Olde Ice House restaurant turns 20
On July 13, you will see bouncy castles, a beer garden and free hot dogs and hamburgers on the grounds of the Ice House. Why? The restaurant will be celebrating its 20th anniversary.
How did that happen? Kyla Taylor owns the restaurant now. She took over on Jan. 7, 2023, from the previous owner. It was a big move for the First Nations woman from Curve Lake in the wintertime. Taylor is thankful for the abundance of support from the community. In her words, it was awesome.
Taylor worked at the Olde Ice House for eight years. The previous owner wanted to retire, and she approached Taylor to find out what her interest would be in running a restaurant. Taylor had started working at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto when she was 20. She was employed there for 12 years. From the Horseshoe, she went to the Harbourfront Restaurant, where she worked for four years.
Then she left the city and came out to the country. She tried other jobs such as landscaping and daycare but nothing stuck. She found out there was a position at the Ice House and she jumped on it. In between, she raised kids. The previous owner had held the restaurant for 19 years when she decided to retire.
It had been the Olde Ice House and Wee Fish and Chips and also an Internet Café. The building where it is presently located has been its location for 10 years. Before then, it was in the present tattoo parlour.
In a unique country atmosphere, all the ingredients are brought in and everything is made on site; everything but chicken fingers and liver. The liver is cut and packaged. Chicken fingers are already breaded. The top three favourites are pan fried pickerel, hamburgers, schnitzel (homemade) and, (oops) top four, liver.
Taylor attempts a healthy balance between doing paperwork, cooking, washing dishes, serving and ordering. Weekly ordering is fairly consistent as the menu stays fairly consistent. When ordering, she checks the supply of takeout containers, beer sales, juice sales and condiments. Everything is in its own place. She walks in and sees what she needs. Produce comes from one company, fish from another. There are the coffee guys and the liquor guys — five distributors in all.
Taylor feels like she has made the right decision. She had always only known the front half of the house and has had to learn the back half, especially the paper aspect like taxes.
The staff has been around for a long time with little turnover. She wondered what it would be like to go from a staff member to a boss. Staff has been fantastic, she reports. Normally there are 10 staff, including a cook and servers. She calls the Ice House a restaurant that serves alcohol — not a bar that serves food.
She looks forward to the boaters in the summertime and guests at their new outside patio. Her thanks go out to the community for standing by and supporting her and a big thank you to the previous owner for approaching her and thinking that this was something that she could do. She is doing it.
The Easter Bunny is making a visit. Breakfast starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The egg hunt starts at 9:30 a.m. It is all at the Buckhorn Community Centre
BCC annual general meeting
The Buckhorn Community Centre (BCC) annual general meeting is taking place on Wednesday, April 24, at 7 p.m.
Three board positions need filling. If you would like to find out more information on what being a board member involves, visit the BCC website.
Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is making a visit. Be on time. Breakfast starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The egg hunt starts at 9:30 a.m. It is all at the BCC.