An old favorite in the town of Echo has returned.
Paul Nebeker, the owner of Bear Town in Evanston, Wyo. has rented the Kozy Café and is serving burgers and steaks again.
Frank Cattelan, longtime operator of Echo Café and other town businesses, has had to suspend operations at his place next door due to illness. He said having the Kozy Café open again is good for the community.
“Anything to keep the town going,” he said. “They’re doing a pretty good job.”
Jody Burton, manager, said the menu contains a lot of the favorites from Bear Town and described it as basic American fare: burgers, chicken-fried steak and breakfast all day. They serve home-made pie, soups and bread. So far, they’ve had great support from locals in Henefer, Morgan and Coalville.
“It’s been a lot of repeat customers already; it’s great,” she said.
Nebeker said business in Evanston has become fast-paced. That’s good for profits, but he likes Echo.
“It’s rightly named, it’s cozy. It’s a slower pace, and a nice break from the real busy place I have here,” he said.
Right now he’s renting from Noe Rodriguez, of The Rodriguez Polar King in Coalville. He’s thinking about purchasing the place, but if he does, he doesn’t anticipate making many changes.
“There’s great potential there. I want to keep it authentic and unchanged and sixties-ish,” he said.
Burton worked at Bear Town before moving to West Valley City. She said she hates it down in the city and started calling Nebeker telling him she missed the restaurant business. He hooked her up in Kozy Café and now she’s looking for a place to rent back near Echo Canyon.
“It’s legendary and beautiful out here,” she said. I absolutely love it.”
Right now Nebeker is “running ragged” between the two restaurants, Burton said. That’s the reason the Kozy Café sat empty for three years, explained Rodriguez. He bought it and The Polar King five years ago but realized he could only focus on one place at a time to do the job right.
Rodriguez has lived in Coalville for 25 years. He said he has fond memories of popular eateries all over the East Side that were frequented by truckers and joy riders from Salt Lake City and Ogden.
“I wanted to open it and make a go of it, but it takes a lot of work to get a business going,” he said. “I had the Polar King and my staff there. I had to stay there and work.”
If he ends up selling the Kozy Café to Nebeker, the deed would include the motel attached to the restaurant. Currently, construction workers on projects in the area rent out some of the rooms as apartments. The future of the motel is uncertain, both men say. The rooms are currently pretty full with the workers, and Rodriguez said the success of it as a motel is contingent on the success of the café drawing travelers.