The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Food offerings abound at new Great Wolf Lodge
Family resort opening in May prepares a host of other amenities.
You’ll work up an appetite when you splash for hours in a water park, traverse a rope course or summit a climbing wall. Luckily, guests at the soon-to-open Great Wolf Lodge Georgia in LaGrange don’t have to walk away famished. When the family resort opens this May — grand opening is slated for May 24 — it will offer numerous ways to keep fed the bellies of young and old alike.
Located at 150 Tom Hall Parkway in LaGrange, Great Wolf Lodge Georgia, the 16th in the company’s portfolio, will offer nearly 500,000 square feet of entertainment space and lodging amenities. The featured attraction is a 100,000-square-foot indoor water park. And while water rides, a multilevel water fort treehouse, a dozen water slides, a lazy river and a wave pool guarantee hours of splash-and-play fun, the food and drink at Great Wolf Resorts are not an afterthought.
Families can begin the day at Campfire Kitchen, which will feature a breakfast buffet holding the likes of farm eggs, applewood smoked bacon and wolf-shaped waffles. For dinner, the Campfire Kitchen buffet will have a variety of salads, savory fish and seafood entrees, hand-carved meats and kid-approved picks like mac-andcheese and chicken tenders.
Food at Campfire Kitchen, along with all other culinary stations at the resort, is free of peanuts and tree nuts.
A focal among food stops is a full-service, sit-down, farm-totable restaurant, Barnwood. At a preview dinner recently held in Atlanta, the Great Wolf Lodge culinary team showcased selections from its seasonal, Southern-inspired menu. These included the likes of crabcakes with chipotle aioli and micro greens, fried green tomatoes with Cajun buttermilk dressing, braised barbecue short ribs with creamed corn and crispy shallots, mushroom risotto with mascarpone
cheese, shrimp and grits and a s’mores sundae.
Barnwood will strive to source 90 percent of its ingredients from within a 100-mile radius of the resort, according to Great Wolf Lodge corporate executive chef Russ Meeks. Local cheese, in particular, will be on display. Among the restaurant’s suppliers are Nature’s Harmony in Elberton and Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville.
Barnwood will also offer a full bar, with a cocktail, wine and craft beer list.
Other fueling stations include Hungry as a Wolf Pizza, where guests can wolf down hand-tossed pizzas, pastas, sandwiches and salads. Timbers Tacos will offer a la carte tacos, nachos and churros that can be washed down with everything from Mexican Coke and horchata to margaritas on tap or a Mexican lager.
Inside the water park, Buckets Incredible Craveables will serve burgers, sandwiches and a sugarinducing Tipping Bucket Sundae of ice cream, brownies, cookies, candy, chocolate sauce and whipped cream.
Those just needing to quench their thirst poolside can drink deep at the Watering Hole, which will offer soft drinks and other nonalcoholic beverages as well as beers and other libations for the 21-and-over crowd.
For guests who work up a sweat at the Great Wolf Adventure Park, an entertainment center that offers a rope course, climbing walls, arcade games and bowling, the Outpost will offer soft drinks, iced tea, cocktails and beer.
Other food stops at the lodge include Freshwoods Market, which will sell prepackaged, grab-and-go items, a Ben & Jerry’s and even a Dunkin’ Donuts in the lobby.
Standard rates start at $199.99 per night. For more information about Great Wolf Lodge Georgia, visit greatwolf.com.