There is no wrong time to walk into Sure Hand restaurant. The new restaurant and cocktail bar begins the day with farm eggs and sourdough, then rolls into lunch with shared plates and sandwiches, and finally settles into an evening with entrées and happy hour drinks. Its official philosophy says it all: “Open ’til closed.”
Sure Hand is inside Faraway Jackson Hole, the recently opened hotel in the former Snake River Lodge. The restaurant sits just a short walk from the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort tram and lifts, making it an easy stop before or after a day outside.
More than a convenient hotel restaurant, Sure Hand is designed to become a gathering place for locals and visitors. Its menus combine familiar comfort food, regional ingredients and enough playful details to keep things interesting.
Start the Day at Sure Hand
Breakfast and brunch are served from 8 to 11 a.m., with options ranging from steel-cut oats to biscuits and bison gravy.
Hattie’s Plate offers a classic start: two local farm eggs, Idaho potatoes and toasted sourdough handcrafted in the Tetons. Diners can add Nueske’s bacon, chicken-apple sausage or ham steak. The menu takes a more distinctive turn with corn griddle cakes topped with maple-thyme butter and huckleberry-lemon compote. Green Eggs and Ham pairs farm eggs and ham steak with salsa verde, caramelized onion and Idaho breakfast potatoes.
For something decidedly Western, the biscuits and bison gravy arrive with farm eggs. The dish delivers the stick-to-your-ribs satisfaction required before a full day in the mountains. Lighter breakfast choices include steel-cut Mountain Oats, a seasonal fruit and yogurt bowl, and Wrangler’s Toast. The latter tops locally made sourdough with avocado, pickled golden beets, sesame, citrus and herbs.
Trail Provisions and Supper-Time Favorites
At 11 a.m., Sure Hand shifts into its all-day menu. Starters appear under the fitting title “Trail Provisions,” but these are several steps beyond anything tucked into a hiking pack.
Skillet cornbread comes with whipped honey butter, chives and Maldon salt. A smoked Snake River trout spread is served with grilled sourdough and chile oil. Buffalo carpaccio gets a briny, savory finish from crispy capers and garlic aioli. The tomato soup offers a familiar favorite with a local twist. It comes with handcrafted sourdough, a Parmesan crisp and chives.
Among the handhelds, the Ranch BLT layers burrata, Nueske’s bacon, heirloom tomato and butter lettuce. The Bovine & Swine sausage corn dog features sausage from the Jackson Hole craft-meat producer, wrapped in cornmeal batter and served with huckleberry mustard. It may be the menu’s purest expression of playful Western comfort food.
The larger supper dishes continue the regional theme. Crusted rainbow trout comes with brown butter, greens, lemon and almonds. The peppercorn-crusted bison is paired with brandy cream, broccolini and a blue cheese potato croquette.
Other entrées include confit duck leg with orange-fennel risotto, a Snake River Farms Wagyu sirloin and Frontier Brick Chicken with greens, herb vinaigrette and fries. Vegetarians can dig into charred lemon risotto with Parmesan, grilled fennel, chile-garlic broccolini and roasted local radishes. A cheeseburger, turkey club and chicken salad round out the menu for anyone who wants something straightforward after a long day outside.
Settle In for a Sure Hand Cocktail
The cocktail menu carries the same sense of place, with drinks named for Western landscapes, plants and legends. Western Grace combines Wyoming Whiskey, sage honey and lemon. The Faraway Mermaid brings together spicy tequila, lime, jalapeño agave and Tajín. Indian Paintbrush pairs gin and Aperol with strawberry and lemon, while the Woven Antler blends amontillado sherry, orange and mint.
Then there is the Horse Whisperer. Its ingredients remain a mystery. The menu offers only one tantalizing clue: “Locals know, guests discover.”
Guests skipping alcohol can choose between the Wild Acre, made with pineapple, lime, rosemary, cherry and club soda, or the cucumber-and-mint Cold Spring. The beer selection includes Roadhouse Brewing Co. drafts alongside cans, bottles and a nonalcoholic lager.
A New Place to Linger
Sure Hand anchors the lobby of Faraway Jackson Hole, where a “Wild Western Homestead” design blends warm natural materials, alpine influences and residential details. A wood-burning hearth reinforces the feeling that guests should settle in rather than rush through a meal.
That versatility may prove to be Sure Hand’s greatest strength. It works for eggs before the lifts open, cornbread and a cocktail in the afternoon, or bison and brandy cream after sunset.
