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Question: OrangeTV/Get Out! North Idaho provides snippets re: these days-gone-by places that once dotted Coeur d’Alene. You can read his post here. Do you have any memories to share re: these places?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Me on February 05 at 1:21 p.m.
Love this stuff OTV.
Mr Steak - my Mom ALWAYS took us there for our Birthdays (free steak!!).
Atrium - had a reputation. I only went there a few times, but there were always fights etc. And didn’t the owner get shut down because of stippers or something?
Bonanza - ahhh - buffet!
Papinos - yes Jr High hangout.
Rosauers Family restaurant - my husband and I met there for lunch many times - good food.
Tooper Too - best onion rings EVER
3rd Street Cantina - best Happy Hour!! A huge group of us from work used to go there on Fridays - ALOT.
toadman on February 05 at 1:22 p.m.
“Bonanza”
Really? There was a Bonanza here once? Funny. Down in Texas we used to call that “the old folks home.” Why? Well, on Sundays, after lunch, it seemed to always be filled with hungry Octogenarians. It was no surprise that an Ambulance hung around the parking lot all the time.
;-)
PatrickH on February 05 at 1:25 p.m.
I have a warm place in my heart for Bonanza. It was my first job and problably one of the reasons I ended up starting my own little cafe. It was fun and when everything was going right it was a great place. I left about 2 years before Bill closed it and it always made me sad to see it go downhill before the end.
Its not on the list but God do I miss the Rocket Drive In. Wish I had been older and had some way to buy it when it closed.
Me on February 05 at 1:28 p.m.
Ahh the Rocket was great….. Wasn’t Bonanza where Tomato Street is now? There was a buffet place out by the mall too wasn’t there?
PatrickH on February 05 at 1:34 p.m.
Ya, Bonanza was where Tomato Street is now and Ponderosa was where Applebees is now.
DFO on February 05 at 1:38 p.m.
I have fond memories of things that happened to my family or me in at least half of those places. The best pizza I ever ate was baked by Papino’s one evening after I’d spent the day in freezing temperatures moving former NIC PRmeister Steve Schenk and his wife, Gretchen, into a house near Sanders Beach. But the funniest thing that happened — hands down — occurred in Topper, Too. After a softball game, I was eating a cone with other players on my team when we heard a shriek from the men’s bathroom. The 3YO son of one of the players had gotten his teetee caught in his zipper. The kids was in pain. But he reserved the greatest howls for his father’s attempt to cut him out of the situation. Papa had asked for a knife from the Topper, Too crew. When the kid saw him approach, he thought his pop was going to cut off his, ah, extension. Great fun! We still laugh about that one at my house.
Kage_Mann on February 05 at 1:40 p.m.
I used to work at the Log Cabin years ago.
Has the owl cafe in Hayden gone out of business also?
I used to go to the third street cantina,after playing raquetball at
the old CDA athletic club.
DFO on February 05 at 1:40 p.m.
A half dozen places existed in the current Tomato Street building. I first ate there in the late ‘70s when it was a pizza place called Granny Goose or something like that. Tomato Street and Bonanza seem to be the only businesses in the building that had long-term success.
PatrickH on February 05 at 1:43 p.m.
Before Bonanza it was Rocky Rococo’s Pizza and before that it was I believe a Fudrucker’s
Lynne on February 05 at 1:43 p.m.
* Ritz Cafe - worked graveyard their for a while
* Henry’s - practically lived there five days a week for ten years or so. Right across the street from my office and my best friend worked there. We had lunch there every day and happy hour/cards every afternoon. OTV, I’m sure I would know your mom…
* Jimmy D’s - Best chicken caesar salad ever!
* The Atrium - Owner was a scumbag from h*ll, but I had several friends that worked there, and it was close to my apartment, so I’d hang out in the early afternoons.
* Papino’s - Only ate there once but the owner also managed some apartments I lived in and I came home to find her snooping in my windows more than once.
* Rosauer’s Family Restaurant - The graveyard crew from the old TJ’s Pantry used to go in every morning when we got off at 6, because it was the only place in town we could get beer and wine. Everyone else would be stumbling in for coffee and breakfast and we’d be having our *happy hour*
* Topper, Too - Loved their hot dogs and finger steaks
* 3rd Street Cantina - Best chicken taquitos ever. Spent many a summer afternoon in that place.
Lynne on February 05 at 1:44 p.m.
DFO, I was trying to remember the name of that pizza place too. I loved their pizza.
DFO on February 05 at 1:58 p.m.
Kage Mann; Owl Cafe is still going strong in Hayden. Although it looks pretty tacky alongside all the new businesses opening along Government Way in that part of the county.
Me on February 05 at 2:22 p.m.
I used to eat at the Owl alot about 15 years ago - because it was close to work. I didn’t know then that it was Butlers hangout. I probably wouldn’t have gone in had I known.
Kage_Mann on February 05 at 2:25 p.m.
DFO on February 05 at 1:40 p.m.
A half dozen places existed in the current Tomato Street building. I first ate there in the late ‘70s when it was a pizza place called Granny Goose or something like that.
DFO;I also ate pizza there in the late 70’s.Wasn’t it
called:Lil’ Big Mens Pizza Place’ ? Or am I way off?
