Contribute news or contact us by sending an email to: RCTonline@gmail.com

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Summer Eats


Summer Year-Round Eats at Bear Lake                             
Scott Heiner


Moose Buns

Moose Buns opened last May next to the go cart rink on Logan Road.  It is a quick service drive-thru and walk-up restaurant that serves breakfast burritos, crazy-big cinnamon buns, and hot/cold beverages, all served fast and at reasonable prices.

Bob and Audell Bates from Denver were looking for some lakes to use their 18-foot boat in and decided to try Bear Lake where Bob had visited as a kid.  Audell had never been to Bear Lake and had never seen a moose before, but on the first day she saw three of them!  She was enthralled and they immediately fell in love with the beauty of the area as well as the friendly folks.  In 2016, they bought a vacation home in Fish Haven, but soon realized they wanted to be permanently in Bear Lake and call it home, so in 2019 they quit their jobs and made the move.

They also wanted to contribute to the community and decided to open a food establishment.  In brainstorming ideas, Audell kept talking about the excitement of seeing her first moose and one of her favorite foods—cinnamon rolls (who doesn’t love them?).  They realized there wasn’t any place around that served them, so Bob combined the two concepts and came up with “Moose Buns.”  Their website tells the origin of the name as follows: “…and what goes with Moose?  Why cinnamon rolls of course! (I knew that was your first thought too 😊). Hence the name Moose Buns.”  The name and their logo are a reflection of the Bates’ fun side.

Bob and Audell went all out in building their place. Along with the building itself, they paved a new driveway and parking lot complete with drive-through window and parking stalls.  Audell explains that they’re here for the locals, as well as the tourists so they built for keeps and plan to be open all year.

Moose Buns’ giant cinnamon rolls feature frostings in flavors like cream cheese, raspberry cream cheese, and whipped caramel marshmallow, and they are developing additional flavors.

The specialty at Moose Buns may be cinnamon rolls, but their breakfast burritos are just as popular.  The two varieties are called “Bear-rito” and “Cub-rito.”  Depending on the day, the Bear-rito comes with shredded beef, chicken tinga or turkey sausage, while the Cub-rito has no meat.  Their builder suggested they add breakfast burritos to their menu thinking they would be in demand from the workforce.  He was right; they rival the cinnamon buns in sales.  A fairly unique item in the area, chicken tinga consists of shredded chicken in an adobo sauce made from tomatoes, chipotle and onions.

Their drink menu features a wide selection of coffees, mochas, lattes, espressos, fruit smoothies, frappes and sodas, and they are continually adding new flavors combinations. Their Raspberry Mohito is popular and they have a “Blue Monster” lemonade made with Blue Curacao syrup that exactly matches the color of Bear Lake.

Moose Buns recently added creative patio chairs, umbrellas and a table printed with a large checkerboard to encourage folks to hang out.  On the other hand, they focus on fast service which is important for working people on short breaks. Their website, www.MooseBuns.com is updated often, so make sure to visit it for the latest information.  Stop by Moose Buns; you’re sure to leave with a moose-size smile on your face!


No comments: