Idle Isle Looks To Its Future And Honors Its Past

The Idle Isle Cafe is a Brigham City landmark, recently celebrating 102 years of continuous operation in the same location. It’s been called Utah’s oldest restaurant, although there are a few other contenders for the title.

When Corinna Harris bought the restaurant from its long-time owners in 2022, she kept nearly all the comfort classics that Idle Isle is known for —— pot roast, chicken fried steak, salmon fillet — even the Monday night liver & onions special. About the only thing that got booted was split pea soup, “because it wasn’t a big mover,” she said. (All about the Idle Isle’s history, here.)

But she’s added some new stuff as well, and I enjoying hearing it about it when I interviewed her for a Standard-Examiner story. Some of the updates include:

* Appetizers. “They’re bringing more people into the restaurant,” said Harris. They include wings, deep-fried calamari, and garlic fries laced with bits of fresh garlic.

Chef Ted Mathesius, who is now a sales rep for U.S. Foods, shared his onion rings recipe, and these colossal bad boys are suspended on a vertical hanger for some dramatic appeal. So are the giant Bavarian pretzels — a cool presentation that shows off the pretzel, with dipping sauces in cups below.

* The Cowboy Carson Bison Burger, created by line cook Carson Lee. It’s a bison burger topped with bacon, a fried egg, an onion ring, red onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a special “cowboy BBQ sauce.” Served dramatically with a steak knife sticking in the bun, it’s become a top-seller.

“We’re using the creativity of our line cooks and encouraging them to come up with dishes that they can be proud of,” said Harris.

*A “kitchen incubator” program where budding bakers and pastry chefs can use the kitchen after-hours to create desserts. The restaurant is already famous for its Idleberry pie (the filling is blueberries and marionberries), and house-made rolls. A variety of other pies, cakes, cupcakes and other goodies are showing up.

* Freshness. Hydroponically grown lettuce is fresh-picked in the kitchen as needed in sandwiches and salads. They get deliveries twice a week from a supplier. The salads are mixed greens, not iceberg lettuce. And the croutons are made in-house.

* Going local. The artwork and photography decorating the walls come for local artists, and it’s for sale. Books written by local authors are also for sale, and the restaurant wants to host author book signings. Harris has also hosted charity and fundraising events as well. “We want to be a community-based restaurant,” she said.

* Special events. They hosted a Chinese New Year Celebration with authentic Chinese dishes and a St. Patrick’s Day with corned beef & cabbage. For Valentine’s Day, they brought in a DJ and turned one dining room into a ballroom for dancing. Couples were charged $100 per couple with a posh menu that included a choice of mahi-mahi, New York strip steak, apricot-glazed pork chops or chicken marsala.

When asked what her favorite menu item is, Harris said it’s the the breaded grilled salmon fillet, which is served every night. There’s also a salmon salad — breaded grilled salmon on a bed of fresh greens with beets, olives, egg, cheese, and croutons. And, occasionally crab legs are offered as a special.

“We want to be unique, because we are old historical restaurant but we want to appeal to the new people moving in,” said Harris. “You don’t have to go to Ogden or Salt Lake City to get a great steak or crab legs.”

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

The Idle Isle’s building, on 24 S. Main, was called the Armeda Block, as it was named for its first owner, Armeda Snow Young. She was 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.  

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.” According to an April 1921 Box Elder News article, “The name was chosen because of the harmonious suggestion it offers, which is entirely in keeping with the purpose of the firm. The name is also something different from the ordinary, catchy and suggestive of rest in a comfortable place.”Some say it may have been intended as “Idle Aisle,” but the name stuck.

The Knudson/Call families ran both the Idle Isle Cafe and Idle Isle candies until 1994. The Knudson’s grandson, Richard VanDyke decided to sell the restaurant to focus solely on the candy side of the business. Although both carry the Idle Isle name, the two are separate businesses now, and the candy shop is located across the street.

A restaurant staffer, Cariann Jeppsen Brady, asked her parents, Kim and Ann Jeppsen, about buying the café. The Jeppsens ran it as a family enterprise for many years. Then their daughter, Jana and her husband, Travis Porter, became owners in 2015. Corinna Harris bought from them in 2022.