Bent on February 05 at 2:35 p.m.
I was a prep cook at Cedars before becoming the head cook at “the other place,” which was owned the same people who owned the Cedars before it became the Atrium.
My wife managed Topper Too for most of the 1980s.
I also cooked at Cyrus O’leary’s, which morphed into Country Kitchen before Bonanza, and others which eventually led to Tomato street (where my daughter waits tables now).
I did some time at Chinese Gardens as well… what a nightmare job that was.
Jen on February 05 at 2:40 p.m.
We loved Topper, Too. We would always get the shake of the week and fries with lots of dip. It was fun to order from the car and have the food brought out to us.
My favorite on this list though is Mr. Steak. We went there for birthdays and date nights and any special occasion. We even went there on our wedding day after all the festivities. Still to this day when we’re trying to decide where to eat out, one of us will say, “Mr. Steak.”
DFO on February 05 at 2:41 p.m.
Kage; you could be right. Little Big Men’s Pizza is one of the previous businesses that I recall sorta. I should ask my buddy Doug Clark, who was editor of the CDA Press in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s. He was the one who treated me to the Granny Goose incarnation. I once wrote a Huckleberries column in which I named all the places that had used that space. I should dredge that up again.
DFO on February 05 at 2:44 p.m.
My daughter waited tables at Tomato Street and Chili’s during the summer while attending UPortland. Now that she’s cutting her teeth in the PR biz, I can tell you that she had some horror stories re: what goes on behind the scenes at Tomato Street. Some weird management issues during her time there. Chili’s was a big step up in terms of management/labor relationships. Dunno if the same thing goes on now at Tomato Street. I do know that it remains a good place for customers. And still has one of the best atmospheres in town.
hmoffsuite on February 05 at 2:44 p.m.
I would have to mention Jacksons. Where the Beach House is now and was the Intrepid before that.
florined on February 05 at 2:50 p.m.
OTV, do you have pictures of Marie’s Cafe? It was on Government Way and Appleway. It was open all night and so became the after-the-bars-closed breakfast mecca.
shinie on February 05 at 3:20 p.m.
I know I always have the same comment, but I still miss Mr. Steak on a regular basis. It was the best place for a family steak or prime rib dinner. Although, I think it’s really the bread I miss the most. It was SO good!
toadman on February 05 at 3:49 p.m.
“I have a warm place in my heart for Bonanza.” - Patrick
You’d better have that looked at…
Bent on February 05 at 3:52 p.m.
Yeah DFO, the way I hear it, those issues may still be there, but my daughter is pretty hard to steam roll.
She definitely has a mind of her own, and if she feels she is being treated unfairly, she’ll engage the situation and will not relent until there is a resolution… trust me I know.
Howard_Martinson on February 05 at 4:26 p.m.
What about that pizza joint on NW blvd. close to the Courthouse? I couldn’t tell you the name of it if you held a gun to my head. Seems like it changed hands often and had one name after the other. Then it was the Chamber office for a while, and might have been rented to The County for a few years.
Amy67 on February 05 at 4:39 p.m.
I loved that Pizza place on NW blvd. and before I read the post, I could have told you the name of it. Used to go there as a kid and watch them make the pizzas. It was always the place to go for birthdays etc. The combo pizza was fabulous; grease running down your arms…..yum.
Bent on February 05 at 4:47 p.m.
It was Pappy’s Pizza. That is where everyone went for Pizza when I was growing up
inlandempiregirl on February 05 at 6:48 p.m.
We hosted a twenty-fifth anniversary party for my parents at the Log Cabin. They really liked that place.
When my husband and I got “hitched” in CdA at The Hitching Post we then had our private wedding lunch at 3rd St. Cantina.
The Intrepid was a “cool place” to go eat when I hit adulthood and the Fore and Aft was the place to go hang out on couches and drink blended type of drinks. Gee… we spent a lot of time in CdA!
hhuseland on February 05 at 7:28 p.m.
One of my favs was the Sizzler down on Lincoln. Closed for many years now.
hhuseland on February 05 at 7:29 p.m.
The worst that I can remember, was the franchisee in the North Shore. Plaid Piper, I think it was called. Here they sat in the classiest hotel in town and any fast food place in town could beat their food.
Escapee on February 05 at 9:26 p.m.
I did a couple of tours of duty as a Dishwasher at the Ritz Cafe. Ugh. I got real good at cleaning grease traps.
Pappy’s Pizza was wonderful. A large, hot, spicy 16” ‘Coeur d’Alene Special’ cost $5.60. After Cruising Sherman on weekend nights, we’d all end up at Pappy’s. Good times.
Bob on February 06 at 7:29 a.m.
We used to go to Joey’s Superfatburger on 6th in Midtown by the old fire station (across from what is now that new Interior Design store) when we were kids. We’d order the really big Superfatburgers, the double deluxes with sides of fried zucchini rings and fry sauce or sometimes we’d have big greasy baskets of roasted pinecone seeds with Joey’s special pinecone seed sauce. I think it closed around 1972 0r 1973 when Joey was arrested for starting fires in logging camps up on the North Fork.