Saturday Slightly Green

Talk of snow in the weekend weather forecast. Please. No more. Isn't next week May?

Oh well, I guess I shouldn't gripe because we still had a snow drift on the east side of the house in May last year. Now, just one little ridge of frozen white stuff remains in a section of the Lodgepole pasture.

So, we're ahead of last year. The leaves haven't popped out yet, and that may not happen until May with nearly freezing temps every night for the next several days.

Anyway, enough on weather, I want to talk about food, musical chairs and paint controversies in the local restaurant business. This has been a "go out and eat" week, cuz I took my friend Helen to lunch at the Bread Basket Bakery in Bonners Ferry this week.

We'll be going to the Tango Cafe in the Panhandle State Bank Financial Center this afternoon for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration honoring Jack and Shirley Parker.

Over the past half century, Jack and Shirley have been one of the model couples of Sandpoint, both in their professional lives and in their community service. Plus, they've got a pretty nice family---Jackie, David, Greg and Anne Marie.

When you've taught all the kids, written about some of the kids, taught with Shirley, whom I fondly call "Shirl the Pearl," have worked in the civic sector with Jack and admired his mother Mary (one of the nation's ten best teachers back in the '60s), and continued to remain friends in retirement, you've got history with these folks.

And, believe me, they're rock-solid good people, pillars of Sandpoint and fun friends. Bill and I will both enjoy taking part in the festivities, and sampling whatever goodies are available at the reception.

I've had a dessert at the Tango Cafe, and I know the food offerings will be tasty.

Last night, Bill suggested the DISH cafe. It's the second time he's suggested going to the new restaurant which occupies space on the west end of town (HWY 2) once held down for decades by the Northern Lights electric cooperative. The first time we drove down there, the restaurant was not open.

So, when he suggested it again last night, my reaction was lukewarm at best. I envisioned it as one of those go-up-to-the-counter, order-your-stuff, take-out places. Don't ask me why, but that's what I had assumed.

Silly me. It's a full-fledged, busy, sit-down, we'll-serve-you place, having been open for about six weeks. I walked away with egg on my face---only figuratively so because I had once more assumed wrong.

The minute we walked in the door, I spotted familiar faces both at the tables and at the serving sector. There was Uriah Duperault and later my neighbor Remi Wilson, who's gone off to college and graduated since I saw her last. Denise and Pierre were there with Mia Bartlett and another lady I know from horse gatherings.

The familiarity itself signaled a good experience. And, the food was delicious too. Like Jalapenos where you get those baskets of chips and salsa, this place offers fresh-baked, warm, tasty rolls and butter---and, if you want seconds while waiting for your meal, you get 'em.

I had a Kobe-beef hamburger, while Bill enjoyed an attractive and ample dish of lasagna. The wine and beer were good too, as was the service. I learned later that our server is married to one of my former students, Jon Waldrup. Jon and his adorable little girls, Lark and Lily, came in with his mother Jan, a teaching colleague who's also retired.

The proprietors of DISH Home Cooking owned the Coit House Bed and Breakfast, and owner Laura Peitz came over to our table to visit.

She says the place is doing very well since its opening---breakfast, lunch and dinner. Chef Gabriel Cruz prepares the delicious and attractive plates.

I'm impressed with DISH and especially impressed that the West end of town is now a dining mecca. Dubs, of course, will always attract its crowd. The Dairy Depot serves a good hamburger and great ice cream. Zips has the fish and chips and good coffee. In the same complex as DISH, there's a pizzeria and a Subway.

Folks on that end of town are not going to go hungry, and they've got a nice array of dining offerings.

Now, let's talk about some other restaurants. I can hardly keep it all straight. New tenants at Connie's. They're planning to re-open the restaurant by Lost in the '50s as a full-fledged nice diner.

I'm told these people were running the Beach House after Jorge O' Leary left last year to go to Hope to what was the Dock of the Bay Restaurant, formerly run by Barney who now has the Tango Cafe.

I'm also told that the Trinity folks will be running the Beach House and that the sushi bar will be moving from the old Bill Gill's Mobil station building across the street to the old Pastime Cafe.

And, my oh my, that has ignited an outrage of mixed but strong opinions. Seems the outlandish colors of green slopped on the building front this week---was that on Earth Day?----have raised a ruckus all over town.

The same day, somebody painted the Sand Creek Grill another tone of green. I do believe they have heard so much about how important it is to live green lives that they've been dreaming it and while dreaming, they went and got some paint and in the midst of their nightmares filled with green monsters, they went downtown and started slapping on the paint.

This green stuff is a good idea, and I think most of us have already lived pretty "green" lives as it is, but sometimes when we discover a new, old concept, some folks just go overboard.

I don't know what comments to make about the new colors on the old Pastime front, but I'm bettin' old Ted Grant who used to spend hours inside the Pastime talking really loud about the good ol' days before Sandpoint's village council went crazy back in 1935---why, I bet Ted would be rolling over in his grave if he went walking downtown after this week's green attack.

Anyway, the restaurant stuff does get confusing, but I don't really care. As long as there's a good place to eat where Bill and I can get a seat on a busy Friday night in Sandpoint, we're not gonna complain about what color the building is.

After all, any of us who've ever read William Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways know that a restaurant isn't worth its salt, pepper or Freedom fries unless it has at least six calendars advertising local businesses hanging on the walls.

Now, how many restaurants in Sandpoint can boast that? If anyone can tell me of one, I'll be glad to go patronize it.

Happy Saturday. May your day be GREEN, blue and sunny.