Patio season on Sorrel Lake: how we call it open

The wharf patio opens for the season when three signs agree: the afternoon lake wind drops below what a candle can stand, the evening holds twelve degrees after sunset, and June's tomato starts go outside without complaint. Most years that is the middle of May. It closes with the first storm that flips a chair, usually early October.

What eating on the wharf is like

Twenty-eight seats on the old freight deck, over the water on pilings that used to take sternwheeler cargo. You can hear the lake under the boards. The fire is inside, but the smell of the hearth finds the deck at dusk, and nobody has ever complained.

Patio rules, such as they are

Dogs yes, under the table. Reservations cover the room, not the deck: wharf tables go to whoever walks up, because a patio you can book in advance stops being luck and starts being furniture. Blankets live in the crate by the door. When the sun drops behind the ridge it gets cold fast; we will not pretend otherwise, and the fireweed steamer exists for exactly that half hour.

The full patio page, including the season window and what happens when weather turns mid-service, lives at the patio page. Short version: we move you inside if there is room, and there usually is.