Home on the (Craggy) Range

The kind of massive, two-month renovation that the Craggy Range Bar & Grill endured this spring can be a twisted maze of planning and preparation, with dozens of moving parts weaved together until the final product — a sparkling, wide-open facility at 10 Central Ave. in downtown Whitefish — is revealed.

It’s so much work that inevitably things will get overlooked.

Things like, say, the Southwest chicken rolls, an appetizer dropped from the menu when the restaurant re-opened in June.

“Our menu had a total makeover,” general manager Jason Yadao said. “Southwest chicken rolls are probably our number one appetizer … they’re super basic but people love them.”

The chicken rolls are back by popular demand, along with the blue onion barbeque burger and other favorites, and the re-launched Craggy Range is starting to find its groove ahead of the upcoming ski season.

THE GLACIER Restaurant Group, which owns the Craggy Range, began the 10-year-old bar and grill’s renovation project in April and the result is an open concept entertainment and dining venue anchored by a massive horseshoe bar and prominent stage that hosts live music at least four times a week.

It’s a drastic reimagining of the old space.

“Before the remodel there was a stage, there was a bar in the back with a couple booths, there was a private dining area, and then there was a bar out front,” assistant manager Jordan Lefebvre said. “Before it was more segregated, you were either at the front bar or the back bar.”

“The problem with Craggy before is we really didn’t have an identity,” Yadao added. “We tried to be fine dining, tried to be live music, tried to be a sports bar.

“Now, we are a classy sports bar with live music. It’s exactly how I envisioned Craggy would be five years ago.”

Yadao, who was an assistant manager during the renovation project, took over as the general manager in August and has seen some of the local regulars — who initially stayed away when the menu was condensed — starting to trickle back.

“One of the things we pride ourselves on is being known as a local hangout,” Yadao said. “We used to have a lot of regulars and they’re coming back now. We changed the whole concept of the restaurant, tried to come up with a new menu, and it didn’t work.”

LIVE MUSIC had always been a part of weekend nights at the Craggy Range, but a small stage and poor acoustics created a handful of challenges.

The new setup aims to correct much of that, with the corner stage backed by acoustic wall panels and a dance floor emerging each night after the kitchen closes at 10 p.m. The Craggy hosts live bands almost every Friday and Saturday night.

“The music that we brought in before was a lot of local bands, some from the outside, but it was limited,” Yadao said. “The dance floor was only so big, the stage was only so big. If they had a nine-piece and a full setup we would have to pass on them. Now, there’s so much more room and we’re able to accommodate most bands that are interested in playing here.”

The shinier new layout has also changed the makeup of the bar’s patrons, with acts booked that match the more diverse clientele.

“We definitely have a more widespread demographic of people that come in,” Yadao said. “The music that we bring in is easy-listening. We don’t really touch heavy rap or heavy metal; we try to make it accommodating for all ages, 21 and over of course.

“With the new layout, it just appeals to the older crowd that we didn’t get before.”

Friday and Saturdays aren’t the only nights of music at the Craggy Range. Every Tuesday and Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. the restaurant brings in dinner music, specifically catering to its newly discovered, more mature crowd.

“The fact that with the remodel they concentrated so much on the stage and the [sound] system and the layout, it was almost a no-brainer to have music here so often,” Yadao said. “And we have such talented songwriters and musicians in town.

“Shoulder season is slow right now but even though it’s slow, being that we offer dinner music on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it does bring a crowd in and we’re able to advertise for different things.”

THE OTHER crowd-pleasing new feature is a little harder to find, but it’s even more unique.

Built into the large center bar is a frost rail, a few-inch wide stretch of ice designed to keep patrons’ beer and cocktails properly chilled. The restaurant claimed in June that it was the largest frost rail in any Montana bar.

“At first, we all thought it was a gimmick but it’s really cool,” Yadao said. “It’s catchy and people love it. We get people to walk in and the first thing people say is ‘we heard you guys have an ice rail or a frost rail.’ The bar itself is the flagstaff of the restaurant — they went all out on it.”

Live music returns to the Craggy Range this weekend, with Chain Reaction scheduled to perform Friday and Cure for the Common, a Bozeman-based funk band, on Saturday.

More information on the Craggy Range, including a full event calendar and a menu, is online at www.thecraggyrange.com. The bar is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week.

Entertainment editor Andy Viano can be reached at 758-4439 or ThisWeek@dailyinterlake.com.