Guest Chef Program canceled for the 2020 summer

We have made the decision to cancel the Guest Chef program for the summer season. This is due to the uncertainty surrounding executive orders in the state of Michigan as it relates to dine-in and restaurants.

The executive orders that have been in place since March 16th in the state of Michigan, and are currently in place until May 15th, indicate that restaurants are not able to offer their dine-in services. We don’t know if these executive orders will be extended or not for dine-in activities.

We had already canceled the guest chef program that was slated to be the first weekend in May with Ben Hunter, and would parlay with the Michigan Tech graduation commencement activities. Michigan Tech had canceled their commencement in late March, and so it didn’t make sense for us to push to have the event even if we were allowed to have dine-in services.

Then this past week, it was discussed at the Lodge if we wanted to push this cool and innovative program with us not knowing if we would be able to offer dine-in services to patrons this summer. The next guest chef week was scheduled for June, and we were to have one each month through October.

If we are able, and feel comfortable, to offer dine-in services later this summer, we will look into the possibility of doing pop-up restaurants with guest chefs.

Until then, we are going to focus on making our bread-n-butter consistently EXCELLENT as a take-out, and eventually dine-in, once we are allowed and feel comfortable to have patrons inside the beautiful and historic Lodge facilities.

We currently are scheduled to open the food and beverage operations at the Lodge for the summer season on April 30th. We will start with take-out, and will open the dine-in activities when we are able and feel comfortable to do so.




Three special events in May have been dissolved

After calls yesterday with leads from Events, Food and Beverage, and Lodging, the decision was made to cancel the first three special events in May. 

This entails “dissolving” the following special events:

These decisions were made due to the uncertainty with the State of Michigan’s mandates that are being issued in association with the health concerns in the world at this time.

With the current situation, Michigan Tech decided to cancel their graduation commencement. Our first event in May, a guest chef program with Ben Hunter, was geared towards graduating Tech students and their families — to celebrate the graduation with a special feast. With graduation not taking place, we did not feel that we would be able to garner enough guests to warrant having the event (assuming we could hold the dine-in event based upon state mandates for restaurants).

For Mother’s Day weekend and lunch, with the unknown surrounding the operations of restaurants, we didn’t feel we could plan and execute well for a glorious Mother’s Day Lunch in the current situation and environment.

For the Back 9 Endurance Race, we were having people traveling from various locations around the country to run the 12- and 24-hour races at the Lodge.  We did not want our enthusiastic runners to be put in a spot of not being able to cancel their flights if we were not able to hold the event due to state mandates. Thus, we decided to make the decision now to cancel the race rather than wait until we were closer to the date of the event.

We will now focus on having our first special event of the 2020 season on May 23rd, which is a wedding. This is also Memorial Day weekend.

We will still plan on opening the Food and Beverage operations on April 30th, and Lodging on May 1st.

The current mandate from the governor of Michigan indicates that lodging and restaurants are considered essential businesses.  Thus, we are able to be open for operations. However, we will adjust how we can operate based upon if that mandate goes past our official opening date. For example, if we are not able to have dine-in services at that time because of a state mandate, we can figure out take-out operations to our guests in the cabins and others in the area of the Keweenaw. We take it step-by-step, and adjust accordingly.




Join us for a Mother’s Day Weekend of activities!

The snow is deep and the air is cold, but it’s not too early to start thinking of those first blooming flowers and the warm sunshine on our faces. Mother’s Day and spring go hand in hand, come and celebrate Mom and one of the first weekends of spring with us at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge!

Mom works hard all year, and we have a whole weekend planned to celebrate her! The weekend will kick off with a Friday evening reception (May 8th), with complimentary appetizers and a cash bar. Join us Saturday morning (May 9th) with a hike and scavenger hunt in the fresh morning air, then send Mom off to a pampering massage by the talented Johanna while the rest of the family heads over to our Create-Your-Own-Bouquet station, provided by Calumet Floral, to make mom a custom flower arrangement.

Saturday night, relax in the conference room for a movie and snack. Watch as a family, or Mom and Dad can drop the kids off to watch while they enjoy a dinner in our restaurant. 

Sunday (May 10th) is the main event, our delicious Mother’s Day Lunch. A delicious menu designed by our chefs for this special day. 

 [ Learn how you can sign up for Mother’s Day Weekend Package ]

 




Initial Hours of Dining Operations for the 2020 Season

This past month the Food and Beverage team at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge has been working on menus and various operations. As a result, we have finalized the dining services hours for the 2020 season.

