lower legs and a black stripe on the shoulder.

I recently saw two wild burros in Custer State Park, South Dakota, which look much more like mules than the burros I saw in Nevada and are more variable in look and color (this is determined from the two I saw as well as pictures of other burros photographed there). The burros in Custer State Park are feral and descend from pack animals used for treks to Harney Peak years ago. I saw these burros along the Wildlife Loop Road northeast of the Buffalo Corrals. I stopped to view one that looked more like the burros in Nevada, although much larger, with a darker coat, a darker underside and lacking the black stripes. 

Wild burro in Custer State Park.

While I watched this burro another burro from down the road saw me and began to approach.  It was a lighter gray, more the color of the Nevada burros, but larger, with more white on the underside and face and lacking the black stripes. 

The two burros together.

We also saw some earlier at a great distance. I was a little disappointed we did not see more of them to get a better feel of the variability. These burros were also less friendly than those I encountered in Nevada, although we did talk to several people that mentioned feeding them. 

Everest Cuisine - Rapid City

Per custom, while in Rapid City, South Dakota looking for a place to eat, we scanned Yelp and Trip Advisor for recommendations. Everest Cuisine was rated no. 1 out of 207 restaurants on Trip Advisor and no. 3 on Yelp. It focuses on Nepalese and Indian food. 

I immediately thought of the Nepalese restaurant we visited in Manchester, New Hampshire, Cafe MoMo, rated no. 1 on Yelp in Manchester. We had a great experience there - fresh vegetables from the garden right next to the restaurant, goat and lamb on the menu. The proprietors from Nepal. For the most part Nepalese food is Indian food with a few twists. One of the twists seems to be goat. We have a very similar restaurant locally, Gul-Naz in Colton, which is Pakistani and Indian food. The Pakistani twist seems to be beef which is not found on traditional Indian menus. 

Everest Cuisine is relatively small with some fun Nepal related pictures on the wall, including a beautiful picture of Mt. Everest. The proprietors are from Nepal. The focus for lunch is their buffet. They did have a regular menu and goat was on it, no surprise given our experience at Cafe MoMo. Judy quickly volunteered us for the buffet and I went along with it. I think if I had to do it over again I would try one of their more unusual dishes, like the goat. 

The buffet offering was fairly limited. They had tandoori chicken, a typical Indian dish, which was very dry. I was happy I only had one piece. I can love tandoori chicken when it is moist, but I find most places over-cook it. The chicken tikka masala, another typical Indian dish, was okay. Not the best I've had, but certainly not the worst. I'm not a huge tikka masala fan unless it is very good. 

Chicken tikka masala was dry.

They had other dishes that I did not write down. One was a chicken dish with green peppers, onions and a nice sauce. The chicken was very tender and not-overcooked - it was the best dish on the buffet and I went back for more of it. A cauliflower and potato dish was also pretty good. A salad had iceberg lettuce with huge pieces of carrot and cucumber in it. It was very ordinary, but we'd had so few vegetables for several days that I enjoyed it, after I cut up the carrots and cucumbers so they would fit in my mouth. I had a mango lassi which was pretty good, a little more of a sour taste which I'm guessing is traditional.  

The chicken with peppers and onions was quite good.

Cauliflower and potato dish was okay. The salad was nice because our vegetable intake had been in short supply. 

I'd read a comment about South Dakota before-hand to the effect that they do not know how to season their food there - everything is bland. I would add that good fresh vegetables are in short supply. Vegetables tend to be out of an imported package. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that. Despite the fact they are surrounded by a great landscape, the growing season has to be pretty short because of the harsh weather. 

So what is it that propels these ethnic restaurants, like Cafe MoMo and Everest Cuisine, to the top of the list in these small towns? I think it is because there is not a lot of variety in the local cuisine. MoMo and Everest stand out because they are very different, a revelation. They fill a nice niche. I read several reviews of Everest Cuisine that talked about how highly spiced the food is. Seriously? Everest Cuisine in the Los Angeles area would struggle. The Los Angeles area has much more variety in the types of cuisines and many Indian restaurants with much better food and food choices. 

For me, if I go to South Dakota again, I'll focus on what they do well there - buffalo and other game meats. We initially tried to go to a traditional steak house that offered that type of food, but it wasn't open for lunch. 

South Dakota Pickled Quail Eggs

I'm always on the lookout for unusual food items and while we were visiting Reptile Gardens outside Rapid City, South Dakota I found South Dakota pickled quail eggs for sale in the gift shop. I've eaten quail eggs many times, but the ingredients looked good: quail eggs, water, vinegar, salt, jalapenos, garlic, black pepper and cayenne. 

