Greasy Spoon

BONNER FERRY — After a two-year hiatus following the sale of the business to new owner Dave Young, the Greasy Spoon at Moyie Springs opened April 1 at the Moyie Store.

The café was originally open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week for breakfast and lunch but due to popular demand, hours were soon extended to 4 p.m. to catch the shift change at the mill.

The Greasy Spoon features traditional American café offering. Signature dishes include homemade corned beef hash, huckleberry pancakes and French toast, and homemade biscuits with homemade sausage gravy.

The café features only local Woods meats and the extensive line-up of burgers are all charbroiled on the Greasy Spoon’s flame charbroiler. Nothing on the extensive menu is over $6.95.

Store manager Bobbi Wells says the crowd varies, sometimes with a bigger group for breakfast, sometimes for lunch. Featuring a menu cover penned by employee and house artist Shannon Walkup, the Greasy Spoon, like the Moyie Store, has great food, good service and a friendly staff, Wells says.

Quentin Armstrong mans the charbroiler at the Greasy Spoon, cutting fries fresh from two big potatoes for every lunch basket. Service at the ‘Spoon comes courtesy Darlissa Tashoff and Samantha Webster as well, with Mary Manley overseeing the kitchen.

For the price and the quality, the Greasy Spoon is not to be missed, as this reporter can attest. Make sure you wear loose-fitting pants if you expect to finish your fries.

Mi Pueblo

After months of locals peering through the window and rumors floating from mouth to mouth, Mi Pueblo opened in the former Panhandle restaurant location without much fanfare but plenty of business April 13. Some of the only warning locals had was the sudden orange paint job the former Panhandle building took on a week prior to its opening.

One of three Mi Pueblo restaurants in the Idaho panhandle, Bonners Ferry’s Mi Pueblo was more of a happy accident for owner Yoni (pronounced Jonny) Solis.

“A salesman who knew the former owner came by our Newport restaurant,” Solis says. “He likes our food so much he told us we should buy the building.”

The Priest River location has been open for more than three years, but the Newport location just barely opened in December.

“We weren’t really looking for another location, but when I drove up here and saw the size of the town, I was surprised,” Solis says. “And the people are so friendly.”

Other than the new orange paint job and a full array of new kitchen equipment, not much has changed in the restaurant. Solis intends to serve beer and wine eventually but for now just serves soda.

They’ve been busy since the opening day, with around 200 customers on the first day and more since.

“The food is great,” said Bonners Ferry Fire Chief Pat Warkentin, who made it in for lunch on opening day. “It gets a huge thumbs up.”

With his wife running the Newport store and his home there, and three of his five kids working in Priest River Solis says that spending seven days a week in Bonners Ferry while he gets the business up and running will be stressful, but worth it. He couldn’t do it without the help of his family, he says, and the locals.

“This community has been so nice, so friendly,” he says. “Bonners Ferry is more laid back than Priest River and everyone has made us feel really welcome. I look forward to supporting the community.”

Originally from El Salvador, Solis first started working in the restaurant industry in Seattle as a dishwasher at age 15. He worked his way up to cook, then chef before starting his own restaurant. Solis and his family have been in the Idaho Panhandle now for more than 20 years.

“I like to be up front with all the customers,” Solis says. “I will be once I have everyone trained in the kitchen.”

For now, Solis is cooking up “authentic” Mexican food himself, with the help of his brother and staff. The style is like that of the Jalisco region and the city of Guadalajara, but it’s not really authentic, he says, since it’s so hard to find real ingredients this close to the wrong border.

“It’s good food,” he says. “The big thing is making sure my customers are happy. We don’t want them to wait more than ten minutes after they order to get their food. If you don’t like it, come back and try something else!”