Dec 1, 2003 | Marmot, Winter 2003

Pizza Mogul

A new business at Mount Washington Alpine Resort is offering a “Pizza Italy” for visitors this winter. Pizza Mogul is open in the old Nordic Lodge on Henry Road, and is offering sit-down, take-out and delivery service.

Chef Paul Aitken has assembled a menu of pizza, chicken wings and Caesar salad. During the day he will have soup on, as well as his own cinnamon buns. In the evenings a driver will deliver orders to all the road-accessible places, Aitken said. The pair will organize some drop-off points to get orders into the Alpine Village (no vehicles or snowmobiles are permitted in the Village except for emergencies).

Aitken and co-owner Dean Wyatt work together during the spring and summer at Wyatt’s fishing and wilderness adventure resort, Knight Inlet Lodge. Aitken has been feeding lodge visitors for the past five years. The pair has often thought of opening an eatery at Mount Washington; they have skied (Wyatt is a Nordic enthusiast) and snowboarded (Aitken’s sport of choice) at the Resort for years. Aitken also worked in the Food and Beverage department at the Resort for three winters before joining Knight Inlet Lodge.

“The services we’re going to try and offer aren’t there,” Aitken explained, adding that they figured the Resort was a good market to tap into.

Pizza Mogul is set up cafeteria-style, so visitors can get in, eat and get out quickly; they will sell pizza by the slice or the pie. There is room for 60 to sit down and eat and Wyatt and Aitken have applied for a liquor licence.

Aitken, a graduate of the professional cook training program at Malaspina University-College in Nanaimo, has a couple of people working with him in the kitchen, and there is also a driver for evening deliveries.

Hours of operation for Pizza Mogul are 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, and 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information phone Pizza Mogul at 334-5707.

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