FOOD & DRINK Standing Tall: Tall Trees Muskoka

Matt Driscoll is a freelance writer and editor based out of Bracebridge, Ontario. He was a former editor with Muskoka Magazine and former photojournalist with the Bracebridge Examiner and Sioux Lookout Bulletin. Matt worked for several years in the museums field, both in Canada and internationally, before moving into full-time journalism more than a decade ago.

Standing Tall

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF TALL TREES MUSKOKA

Huntsville restaurant adapts and thrives through pandemic

W

ith many years of combined experience in the culinary industry, a Huntsville couple thought they had seen it all when they purchased Tall Trees restaurant in May of 2019. Then a global pandemic turned everything on its head.

“I was actually six months pregnant when we took over Tall Trees and we only got about nine months into ownership before the pandemic hit so you could say it’s been an interesting couple of years,” says Ashley Stenabaugh-Vowels, who owns Tall Trees with her husband Randy Vowels. “It’s been challenging but the one thing that we’ve heard from people is that we’ve done a great job adapting.”

While the couple may be relatively new to Tall Trees, the restaurant is certainly not new to Muskoka.

Originally opened as a restaurant in 1984, Tall Trees has built a reputation as one of the region’s premier casual fine dining establishments. Located on Main Street West in Huntsville, the building was constructed in 1891 when it was the home of the town’s former mayor.

“It’s extremely well established in the area but all of the different owners have found a way to make it their own,” says Ashley. “We intend to do that as well. It’s got so much character and history and we want to make sure we preserve that but we also want to update it and make it our own.”

Randy and Ashley are from Muskoka but moved away for college, where they both trained in the culinary arts. They eventually found themselves working at 3 Guys and a Stove restaurant on Highway 60 in Huntsville, one of the region’s most respected restaurants. It was at 3 Guys and a Stove that the couple first met, and eventually became aware of the opportunity to take over Tall Trees.

“Both of our parents are actually business owners in the area so I guess we were bound to run our own business someday,” says Ashley. For the first few months, they encountered the typical challenges of opening any new business but things took a turn for the surreal in 2020 as Covid-19 shuttered restaurants around the globe.

During the pandemic Tall Trees in Huntsville created four new gazebos for socially distanced dining.

Planned renovations for the restaurant went on hold as time and money was instead diverted into the creation of four gazebos, in addition to their existing outdoor patio. These unique gazebos are designed to accommodate only one group each and, in the winter, plexiglass is installed and wood-burning stoves transform the space into Muskoka’s only fourseason patio. “It’s very unique for the area and people really loved having the opportunity to eat outdoors in the winter,” says Ashley. Another way the restaurant adapted was through their Takeout Thursday program. Through that program, the restaurant would find local charities to provide deliveries for their meals. Customers were charged a flat rate $20 (although larger donations were also encouraged) and then the money for deliveries was given back to the charity. “We wanted to offer delivery service but some of the companies offering those services can charge up to 30% and it just didn’t make any sense for us,” she says. The results were astounding, as local businesses would often step up and match the amount raised on any given Thursday. Ashley says they don’t have a number for the total amount raised yet but as an example she points to one night where they received triple matching donations totalling well over $20,000 for Christine’s Place, a pregnancy and family support centre based in Huntsville.

“It’s been an incredible experience so far. We’ve had such strong support from the community and from our customers who have been buying gift certificates and taking part in the delivery program,” says Ashley. While the future of the restaurant industry remains uncertain, the couple feel they are now well equipped to deal with whatever challenges might be in store.

talltreesmuskoka.ca 87 Main St W, Huntsville, Ontario Phone: 705 789 9769

Drew McMillin is Host and Producer of PowerBoat Television, North America’s number one boating lifestyle television program. An avid waterskier, his summers growing up were spent behind the boat on Peninsula Lake in Huntsville, Ontario. A graduate of the College of Sports Media, Drew put in stints at TSN and CTV Northern Ontario before securing his dream job on the water hosting PowerBoat TV every Saturday morning on Global TV.

2021 Super Air Nautique G23:

A Review

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF NAUTIQUE BOATS WORKS

Today’s wakeboats can turn any lake into the Bonzai Pipeline while granting riders full control of every aspect of their own endless wave. The Super Air Nautique G23 meets and exceeds all expectations.

