Blue Platte specials

The Hotel Wolf

Hotel Wolf's Wednesday Dinner Specials have been a tradition offered for years, but not everyone knows its roots date back to when the pool league started 20 years ago.

"Kirsten and I, Mark Willford and Beth Trowbridge played in the league from the get go and we started offering the special for them and other players," said Judd Campbell, manager and son of owners of the Hotel Wolf. "We bring it back every year and run it until the pool season is over at the end of March."

The Wednesday specials are in addition to the Hotel Wolf always having a daily and nightly special.

"We have them to sort of spice things up," Judd said.

The Hotel Wolf has been owned solely by the Campbells since 1983. In 1985, Doug Campbell, an owner of the Hotel Wolf and Judd's father, said he had to be creative with his wife Kathleen during the mine closures.

"The Hanna Basin went from 1,000 to 1,500 miners to 100," Doug said. "We had no choice but to try different things to bring in people, so Kathleen came up with a Mexican lunch that we ended up serving to over 100 people every Thursday."

"We still do Mexican every Thursday lunch," Judd said.

The Hotel Wolf is a true family buisiness.

"We were putting in 14 to 16 hour days," said Doug. "All the kids helped, no question about it."

"You could almost say indentured slavery," Judd laughed.

"Kirsten (Campbell's oldest daughter) once said, 'Dad you really pissed me off' and I asked why," Doug recounted. "She said because you taught us how to work."

A good work ethic was learned by all four children from their parents said Judd.

The kitchen has changed over the years, but the prime rib, steaks and burgers are the foundation items of the Wolf Hotel menu.

"Don't want to give away any secrets, but suffice to say we have our own way of cooking our prime rib to make it tender," Doug said.

The reputation of the Hotel Wolf's food has had people returning and recommending the place to others over the years.

Judd and Doug said being true to their mission of giving customers a quality meal for a reasonable price has kept the restaurant going as other restaurants come and go.

"Honestly, this isn't a cut on any place or a place that has been here and gone, but all we are trying to do is the same thing and concentrate on us," Judd said. "We don't view other places as competition because our competition is with ourselves."

Judd said he is glad to see quality places come to the town.

"Good restaurants beget good restaurants," Judd said. "If there are other good restaurants here like Bellas and Firewater, it is good for everyone."

Bella's Italian Bistro

Cassie Orduno, the owner of Bella's along with her husband Tommy, said not all months are equal when it comes to business in restaurants.

Bella's came on the Saratoga restaurant scene seven years ago in summer and Orduno said they started off with immediate positive response from the public. She said the business was excellent ... until winter came.

"We opened in June so we hit it right when things were hot, but that first winter took us by surprise because things slow down so drastically," Orduno said. "You can't really anticipate how much different your winter business is going to be from your summer business until you go through a couple seasons."

She said although the downturn the first winter was startling in comparison to summer, Orduno said the struggle was not as bad as it could have been and made her realize how to forecast her business.

"Around here, I think you have to work really hard in the summer and save for the winter no matter what level business you are going to get, because it is not going to equal your summer business," Orduno said.

She said in the summer, even with their patio, they have to turn away business almost daily. The winter doesn't have many days where that happens with the exception of special days such as Valentines Day.

"In winter, we are grateful to the people that do come in, because they do make a difference and that is why we do specials when we can," Orduno said.

In general, Bella's has success when it tries to do specials, but there have been times when an idea for a special was not as well received as hoped.

"We did a pasta night one winter, that just wasn't as successful as we thought it would be," Orduno said, "But that had us evolve where we have at least one event special menu per month. In January we actually had a couple, one for skijoring and the fishing derby where we did seafood."

For the fishing derby weekend she brings in fresh fish from Hawaii along with fresh mussels, clams and oysters.

"We actually have a purveyor in Honolulu that calls and tells us what they caught and we order the fish, they put it on a plane to Denver, then to Rawlins and then it is driven here and although it isn't an easy thing to orchestrate, but we do that whenever we know there is going to a big crowd in town," Orduno said. "February our special event is obviously Valentines Day."

Orduno said in March, the special event menu is more flexible.

"March and April, we will have one weekend special event menu, to give customers something to try that is a little different," Orduno said. "Then by May, it is back to summer business."

She said there are benefits of winter being slower because Bella's has adequate staff and they are able to give the quiet controlled ambiance the restaurant likes to be known for in summertime,.This environment Bella's strives for can be difficult to achieve.

"I think winter is a nice time to eat at Bella's," Orduno said. "Our service can be more attuned to each table ... the way that I love."

She said when people let her know it is a special occasion, such as a birthday, Bella's tries to have flowers and a card signed by the staff on the table. All designed to make the dinner that much more outstanding.

"We want customers. Their celebrations are important to us and we are honored they are marking it at Bella's," Orduno said. "Tommy and I are grateful to our customers, winter or summer, because they let us continue to make Bella's the place it is."

