Crystal Lake Recreation Area - Kitchen and Store

Kitchen and Store

After the Highway 39 was opened on March 22, 2011, Crystal Lake and its businesses were opened, which includes the Crystal Lake Snack Bar and Trading Post.

The campgrounds have a mini-store and a full-sized kitchen located across the parking lot where the USFS Visitors Center is located where hot meals, sandwiches, cold drinks, and coffee is sold. (See accompanying photograph.) The kitchen and store are operated by a private individual whose kitchen and surrounding facility are routinely inspected by the usual bevy of California agencies which test and inspect the campground’s drinking water as well as the food production and eating areas.

The kitchen’s menu contains the typical standard Southern California fare of hamburgers, hot dogs, chili and beans, burritos and chicken sandwiches however the menu changes from time to time and visitors have a considerable number of items to choose from. Visitors to the campgrounds can ask the kitchen staff to create special items and, while the staff may not have the materials or the time to do so, visitors can get special meals provided if the staff has the foodstuff, time, and equipment to provide them.

The kitchen was redesigned and replaced with mirrored stainless steel and high technology cutting surfaces.

Since it gets cold in the Winter, the kitchen also has a small pot-bellied stove.

New cooking stoves and ovens were installed along with stainless steel refrigeration units and stainless steel sinks. The kitchen also boasts of an extremely large walk-in refrigerator where there are rolling rack space for storing foods and beverages before they are prepared and served.

The kitchen and mini-store also has its own emergency power supply so that visitors to the campgrounds can purchase hot meals even when electrical power to the campgrounds has been disrupted.

While there is limited eating room within the indoor kitchen’s public area, there is a large patio located outside of the kitchen where pine trees surround the tables and umbrellas may be used for shade. The number of tables on the patio changes from time to time depending upon special events that might be scheduled on the patio but there is always enough seating outside for about 30 people.

The kitchen and patio are expected to be a well-lighted family-friendly area at night where people may come and talk a distance away from campers who are trying to sleep at night.