The Idle Isle Cafe: 100 Years and Counting of Comfort Classics

The Idle Idle Cafe in Brigham City (as well as Idle Isle Fine Candies) has been celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, with special dinners, news stories and even a Congressional lunch in Washington D.C.

It’s quite a milestone when you consider the restaurant industry has a 60% failure rate in the first year, and 80% within five years.

Current owner Travis Porter pointed out that when the Idle Isle opened in 1921, there was as many as 12 restaurants on that same block in downtown Brigham City. Today, there are only two.

“There’s a rich history of struggle and determination and a will to survive,” he said. “It’s an honor for us to do business in Brigham City.”

Entering the current Idle Isle Cafe is like a step back in time, as the original marble-and-onyx soda fountain counter, grandfather clock and hand-crafted wooden booths are still there, along with 1940s Coca-Cola dispensers. (The dispensers are just for display purposes, lest you worry about someone cleaning them out after 60-plus years.)

The Idle Isle survived the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II, I-15 construction that routed traffic away from Brigham City’s Main Street, and a few ownership changes.

But when thje Covid pandemic hit in year 99, things were looking grim. In-house dining shut down, and the staff went from 34 employees to 12 as it pivoted to takeout meals and more bakery items.

  “A year ago, I wasn’t sure we would make it to 100 years,” Porter said. He drafted a letter to his managers in March 2020, announcing that the cafe would closing for good. But he didn’t finish the draft.

“I couldn’t do it,” he said. “You can’t be in business without being a little stubborn, and also a lot of support. I’ve got great people who helped take care of business. A lot of things went right for us.”

  Now back up to 33 employees, business is actually a bit ahead of pre-pandemic figures, and continues to do more to-go meals and bakery goods.  One of the biggest challenges is finding and retaining enough staff.

“We’ve got to make sure we can keep up with the demand,” Porter said. “We are off the beaten path. We want people to know about us, and when they walk through our door, we want to be able to provide the kind of experience they expect.”

Location makes or breaks a restaurant, and the brick building called the Armeda Block on 24 S. Main Street proved to be a dependable spot. It was named for its first owner, Armeda Snow Young, the daughter of Lorenzo Snow, an early president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She married Brigham Morris Young, the son of another Church president, Brigham Young.

Built in 1892, the Armeda Building had already been the site of a harness shop, grocery store, barber shop, law office, hardware store, china shop, restaurant, and basement bowling alley by the time Verabel and Percy Knudson set up shop on the south side of the building in 1921.

The Bluebird had been in business for several years in Logan, and Percy worked there for two years to learn the ice cream and candy business, according to Verabel’s history.

The Knudsons invested in the handcrafted wooden booths, marble counter and a long mirror — still part of the cafe today. They also installed candymaking equipment in the basement.

  In a contest to name the new business, Mrs. Walderman Call won a $10 prize for suggesting “Idle Isle.” Some say it may have been intended as “Idle Aisle,” but the name stuck.

 In 1929, Verabel’s brother, David H. Call and his wife LaRita became partners. Percy managed the business; David ordered supplies and made candy; Verabel ran the kitchen, and LaRita helped with cooking and pie making.

  In the 1930s, many Hollywood actors traveled by private railroad cars to Sun Valley in Idaho, and Brigham City was often a stop on the route. Movie stars Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and Paulette Goddard are among those who visited the Idle Isle.

  During World War II in the 1940s, the Bushnell Military Hospital was built in Brigham City to care for soldiers who had been injured or lost limbs in the war. The construction workers came for breakfast at the Idle Isle every morning. In Verabel’s history, she recalled getting up at 5 a.m. to open the café to feed the workers, and packing around 100 lunches to take with them.

  Most of the hospital’s patients were far from home and family. When their families came to visit, the Knudsons and Calls were among many Brigham City residents who hosted the soldiers’ families in their homes. The Idle Isle also promised every amputee a free meal if he could make it to the café on his new prosthetic limb.

  The Idle Isle also became a sponsor to provide work and support to Japanese-Americans who were ordered to register for internment camps across the country. Some became long-time employees and were an important part of the Idle Isle’s success.

  On the candy side of the business, David Call developed over 40 candy recipes, including the Almond Creme Toffee, still the company’s flagship product today. It’s a cream toffee center, dipped in milk chocolate and rolled in chopped roasted almonds.

  From 1971 to 1994, the Knudson’s grandson, Richard VanDyke, was an owner. After working with his grandparents and Uncle David Call, he knew both the restaurant and the candy business. Eventually he decided to sell the restaurant and focus solely on candy.

