Cosmic Cowboy Grill in River Park Square in downtown Spokane and Appleway Square in Coeur d’Alene has recalled its staff and reopened to offer to-go and delivery options at its two area locations after receiving funding from the federal Payment Protection Program.

The funding is designed to provide government loans to businesses closed by coronavirus restrictions, and Cosmic Cowboy Grill is one of the first businesses in the area to receive the financial aid amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re extremely fortunate to be one of the recipients of the Payment Protection Program loans for both stores,” said Steve Eller, Cosmic Cowboy Grill’s chief wrangler, over the weekend. Chief wrangler is Eller’s cheeky way of describing his title of CEO and owner; the Austin, Texas, transplant moved to Coeur d’Alene about four years ago.

Cosmic Cowboy Grill was notified about the approval of the loan from a local credit union about two weeks ago, and the funds will provide the company with eight weeks of payroll in bringing back its employees from furlough. If all the rules are followed, the loan will be forgiven.

Cosmic Cowboy – which serves a variety of burgers, street tacos, grain bowls, wraps and gourmet vegetarian dishes – opened in mid-February in River Park Square and had to close in mid-March after Gov. Jay Inslee’s statewide stay-home order. The Coeur d’Alene outlet has been open for more than two years and furloughed most of its staff to be able to remain open last month.

“When Spokane started shutting down, we really felt it here in Coeur d’Alene, too,” Eller said. “We opened on Valentine’s Day in downtown Spokane, then it was into Restaurant Week – what a way to open. Then we had to close, so we don’t know what a normal week looks like yet.”

The Spokane location, on the first floor of River Park Square at 822 W. Main Ave. next to Nordstrom, recalled 14 employees, and the Coeur d’Alene outlet recalled 16 staff members. The Idaho location actually recalled workers before the federal loan approval because business was still good, Eller said.

The Spokane restaurant started selling food again last Thursday with modified hours; it is open Mondays through Saturdays and closed Sundays. The Coeur d’Alene restaurant is open seven days a week. Third-party delivery via Door Dash and Grub Hub also will begin this week from the Spokane site; Eller said these options for delivery were delayed until the new restaurant was up-and-running.

Cosmic Cowboy decided to go to carry out only and set up a food trailer in front of its store in Coeur d’Alene before Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s stay-home order, which was announced after Washington’s, and next up on Eller’s agenda at the time was to figure out what to do with the Spokane location, which led to the delivery and takeout menu opens.

Eller said grab-and-go breakfast – breakfast tacos and coffee – in Coeur d’Alene would begin this week, as well as a Friday night virtual concert as a fundraiser with food giveaways for customers who support the local musicians.

On the health front in relation to restaurants, the use of face masks has been a topic of recent conversation amid the coronavirus pandemic. Health care workers must wear them, but that has not been the case yet for the public – and restaurant industry workers. That doesn’t matter to Eller.

“We require our employees to wear face masks along with the other required health and safety precautions,” Eller said. “We need to do everything we can, and we have always prided ourselves on being the cleanest restaurant in town. We want to signal to everybody that we take this very seriously.”

(The Spokesman-Review is addressing the question of mandatory face masks for the restaurant industry in Thursday’s Health section of the newspaper.)

Meanwhile on Monday, CNN reported that a new round of Payment Protection Program funding was on the table, with Congress working to agree on $300 billion of added money, as some small businesses are finding themselves shortchanged by the program.

The first $349 billion allocation was gone in a few weeks, and small-business owners were rejected while larger companies, including Shake Shack and Potbelly Sandwich Shop, received multimillion-dollar loans.

Democrats and Republicans also have agreed to include $25 billion into the latest round of negotiations to help in added COVID-19 testing.