Holiday Fun at the Lake of the Ozarks & You Can Stay With Us!

The lake area gets a lot of attention throughout the summer but winters around here are full of fun too! Especially during the holiday season. In addition to tons of great holiday shopping, you'll also find lots and lots of wonderful family-fun activities happening all around the lake area. 

We've got the perfect place for you and the entire gang to stay while you are in town! Our two Lake of the Ozarks waterfront vacation rental houses, which are located right next door to Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina, are centrally located so you are close to all of the holiday magic! 

photo from Funlake.com

Below we've shared just a few of the many amazing things happening this year but you can always find more, plus get additional details about these, by visiting www.Funlake.com. 

Holiday Activities

• Dec. 7 - Camdenton Christmas on the Square: Enjoy games, ornament making, craft tables, music, performances, cookie decorating, a petting zoo, hot chocolate, cookies, and more. People are encouraged to bring canned goods that will then be donated to the LAMB House food pantry. 
• Dec. 14 - Lake Ozarks Christmas Parade: From 1:00-3:00 pm, the 35th Annual Christmas Parade will make its way through Lake Ozark to the historic Bagnell Dam Strip. Following the parade, Santa will be greeting all the kids at Luby's Plaza with treats and hot chocolate.  
• Dec. 14 & 15 - Claus For A Cause: Performance Boat Center (just up the road from the vacation rental houses at Shorty Pants) will be transformed into a Winter Wonderland! The fun begins at 11:00 am on Saturday and noon on Sunday. Tickets are $10 each and proceeds go to support CLC, a not-for-profit that provides services to young children with special needs in the lake rea. There will be face painting, crafts, and a whole lot more plus a visit from Santa Claus!  
• Dec. 14 - Old Tyme Christmas in Linn Creek: A celebration of Christmas will take place throughout the city of Linn Creek from 9:00 am-3:00 pm. There will be crafts, gift ideas, museum tours, caroling, and much more.  
• Dec. 14 - Eldon's Lighted Christmas Parade: An evening parade begins at 5:15 pm which will light up the city of Eldon as it passes by! After the parade, Rock Island Park will host the lighting of the Magic Tree with music, hot chocolate, s'mores, and a visit from Santa. Before the parade, a variety of holiday activities will also be taking place throughout town. 
• Christmas on Main Street: The Main Street Music Hall in Osage Beach performs its amazing Christmas show from Nov. 29-Dec. 22. This night is full of music and laughter and is guaranteed to entertain every kid from age one to age 92 with an evening of clean family fun. 
• Carols in the Caverns: Experience the sounds of the season performed by local musicians and choirs in the natural acoustics of Stark Caverns in Eldon, MO, on various dates throughout December. Tickets are $5 per person and seating is limited. 

photo from Funlake.com

Holiday Lights

• Enchanted Village of Lights: The Laurie Fairgrounds hosts one of the largest drive-through light parks in Mid-Missouri Nov. 22-Jan. 1. Entrance is free but donations are greatly appreciated. 
• Festival of Lights: The National Shrine of Mary in Laurie, MO, features beautiful light displays Nov. 28-Jan. 1 from 5:00 pm-10:00 pm. 
• Osage Beach Holiday Lights in the Park: The Osage Beach City Park features over 100 holiday-themed light displays to enjoy for free evenings between 5:00-9:00 pm Nov. 30-Dec. 1. 
• Celebration Cruises Christmas on the Lake: Formerly known as "Deck the Docks," this holiday cruise on the water will benefit several area lake charities. Cruises depart from Bagnell Dam on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays Nov. 22-Dec. 28. Reserve tickets early because these fill up fast!

All the Comforts of Home + a Great Lake View
If you don't live in the lake area, or if you happen to have family joining you from out of town, our waterfront vacation house rentals at the Lake of the Ozarks are the perfect place to stay. Both houses are tucked away to give you a relaxing getaway next to the water and feature that same breathtaking lake view that you enjoy from Shorty Pants Lounge every summer. (Just with fewer leaves on the trees and fewer boats cruising by.) 

