For 15 years, The Wandering Moose has been like home (with great food)

CORNWALL — It is difficult to write about “The Moose” and not sound corny, or get brutally honest. The Wandering Moose Cafe is a fixture in West Cornwall, next to the Covered Bridge. Sometimes people love it, sometimes people complain about it; it’s like a member of the family.

People want to see it thrive — for the sake of the town and as a place to get coffee and a paper, meet a friend for lunch or entertain guests for dinner. And it has survived, for 15 years.

Owner/operator Russell Sawicki counts success not in terms of dollars or fame, but in how much the restaurant means to his family and the community. 

The Moose is informal and welcoming, with its dark colors and warm wood and moose-based decor enhanced by local art (often for sale) on its walls. Large windows frame the scenery of a quaint village and the historic bridge.

Fifteen years is not an easy milestone to reach in the restaurant business. The key is not to overreach.

As Sawicki describes it, “We never wanted to be high end. We knew it wouldn’t work here. People can stop in for coffee or a nice lunch. We’re not pretentious, but people can still entertain their New York friends here and have a nice meal. The best part is that they think of it as ‘their place.’”

It is his passion for the business and his hometown that drive Sawicki to work hard and be outspoken at times. 

“I’ve had the opportunity to tick off everyone in town at least once,” he said. “That bothers me. That’s not my intention. When it’s a family business, you live your life on display to your customers, and any opinions you have as a business owner and resident reflect on you and your business. For example, if people want to use the private dining room for a meeting, it’s viewed as my being in support of something I may not even care about.”

It grew like a family

He knew going in that he would need to work hard every day, be a part of the community and not expect to make a fortune, and that’s OK, because the business has brought him more riches than he can count. The story of the Moose is as much about family as it is about menus.

Sawicki came from humble beginnings — one of 11 children — and is satisfied that he and his wife, Sharon, were able to send their three children to college, and that they in turn have been raised by a village of kind and caring people who have become one big, extended family.

When daughter Liz gets married in May, there will be many invited guests whom the family met as customers. She, along with siblings Becky and Zach, literally grew up in the Moose, from doing homework after school there to waiting tables. 

“They had a love/hate relationship with it, as you’d expect,” Sawicki said, “But Liz could run the place when she was 12. There was one time when I had to fire Zach, but he still comes back to help out and tell people how to do things.”

He is not disappointed that none of them plans to stick around and eventually take over. Liz considered it, but took dad’s advice to get a college degree and some perspective first. 

The Moose opened the door to connections and experiences that inspired all of them.

Zach, known as “Milkshake King” when he was in eighth grade, is now studying emergency management, works for Northern Dutchess Paramedics and is rescue chief of the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department.

Liz is a marine affairs and political science major.

Becky is auditioning for acting roles and is substitute teaching in New York City.

How the Moose came to Cornwall

It was the new millennium, the kids were 10 and younger and Sawicki had been offered a good job with Dakota Steakhouse. It was tempting, but required extensive travel. He thought about things like Zach’s Little League team winning the championship the year before and realized he didn’t want to miss out. 

Sharon gave him the go-ahead to follow his heart. They moved their family into the second-floor residence over the restaurant. She has been a large part of the business, but went back to teaching five years ago. 

Started as a stable

The two-story building by the bridge had been home to Cadwell’s Corner, the restaurant Dave Cadwell ran for a decade, with a package store under the same roof. At one time, there were four businesses there; a coffee shop, Mario Sebben’s barber shop and gift shop and a liquor store. 

What was once a large display cooler and arcade game room is now a private dining room with a fireplace. 

Long before that, it was a livery stable that had been converted by a Captain Brown — who apparently didn’t own a carpenter’s level, Sawicki said.

A year-and-a-half into their first lease, they bought the building from Ann and John Zinsser, whom Sawicki called their greatest supporters.

Sawicki  has endless stories of school fundraising dinners, a decade of carving turkeys for Mrs. Wadhams’ annual kindergarten Thanksgiving dinner, the 20 pounds of “emergency” pasta he whipped up for the eighth-grade graduation party. He spoke of watching friendships form during conversations across tables or even across the dining room.

Celebrities come in to be “normal” folks, and Sawicki remembers the twin girls of weekenders who filled him in on what they did during the week.

A post molding in the dining room (recently broken but salvaged) includes height marks of countless young customers. That goes back to when they first opened and kids’ meals were 10 cents an inch.

“We figured kids ate to their size, and it was an opportunity for parents to afford a meal out,” Sawicki said. “It’s fun to hear those kids come back, now grown, and say to their friends, ‘That’s my mark.’”

At the same time, the regulars became attached to the Sawicki children and helped nurture them in many ways.  

“It’s a prime example of how it takes a village.”

Plans for celebrating include bringing back the 10-cents-an-inch kids’ meals and the holiday party they used to host for several hundred people.