Dining services will open on April 30th for the 2020 summer season. Below are the hours for April 30th through October for the Little Cabin Cafe, the Bar, and the Dining Room:

Little Cabin Cafe

  • May 

Friday and Saturday: 8am-2pm
Sunday: 8am-12pm

  • June – August

7 days a week: 8am-2pm

Bar

  • May

Thursday, 4pm-10pm (Kitchen closes at 9pm)
Friday and Saturday 11am-10pm (Kitchen closes at 9pm)
Sunday 11am-8pm (Kitchen closes at 7pm)

  • June – August

Monday – Saturday: 11am-10pm (Kitchen closes at 9pm)
Sunday: 11am-8pm (Kitchen closes at 7pm)

Dining Room

  • May

Thursday – Saturday: 4pm-9pm

  • June-August

Monday – Saturday: 4pm-9pm
Closed Sunday (Only the dining room is closed)

 

Hours might adjust according to feedback, opportunities, and staffing.

At any given time, the latest hours for the dining services can be found on our web site on the follow web page:




Iron Fish Pairing Dinner

On October 11th, the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge hosted our first pairing dinner. Our collaboration with Iron Fish Distillery resulted in a unique, fun dining experience for our guests. Our very own Chef Widad crafted the three course dinner.  Iron Fish Distillery paired each course with their own custom cocktail.

We saw a great opportunity to showcase both Iron Fish and the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, and this dinner did just that. Richard Anderson, co-owner of Iron Fish, entertained our guests with interesting historical tidbits of the company and their products. Chef Widad presented each course with a brief description of the food and how it paired with the cocktail it was designed to compliment. 

In addition to the dinner, our guests enjoyed music by Gail English and her band. Chris Guibert, in between bites of his own delicious dinner and cocktails, took some wonderful pictures. The night was full of conversation, friends, great food and drinks. 

We thank everyone who attended, and we hope every guest had as much fun attending as we had hosting.  It may have been a first for us at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, but this pairing dinner will not be the last! Stay tuned for next season’s events!




The Menu for the Iron Fish Distillery Pairing Dinner

The menu for the October 11th Iron Fish Distillery Pairing Dinner at the Lodge has been posted.

[ View the KML – Iron Fish Pairing Dinner Menu ]

Crafted by Chef Widad, and enhanced by the leadership at the Iron Fish Distillery, the 3-course menu has been designed to be a rustic meal — plain and simple — yet exhibiting several local flavors and the Iron Fish Distillery spirits.  

Guests will start off savory meatballs made from scratch and a salad using our own plums and local thimbleberry jam. The entree will feature roast beef with two delicious sides.  And you will finish off the dinner eating a spiced apple cake with a cream cheese – pumpkin puree. 

For each of the 3 courses, during the dinner, Chef Widad and Richard Anderson from Iron Fish will talk with guests about the food and the drink that are paired together — giving the guests a better understanding of the decisions that were made for their lovely meal. 

Chef Widad stepped into the chef role at the Lodge in early July. She was a guest chef for a 4-day Lebanese menu in late June, where she also held a culinary arts workshop to teach patrons how to cook several Lebanese dishes.  She had not planned on staying at the Lodge after her guest chef stint, as she had business activities to overlook in Kalamazoo — Rollin’ Gelato, where she makes gelato from scratch.  However, she stepped into the chef role at the beginning of the Keweenaw peak season after Chef Patrick left to go back to urban life.

This pairing diner will mark the end of the summer / fall season’s dining services regular operations at the Lodge.  Pairing the end-of-season food with sprits from the Michigan-based distillery, Iron Fish, is a wonderful way to end the summer / fall season at the top of the Keweenaw. 

Come and enjoy good food and drink, and the wilderness atmosphere at the Lodge.  Reservations required. Call for reservations, deadline October 7th.




Last day of regular dining operations for 2019 Season: October 13th

October is our last month we will be open for the general public during the 2019 season. The summer / fall season is winding down with the color season.  As such, we will be winding down our food and beverage operations this month.

The last day for dining operations (dining room, bar, and Little Cabin Cafe) during the 2019 summer season will be Sunday, October 13th

Between October 14th and 27th, we will have select dining operations open to the general public for special events only (e.g. October 15th – Tunes-day, October 26th – Cyclocross Taco Bar). See our calendar of events for those special events.

Lodging in the cabins and the hotel will be open to the general public until October 27th.  After October 27th, the resort will close to the general public for the winter season.  Private parties will be able to stay in cabins this winter, as we will be keeping 6 cabins open for the winter season.




Updated Hours of Operation for September and October

The summer season is finished, Trails Fest went well for the Harbor during the Labor Day weekend, and kids are now back in school. As such, activity at the Lodge will change over the next 30-60 days. 

From now until the end of October, we will be focusing on special events (weddings, historical dinners, and more) and the color season activity will take hold as the leaves start to change in the Keweenaw.  The golf course will still be open for play, albeit golfers will be wearing more clothing to keep warm on the links.  And there will be less daylight to get out and about to enjoy the outdoor activities.

