At Great Wolf Lodge, we’ve been working hard to make sure even the littlest ones enjoy a delicious culinary experience. What does that mean? Well, how about a quick kid-friendly meals menu that was developed by kids!
For our new kids menu, we brought in the experts: our Junior Chef Council. We searched high and low for the best junior chefs to form this council, and after much debate, we landed on a combination of true culinary tastemakers and Top Kid’s Chef Contest winners.
Meet the Celebrity Junior Chef Council
“The idea of a Junior Chef Council is something we have been discussing internally for a while. We recently enriched the culinary offerings for parents, and thought it would be fun to create a menu for kids, by kids,” said Great Wolf Culinary Director, Russ Meeks. “These are no ordinary kids, these are true junior chefs who have been around the culinary arts for years and who helped create a kids menu unlike any other in the country.”
Great Wolf Lodge’s Junior Chef Council members have a variety of cooking experience and include: MasterChef Junior Season 2 winner, Logan Guleff (15) and MasterChef Junior Season 5 winner, Jasmine Stewart (13); Jonas Cora Ehrlich (12) and Gavin Cora Ehrlich (10), sons of Iron Chef Cat Cora and wife, Nicole Cora Ehrlich; Madeline Zakarian (11) and Anna Zakarian (9), daughters of Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian; and Conrad Elliot (8) and Jed Elliot (6), sons of Chef Graham Elliot.
The Chefs Get to Work on Quick, Kid-Friendly Dinner Ideas
The council met for the first time in summer 2018, with the steep challenge of creating both innovative and kid friendly meals for our 17 indoor water park resorts. They worked in tandem with our Great Wolf Lodge’s executive culinary team to develop a series of kid-centered dishes.
But, it was also a mini competition!
Each junior chef was asked to come to our culinary work session prepared with two dishes – one a unique twist a common kids’ menu item and one more out-of-the-box idea. These kids have incredible culinary skills that made the menu selection process extremely challenging. For example, butternut and popcorn soup was an idea that all of the Great Wolf taste testers loved that unfortunately did not make the final cut.
From there the council collaborated to make each other’s’ dishes better and helped us decide what should make the final cut.
The Must Eat Dishes for Your Next Visit
The new Great Wolf Lodge kid’s menu still features some of the more traditional menu options (for kids who are firm in what they like to eat). However, it also offers newer offerings with a unique combination of ingredients (for kids open to some light menu exploration).
Kids will now be able to taste exciting options like our “Green Spaghetti and Chicken Meatballs,” made with zucchini noodles and angel hair pasta topped with meatballs. Or, our “Macaroni and Cheese Pancakes,” paired with braised short rib. How do we make it? We sear our mac and cheese into two crispy pancakes and serve them with a side of short ribs.
When dessert comes calling after a full day of play at the water park and Magiquest, our new “Peppermint S’mores,” made with marshmallow, chocolate, peppermint candies and graham crackers, is sure to satisfy the entire family’s sweet tooth.
Hard work went into creating dishes that gave a twist to the most common options you would expect at a restaurant.
You can now experience the new kid’s menu at all of our 17 family resorts. Happy eating!
