If you’ve floated to one of Fairbanks’s best restaurants in your kayak, you might as well stop in for a drink or a meal. A restaurant in a historic, corrugated tin building on the riverside might be expected to be touristy, but the food here is award-winning and locals love the Pumphouse. The seafood chowder and pistachio halibut are exceptional, or try exotic dishes such as reindeer or elk.