Accordingly, we have adjusted our hours of operations for September and October.  The changes that have been made are as follows:

  • The Front Desk hours have changed from 7am – 10pm to 8am – 8pm.
  • The Lodge Life Shop hours have changed from 8am – 10pm to 8am – 8pm.
  • The latest time to reserve a golf cart has changed from 7pm to 6pm, with carts to be returned by 8pm.

The food and beverage hours of operations have not changed at this time.

You can see the latest hours of operations at any time by going to the Hours of Operations web page.




Chef Wi to lead the kitchen for the remainder of the 2019 season

With the sudden departure of the chef this past week, Chef Widad has agreed to step in to lead the kitchen at the Lodge for the remainder of the 2019 season.

Chef Widad was the first guest chef in the Lodge’s Guest Chef program in June, and will continue on in place of the void that was caused by Chef Patrick leaving.  The dishes Chef Widad prepared during the Guest Chef program week were a success, and we look forward to seeing her lead the kitchen for the rest of the season.

Chef Widad was going to go back to Kalamazoo and work on her gelato business, Rollin’ Gelato. With this decision however, she will put the gelato business on hold, and help the Lodge get through the season with food and beverage operations, and build out the structure accordingly.

We wish Chef Patrick Mixis well, and hope he makes good decisions in his life moving forward. Chef Patrick is strong in using his creative skills to develop new dishes, and we look forward to seeing him improve on how implements those ideas and improve as a leader in the kitchen.

In addition, to Chef Patrick leaving, the kitchen manager has been relived of her duties at the Lodge. After putting in a number of hours in getting the kitchen ready for the 2020 season, and working up to the kitchen manager position, she decided to not show up for work for several days and not letting the kitchen staff know. This took place at the beginning of the busiest part of the season — 4th of July holiday. This, along with making several poor scheduling decisions with the staff, led to management reliving her of her duties.

With these changes, we have put the Guest Chef program on hold this year. We will revisit the program next year, as we received positive feedback with the first guest chef event last month.

For the remainder of the 2019 season, we will focus on providing the core activities for food and beverage, while putting our unique ideas on hold. We will adjust accordingly, and understand that it is difficult to build a quality kitchen team — especially when operating in the wilderness.  We know Chef Widad will be able to provide a stable and positive environment in the kitchen, with the focus on providing a solid and focused menu for the rest of the 2019 season.

We look forward to the rest of the season in the dining room, bar, and Little Cabin Cafe, while also executing on our events in August and September.




Adjusting Food and Beverage Operations at the Lodge; Further Experiments

The Lodge strives to offer excellent service, it’s always been our goal and always will be. We want people who venture up the hill to our facility to be excited to visit and to truly enjoy a meal with us. Throughout this season, we have had some wonderful feedback from our guests, both positive and negative. The overwhelming majority have loved their experience, and those who had a less than awesome time have been very helpful in their explanations of their expectations and how we fell short.

We take our customers’ input very seriously. As a result of this, we assessed our current kitchen operating hours and made some changes. Instead of offering a full breakfast and lunch service, we will have choices available at our brand new Little Cabin Cafe, located in the back by the conference room. From 7 am to 5 pm, we will have drip coffee, espresso, gourmet coffee drinks, pop, water, and more, plus cold sandwiches, pastries, and snacks. People stopping in can still get a delicious, fresh meal, either on the go or on our cozy couches in the library. Our bar will still be open starting at 11 am, where we will have appetizers, burgers, soup, and salad.

For dinner, from 4 pm to 9 pm, we will offer a full menu with a focus on slow dining, where people can relax, enjoy their drinks, and expect a really spectacular meal. The atmosphere we want to provide should not encourage a quick bite to eat, but rather a leisurely, enjoyable experience over the course of an hour or more. We want our guests to order in courses, savor drinks, and to enjoy each moment of their meal. Our goal is not to get food out as quickly as possible, but to allow customers to relax and appreciate the dining experience in the wilderness of the Keweenaw, with all of its has character and history.

We will offer our regular Staples menu on most nights, with a specialty menu that changes. These specialty menus have been designed to showcase different food cultures from around the world. Our website, blog, and social media will be updated with explanations and full menus for each of these exciting new offerings. Also throughout the season, be on the lookout for more food and dining events, like our Guest Chef program, pairing dinners, and tap takeovers.

We will test this setup to see how it will work, gathering data, and doing further adjustments as needed until we dial in the food and beverage operations in order to create a memorable, pleasant experience on our beautiful property in the wilderness of the Keweenaw. Now, if only it were so easy to fix the black fly problem….