{"id":5241,"date":"2015-01-19T07:23:06","date_gmt":"2015-01-19T14:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=5241"},"modified":"2015-01-18T18:47:41","modified_gmt":"2015-01-19T01:47:41","slug":"laurels-owl-cafe-revives-bluegrass-saturday-breakfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/01\/laurels-owl-cafe-revives-bluegrass-saturday-breakfast\/","title":{"rendered":"Laurel&#8217;s Owl Cafe revives bluegrass Saturday breakfast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-5241\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"5241-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-crowd2-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-crowd2-1-of-1-771x478.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A full house enjoys breakfast and bluegrass music at the Owl Cafe in Laurel on Saturday. Click on the arrow for more photos,<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5241-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-Exterior-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-Exterior-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The Owl Cafe is at 203 E. Main St. in Laurel.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5241-slide3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-the-band-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-the-band-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Music was provided Saturday by Highway 302, consisting of, from left, Clayton Olson, Jim McGowin, Larry Larson and LaLonnie Larson.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5241-slide4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-tips-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-tips-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Patrons threw tips into Clayton Olson's mandolin case.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5241-slide5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-LaLonnie-1-of-1.jpg*336*555\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-LaLonnie-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>LaLonnie Larson, an accomplished clogger as well as a multi-instrumentalist, takes a dance break at the Owl.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5241-slide6\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-da-hinta-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-da-hinta-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A behind-the-band view of Highway 302.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5241-slide7\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-menu-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-menu-1-of-1-771x1157.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The grand-opening menu from 1916: \u201cPatrons will be entertained with music.\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 5241, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/01\/laurels-owl-cafe-revives-bluegrass-saturday-breakfast\/', 7 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>LAUREL\u2014Next to the cash register at the Owl Caf\u00e9, there is a framed menu from the restaurant\u2019s grand opening on Aug. 13, 1916. At the bottom of the menu it says: \u201cPatrons will be entertained with music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, just shy of 100 years later, new owner Kathy Boyd can make the same promise, at least on Saturday mornings. She has revived the \u201cbluegrass Saturday breakfast\u201d tradition that made the Prairie Winds Caf\u00e9 in tiny Molt, 25 miles northwest of Billings,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/parade.com\/38820\/parade\/0207-molt-montana-making-music-on-the-prairie\/\">so popular<\/a> from 2001 until it closed in 2013.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5249\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 140px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-5249 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-Kathy-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"Boyd\" width=\"140\" height=\"235\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kathy Boyd<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Bringing in the bluegrass was suggested by John Letcher, a Laurel resident who has been a fan of Boyd\u2019s cooking for years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has quite the following,\u201d Letcher said. \u201cShe\u2019s a pretty famous cooking person around Laurel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Letcher was also friends with Larry and LaLonnie Larson, residents of Molt who cooked up the idea of playing music at the Prairie Winds. Letcher figured the Larsons\u2019 band, Highway 302, would be perfect for the Owl.<\/p>\n<p>He suggested it to Boyd, and she was game. As Letcher put it, \u201cI knew her and I knew Larry and those guys, so it just kind of clicked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Highway 302 kicked off the new tradition on Jan. 10, then played again this Saturday. As in Molt, the music will run every Saturday from 9 to noon. The first week there was a good crowd, but this Saturday, the day after the Billings Gazette ran a small blurb on the Owl in the Enjoy section, the place was packed.<\/p>\n<p>Spur of the Moment is scheduled to play this coming Saturday, and other bluegrass bands from the area are making arrangements to get a performance rotation going. Boyd said Larry Larson \u201cgot me hooked up with all kinds of other bluegrass bands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the crowd Saturday were Lynn and Bill Solberg of Laurel, who showed up with their granddaughter, Ember. Ember got up at one point and plucked along on LaLonnie Larson\u2019s upright bass as the band played \u201cOld MacDonald Had a Farm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>Lynn Solberg said they don\u2019t normally venture out quite so early, and her husband added, \u201cBut we got up for this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boyd said her first job in Laurel, when she moved there from Nebraska 20 years ago, was cooking at the Owl. The caf\u00e9 has been through several owners over the years, and Boyd started working on calling it her own more than a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>She worked at other restaurants in Laurel before buying the Owl, and lots of people who followed her from restaurant to restaurant are excited that she\u2019s found a home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m pretty proud because I feel like I have groupies,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5250\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-5250 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Owl-ember-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"Ember\" width=\"336\" height=\"504\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ember Solberg plucks on LaLonnie Laron&#8217;s bass during a rendition of &#8220;Old MacDonald.&#8221;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>She said she\u2019s taken the menu back to basic \u201950s and \u201960s offerings, and \u201cjust about everything we do here is homemade,\u201d including bread pudding and cabbage rolls. She serves lots of side pork at breakfast and lots of burgers and fries at lunch. Dinner standards include chicken-fried steak, pork chops, liver and onions and \u201cwonderful cod for fish and fries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Owl is about three times bigger than the Prairie Winds, with seating for 130, not counting seats in the banquet room behind the main dining area.<\/p>\n<p>The caf\u00e9 is open seven days a week at 203 E. Main St., next door to the old Sonny O\u2019Day\u2019s bar. It opens every day at 6 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m., except on Sunday, when it closes at 3. Starting in February, Boyd plans to stay open 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays.<\/p>\n<p>Boyd said the Owl has been \u201ca mainstay around here forever. I\u2019m very proud of the tradition, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to bring back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LaLonnie Larson knows about that tradition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom was born in 1923,\u201d she said, \u201cborn and raised in Belfry, Montana, and she said she remembered riding the bus to music festivals in Billings and stopping at the Owl Caf\u00e9 to eat. The Owl Caf\u00e9\u2014it\u2019s just been there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As at the Prairie Winds, musicians get a free breakfast and whatever tips are thrown their way, usually into an open mandolin or guitar case. LaLonnie said Highway 302 had a fine time at the Owl and is looking forward to more Saturdays there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMusicians need a place to play,\u201d she said. \u201cThey just only want to be warm and dry. And if it\u2019ll help that little gal get her place off the ground, that\u2019ll be great.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LAUREL\u2014Next to the cash register at the Owl Caf\u00e9, there is a framed menu from the restaurant\u2019s grand opening on Aug. 13, 1916. At the bottom of the menu it says: \u201cPatrons will be entertained with music.\u201d Now, just shy of 100 years later, new owner Kathy Boyd can make the same promise, at least [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[1962,1964,1960,1963,1959,1961],"class_list":["post-5241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-diversions","tag-highway-302","tag-john-letcher","tag-kathy-boyd","tag-lalonnie-larson","tag-owl-cafe","tag-prairie-winds-cafe","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}