Firewater Public House

One of the newest restaurants to open in the Valley is Firewater. It is the brainchild of Danny Burau.

He said because Firewater is new, having opened Aug 19, it is difficult to know what is going to be popular in the winter until the restaurant puts it out for customers to try.

Burau said the fish and chips special he has on Sunday and Monday has been one of those successful entrees customers are happy to come and eat on a regular basis.

"It was a hit right out of the gate," Burau said. "The ribeye usually makes an appearance on Friday and Saturdays with slightly different sauce treatments."

Burau said Firewater has a special or two every day of the week depending on what the chef gets in the kitchen.

"Salmon was a huge surprise, because I was like, is anyone really going to eat seafood in the middle of Wyoming? And when we brought it in, we blew through it," Burau said. "We listen to customers and see what they want."

Firewater has a variety of types of cuisine they put out as specials.

"When we do burritos, they fly out of here," Burau said. "We get a lot of people calling in to see if we have the Thai red curry dishes."

He said Firewater is starting to get take out business, but Burau knows he has to be careful because he doesn't want summer to come and not be able to handle the increase of meals being ordered.

"People call in or come in and want to take out their meal, I am glad to do it, but we haven't pushed it at all," Burau said, "At this point, we are still trying to figure out this first winter and what the locals want from us."

He said the most popular meal is the Firewater burger with the Pub Burger that was recently introduced doing extremely well.

Burau said missing most of the summer season was disappointing but he has learned some things already that has helped business. When he first opened, Firewater didn't open for lunch until two because Burua knew how hard it was to find places open after two.

"Maybe this would have been right for the summer, but as winter started we realized we had to open sooner and it made a big difference," Burau said. "I also noticed how the demographics changed from summer to winter, so we adjusted."

Burau is proud of the 100 whiskey brand selection he offers and he is working on a drink menu that describes them in detail to customers. He eventually wants to have only Wyoming beers on tap.

To get some of his desired beers, he drives personally to Laramie to pick some of them up.

"Little small craft Wyoming beers such as Melvin sells well and I have learned craft beers that are more known, don't do as well," Burau observed.

He said being so new, he watches trends in food and beverage sales to help him understand exactly what his customers want as best as he can.

"I have learned more in six months than I ever wished to about how things can go wrong," Burau said. "It also goes the same way about how much I have learned about how much can go right."

Burau said he has always been focused through the good and the bad of owning Firewater.

"My mission statement is to help people enjoy Saratoga more," Burau said. "I want customers to know this is a place that really cares. I really want customers to feel good when they leave here."

The Rendezvous Lodge flips the script

Dale and Rayetta Kirkley opened the Rendezvous Lodge 14 years ago to cater to snowmobilers. Kirkley said he is from Colorado initially, but his wife Rayetta grew up in Carbon County around Hanna and Rawlins.

"Snowmobiling has always gone pretty well here," Kirkley said. "It is a huge sport for the state."

He said Wyoming has always supported bringing snowmobiling to the state.

"They help bring the snowmobilers in, they spend the money and life is good," Kirkley said. "It is what pulls Saratoga and us through the winter."

Unlike many restaurants in the Valley where summer is the busiest time of year, The Rendezvous Lodge is busiest in the winter.

"It is totally the opposite for us, winter time is our busiest time and summer time is not so much," Kirkley said. "Summer is when we do our specials because we get a lot of locals that really like our ambiance and enjoy our food."

Kirkley said he gets business from traffic that flows on the Snowy Mountain Range Highway in the summer, but it is the locals where he gets the bulk of business during this time.

He said specials in the winter time happen when repeat snowmobile customers stay for extended periods of time.

"We have a group from Iowa that are staying with us now for five days and they will come back four more times," Kirkley said. "So for those type of customers, we will run some specials and they love it."

Kirkley said his wife had grown up with a family that owned a restaurant, but there was a learning curve they experienced over the years.

"Rayetta's mother had a restaurant, so she had a background and she is a really good cook," Kirkley said. "So she knew what to do on that side. But the rest ... wow."

He said it took about six years before The Rendezvous Lodge had figured out what it wanted to serve.

"Our menu changed so much the first couple years, because we wanted to get it right," Kirkley said. He said the menu has evolved to feature steaks and burgers.

"We have the best burgers in the Valley, and I will argue it with anyone, because we do," Kirkley said. "The Rendezvous Lodge does an excellent chicken fried steak too. People come just for that."

He said The Rendezvous Lodge pays close attention to what the customers want.

"Our menu is pretty much listening to customers and them saying, we like that, we like that and we don't really like that," Kirkley said. "It isn't like when you open there is an instruction manual on what is going to work and what isn't."

Kirkley said although in the winter he gets most of his business from out-of-towners, the locals are essential to running a business all year long.

"We really appreciate their support in the summer, because they have been a huge benefactor for us," Kirkley concluded. "It's just funny, we need them in the summer, when the Valley restaurants don't need them so bad."