Hoot Owl gains national mention
-- Photo courtesy HOOT OWL CAFE This vintage-looking pen and ink drawing graces the menu covers at the Hoot Owl Cafe in Ponderay.
PONDERAY — It is shaping up to be a banner year for Wendy Sater and the staff of the Hoot Owl Cafe. Earlier this month, Sater rode at the head of Sandpoint's Fourth of July Grand Parade, and, as icing on the cake, her cafe appeared as an "Oldies But Goodies" pick in the July/August issue of the Rachael Ray Every Day magazine.
"It's hard not to like a diner with a sign that reads, 'Around here, normal is just a setting on the dryer,'" begins a blurb in the column by Jane and Michael Stern. "In this ragtag eatery in northernmost Idaho, expect a take-no-prisoners attitude from waitresses dishing out plates of hugely hearty fare."
The Hoot Owl shares column space with Al's Breakfast, a tiny Minneapolis diner, the Exmore Diner of Exmore, Va., the Florida Avenue Grill in Washington, D.C., and the Parkway Diner of South Burlington, Vt. The common threads binding all these oldies but goodies together is local cachet and vintage decor.
Sater has owned the Hoot Owl Cafe, 30784 Highway 200 in Ponderay, for over two decades.
Sater is well-known throughout the community for her generous spirit, helping organizations like the Sandpoint Lions Club and Toys for Tots raise funds. In addition, her daughter, Savannah Mort, and her son-in-law run a free soup kitchen Monday afternoons at the Hoot Owl.