The April Edit

April in Montana is truly spectacular. The snow is still on the peaks. The valley is starting to green. The calendar is filling up again. This month's edit is what has been on rotation– the restaurant worth the drive, the boots worth the investment, the show worth the subscription, and the Sunday tradition that never gets old.

The Restaurant Everyone in Big Sky Is Talking About

Akira Back · One&Only Moonlight Basin · Big Sky

If you have not been to Akira Back since One&Only Moonlight Basin opened last November, April is the moment. The resort has settled into itself and the restaurant is hitting its stride.

Chef Akira Back, born in South Korea, raised in Aspen, and a former professional snowboarder before he became one of the most decorated culinary figures in the world, brings his modern Japanese-Korean menu to Big Sky in what is his first alpine restaurant across 30 global locations. The tuna tartare pizza is the order. It is the kind of dish that makes you understand exactly why someone with his background ended up in the mountains.

The restaurant sits within One&Only's Main Lodge, designed by Tom Kundig of Olson Kundig Architecture, the firm behind some of the most quietly extraordinary residential work in the American West. The room holds its own. The food more than matches it.

Open Thursday through Sunday, accessible by the One&Only Gondola or by car. Reservations through oneandonlyresorts.com.

The Boot That Has Been in My Closet on Repeat

Lucchese Dolly · Black Full Quill Ostrich

Lucchese has been making boots in Texas since 1883, when Salvatore Lucchese arrived in San Antonio from Sicily and opened a small shop near Fort Sam Houston. Over 140 years later, every pair still passes through the hands of up to 200 artisans in El Paso before it leaves the factory. That is not a marketing detail. It is the reason the boots fit the way they fit and last the way they last.

The Dolly in black full quill ostrich is the spring pick. Ostrich is Lucchese's number one selling exotic for a reason– it is supple, it molds to the foot, and the quill pattern is something no other material replicates. The silhouette is classic Western with enough intention in the construction to wear anywhere. These go with everything from denim to a dinner reservation.

Lucchese dropped its spring collection and this is the one worth knowing about. Linked on ShopMy.

The Sunday Drive That Never Gets Old

Yellowstone · Spring Opening · April 17th

Yellowstone begins its phased spring opening the third Friday of April, April 17th this year, with select roads and entrances accessible as the snow clears and the park comes back to life. The full loop follows in stages through May.

For anyone within driving distance of the north or west entrance, this is one of the best times of year to go. The crowds are not there yet. The wildlife is. Bison calves, called red dogs for their bright exuberant coats, start appearing in May alongside bear cubs and wolf pups. The park sits at 6,000 to 11,000 feet, so pack layers and expect the unexpected from the weather.

The tradition in this house is a Sunday drive with the kids in the car and nowhere specific to be. This Yellowstone National Park coloring and activity book has been ordered for the road. It is exactly what it sounds like and exactly what is needed for two hours in the backseat. Linked below.

Yellowstone is an hour from Bozeman. There is no good reason not to go more than once a year, and spring is the one most people miss.

The Show That Made Me Want to Get Out on the River

The Madison · Taylor Sheridan · Paramount+

Taylor Sheridan's newest series premiered March 14th on Paramount+ and all six episodes of season one are now streaming. Season two has already been filmed.

The Madison follows the Clyburn family, played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell, as they leave New York and move to the Madison River valley of central Montana after a devastating family tragedy. It is, by Sheridan's own description, his most intimate work. Less muscular than Yellowstone, more emotionally layered. The Montana landscape is not backdrop here. It is the point.

For a fifth-generation Montanan, watching Sheridan's version of this state is its own particular experience. The Madison River valley is real. The fishing is real. The specific quality of light in that part of Montana in the late afternoon is something he gets right. Watching it has made it impossible not to start thinking about getting out on the river.

Filmed largely in Three Forks, Montana, about an hour from Bozeman, with additional production in Bozeman itself. It is worth watching for the landscape alone, and considerably more worth it for what Pfeiffer does with the role.

Streaming now on Paramount+.

Everything worn and featured this month is linked on ShopMy. Charlotte Durham · Big Sky Sotheby's International Realty · charlottenco.com