I opened the jar in our hotel room that night and was surprised how good they were. Pickled eggs I've eaten in the past, including quail eggs, usually have a hard yolk, and the pickling does not seem to impact much beyond the outside. These eggs were quite soft with a soft yolk and the pickling had penetrated them allowing the vinegary cayenne and jalapeno taste to season it through. 

You can see the cayenne floating around in the jar.

We had a refrigerator in our room to preserve them that night and polished them off the next day, eating them occasionally as we drove around inside Custer State Park. These were good enough that I would have them in the refrigerator to eat at home to add to salads, etc. if they were available. 

You can see the mushiness in one of the eggs inside. 

American Pronghorn - South Dakota

The pronghorn, also known as the pronghorn antelope, is not a true antelope. There are five subspecies: (1) the Oregon pronghorn, found in a small area near the border of Oregon, Idaho, California and Nevada; (2) the Sonoran pronghorn found in southern Arizona and the Sonora province of Mexico; (3) the Mexican pronghorn found in the Mexican provinces of Chihuahua and Coahuila; (4) the peninsular pronghorn, also called the Baja California pronghorn, found in Baja California, Mexico; and (4) the American pronghorn found in the Great Plains. 

Pronghorn in Custer State Park, South Dakota, near the Oak Draw Road.

A closer view of the same male. Note the black on the neck which is not present on a female and also substantially more black on the nozzle than on a female.  

A female in the same area. Note the white forehead which is missing on the male. The male has substantially more black on the face. 

Frontal view of the male. Missing the white on the forehead that the female has.

I've previously posted on the pronghorn, but in our recent visit to Custer State Park and Buffalo Gap National Grassland in South Dakota we had the best exposure to pronghorns I've ever had. The pronghorn is the second fastest animal in the world, second only to the cheetah. However, it can sustain high speeds far longer than the cheetah. The pronghorn can run 35 mph for 4 miles, 42 mph for 1 mile and 55 mph for a half mile.

Females in Custer State Park.

I love the white on the throat and face. Note the teats between the hind legs.

The pronghorn has white fur on the rump, side, breast, belly and across the throat. The horn is a blade of bone that grows from the skull that forms a permanent core. Skin that covers the core develops a keratinous sheath which sheds each year and is regrown. The horns are branched with a forward-pointing tine which gives it the name pronghorn. Females have horns, but they are often barely visible and only rarely have prongs. 

These pronghorn were in Buffalo Gap National Grassland outside Badlands National Park. Note the juvenile on the far right that has a reddish fluffy mane. 

This male was also in Buffalo Gap near the females above

Desert Cottontail

The desert cottontail, also known as Audubon's cottontail, is a species of rabbit found in the southwestern U.S., most of Mexico, and a swath of the U.S. from Montana and North Dakota, near the Canadian border, to Texas at the Mexican border. There are 11 subspecies and I was not readily able to find the differences of the subspecies to try and identify the subspecies of this particular desert cottontail.  

Desert cottontail in Badlands NP, South Dakota.

They are: 13 to 17 inches long, weigh up to 3.25 pounds, have ears that are 3 to 4 inches long, are light gray and brown with a whitish belly, and have a rounded tail that is white underneath. 

We saw this particular rabbit in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Cottontails are very common, but it is unusual to get as close to one of them as we got to this one. 

Moffitt's Canada Goose

I previously did a post on the Atlantic Canada goose and noted that there are seven subspecies of Canada goose and a goose that used to be considered a Canada goose and is now known as the cackling goose, its own distinct species, which is smaller and has four subspecies of its own. The size of these geese and their long necks eliminated the cackling goose. 

Moffitt's Canada geese near Alamosa, Colorado.

The pictured Canada geese were photographed in August near Alamosa, Colorado near the Rio Grande River. Because identifying Canada geese is so difficult I went to a Colorado publication to try and winnow down the number of subspecies. I used Separation of Canada and Cackling Geese in Colorado by Lawrence S. Semo and Robert Righter published in October 2006 and found here. Page 209 describes Moffitt's Canada goose. Moffit's Canada goose is large; has a long, dished bill; a white cheek patch which is often hooked toward the rear crown (and unlike the Lesser Canada goose, the white patch does not extend forward to meet the bill); a long neck; few have a white neck collar; and most have a clean break between the breast and the neck (without the white neck collar).  It is one of the two most common Canada geese in Colorado, the other being the Lesser Canada goose which is a migrant and winter resident, usually arriving in the fall. 

