Truffle Pigs: Field, BC

Deep in the mountains of Field, BC is the cutest restaurant I’ve ever seen. It’s part of a lodge and it’s called Truffle Pigs. There, I ate the most delicious mussels I’ve had with what was basically a half baguette of homemade bread (also great). It’s one of the best things I’ve eaten.

When I lived out west, I unintentionally ate at some of the loveliest restaurants I had ever been to before, consuming the most delicious food I’d eaten. I hadn’t been exposed to much being 21 and being unadventurous when it came to trying new things. I used to order steak pretty exclusively and some form of potatoes as a side and maybe a salad thrown in for health reasons. I reasoned with myself and whoever I was eating with at the time (usually my boyfriend who would implore me to try something else) that I needed the red meat because I was getting my period and felt low in iron. 

I was introduced to Truffle Pigs by a chef I was working with at a hotel restaurant in Lake Louise. Being tired after a long breakfast shift picking up dishes after busloads of tourists, I walked into the managers’ shared office to fill in my hours and sign out when he asked if I wanted to get lunch with him that week after one of my shifts. We planned for him to pick a place for us to go to later in the week because I didn’t have a car and was unfamiliar with any of the Rockies that weren’t Lake Louise and even then, I didn’t know shit. Working out west was great because you never made plans anytime after your morning shifts besides smoking weed and going for hikes. Occasionally we’d drive into Banff to go to McDonald’s and shop at the Roots there because it was the only clothing store until Calgary that had weather resistant loungewear. 

He picked me up after work and we drove for a half hour to a spot I hadn’t visited before. I had only been to the border between Alberta and BC once and it was along a set of train tracks and this was a different place. We ventured into Field, BC in Yoho National Park where we saw Takakkaw Falls before walking back to the car. They were nice and projected a rainbow where they met the river. 

We drove to what looked like a bright yellow lodge with a parking lot out front. The person who greeted us brought us to our seats right away. The restaurant was huge and filled with locals. It had high ceilings that sloped (you know, in the way lodges do) and it was painted in bright colours like its outsides. It had tons of cute decorations on the walls including pictures and newspaper cutouts of their reviews. The food was so good. The chef I was with ordered us an appetizer (foie gras and baguette, terrible) and I got the special of the day (lamb if I’m remembering correctly, which is also morally bad) and we considered ordering the mussels but we didn’t because it was warm outside and not the weather for it yet. I think I ordered a glass of white wine too. 

The summer started and we were getting excited about the prospective new activities we could do at the lake. Canoeing, running, hiking and swimming. We rock paper scissored for who would pay for lunch and he drove me home. On the way, we stopped at the grocery store and I texted my boyfriend that I had to take him back on our next day off. 

When we were both free, we checked that Truffle Pigs was open for lunch and he drove us there with me using directions from his phone. We ran through the exact same day I had with the chef including the Takakkaw Falls first and parking ourselves at Truffle Pigs for a couple of hours. He also took the lead on ordering and insisted on getting the mussels as previously mentioned, were perfect. We joked about ordering multiple courses for each of us so we could try everything and proceeded to order multiple courses. I have such fond memories of Truffle Pigs and the people who worked there that we grew to know better with each trip. Every time we went back, we ordered the mussels and whatever else we were feeling that day and they became a part of our experience out west together. 

Every time we left, it was as if we were saying goodbye to a loved one that you knew you wouldn’t see for a while. We would go back every couple of weeks. We drove out of the parking lot one night and were stopped at a train crossing for a few minutes. He turned the music up on his phone and we opened our takeout containers that we couldn’t finish because we were too full and picked at what was left of them. 

Years later, a friend I know from high school had posted a picture of himself and a group of his close friends at Truffle Pigs when he was in BC for one of their weddings. I dmed him right away asking for context and how they had found this remote little restaurant I had described to so many people fruitlessly. I never felt able to properly convey just how cute it was, how nice the staff who worked there were or how good the food was. Finally, I had someone I knew from my life at home to compare notes with. He responded right away: Truffle Pigs!!!!!