The Glass House can hold up to 8 guests, which is perfect for a family getaway or a weekend shopping trip with a few friends. Its 1,500 square feet of living space has 3 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms, a washer & dryer, and a full kitchen with just about everything you might need during your stay. There are also some lovely decks to sit back and relax on if the weather allows. 

The Red House boasts 3,400 square feet of living space, which easily houses up to 16 people. There is a large deck off of the upstairs and a covered deck downstairs. It has 4 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, and 1 half-bath. It also contains its own washer & dryer plus a kitchen with all the necessities.   

Our Lake of the Ozarks Cajun restaurant & bar may be closed for the season but our vacation rental houses are available year-round. It's not too early to book your favorite dates for the 2020 season. Some other dates-of-interest coming up that you may want to book a stay for include:

• Winter Concerts at Dog Days Bar & Grill: Our sister restaurant is hosting two special off-season concerts featuring the best live music at the Lake of the Ozarks. Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019, they've got the Mixtapes with special guests Two Screws Loose. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. On Friday, February 7, 2020, Machine Gun Symphony will take the stage. 
• New Year's Eve
• Lake of the Ozarks Mardi Gras Pub Crawl - Saturday, February 8, 2020.  

Get your calendars out now, pick a few dates to stay with us at Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina, and then make your reservations before someone else beats you to it! 

The Lake's #1 Creole Cuisine Restaurant, where you can expect a luxury, laid-back experience at Lake of the Ozarks!

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Thanksgiving - New Year's Day, Let Us Cater Your Holiday Events at the Lake of the Ozarks

It's that time of year when lots of holiday events, parties, and gatherings are being planned. Those people are going to need to be fed and ordering the best catering at the Lake of the Ozarks allows you to do that with little to no effort! 

Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina may be closed for the winter but through the culinary talents of the Barrett Restaurant Group, you can still enjoy all of your favorites from our restaurant plus a whole lot more.  

Wide Variety of Food Choices
Shorty Pants is a part of the Barrett Restaurant Group which is made up of ourselves, Dog Days Bar & Grill, and Wobbly Boots Roadhouse. That means when you hire us to cater your event, you not only have our amazing Cajun creations to choose from but also the fantastic dishes those other two local favorites are known for! 

Right now the Boot is offering juicy, mouthwatering, hickory-smoked turkeys for Thanksgiving. You can bring in your own for them to toss into the smoker for $1 per pound or get a fully-cooked turkey from them for just $50. 

But wait, there's more! If you have something in mind that these venues don't normally offer, our chefs are happy to work with you to create a custom menu. No matter what the meal - breakfast, lunch, dinner, or "snack-time" - just let us know what you have in mind and we'll do our best to make it happen. 

Your Place or Ours?
With enough advance notice, we have two catering vans that can be loaded up with food for your event and brought directly to you. On the other hand, if you are in need of a venue to host your gathering, we can help you out there too! 

Wobbly Boots Roadhouse is open year-round and has a private room (with a cozy fireplace) that can be reserved. Even during the "off-season" for both Shorty Pants and Dog Days, we can make arrangements to host parties at our place. We can even help you book some entertainment! 

As an added bonus, if you have guests coming from out of town they can stay in one of our waterfront vacation houses at the Lake of the Ozarks. Two of these are located next door to Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina. The Glass House sleeps up to 8 and the Red House can accommodate up to 16. The luxury vacation house rental next door to Dog Days Bar & Grill can host up to 18 guests.    

Any Event, Large or Small
The catering capabilities of all of these Lake of the Ozarks restaurants and bars can handle any size event. From small parties of just a few close friends all the way to groups of 500 or more, we've got you covered! Holiday parties, wedding receptions, business meetings, family reunions... the list goes on and on in the most delicious ways possible!

