Wings, drinks, and Smash Burgers coming to Callander’s lakefront

Moose on the Loose is setting up shop this summer at Callander’s Centennial Park. The town has been looking for a food business to operate the canteen located within the park, and recently put out a call for proposals to gauge interest.

Moose’s Cookhouse in North Bay heeded the call and suggested rolling in their recently acquired food trailer—aptly titled Moose on the Loose—into the park to share its culinary delights with parkgoers throughout the warmer months.

Prepare for Moose’s famous Smash Burger, fries, poutine, drinks, and of course, all the wing flavours will be on hand as well. There will also be healthier options as well. Chris White, who has owned Mooses’ Cookhouse at 134 Main Street since the restaurant first opened in 1996, is looking forward to the new venture.

White mentioned that they will be bringing in a food trailer to work in tandem with the canteen, which will give them a fully operational commercial kitchen to put together their orders. The trailer is currently getting wrapped at See More Graphics in North Bay, and by late spring, the Moose on the Loose will be ready to bring the heat to the kitchen.

Opening the new location in mid-May is the goal, with an official grand opening set for the May 24th weekend. Moose on the Loose will be open seven days a week throughout the summer, and once Fall starts setting in, will remain open on weekends.

“We've never done this before,” White noted, “and we're excited to try a secondary location, especially, in the park, because we know it’s a thriving place in the summertime.”

See: Strolling Callander’s waterfront is about to get easier

Moose on the Loose is also going to offer delivery service within Callander and are seriously considering breaking out the jet-ski so they can bring wings and things to those on the lake. White will be sure to let everyone know when that decision is finalized.

First, he wants to get comfortable with the new surroundings and new operation and see how things fall into place.  The menu may cater more to the park crowd, but essentially, this will be considered a second location of The Moose Cookhouse, “and we want to keep things as consistently the same at both” sites.

“We are excited for a second location for the summer,” White said. “Callander is an awesome location and great community to try out our Moose on the Loose trailer.”

David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.