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The OPP is a Missoula institution and a nice place to spend a summer evening on the patio, a winter night cozy in the wood-lined bar, or a Sunday morning recovering from a killer Saturday night. The Old Post regularly hosts music on Friday nights and it's sometimes fun, but there's really not enough space for dancing and the acoustics make it hard to talk over the din.

I like the smoked salmon salad, the teriyaki chicken wrap, and the $2 pint margaritas on Southwest Saturday aren't shabby, either. Keep an eye on the specials board because they sometimes have great values on kind of fancy and really scrumptious foods. Drinks made with the infused vodkas are a touch pricey but tasty. Brunch is served on the weekends and is worth checking out.

Oh, and the tater tot baskets are crowd pleasers. Especially popular on White Trash Wednesday, when you can also get cheap PBR tallboys and slices of pizza.

Every day, there are two main specials to choose from, one of them often vegetarian, plus a couple of ever-changing soup options. The bread is to die for, the glass case is full of tasty and healthy sandwich and salad options, plus some less healthy but equally tempting desserts, and she stocks a wide variety of interesting drinks.

Penny was the chef at the Paris Gibson Square for some years, and her artsiness is shown both through her food and through her extensive collection of modern quilts hung throughout the bright space.

Open for lunch only. Catering also offered.

In addition to interesting linens and fancy Japanese rice cookers and tiny colanders and Emile Henry kitchenware, there's also a nice little wine selection in the back and an espresso bar in the front near the door. The people who work here are always very knowledgeable and helpful and the shop smells amazing. It's much larger than it appears from the street.

The perfect spot to look for wedding presents or just to browse fun and random kitchenware and dream of knowing how to use it all.

But Pizza on the Fly is the go-to place between 11pm and 2am in downtown Missoula. Forget breakfast...what I really want while I'm contemplating the walk home or waiting for the drunk bus is a piece of pizza...and if it costs me $2.50, all the better.

If you want to get fancy, PotF gets its crust from local French bakery Le Petit Outre and is recognized by the Sustainable Business Council. But eating a massive piece of cheese pizza while warding off the cold Missoula winters, that will be the last thing on your mind.

It gets 4 stars instead of 5 because it's open really sporadically and has been disappointingly closed on a number of important evenings. It's also open for lunch on weekdays (most of the time).

So I am a tad bit biased.

Taco del Sol is home to Mission style burritos, tacos, nachos, Jarritos soda, cheap beer and wine margaritas, rotating art for sale, and smiling hipster counter staff. Although the locations off Broadway or Reserve are nice if you want to get in and out, the original downtown location offers better people watching, a better vibe, better tunes, and a much higher likelihood of running into someone you know, even if you are just passing through Missoula.

Personally, I am a fan of the Mission with chicken and black beans and guacamole, but other friends are fish taco and veggie burrito devotees. The half size is still huge.

Consistently voted by the local alternative weekly as the best place to eat in Missoula for under 7 bucks and the best place to eat alone. I couldn't agree more.

The Missoula Club is one of those old school bars where the lights are bright and the pool table is cheap. It's Missoula's oldest bar, I believe, and it has tons of old photos on the wall and generations of Missoulians' names carved into the bar. But the burgers are what bring people. I can't fathom attacking one of the triple burgers you sometimes see people struggle with, but a single, with jack cheese, tastes oh-so-good with a $6 pitcher of PBR. Yum.