In western South Dakota, the Black Hills rise abruptly from the Great Plains, where the mountainous West collides with Midwestern prairie. Called Paha Sapa by the Lakota people, the "hills that are black" earned the moniker from the dense pine forests that, from a distance, cast shadows making the mountains appear black. Native tribes, like the Lakota Sioux, have called this pastoral paradise home for millennia, with some tracing their creation back to present-day Wind Cave National Park. From a cavern known as Maka Oniye, they formed spiritual bonds with bison, which once numbered in the millions throughout the Great Plains and provided sustenance for tribes.

As the centuries unfolded, and pioneers and settlers gave way to tourists, the Black Hills evolved too. In 1903, Wind Cave, located just south of Custer, became one of the first national parks in the country, and the first cave to be designated as such. This was followed by the infamous carving of Mount Rushmore in 1927, chiseled, hammered, and drilled over 14 years until the 60-foot monument of four U.S. Presidents was complete in 1941. In 1948, work began on the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial, designed by Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski. The ode to the legendary Lakota leader has been underway for decades, due to the slow process of its private funding and its sheer immensity -- at 641 feet wide and 563 feet tall, it's poised to become the world's largest mountain carving.

Thanks to its national and state parks, scenic drives and hiking trails, and theme park-like mountain carvings, the Black Hills has emerged as a seminal all-American road trip destination in the heartland. Spanning 8,000 square miles, the isolated mountain range is a wonderland of shimmering lakes, winding roads, and soaring peaks, including the 7,242-feet Black Elk Peak, South Dakota's tallest. An hour east is Badlands National Park, providing its own otherworldly awe (and proximity to roadside kitsch and doughnuts at Wall Drug). Nearby, in towns like Custer, Hill City, and Deadwood, are timeworn Native foodways, with recipes brought by German immigrants, techniques honed by ranchers, and dishes and drinks made to maximize the local bounty.

With cultural influences as diverse as its terrain, the Black Hills provides a wellspring of food traditions. Bison remains a pivotal provision, as it has for the Lakota Sioux from time immemorial, along with other game meats like elk, venison, and pheasant. Native American foodways continue to thrive and remain a front-and-center facet in the local dining scene, as evidenced by the omnipresence of fry bread and meaty dishes like tatanka stew and a preserved meat called wasna. (Though some menus list buffalo and others say bison, both are technically bison, with the words used interchangeably.) Fish, especially walleye and trout, is also prevalent.

Since the 1800s, western South Dakota has also been a haven for German immigrants, who brought with them ritualistic recipes like chislic (a skewered meat dish that's been christened the official "state nosh") and a custardy dessert called kuchen. Meanwhile, cowboys and ranchers have imprinted their pastimes on the region, giving rise to ramshackle saloons and chuckwagon-worthy provisions like steaks, beans, corn, biscuits, and potatoes.

With its Native American roots and German influence, the Black Hills teems with singular ingredients and dishes.

Fry bread: The most prolific and well-known Native American dish in the area, fry bread is a timeless tradition -- employed by tribes across the country -- used in both savory and sweet applications. South Dakota fry bread is commonly made by deep-frying a dough of flour, water, salt, lard, and yeast (in lieu of the more commonplace baking soda). You'll find fluffy, golden-brown fry bread used for tacos topped with ground beef, alongside stews, or sweetened with cinnamon and honey.

Tatanka: The Lakota word for bison, tatanka is a versatile ingredient that can take many forms, like tatanka stew at Crazy Horse's Laughing Water Restaurant, or tatanka pizza -- topped with ground bison, dried cranberries, and corn -- at Black Hills Sauce & Dough Co. Bison, in general, is a frequent fixture, from burgers to steaks to sausage.

Chislic: The official "state nosh," chislic is a traditional skewered meat snack, typically made with half-inch-thick cubes of meat of any kind (including bison, elk, beef, goat, or venison), that are either grilled or fried. The town of Freeman, in the southeastern part of South Dakota, has its own annual Chislic Festival.

Wasna: Akin to jerky, wasna is a Lakota preserved meat dish, consisting of dried bison ground together with cranberries and grains, and bound with tallow. Today, wasna can be found as patties, or even as protein bars.

Wojapi: On the sweet side, wojapi is a rich berry sauce traditionally created by the Lakota with chokecherries and thickened with flour. Nowadays, wojapi is made with a variety of berries, like huckleberries, blackberries, and blueberries, and often used as a dip for fry bread.

Kuchen: The official state dessert, kuchen is a German import, which translates to "cake," and commonly features a pie-like pastry with fruit and/or custard filling.