As we take the water in search of adventure, wakesurfing has all but taken over the tow-sports landscape. A smoother learning curve, gentle falls and an unmatched social atmosphere have skyrocketed surfing to one of the most popular things you can do on the water and boat builders have taken notice. Just like with wakeboarding a generation ago, manufacturers are now designing towboats with wakesurfing top of mind. Fresh out of the factory, today’s wakeboats can turn any lake into the Bonzai Pipeline, while granting any rider full control of every aspect of their own endless wave. It’s hard to argue that any one brand has been closer to the forefront of that revolution than Nautique. On a beautiful summer morning on the Joe River, I met up with Miles Mueller from Pride Wake to take an up-close look at the latest and greatest from Correct Craft’s flagship line, the 2021 Super Air Nautique G23. In 2012, Nautique introduced its G-Series to wide acclaim. With plenty of input from its world-class roster of professional athletes, engineers designed a boat that was simply bigger, deeper and heavier than anything they’d built before. Meant to fit a ton of people and push a ton of water, the Super Air Nautique G23, and later G25 and G21, aimed to push the sport of wakeboarding to new limits. Based on the number of awards and accolades bestowed on the line since –including multiple Wakeboard and Wakesurf Boat of the Year honours – it’s safe to say they’ve succeeded. Almost a decade later, aligning with industry trends, the G23 focuses wakesurfing at the forefront with a number of brand new innovations that’ll excite surfers of all skill levels. >>

The first thing you might notice with this year’s offering is the redesigned hull. Towsport enthusiasts will likely recognize the polygonal pattern built into the bow and sidewalls that was brought to life in 2020 on the game-changing G23 Paragon, Nautique’s first “luxury performance towboat.” Not just for good looks (although that’s definitely the case), it helps to shape the surf wave right from the bow through the transom to push as big, clean and long a wave as possible, right where the rider needs it.

Working with the hull design is a host of technology that Nautique stakes its reputation on, including a touch screen where each rider can dial in the exact size and shape of his or her dream wave easily, thanks to NSS – the Nautique Surf System – a pair of plates that extend and retract from the transom. If you didn’t nail it from the helm, that system – along with ballast and speed – can be tweaked instantaneously with wearable tech, while surfing. All those settings can be saved under different surfer profiles to make sure your wave is perfect all summer long. One of my favourite features is the exhaust system which pushes engine emissions down into the prop wash and way out behind the boat, so the surfer is no longer gulping in fumes from the massive PCM engine needed to push this giant through the water.

This is the part where I like to make a point to encourage all surfers to please respect their neighbours of all species. Keep those massive surf waves as far from docks, shorelines and other boats as possible, so we can all enjoy the water in our own way.

Intuitive touch screen controls allow for customization of the size and shape of the surf wave to any rider’s liking with the Nautique Surf System. Adjust settings on the fly or save a personalized profile that will remember preferred speed, ballast configuration and WAVEPLATE® settings. Photo by lifestyle integrated inc

When you step aboard a Nautique, decisions have been made at every turn so that the ergonomics, aesthetics and functionality of each component are working in your favour. All this, so that fun-filled days on the water for your friends and family are easily within reach.

The polygonal hull design of the 2021 Super Air Nautique G23 borrows from its sister, the G23 Paragon, for improved performance, wave shaping, and a brand new, breathtaking on-water aesthetic.

Surfers of all skill and experience levels find a home on the wakes of the Super Air Nautique G23. Photo by Lifestyle Integrated Inc. 2021’s G23 aims to set a new standard among wakeboard and wakesurf boats, nearly a decade since the line was launched. With numerous awards and accolades to its name already, the newest offering is sure to continue to cement Nautique’s legacy atop the industry.

This year, Nautique has added dry weight to the boat – now 6000 lbs – but reduced built-in ballast from 2850 lbs down to 2250 lbs, without sacrificing any size where it counts. Where we do see that size is in the interior storage and seating, where an incredible 16 passengers can find comfort on board, including in the massive squared-off bow. And as Nautique’s customers have come to expect, the interior oozes quality, from the upholstery and heated seats, to the intuitive marine mat step pads, to the premium finish on the steering wheel, grab handles and other fixtures around the boat. My expectations were sky-high, but the Super Air Nautique G23 met and even exceeded all of them. This boat makes everything about surfing easier and as a result, more fun. The perfect wave makes it simple for anyone to pick up the sport and progress with their own skills or even introduce it to guests and friends. Smart technology takes the stress away from any driver plopping down behind the wheel with a rider in tow or not. Even docking this big V-drive vessel is a breeze with a stern thruster, brand new for 2021. The bottom line: you can’t claim to be serious about surfing without at least giving the G23 a good hard look.

Visit: nautique.com. In Ontario, visit: pridemarinegroup.com

2021 SUPER AIR NAUTIQUE G23

MSRP* STARTING AT: $180,202 LENGTH OVERALL: 23’ / 7.01m LENGTH WITH PLATFORM: 25’2” / 7.65m LIFT RING SPACING: 21’6” / 6.55m BEAM: 102” / 2.59m DRAFT: 31” / .79m APPROX DRY WEIGHT: 6,000 lbs / 2,722 kg FUEL CAPACITY: 65.6 gal / 246.2 MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 16 people / 2,500 lbs / 1,134 kg MAX FACTORY BALLAST: 2,200 lbs / 998 kg HORSEPOWER: 8LV – 370 / ZZ6 - 450 HP / ZR7 - 475 HP / ZZ8 - 600 HP TORQUE: 595 Ft-Lb / 465 Ft-Lb / 500 Ft-Lb / 608 Ft-Lb GEAR REDUCTION RATIO: 2.0:1 1.48:1 (8LV + ZZ8)