Our catering schedule works on a first-come, first-served basis. As soon as you have a date in mind, give us a call at 573-348-4244 or the Boot a call at 573-348-2277 to reserve a spot on our catering calendar. To guarantee that date, it needs to be booked in advance with our sales office and a final guest count is needed one week before the event.      

Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina is here to make sure all of your holiday parties are the tastiest possible and we're happy to cater all of your get-togethers throughout the rest of the year too! Surprise everyone at your event by serving all of those Cajun dishes you're craving while we're closed for the winter and even more. 

There are always plenty of reasons to celebrate. Those celebrations are a lot more fun for everyone, including you, the host, when you let us handle the cooking!   

The Lake's #1 Creole Cuisine Restaurant, where you can expect a luxury, laid-back experience at Lake of the Ozarks!

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Taste It All One Last Time... Until Next Spring!

Well, we've finally reached the final week of our 2019 season at Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina. Until that final day this Saturday, November 16, your favorite waterfront bar & restaurant at the Lake of the Ozarks is open daily beginning at 11:00 am. Plenty of lunches & dinners in the next few days to get in one more taste of your favorite Cajun cuisine. Here are some popular menu items to tempt you even more. 

New Orleans Medley

Even though we offer many different types of dishes for your culinary enjoyment, we are most famous for serving the best Cajun food at the Lake of the Ozarks. For the diner that has trouble deciding on which dish to order, our New Orleans Medley offers you four of our very best all on one plate! You get creamy Crawfish Etouffee, rich Jambalaya, Red Beans & Rice, and a half-link of our Andouille Sausage. Make sure you attack this plate with a big appetite!

Crab Cakes
Our amazing handmade shrimp and lump blue crab meat cakes are an extremely popular menu item. They are rolled in our seasoned bread crumbs and topped with shrimp, then covered with a savory seafood cream sauce on the appetizer menu. As fantastic as they are on our own, when we place them on top of a bed of fresh fettuccine for our Crab Cake Pasta entree, the taste is elevated to a whole new level! 

Catfish
Catfish is used often in Cajun cooking, plus it's delicious, so you will find it offered quite a few different ways on the menu at Shorty Pants Lounge. Catfish lovers are always very happy to discover the many options they have to choose from around here!

• Catfish BLT
• Catfish Po Boy
• Catfish Dinner
• Smothered Catfish (smothered in creamy Crawfish Etouffee!)

Po Boys
You can't run a Cajun restaurant without perfecting the Po Boy, and we believe we've done exactly that! One of the wonderful varieties we serve has already been mentioned above, but we've got even more for you to enjoy. In case you're not familiar with this fantastic sandwich, it's a French roll containing lettuce, tomato, homemade Cajun mayo, and one of the following meats:

• Catfish (fried or blackened)
• Fried Oysters
• Fried Shrimp
• Andouille Sausage (This one features our homemade remoulade sauce in place of Cajun mayo.)

Shrimp & Grits
A Cajun classic! This dish contains large shrimp that are sauteed with Andouille sausage, hickory-smoked bacon, onions, and mushrooms. That mouthwatering mix is served over a heaping helping of homemade Cheddar Cheese & Jalapeno Grits. 

We've also got another terrific version with our Shrimp & Grit Tacos, which place the famous jalapeno grits under shrimp, Andouille sausage, bacon, and a jalapeno lime sauce in a flour tortilla.

Beignets

This is Louisiana's version of the doughnut. It makes an excellent dessert and an equally delicious appetizer. Our housemade sweet raspberry sauce is served with this perfectly deep-fried pastry tossed in powdered sugar. Great for sharing, but you may want to keep them all to yourself! 

Hurricanes
We take the classic cocktail created in New Orleans and do it justice, plus we came up with a few of our very own variations on the delicious drink. Our freshly muddled Mojitos and Cajun Bloody Marys are also amazing, but there's something special about Hurricanes and Cajun food together. 

