When someone enters Hops Downtown Grill, owners Tim and Dana Phillips want them to feel like they are entering their home for a delicious meal.  

It’s a culture that caught the attention of America’s Best Restaurants, a national media project highlighting some of the best local spots across the country.

“Overall, I'm very proud that we were able to represent Kalispell and I’m very proud of the loyal customers and following that has kept us going,” Tim Phillips, co-owner and head chef said, sitting in the front booth of the restaurant before dinner service.  

The downtown location first opened in 1995 as a soup and lunch restaurant, rebranding in 2001 to fine dining after obtaining a beer and liquor license. After the economic recession in 2008, it rebranded again to a specialty burger restaurant. The Phillipses moved to the valley from Oregon and took over the restaurant in 2017, buying it with a handshake. 

Since then, the pair has maintained the spot’s “upscale casual” atmosphere and menu, featuring a range of entrees from meatloaf to Bolognese to burgers to salads. It was a surprise to the Hops’ owners that they were nominated.  

"We weren’t expecting it at all,” Dana Phillips said. 

A restaurant can apply to be featured, patrons can nominate a restaurant or the team behind the project may stumble across a place, according to America’s Best Restaurants chief executive officer Matt Plapp. Besides nomination, there’s a list of attributes considered when selecting restaurants — they must be locally-owned, clean, have a welcoming atmosphere and be active in the community.  

“It's the people that are driving the communities,” Plapp said. “That’s what I love the most about these independent restaurant owners ...  to me that's the true American dream. It's one of the few industries out there like that. Where so many businesses have become corporate, there are still people who are putting in the work. Doing the right things locally.” 

The America’s Best Restaurants website highlights various eateries across the country. Since taking off in 2021, over 1,935 episodes from 46 states have been published. 

Arriving in Kalispell, the film crew started setting up within the restaurant, putting up cameras and lights while Tim Phillips started making a few dishes to showcase in the kitchen. The meatloaf is topped with a sweet and smoky bacon tomato jam. The Hops Burn Burger” is a wagyu patty with thick-cut bacon, pickled jalapenos, fried poblano pepper straws, pepperjack cheese, huckleberry barbecue sauce, and smoked Tabasco aioli. 

While Tim worked on making the meatloaf, J Russell, one of the show hosts, hopped into the kitchen with Phillips to watch the process step by step. 

“When a lot of people think about the best cuisines in America, you’re going to point out cities like New York or Miami, but here chefs bring their talents to other places,” Russell said. “Here, you’re getting world class cuisines at home.”   

Russell went on to say that the bacon jam, made in house by Tim Phillips, was one of the best things he’s ever tasted.  

The meatloaf came to Hops by mistake, Tim said. Instead of ordering 40 pounds of burger patties, Tim accidentally ordered 40 pounds of ground beef. The special that week was supposed to be a rack of lamb, but to use the meat, Tim threw a meatloaf on the specials menu as well. 

They went through all 40 pounds of ground beef as meatloaf in just one weekend.  

“Now, it's a staple,” Dana laughed. “People love it.”  

Everything is made from scratch, Tim said, except for the fries and the duck wings. The gravy is made with Bias Brewing’s Logan's Lass Scotch Ale, the wagyu comes from Range Montana and the pork comes from Farm to Market Pork & Beef. The special of the week is often what Tim is craving, whether it be a curry-based dish or chicken parmesan.  

Tim Phillips grew up in the restaurant world, working in a range of positions at different places throughout the Pacific Northwest. After training under talented chefs and taking classes across the world, Tim said that being able to have agency over the food and service that Hops provides has been incredible.  

“I’m very prideful of my food and the people here,” he said, mentioning that the staff is like a family. “Every night we make more friends and meet more regulars.” 

America’s Best Restaurants plans to release the episode in a couple months, Dana said, aiming for November.  

Hops, located on Main Street in Kalispell, is open every night for dinner, starting at 4:30 pm, and is open Fridays through Mondays for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Reporter Kate Heston may be reached at 758-4459 or [email protected].