  “It was with a very sad heart, as it was difficult to let go,” VanDyke said. “But before, there had always been a partner to handle one side or the other, and I knew I couldn’t do both the candy and the cafe on my own.”

Also, the Internet was just developing, and VanDyke realized it would be a tool for marketing the candy throughout the country.

 A restaurant staffer, Cariann Jeppsen Brady, asked her parents, Kim and Ann Jeppsen, about buying the café. It became a new adventure for the Jeppsen family, who had never been in the restaurant business.

The café became a separate business, under the Jeppsens’ ownership, although both the candy and cafe still carry the Idle Isle name. The café kept the south half of the building, the candy store the north half, and candy production continued in the basement.

In 2004, the candy business moved across the street, allowing both businesses space to expand. Today, it’s owned by Richard VanDyke’s wife, Shari VanDyke, and her sister, Julie Gailey.

 The whole Jeppsen family — sons, daughters and spouses; nieces, nephews, and cousins — all pitched in worked at the restaurant. became involved with bussing tables, washing dishes, making salads, perfecting recipes, even pitting apricots for jam.

  “It became our new life. We had every meal here,” said daughter Jana Jeppsen Porter, who was 14 when her mother took the helm. “I started out washing dishes, and I was the worst dishwasher ever!”

Jana still makes the pies today, including the iconic Idleberry pie ($4.95 per slice) that’s been noted as Utah’s iconic pie by the Food Network. It’s made from a mix of  blueberries and Marionberries (a type of blackberry).

  When Janna married Travis Porter in 1998, he didn’t realize that he would end up running the Idle Isle someday.

“My first day here was Peach Days. I had five minutes of training and got to herd everyone who came through the door.”

  At his in-laws’ request, he managed the restaurant for nine years, then left to work in the financial industry. When the Jeppsens wanted to retire in 2015, they approached Travis and Jana about assuming ownership.

  “My answer was no,” Travis Porter said. But then he and Jana went on a “date night” at the Idle Isle.  

  “I was reminded of the feeling when I managed there, and the feeling when I first set foot in this building. I wanted to make sure we could preserve it and improve it.”

  Amid the old-fashioned ambiance, classic comfort food takes a starring role. Beef pot roast ($12) is the biggest seller on the menu, as an entrée, and in French dip ($9.50) and hot beef ($10) sandwiches.

  Another huge favorite is the open-faced, gravy-smothered hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes ($11.50), with its “Thanksgiving at Grandma’s” aroma. (A few years ago, I declared it one of Eight Great Northern Utah Sandwiches.)

   But the turkey sandwich is only offered on Monday and Saturday. Porter explained that the small kitchen was initially built to service only seven booths, and over the years, the restaurant expanded to two more dining areas and a much bigger menu. So there’s not enough kitchen capacity to cook everything every day.

   So regulars know that in addition to the usual menu, they can rely on the hot turkey sandwich or liver and onions every Monday; corned beef & cabbage on Tuesday, grilled Reuben sandwich on Tuesday or Wednesday, meatloaf on Thursday, trout fillet on Friday, and turkey dinner or ribeye steak on Saturday.

  “You know how Girl Scout cookies are only offered one time a year? It creates a desire when you can’t get it all the time, and it brings people in,” said kitchen manager Andrea LeDuc, a Western Culinary Institute grad who cooked at the Idle Isle three years.

    Balancing tradition with a bit of trendy, LeDuc also uses specials to flex her culinary muscles and create some buzz. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, you might find specials of pasta carbonara with bacon, chicken, mushrooms and a fried egg; a Santa Fe sandwich of roast beef, green chiles, Monterey jack cheese and chipotle mayo on house-made focaccia bread; blackened trout, or a Pepper Philly salad — the same ingredients in a Philly steak sandwich, but in a salad. Among the soup-of-the-day staples like chicken noodle or French onion, you’ll find chicken tortilla or Italian sausage with kale.

  “We have built our business on consistency,” said Porter. “But we also have a group that doesn’t want the same things they had 30 years ago. So we balance it with different specials.”

The Porters are restoring the facade of the cafe to look more like its historical storefront. Using state grant money, the doors will move to the center and transom windows will fill the entire front.

In talking about the cafe’s legacy, Travis Porter mentioned an elderly lady who would come in every Wednesday, all dressed up and always asked to sit in the same booth. He watched as she dined, and “You could see in her eyes that she was in a completely different place. I realized something that’s I’ve tried to incorporate. Our food is quality, but our legacy is built on more than the food.”