There’s one other annual dining tradition associated with our annual pilgrimage to Lake George’s Tiki Resort for our annual Ohana Luau at the Lake gathering. After the event has wrapped up, and we’ve cleaned up and restored the Tiki Resort to as-found condition, it is traditional for a bunch of us to go down the road to visit a long-time Lake George restaurant, the Log Jam.
The Log Jam is one of the older bastions of Lake George dining. The overall theme is “Casual Adirondack Dining”, and they go full in on the “early 1900s logging camp” motif, with log-cabin construction, wooden beam ceiling, plank floors, stone fireplaces, spindle-backed chairs, and the occasional taxidermy. They’ve been serving up food in three large dining rooms (left, right, and back) for over 45 years, and the place still oozes old-fashioned ambiance (only lightly interrupted by the fact that it now shares a parking lot with an outlet strip mall). The menu is classic steak house, with a large variety of steaks, prime rib, lobster, and a handful of other entrees for those that somehow wandered in not looking for a giant slab of meat. But I was looking for a giant slab of meat, so I found myself quickly settling on a 12 oz cut of their house prime rib.
After ordering up our entrées, we then got to head off on one of the great attractions of The Log Jam that really sets it apart from a lot of its peers: it still has a classic, old-school salad bar. Growing up, one of the real attractions of dining in a fancy restaurant was getting an elaborate salad bar, and it really featured in a lot our family dining outing. Indeed, I’ve got a lot of fond memories of the truly over-the-top salad bars at places like Bobby McGee’s (who had their salad bar in a gigantic, oversized bathtub) or The Landmark who even had a “salad room”. But as culinary trends changed, salad bars were already declining in popularity as the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and the Covid restrictions really put the nail into the coffin of a lot of places, particularly steakhouses, that used to feature them. Like the coelacanth, it is getting to be a rare sighting indeed, and at times threatened with extinction. But the classic, old-school salad bar still reigns supreme at The Log Jam. Both sides of the restaurant have dedicated rooms holding two-side, gigantic salad bars, complete with beds of ice, tongs, sneeze guards, chilled plates, loaves of bread for slicing, and some soup kettles with bowls.
And after a pass through the the salad line, I returned to the table with my glorious, old-school bounty of a salad plate, all strategically stacked on the plate with some carrots serving as cofferdams against spillover (see, that Mechanical Engineering degree continues to pay off!). Two different actual salads (Caesar and green, both piled with real bacon bits), potato salad, pickles, marinated mushrooms (always a favorite), pepperoncinis, carrots, and a whole bunch of other salad bar goodness. This was everything I look for a in good salad bar, and I can see why some in our group ordered just the salad bar (a reasonably good deal at $14).
For my actual entree, the Log Jam isn’t terribly fancy. My prime rib and bake potato are served up as exactly that: a plate with prime rib with a light application of au jus, and a simple metal platter plate with a baked potato. A few years ago this was also served with a smattering of steamed vegetables, but realistically, after the most excellent salad bar, I don’t fault them for focusing on the basics. And it works. The prime rib was cooked to a perfect medium rare, with a light herb crust, only a light application of salt, and a perfectly tender interior. Does what it says on the tin, and very enjoyable if not fancy.
Overall, I like the annual outing to The Log Jam. Friendly staff, good ambiance, good food, and that outstanding salad bar for a reasonably-valued, old-school steakhouse experience. And they handle large groups very nicely. We’ll definitely come back.