With views overlooking the construction of the Crazy Horse Memorial, Laughing Water Restaurant is a prime perch from which to enjoy Native American traditions like fry-bread tacos, tatanka stew bubbling with slow-cooked bison, and wojapi, served as a warm dipping sauce with cinnamon-dusted fry bread.

A 2023 semifinalist for a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest, Joseph Raney -- along with his wife Eliza Raney -- presides over Custer's seasonally driven Skogen Kitchen. Locally sourced and globally inspired, the menu includes soft egg raviolo with lamb bolognese and brown butter, beef tartare tacos with yuzu truffle crema and pickled ramp bulbs, foie gras with creme fraiche ice cream, and buffalo short ribs with dried cherries and toasted pine nuts.

An unassuming sports bar, Buglin' Bull is a frills-free joint in Custer with a surprising abundance of local food traditions. Between the pub grub requisites (nachos, wings, onion rings), you'll find bison sausage-stuffed mushrooms, bison chislic, pheasant confit flatbread, elk burgers, and tatanka strip steaks.

The Black Hills isn't Napa, but it's a convincing substitute at Prairie Berry Winery in Hill City. Winemaker and certified chemist Sandi Vojta uses local grapes, yeasts, honey, and other fruits, which she calls "prairie berries," to ferment, bottle, and pour an award-winning portfolio of wines. Visitors to the lofty hillside property can purchase bottles, glasses, or flights, with options like black currant-based Deadwood, a dry rosé called Badlands, and crowd-pleaser Red Ass Rhubarb.

Right next door to Prairie Berry (and under the same ownership), Miner Brewing Co. marks an extension of Vojta's first passion project. Using more of those Indigenous yeast and hops, plus wheat sourced from her own family farm, the ever-rotating draft list runs the gamut from a chokecherry brown ale to a puckery peach Gose.

Innovative cowboy cooking takes the plate at the Custer Wolf, a contemporary restaurant in Custer that tinkers with traditions and local ingredients to create smoked trout BLTs, walleye chermoula with coconut rice, and cowboy caviar comprising pinto beans, black beans, and corn in a sweet, vinegary medley.

Located outside of Badlands National Park, Wall Drug is a humble roadside stop that's grown into a wonderland of kitsch all its own. In addition to souvenir shops, saloons, an arcade, and quirky additions like a supersize jackalope statue, the pharmacy-turned-tourist attraction is best known for its cake doughnuts, frosted in chocolate, vanilla, or maple icing. There's also a full-blown cafeteria, serving hot beef sandwiches, bison burgers, mashed potatoes, and pie.

A unique use for bison in the Black Hills can be sampled at Rapid City's Bokujo Ramen, a tiny Tokyo-inspired noodle parlor that sources meats locally for things like bison bao buns and bison bone ramen with bison brisket, arugula, sunflower seeds, egg, and scallions.

For something sweet, grab a scoop from Memorial Team Ice Cream at Mount Rushmore, where vanilla ice cream is made with a recipe Thomas Jefferson wrote down in the 18th century.

Cozy cabins and rustic-chic lodging abound at Custer State Park Resort, in close proximity to the Custer State Park visitor center, Sylvan Lake, Black Elk Peak, Needles Highway, and popular hiking trails like Lovers Leap. Chuckwagon cookouts are the main food attraction, coupling scenic wildlife tours and live music with steak dinners in a mountain meadow. For something more formal, the Blue Bell Lodge serves up hearty classics like buffalo meatloaf, buffalo chili, chicken pot pie, cashew-crusted walleye, and cinnamon-baked apple crisp. Cabins range in size, accommodating from two guests up to 20, and rates start at around $200/night.

An architectural beacon in downtown Rapid City, the largest city in western South Dakota, and conveniently accessible to both the Black Hills (to the south) and Badlands National Park (to the east), the Hotel Alex Johnson is among the most prized properties in the region. Built in 1927, the same year that construction began on Mount Rushmore, the historic -- and allegedly haunted -- property features 143 rooms across 11 stories, capped by Juniper at Vertex Sky Bar, where the Black Hills views are accented by fire pits, specialty cocktails and mocktails, and plates like petite filet with blackberry gastrique and fish with dill butter. Room rates start at $183/night.

In downtown Deadwood, a veritable vice city in the Black Hills known for gambling, bygone brothels, and gangsters like Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, the Historic Bullock Hotel transports guests to another era. Named after the town's first sheriff, who may or may not still haunt his namesake hotel, the vintage property puts guests close to all the action, including nearby Mount Moriah Cemetery, a brothel museum, and Saloon No. 10, where Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed in 1876. The hotel boasts its own casino, a bar called Seth's Cellar, and Bully's, a fireside restaurant. Room rates start at $119/night.