Dawn Wilkinson, Charlie Wagner and Brook Hamstra enjoy the deck.

Text and Photos
By Shari Benyousky
Guest Columnist

Column Note: This is the 25th column in the Diners and Dives series in which a small group of Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club members and their guests road trip to explore the restaurants of Kosciusko and the surrounding area.

NORTH WEBSTER — On a sunny late summer afternoon, we gathered a few Optimist Club friends, opened the car windows, and drove through scenic cornfields and old barns until the country ended and we found ourselves in a new world — the world of people who live around the lakes of Kosciusko County.

Lakelife Bar & Grill at 3687 N. Barbee Road is a collection of multi-colored decks and umbrellas sandwiched on the little strait connecting Little Barbie and Big Barbie Lakes. You can drive to it, bike to it, or boat to it.

“This place has a lot of history,” REMAX Realtor Jeff Owens told the group as we settled on the deck directly overlooking the water. “I remember buy-one-get-one burgers and $1 beers on Monday nights long ago.”

Our first wildcard guest, KEDCO Operations Manager Dawn Wilkinson agreed. She and her husband just purchased a house near the lake. This makes them official year-around lake people and not Lakers who are only around for the perfect summer weather. Lakers tend to disappear after Labor Day.

Our waitress Jennifer Cartwright was quick to bring ice water and tell us about the appetizers. “The mac and cheese bites and taco sticks are excellent. Everyone loves the corn casserole side too.”

TIP – If you hate city water, then you’ll be thrilled that the water at Lakelife is well-water and includes the taste of iron and minerals.

Want To Float On The Lake And Help Break A Canadian Guinness Book World Record?

The last of our wildcard guests arrived — Mark and Erin Serafino. Erin has spent the summer planning an enormous project which finally occurs next weekend, Saturday, Sept. 9 at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds. “How’s the Guinness Record Breaking Event coming along?” I asked. “Do you have enough people signed up?”

Lakelife menu.

When Erin’s aunt Anje Anglin was diagnosed with ALS in 2022 and given 2-5 years to live, Erin came up with the creative idea of breaking a Canadian record for the longest chain of humans on floating inflatables. Hey, we’re lake people in Kosciusko, so surely we can beat Canada, right? This event intends to raise money and awareness for ALS and Anje.

“It’s exhausting and exciting.” Erin shook her head. “We have our volunteers, our surveyor, and our official observers in place. We are ready. Grace College purchased 50 inflatables to help. BUT we do need more people to register to float so we can break that record.” Erin has local media and drone coverage coming.

“Does it matter the size of the float device?” KEDCO Dawn asked.

“No!” smiled Erin. “In fact, we don’t even have to have a human ON all the devices. But the floaties do need to be able to be tied together somehow. We’ll probably have some sort of prizes too.” The group shouted out ideas. Person who came from furthest away? Biggest group? Craziest float? Largest float? Smallest float?

If floating with hundreds of interesting people while simultaneously raising awareness of ALS sounds fun, YOU can still register here. The event is free and compressors to inflate your floatie will be available near the registration table.

If water isn’t your thing, come to the after-party laugh and concert event at the Tippy Creek Winery instead. Details and $20 tickets can be purchased here.

The Salad Bar Adventure

While we chatted, waitress Jennifer brought us the Baja chipotle ranch for dipping macaroni and cheese bites. “It gives just the right amount of kick,” she said. “I always recommend it. So did anyone want the salad bar with their meals, then?”

“Where’s the salad bar?” asked Brooke (her nickname is Duchess but you’ll have to read a past Diners and Dives article to understand why).

“Well, it’s this way up the deck and then that way around another deck.” Jennifer pointed with her hands. “Kind of this way.” She gave up. “Just follow the signs.” Intrigued, many of us got up to go check out the salad bar while waiting for our orders. Finding the salad bar through all the different levels of decks and rooms is a bit like a treasure hunt. See the pictures of us finding our way.

TIP – The salad bar is inside and looks to be rather extensive from lettuce to pudding. Look up while you’re inside to see the renovations including a cool ceiling featuring the bottom of a boat to make it look like the room is underwater.

The Food

Brooke Hamstra isn’t happy the egg is literally on her sandwich.

Once back to the correct deck, our orders arrived quickly including several orders of the promised corn casserole, a chicken and pesto sandwich, hamburgers, pasta, wraps, and unwraps. Duchess ordered a ham and cheese sandwich. The waitress had asked her, “Do you want an egg on it?”

When her sandwich arrived, it literally had a fried egg on top. She looked at it. “The egg really is ON the top, isn’t it? I didn’t expect that. I really didn’t.”

REMAX Jeff chuckled as he worked on his pasta. “She did say egg ON it. No false advertising.”

TIP – I had trouble with my pesto chicken sandwich although it tasted great. Holding together slippery chicken, pesto, cheese, and tomato proved beyond my capabilities. When I got pesto all over my face, Jeff took advantage of my helplessness and took a photo. The sandwich is worth it but prepare for a hit to your vanity. Lakelife leaves stacks of napkins on each table. Take them seriously.

We liked our foods but were most intrigued by the corn casserole and compared various recipes we made ourselves. Someone wanted jalapenos, others used cream corn and some fresh corn. Some preferred more of a cornbread and others more of a casserole style. Someone used it as a turkey stuffing. Duchess proposed a corn casserole throw down diners and dives. Keep an eye on that possibility in the future.

Condiment Check

Mark serafino contemplates the horros of mayo while peppering his ketchup.

Mark Serafino checked his classic burger to make sure the condiments were correct. One thing you should know about Mark is that he hates mayonnaise. “Why?” I asked him. “Did you have a traumatic mayo experience at some point?”

He just shivered. “Sound and texture,” he said and made this sucking sound. “Mayo sounds like this. That’s a N-O. Though it can be IN certain things like potato salad.” While he was telling us, he squirted ketchup on a plate and picked up the pepper.

Erin and I looked down at his ketchup as he kept dumping pepper. “Is he really qualified to judge condiments?” I asked her. She held up the plate of ketchup with a sigh. “Wow.”

“I like pepper,” Mark shrugged. Seriously there was more pepper than ketchup on his plate.

We ended our meal ruminating on boating, weddings, and the end of summer. We’ll all be out on the Guinness Event attempting to break the Canadian world record. Come join us, say hi, and tell us about your recommendations for future diners and dives locations!

TIP – If you’re on the deck in the fall at Lakelife, hornets are a thing. Be brave.

Do you know of an interesting place, restaurant, nonprofit, or person that you’d like to see featured in Dives and Diners or in Profiles behind the scenes someday? Send SB Communications LLC an email at [email protected].