If you weren't already craving something from our Lake of the Ozarks Cajun restaurant, we're willing to bet your mouth is watering for it now! Join us sometime before the end of the day on Saturday, November 16, 2019, for one last "hurrah" before this season is over. 

Rest assured that Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina will be back again next spring to do it all over again! Also, if you find yourself craving our Cajun cooking before that, we still cater during the off-season through the Barrett Restaurant Group. Give us a call and make arrangements to bring the taste of Shorty Pants to you at your next party or event! 

The Lake's #1 Creole Cuisine Restaurant, where you can expect a luxury, laid-back experience at Lake of the Ozarks!

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Our 2019 Season Ends November 16 - Stop By SOON!

It's that always dreaded yet unavoidable time of year when your favorite waterfront restaurant & bar at the Lake of the Ozarks prepares to close down for the season. It will only be for a few months, but you'd better get on over to Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina while you still can. One last plateful of the best Cajun food at the Lake of the Ozarks will make the long wait until next spring a little bit easier to handle! 

Last Day of the Season:
Saturday, November 16
Don't waste any time being sad about Shorty Pants heading into the off-season. Instead, make plans now to get on over here as many times as possible before our winter break begins! 

We'll still be opening at 11:00 am daily until our final day. That means plenty of lunches, dinners, and between-meal-snacktimes to enjoy before that day comes!

All Your Food Favorites
The best Cajun restaurant at the Lake of the Ozarks is where you'll find the most authentic Creole cuisine in mid-Missouri. We use rubs and spices direct from Louisiana and recipes that would make any New Orleans native proud. If you close your eyes, you just might think you're actually in the French Quarter instead of Missouri!

Of course, we are located in Osage Beach, so amazing Cajun isn't the only food we cook up to make your mouth water. You can order fresh seafood, savory steaks, signature sandwiches, juicy burgers, salads, wraps, tacos, and a whole lot more! For all of you return diners, you know the wonderful things to expect out of our kitchen. If you've never been here before, well, you'd better hurry on over soon! 

Those Classic Cocktails Too
Our incredible menu items are a big draw but the delicious drinks our talented bartenders mix up on a daily basis are an excellent reason to make a trip to Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina too. The Cajun Bloody Marys and freshly muddled Mojitos are very popular around here. Even though it's colder outside, one last frozen drink is tempting too. 

To truly bring about the spirit of New Orleans, we offer an amazing classic Hurricane plus a long list of specialty Hurricanes that are all our own. The bar also carries an impressive wine list and the most refreshing beers in town. Come on in for a drink and raise a glass to another outstanding season!

Shorty Pants in the Off-Season
Even after November 16 is over and we're closed for the season, you can still enjoy some good old Shorty Pants cooking by hiring the best caterers at the Lake of the Ozarks for your holiday parties this winter! 

Year-round, the Barrett Restaurant Group can cater all of your events, large and small, with the flavors of Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina, Dog Days Bar & Grill, and Wobbly Boots Roadhouse. Private event rooms are also available to rent at all three restaurants. 

If you miss our gorgeous lake view, book a stay in one of our Lake of the Ozarks waterfront vacation rental houses and have it all to yourself! (Well, you and our neighbors, but they don't mind sharing that view!) The Glass House can easily host up to 8 guests and the Red House offers enough room for up to 16 people. Since they are right next door to Shorty Pants, they're centrally located to many of the best attractions, events, and shopping at the Lake of the Ozarks. 

Please stop by soon and help us give Shorty Pants Lounge & Marina the seasonal send-off it deserves. On the warmer days, you can hang out on the deck enjoying that spectacular lake view. For the cold ones, we've got a nice fireplace for you to cozy up to and plenty of seating indoors where it's nice and warm. These last couple of weeks at our Lake of the Ozarks waterfront bar & restaurant are going to be a lot better if we get to spend them with you! 

The Lake's #1 Creole Cuisine Restaurant, where you can expect a luxury, laid-back experience at Lake of the Ozarks!

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