Photos: Anchorage's restaurant scene booming

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Fat Ptarmigan, the latest effort by the owners of Ginger, serves artisanal brick oven pizza.

Anchorage's seemingly endless appetite for grub continues to swell, judging from the host of eateries bubbling up across town or cooking up plans to open: Everything from national chains like the Texas Roadhouse to locally owned establishments with an Alaskan flair.

The expansion includes a huge burst of new joints in the downtown area and a quadfecta of newcomers making craft pizza, a la the venerable Moose's Tooth, where the masses often migrate.

The explosion means new entrees for the adventurous, such as a beer-and-ice-cream float, a duck pizza topped with a sunny-side-up egg, and, of course, fried pickles.

The growth is a positive economic sign for a city that already plunks down some $450 million annually to eat out, said Bill Popp, executive director of the Anchorage Economic Development Corp. That's about $1,500 for every man, woman and child.

"It's another reflection of Anchorage's current good situation with employment and overall economic activity," Popp said. "If things were tough, restaurants would feel it first and foremost because people stop eating out when their budget is tight."

Importantly, more restaurants are opening than closing in Anchorage, already home to more than 150 locales. In fact, some of the new and coming eateries have been launched by local restaurateurs who've already found success.

Read more: Start salivating, Anchorage: Array of new dining spots on the way