By Paddy Notar
Turnagain Times Correspondent

I went to Hope this weekend. I never knew they had a Fine Arts Gallery. As I was walking down the street, I noticed a place to my right called Sherritt Fine Arts Gallery & Gifts. You want to talk about some nice things? This place has a lot of fine arts. On display was artist Susan Anderson’s hand-forged metal with natural stone pieces. Just beautiful. There are also semi-precious stones forged together with silver to make really nice earrings. If you’re looking for oil paintings that make you stand back and take a longer look then this is the place for you. Scott Sherritt has a painting he did of a rabbit in a fall leaf setting, with light greens and yellows covering the canvas. You have to look hard to really see the rabbit sitting in the forefront. But once you find it, and take in the surrounding colors with your eyes, the painting becomes full. It makes sense, and it’s really a great piece to look at. This guy is an exceptional artist. I highly recommend a visit.

When I got done visiting the art gallery, I walked down the road and had a great bite to eat at Tito’s Café. It’s been the local eating and meeting place in Hope for 30 years, but I’ve never been there. Shame on me. Their wraps, sandwiches and omelets are delicious. The staff is great. They all like to laugh, even if it’s at your expense. So what? This is a fun place to have breakfast or lunch. They have beer and wine and you can get the wraps to go. By the way, the wraps are huge. Much like my biceps.

Thanks to the Huffman Family Dentistry for fixing my girlfriend’s teeth. They provide a great service and have some of the nicest people around. They get rid of your toothache, and they do it with a smile.

The only plus side to the wet summer we’ve had are all of the great mushrooms sprouting all over Hope. The King and Birch Boletus mushrooms are everywhere and usually they garner about $35 a pound. I picked about thirty of them in Hope last week. I’ve never had one before. They are very good. The Boletus reminds me of a more tender Portobello. By itself, added to steak and veggies, or with whatever else you like, this is a good mushroom. I bet it would taste great on a Philly Cheese Steak.

Go to the Brown Bear Saloon if you’re looking for some fun. It’s the best joint in Alaska. Just watch out for the redheads. Their scorn could melt a Harley. Speaking of Harleys, the motorcycle show is Aug. 27 at the Bear, starting at 5:30 p.m. So bring your hogs. There’s live music, door prizes, and always-great food. Come on down. Iyah Ites plays on Aug. 20 at 9 p.m. This is a great band that plays great Reggae.

It looks like Acai Alaska has packed it in for the summer. C.J. von Imhof had a tent set up behind Jack Sprat but it’s not there anymore. He was going to give the Girdwood market a test run. Guess it didn’t pan out this season, but he said they would try to set up permanent location in Girdwood next year. I hope they do. It was a great product and very healthy and would be a nice fit for the local clientele. But you can still get the Acai Bowls and wraps at their Anchorage location at 750 West Dimond at the corner of Dimond and Arctic in the Dimond Square Plaza behind the Village Inn.

I went to Jack Sprat Sunday for brunch. The place was bustling, and it looks like chef Reuben Gerber is running a tight kitchen with orders coming up quickly and every dish looking spot on. Such as the eggs Benedict that I had. Served hot with perfectly poached eggs, and a very nice Hollandaise Sauce that Chef Reuben has obviously tweaked with his own recipe. The asparagus served with it were also blanched perfectly, crunchy and fresh. I will be so brazen as to say—the best eggs Benedict I’ve eaten to date, and I love my Benny’s on an early Sunday afternoon. Next, I’m looking forward to trying the Duck breast with wild morel mushrooms, being served this week (Thursday through Saturday). I’ll meet you there.