Floating Restaurants A Big Splash
Our region is overflowing with lakefront dining possibilities, whether it’s a corndog at the city park in Coeur d’Alene or an elegantly sauced duck breast at MacDonald’s Resort on Lake Pend Oreille.
Yet a couple of restaurants which float right on the water certainly make the biggest splash. Literally.
“Before they built a new walkway two years ago, getting to the restaurant could be pretty sketchy, especially in high winds. People have fallen in,” said Elissa Robbins, who runs The Floating Restaurant at Hope Marine Services on the northern end of Lake Pend Oreille.
Not surprisingly, the folks who got wet usually had had one too many at the bar.
“We used to say at least it kept the drunks off the highway,” Robbins said of the 200-foot gangway leading to the restaurant affectionately referred to as “The Floater.”
At The Cedars in Coeur d’Alene, chef Randel Poole once kept one young kid from landing in the drink when he pulled him back from the edge of the dock.
“This kid was leaning way over the rope, feeding the birds and he was just about to go in,” said Poole, who was taking a break from sauteing seafood.
It was a thankless job.
“The parents were put out with me,” he said.
While most of the time it’s smooth sailing at these floating eateries, some diners may wish Dramamine were on the menu.
“We’ve had people leave because they got seasick,” Robbins said, though it’s not as rough since the marina installed a new breakwater. “A couple of summers ago, one waitress swore by those wristbands (that help prevent seasickness). It was part of her uniform.”
Because The Cedars sits at the mouth of the Spokane River, its position rises and falls with the spring runoff.
“In 1997, our parking lot was flooded, and we were bringing guests in on pontoon boats,” Poole said. “It was fun the first few days, then it turned into a royal pain.”
Just the year before, owner Ray Gillette had to hire a tugboat to shore up the restaurant so it wouldn’t end up at the Post Falls Dam during flood conditions.
Summer brings calm, lazy waters. And with that, the chance for arriving diners to catch a glimpse of something that might end up on their dinner plate. Smoked trout is a house specialty at The Cedars.
Life on the lake ‘It doesn’t really matter which lake is being referred to’ ‘I’d rather be at the lake any season but summer’ ‘Simultaneously the cheapest and best kind of lake place’ Infatuation with vacationing at the lake began with the wealthy early in the century Lake-lovers take water safety seriously Some can’t wait to catch the waves ‘Before summer, it’s peaceful. Everything kind of just flows’