WASILLA -- No more Mat-Zoo Resort for the Mat-Su Resort. The new owners of the old Wasilla standby are hoping to return the business to its roots, a spot where locals can go for a nice dinner and a homey neighborhood bar.
"We closed down a couple parts of the night club. The Zoo is permanently closed," said new co-owner Dennis Smith of the landmark on Wasilla Lake. "We just want to do things a little differently."
Smith and co-owner Edward James, are the latest owners of the resort, which was first built in 1948. The bar-restaurant-hotel has for decades been a place to get a steak and a beer after a day on the lake. The resort started as the Williwaw Lodge and was later changed to the Mat-Su Resort by Don Keuler, once a part-owner of Anchorage dining and bar scene cornerstone Club Paris.
The resort will reopen later this week after a few changes and with another new name -- the Mat-Su Lodge, Smith said.
Their operation will pick up where the closure of the restaurant at another Valley lakeside fixture, the Best Western Lake Lucille Inn, left off. They plan to offer a Sunday buffet, an upscale dinner menu and a separate menu for the bar.
Smith said the chef, Mike Columbo, was formerly the head chef at Josephines, the Sunday brunch spot in the Anchorage Sheraton Hotel.
In addition to the restaurant and bar, the lodge has 12 hotel rooms and three cabins plus a dock, boat launch and lakeside pavilion.
Smith said the hotel rooms are being renovated, but he plans to keep the boat launch, dock and pavilion pretty much as-is. He said he hopes to make good use of the large outdoor deck for dining.
For several years Mat-Su Resort was where the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce and other community groups met. It had a quiet lounge where it was easy to pass a Sunday afternoon -- or Saturday evening, for that matter. Until a few years ago, the bar served an older clientele and wasn't known for rowdiness.
The resort has been through a few changes in the past five years. Wasilla-based Great Bear Brewing Company leased the resort for a short time in 2006, but the lease fizzled.
Owners Christine Bargabos, her son Steve and John Emmi, took it over with a plan to transform the bar into a nightclub called "The Zoo."
Emmi is also co-owner of the Grand View Inn and Suites in Wasilla.
But the reputation of "The Zoo" suffered a blow when a fight broke out in the bar on July 4, 2007. Everyone in the bar was kicked out, but the fight continued in the parking lot and ended in gunfire, with one Anchorage man injured.
Smith said he doesn't want that kind of drama. The new theme, he said, is family oriented and mellow with a focus on good food.
The first week of July, a hypnotist will be performing there. Smith said he plans to bring in some country music, including Hobo Jim this winter and Ken Peltier, whenever he's ready to sing again.
"It's more for the Valley people. They come out and have a nice meal on the lake, on the patio. You start thinking about a place you want to get away to, that's the kind of atmosphere we're shooting for," Smith said.
Find Daily News reporter Rindi White online at adn.com/contact/rwhite or call her at 352-6709.
By RINDI WHITE
rwhite@adn.com