A Roadside Restaurant Where Elk and Bison Share the Bill

Before the menus arrive, there may be elk or bison to watch in the fields. This is a roadside restaurant with a decidedly unusual front yard: live animals grazing and moving around the property, visible from the parking area and sometimes from the dining room itself.

That outdoor sight is only the opening act. Inside, the restaurant surrounds lunch and dinner with a large collection of mounted wildlife, from deer and caribou to elk, buffalo and one especially imposing full-size polar bear. It is a meal with plenty to look at between bites.

The elk and bison give the place a natural pause-button quality. People often spend a few minutes looking toward the fields before or after eating, and the open space around the property makes the animals easy to notice rather than a hidden side feature.

For travelers on a longer drive, that little break can be welcome. The restaurant has served as a stop on Vermont-and-Quebec routes and alongside other Northeast Kingdom outings, including trips toward Lake Willoughby in the fall.

There is plentiful free parking, so the arrival is straightforward. From there, the experience moves from the live animals outside to an entirely different wildlife collection indoors.

The dining room is bright, clean and roomy, with mounted animals displayed throughout. The collection includes familiar regional game animals as well as the polar bear, whose full-size presence is hard to ignore.

The bear is more than a decorative flourish. It has become a natural point of interest for families and a memorable backdrop during a visit, while younger diners have been especially taken with the larger mounted animals.

Despite all the visual activity, the room is set up for talking over a meal. A bar sits toward the back, and the atmosphere is lively without television or music drowning out conversation. It can be moderately noisy at busy moments, but not in a way that turns dinner into a shouting match.

The food gives diners more options than the animal theme might suggest. The menu includes burgers, sandwiches, appetizers, seafood and other comfort-food standards alongside elk dishes, making it easy for a table to mix game meat with more familiar orders.

Elk medallions have a mild, venison-like character, a useful reference point for diners trying them for the first time. A bison burger has also been a popular choice for anyone who wants a straightforward introduction to the restaurant's regional-game side.

Portions are generous across the menu, with pricing that has been notably reasonable. This is not a place where a big plate arrives looking ceremonial and tiny; the meal tends to have some real heft.

Game is not the whole story. Seafood has a firm place on the menu, including haddock and scallops, and past offerings have included a panko-crusted scallop special served with french fries.

A seafood casserole offered a more old-school comfort-food approach: Newburg sauce over the top, sweet stuffing underneath and seafood in between. It is a good reminder that the kitchen is not trying to funnel every diner toward elk.

The appetizer side can be substantial, too. A large sampler platter with wings and nachos has been enough to stand in for a meal, particularly useful when the table wants to pick at a few things while deciding what comes next.

The chicken Parmesan sandwich is one of those details that keeps a broad roadside menu from becoming generic. It has been made with homemade flaky breading, a fresh Kaiser roll, house sauce and broiled mozzarella, delivering the familiar combination with more care than a quick sandwich needs to have.

Burgers remain an easy choice, especially for mixed groups with different appetites. Between the standard burger territory, game options, seafood and sandwiches, lunch can be as simple or as exploratory as the table wants.

The salad bar has included the practical, welcome basics: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, plus potato salad, coleslaw and assorted dressings. It is fresh, plentiful and gives a large entrée a cool, crisp counterpoint.

Save a little room if the dessert list allows it. Peanut butter pie has appeared among the sweets, while strawberry shortcake has been a particularly fondly remembered finish.

That range—from a salad bar to a heavy seafood casserole to shortcake—helps explain why the restaurant works for a couple at lunch, a family at dinner or a table of friends taking a break from the road.

The service style is welcoming and attentive, which matters in a room where visitors may be discussing animals, comparing meals and lingering over the displays. The restaurant accommodates both lunch and dinner, with couples, families and groups all fitting naturally into the flow.

Larger parties are not out of place here. A group of five has been handled with separate bills, a small but useful sign when friends are traveling together and not everyone has ordered the same kind of meal.

A final look toward the fields is an easy way to stretch the stop a few more minutes. Few roadside restaurants send you back to the car with a full plate behind you and elk and bison still in view.