If you've spent a summer day on Long Point Bay, you probably know how it goes. Gas up the boat, or rent one, and head out on the Inner Bay. Then come back to the Old Cut hungry. Some people pull in by car and some tie up by boat, but everybody ends up at the same window, ordering fries.
The Chip Ship is the newest part of that routine. The truck is a recent addition, but the boat livery it belongs to has been run by the Ferris family for 95 years, by the business's own count. Before there was a chip truck here, the family ran an inn with a snack bar and a dance floor.
The story
The name Old Cut goes back to a channel through Long Point. The Old Cut Lighthouse went up beside it in the late 1870s and was shut down after the cut filled in.
Old Cut Boat Livery says it has been owned and operated by the Ferris family for 95 years. In a 2017 post, the business traced its start to Shirley and Angus Ferris. In the early 1930s, that post says, the family built the Old Cut Inn as a snack bar and dance hall, and later expanded it into a hotel. The business then passed to Harv and Ev Ferris, who ran the inn, according to Port Rowan Good News. The inn was destroyed by fire in the early 1970s.
In 1972, Harv and Ev sold the livery to their son Ray Ferris Sr. and his wife Sue. They kept it for 45 years. In 2017 they sold to their son, Ray Ferris Jr., and his wife, Amie. That made it a fourth-generation family business. The new owners announced more gas pumps, a longer season and something new for the property: a food truck. The post also noted that Long Point no longer had any sit-down restaurants.
The Chip Ship followed. Port Rowan Good News called 2025 its eighth season. By 2021 it was part of Norfolk County's Destination Local summer series on NorfolkToday.ca, and the station noted that the truck stood on the same property where Ray's grandparents had owned the Old Cut Inn.
He wanted to bring the inn back. In 2021 Ray said he planned to rebuild it and move the chip truck inside, and he wanted it to look the way it did in his grandparents' day, down to the same sign and the same green paint. We couldn't confirm whether that rebuild has started.
Why people keep coming back
The big draw is the dill pickle fries. The Chip Ship calls itself the home of the Original Dill Pickle Fries. They're fresh-cut fries tossed in a seasoning blend, drizzled with a white sauce and topped with a dollop of shredded dill pickles. Port Rowan Good News reports that the idea came from the dill pickle pizza at The Catherwood and the Kiln in nearby Vittoria. The fries started out as a one-time special, but customers kept asking for them, so they stayed on the menu.
I, frankly, had no clue whatsoever how much people really like dill pickles.
Ray Ferris, Port Rowan Good News
The rest of the menu leans local. The business says it uses Russet Burbank potatoes, Jensen's cheese curds and Norfolk Packers peameal bacon, and it serves Lake Erie pickerel. There's a Quebec-style poutine, plus a Double Double that tops it with deep-fried cheese curds. Burgers, hot dogs and fried chicken round it out.
People come a long way for it. Port Rowan Good News wrote about a family that drove three hours from Windsor, and about visitors from Australia who ordered Chip Ship hoodies. Ray told the paper the location is as much of a draw as the food. That fits the place. It's a working boat livery, billed as the closest access point to the fishing grounds of Long Point's Inner Bay, the kind of spot you go to for the water and stay at for supper. In 2017, Ray Jr. said his parents always wanted a day on Long Point Bay to be affordable for families, and that it still mattered to him and Amie.
Before you go
The Chip Ship is at Old Cut Boat Livery, 39 Rogers Ave. on Long Point. The mailing address is Port Rowan. You can come by car or by boat. It's seasonal. Port Rowan Good News reported in 2025 that it closes for the winter and reopens in April, and in October 2026 the Chip Ship announced on its Facebook page that its 2026 season was over and it would be back in the spring, with a hint that it might turn up at the Norfolk County Fair in October first. The business takes orders at the window only, with no phone or online orders. The menu and current-season hours are on the Chip Ship page at oldcut.com.
Turning it into a day trip? Pair it with a stop from our old-school Ontario diners list or one of the roadside attractions that still feel like another era.
Details checked October 2026. Hours and seasons change — confirm with the business before you go.
