Samoa Cookhouse, Samoa, California Call: (707)
442-1659
Samoa Cookhouse, the last surviving lumberjack camp style cookhouse in
the West, has been serving heaping meals since 1893. Located near
Eureka, California, there's no doubt that locals and visitors know about
this family-friendly restaurant, which serves up to 15,000 meals on a
busy day such as Mother's Day.
With over 100 years of doing something right, there's only good vibes in
the big red building with several huge rooms and a smaller dining
enclave next to the Lumberjack Museum inside the building. Filled with
long tables covered in red-checkered vinyl tablecloths, you'll find
yourself or your groups sitting next to people you may not know. You
don't have to talk to the folks next to you but the food will put you in
a good enough mood that you may choose to do so. Served on large
platters, the quantities are huge, allowing you to pass around the food.
Seconds are offered so no one goes home hungry either.
From your table you can smell the food cooking, hear the sizzle of the
sausage and watch the cook prepare the hundreds of meals within view.
Cooking thousands of eggs, sausages, sandwiches and soups is what Samoa
Cookhouse does best. A logging camp tradition in which the cook was one
of the most important people at the camp, established the importance of
good meals for hard working lumberjacks who burned thousands of calories
each day. If the food wasn't up to snuff, loggers were known to leave a
camp for better fixins'.
The restaurant still features long oilcloth covered tables, mismatched
chairs and an abundance of food, with waiters & waitresses quickly
filling the tables with huge loaves of bread. Be sure to leave room for
the desserts that will come later.
The Samoa Cookhouse also has three private rooms available for large or
small gatherings and a historic logging museum. The museum houses
artifacts from the early logging days as well as implements used in
lumber camp kitchens. From old logging boots, saws and machinery to a
massive wood-burning stove, the museum is a treasure trove of items from
the lumber mill and Cookhouse in Samoa. Visitors can sign the guest book
in the museum and quickly discover that tourists come from around the
globe to enjoy old-fashioned food service and quality meals cooked fresh
daily.
To reach the Cookhouse, take the Samoa Bridge (Hwy. 255) from Eureka,
turn left at the end of the bridge on Samoa Road and look for signs.
Eureka < Samoa >
Arcata
