I Am Boulder Junction: Fabulous foodie finds at local restaurants & shops

March 25, 2024

Meet the people who make Boulder Junction a great place to live, play, and stay. “I Am Boulder Junction” highlights the stories and personalities of our local business owners and community members and the welcoming spirit and boundless enthusiasm for the Northwoods you’ll find on your next visit here.

Boulder Junction serves up a wide array of dining delights, from classic supper club dishes to tasty ice cream treats (and everything in between). For our latest “I Am Boulder Junction” video, we asked some of the area’s culinary experts a very important question:

What’s the most popular dish or food item at your business? What should people try when they visit?

• Janny Thomas, owner, Boulder Junction Trading Company: “We have this whole array of dressings, jams, jellies, hot sauces—and we have samples out every day, so they should try literally everything.”
• Ron Reinowski, owner, The Ice Shanty: “For the adults, a lot of [the ice cream] is coffee based, so Daily Grind or Java Chunk—where there’s actually espresso beans in the ice cream—is extremely popular. For the mid-teens, Blue Moon is a big one, and then for the young kids it’s the sherbets, the Superman ice cream, and any of the sorbets we have seem to be really popular with the younger kids.”
• Dylan Schutt, owner, Boulder Junction Coffee Company: “I definitely think they should try our bakery. I’m not trying to blow up our bakery, but it’s all scratch-made, and it’s all delicious. It’s made right here in Boulder Junction. I think it’s the best in town.”
• Haley Hiller, owner, Boulder Junction Coffee Company: “We also have some really good breakfast burritos, so if bakery’s not your thing, you’re counting calories or you want more of the protein punch, we scratch-make all of our burritos too, and those are probably one of our best sellers.”
• Matt Prochaska, owner, Outdoorsman Restaurant: “I love our eggs benedict, but our most popular breakfast item is our chipotle pork omelet. So, we have chipotle pork, red bell peppers, onions, jalapenos, you have a chipotle cream sauce and cheddar cheese—it’s really good.”
• Kevin Mantz, owner, Lakewood Market: “Anything from Nueske’s—I really like the Nueske’s bacon for BLTs or bacon and eggs, and that’s a Wisconsin company that’s not too far from here. Mike’s Jerky is pretty good as well, that’s a Wisconsin company, too.”
• Liz Unnkefer, owner, Headwaters Restaurant & Tavern: “You have to try the walleye. If you come to Boulder Junction and [don’t] try walleye, you have not experienced Boulder Junction. I will always say, only Wisconsin does the best Old Fashioned.”

See more “I Am Boulder Junction” articles and videos here.