Los Angeles is not Livingston, Montana. They get purple mountain's majesty, rushing rivers, fresh local ingredients, true saloons and 100-hour cattle ranching work weeks. We get, from what I can gather, just about everything else. There were a slew of Rocky Mountain foods eaten on this week's No Reservations, like true Montana pasties (not to be confused with those tiny little things you'll find in Britain), a timbale of local potatoes with lavender crusted rack of lamb, and pan-fried “prairie foie gras” (antelope liver). But those are things that, put simply, you aren't gonna find 'round these parts.

But we can try for the rest. To re-create that rancher's country breakfast, including biscuits with sausage gravy, the city's consensus seems to be Pann's Restaurant. They also offer a fried trout, but it's lightly breaded and a bit of a departure from the true country version (pan fried in a cabin on No Reservations).

A country breakfast, near LAX; Credit: N. Galuten

A country breakfast, near LAX; Credit: N. Galuten

In fact, “home cooked” was something of a theme on Monday's episode, and seemed indicative of that Montana lifestyle. They grilled steaks cut from their own cattle, baked their own potatoes, cooked their own corn and fried their own rocky mountain oysters (those are buffalo and bull testicles, for the uninitiated). So what should you do if you really want to pretend like you're on vacation in Montana? Load a cooler full of fish, game and steak, throw it in the back of the car, and head out to a camp site. Plus, if you want to try your hand at frying rocky mountain oysters, they are available via special request at Vallarta Supermarket.

Pann's Restaurant, 6710 La Tijera Blvd, L.A., (323) 776-3770, Vallarta Supermarket, 3425 Whittier Blvd, L.A., (323) 980-4400

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