Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Finally! A place to grab a bite to eat in Hildale/Colorado City without having to disturb the natives.

The Merry Wives Cafe has opened next door to The Border Store, a convenience/gas station along Highway 56, which skirts the twin towns.

It is owned by Don Timpson, a member of Centennial Park, a separate fundamentalist Mormon community south of Hildale and Colorado City, which are home to Warren S. Jeffs' tribe.

The restaurant features crab cakes ($4.95) and clam fritters ($5.95) and sandwiches and burgers.

The Merry Wives applied for a limited liquor license -- and surprise, surprise, the Hildale City Council approved it. That means it may be able to offer beer and wine in the future, if other approvals fall in place.

A widescreen TV hangs over the cluster of tables. Early Monday evening it was tuned to a NCAA playoff game. The Merry Wives will be hosting a Final Four event this Saturday, and plans to host sports gatherings regularly.

The cafe is cheerily decorated with colorful ceramics and artificial plants. Two historical photographs of a good old-fashioned plural family hanging on one wall.

As best I can tell, the man in the photos is John Y. Barlow, who helped build up Short Creek, as the twin towns were once known, in the 1940s and 1950s. If someone can identify the family, let me know.

The cafe's reception so far?

"Very good," said John Knudson, who manages the cafe with Andy Cook. "We do have people who drive by and see it and come back."

John said the restaurant doesn't get a lot of business, but "we get enough."

Alas, there weren't any Merry Wives behind the counter or in the kitchen, as far as I could see.

But just as I was leaving, the Centennial Park Action Committee -- a group of women who've vigorously defended the plural lifestyle in dozen of media outlets -- arrived. They were there to meet with a writer from Los Angeles who is working on a book.

And just like that: merry wives were at every table.