The white cheek patches are hooked toward the rear crown and it has a clean break between the breast and the neck. 

Eating Bison and Elk in South Dakota

We recently visited South Dakota and discovered that bison is to South Dakota what alligator is to Florida and Louisiana - it is on menus everywhere. We had bison as a major part of three meals and had three very mixed experiences. 

Custer State Park has a number of lodges with dining options and we ate at two of them. 

After a day of viewing bison and other wildlife in the park we stopped at Blue Bell Lodge. The lodge is rustic with stuffed wildlife on the walls and paintings and photos of the area and the wildlife. Just what you would expect. We were delighted to find a number of bison offerings on the menu. My wife had bison stew in a skillet and it was just okay. The bison had been cooked a long time and it was mushy and did not have the distinctive bison taste I love. She rated it a 3 out of 5. I got the bison tips in a skillet cooked with green beans, potatoes and mashed potatoes and it was very good, a 4 out of 5. The bison was moist, cooked medium rare as ordered, and the green beans and potatoes went very well together. The setting was wonderful following a day of wildlife viewing.

Blue Bell Lodge dining room.

Bison stew in a skillet with mashed potatoes.

Bison tips in a skillet with green beans, potatoes and mashed potatoes.

The next evening we spent our 35th wedding anniversary at the Sylvan Lake Lodge. This lodge dining room is much more fancy with white table cloths and a more formal setting. The menu was much more extensive and the price was double or more what the prices were at Blue Bell. But the food was at least twice as good. They not only had bison, but elk, pheasant and walleye. We got bison chislic as an appetizer. Chislic is a South Dakota dish of cubed meat, often wild game, either deep-fried or grilled, and served hot on a skewer or toothpick. This bison meat was extraordinary, a 5 out of 5. A nice cut, cooked medium rare and full of flavor. It came with a creamy horseradish Dijon sauce. We both loved it. Judy got a bison tenderloin and let me sample several bites. We both agreed that it may be the best bison we've ever eaten. A 5 out of 5. It cut with a fork, was warm inside, but still nice and pink and juicy. It melted in the mouth. Our picture does not do it justice. I got an elk chop because I don't see elk on menus very often. I find elk very lean and usually over-cooked and dry. But I decided to order it anyway and got it rare - and it came that way. I would have called it a tomahawk rib-eye and it was a very nice piece of meat. However, elk is not bison and the bison wins in the flavor department. The elk was much tougher and it does not have as much flavor as bison. However, that said, it was still very good - a 4 out of 5. This was a very nice restaurant and I would love to eat here again. 

Judy got a hand-made decoration from some visiting artists at the Sylvan Lake Lodge. 

However, the food was the real work of art. Bison chislic.

The chislic was medium rare inside. 

Bison tenderoloin.

Inside the tenderloin - red butter.

Elk chop or tomahawk.

Elk - rare on the inside.

From there to the Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota, just outside Badlands National Park, and one of the worst dining experiences of our lives. Wall Drug is tackiness magnified. Signs are spaced about every quarter mile along the interstate for miles - you almost have to eat there as you've been bludgeoned by the signs. The place fills a full city block and you almost fill slimy as you walk through. It feels like a shopping experience put together by a used car salesman. You feel ripped-off from the time you walk in until the time you leave and you vow you'll never do it again. The website has a picture of a burger on it with a slice of cheese hanging over a thick burger with a big tomato slice and a large piece of lettuce hanging out all sides of the bun and a big quartered pickle spear. My picture shows the "world famous bison burger" we got - a thin, overcooked piece of meat with a single tomato slice that covered about one-third of the bun, an onion slice that was even smaller, two dill pickle slices and a piece of lettuce that covered less than one-fourth of the bun. I don't remember the cost, but it was not cheap and I felt ripped-off. We also got a bison hot dog which was shriveled up from being over-cooked, probably sat in a warming tray for far too long, and a flattened out bun that was form fitted around it with two pickle slices. We both had upset stomachs the rest of the day. Both the bison burger and hot dog rate a 1 out of 5 and that is giving it the benefit of the doubt. 

Inside the Wall Drug dining room.

Look at the picture of this burger and the picture on the website. Such a sad little heap of vegetables to complement the over-cooked sorry excuse for a bison burger. Unfortunately, the picture looks better than it actually tasted. 

And you thought the burger looked bad - this bison hot dog looks like part of the mummified hand of the crook whose hand was chopped off and preserved in a church in Prague. 

This bun was wrapped around the dog - no other comment needed. 

So we experienced bison at its worst and its best. I do love the bison as a South Dakota food theme.