w w w. s a n d p o i n t o n l i n e . c o m
NOURISHING THE COMMUNITY A look back at Sandpoint dining
By Carrie Scozzaro
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anhandler Pies, Fifth Avenue Restaurant, Connie’s Café, Hoot Owl, Mr. Sub, Dub’s, Serv-a-Burger, Hydra, Floating Restaurant, Ivano’s and Schweitzer’s St. Bernard: What do these restaurants have in common? All have at least 20 years in business and are still going strong! Just a distant memory? The Garden Restaurant, The Cupboard, Thompson’s North Bay Landing in Hope, Trestle Creek Inn, Bud’s Burger Barn, Savory’s and Henry Villard’s on the Cedar Street Bridge, and East-West Cattle Company, amongst others. Still others have simply changed hands and names: Arthur’s Chick ’n’ Fish is now Spuds; Fabulous ’50s Fountain turned into the first location of Jalapeño’s, on Cedar; Longhorn Barbecue is now Long Bridge Grill; Pastime Café and Sports Shop is now Oishii and The Dive; Rax is Arby’s; Whistle Stop Donut and Coffee Company became MickDuff’s Brewing Co.; Coffee Mill at Foster’s Crossing turned into Café Bodega; Jean’s in the Green Gables Hotel is now Chimney Rock Grill in the Selkirk Lodge; The Dragon Inn became Duke’s, now closed; Swan’s Landing, built in 1994, became The Landing and then FortyOne South; Beach House is today Trinity at City Beach; and Big Joe’s morphed into Bangkok Cuisine. That was the list as it stood 20 years ago, inspiring a trip down memory lane for several iconic restaurant owners and locals alike. “The one thing I will never forget,” says Laurel Taylor, of TaylorParker Motor Co., “is going to Ivano’s Ristorante when it was at the Second Avenue location. They invited us in like it was their home, and we were their friends.”
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SANDPOINT MAGAZINE
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PHOTO BY MATT MILLS MCKNIGHT
Eats
& Drinks
EATS & DRINKS
The original home of Ivano’s is now Longtime local foodies, Ron and Ranel Hanson like to patronize restaurants such as Jalapeño’s while the Blue Moon Café and is one of the also remembering long-gone favorites longest-lived restaurant locations. “We were at one time the newest restaurant in town,” says Ivano’s Jim Lippi. “Now we are (one of) the oldest.” brother Barney, who – along with his Whereas 20 years ago the only other wife, Carol – have run numerous resItalian place was Papandrea’s Pizza taurants figuring prominently in the (now Second Avenue Pizza), currently minds and hearts of Sandpoint diners, there are Arlo’s Ristorante downtown, including The Dock of the Bay (now Babs’ Pizzeria on Highway 2 and, in The Jetty) and Tango Café (in the Hope, Old Ice House Pizzeria. Sandpoint Financial Center). Ivano’s introduced area diners to The Cupboard was another such restaurateurs Richard Ballard and his place, which Taylor remembered on WINTER 2011
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