MADGE LAKE - There is a tantalizing new smell wafting through the winter air when a line of Yoder smokers fires up at Madge Lake’s newest restaurant – Border Mountain House.
The initiative is the latest vision of locals, Jared and Nicky Ruf of Madge Lake.
Located just west of the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border in Duck Mountain Provincial Park, the restaurant was officially opened on December 29, 2021. As part of a unique agreement with Sask Parks, the “temporary restaurant” will be open during the winter months for those visiting the park to use the ski trails, sled hills, skating rink, or ice fishing. The restaurant is located in what was previously known as the recreation hall and sits on a hill with a view overlooking the Duck Mountain Provincial Park snow maze.
“At the end of October of 2021, Sask Parks called us and asked us to come up with a food service proposal for people visiting and enjoying the park during the winter months,” explained Jared. “It was an incredibly tight turnaround, and we haven’t slept much, but we managed to get a liquor licence and health inspection arranged. It was wild.”
Coming from 15 years in the business of feeding people, the Ruf Family owns a company called “In Good Taste,” which is headquartered in Togo. In addition to offering catering and event rental services, the company processes various foods for fundraising purposes and also ships products to various locations in Canada’s food service industry. A number of employees from the catering business have stepped up to help open Border Mountain House. Jared and Nicky are parents to Ella, 13, and Flynn, 9, and they said that both kids pitch in to provide great help to the family business.
When the challenge was introduced by Sask Parks, the couple tapped into their years of experience and most praised signature dishes to create the vision for a casual smokehouse eatery in the mountains. With a line of three Yoder smokers, the most popular item from their catering business – smoked ribs – is now the star of the new menu.
“We decided to go for a small, high-quality menu,” explained Jared. “Instead of having forty decent menu items, we’ve decided to focus on eight or nine that we’ll do really well. We want the quality of our food to be the priority, so we chose to put our energy into the back end and keep the front end light. Customers can order foods and drinks at the counter and sit down to visit and relax without a server coming to check on them every few minutes.”
For customers who prefer to dine at home, Border Mountain House offers take-out and off-sale (for those who order food). A rotating menu will feature upcoming special events like “Shishliki Night” on the restaurant’s social media channels. For those who consider themselves chicken wing aficionados, the Border Mountain House offers three smoked (never deep-fried) wing flavours – in barbecue, buffalo, and a dry rub called “Madge Lake Mix.”
With a large screen featuring the projected image of a roaring fireplace and pitched roof lined stunning wooden trusses, the atmosphere at Border Mountain House is warm and cozy – reminiscent of a ski chalet. Jared said he and his staff are ready to welcome group bookings for those who wish to use the screen to watch hockey games or host Super Bowl parties.
Currently, Border Mountain House can seat 75 people comfortably. The restaurant is opened on limited days and hours – Wednesdays and Fridays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 9 p.m. Reservations are encouraged. However, these days and hours are subject to change, so guests are encouraged to check the Facebook and Instagram pages for the latest updates.
“Our temporary lease with Sask Parks runs until the end of April,” explained Jared. “We’ve put quite a big investment into this – but nothing is fixed for the long term. We’ll have to see what kind of support we get. It’s all really just one big experiment as this point. If people like this type of service out here, we’re certainly open to the possibility of something more permanent.”
