Parry Lodge - Trails End - Kanab

http://www.parrylodge.com/

In Kanab, Utah, we will discuss two vintage restaurants: Parry Lodge and Houston's Trails End.  Parry is the oldest Kanab restaurant remaining alongside US 89. Parry Lodge has quite a history dating back to 1931.  During Kanab's Golden Years as a Mini Hollywood, Parry Lodge was THE Place to see and be seen.  Stars, starlets, cast, crew and movie moguls mingled and moved about in casual western garb.  Although Kanab's Golden Years are distant history, Utah's southern-most city still tries to cling to that brass ring.  As a result, the lore and legend of Parry Lodge lives on.

Local folks no longer own Parry Lodge.  It was acquired by Forever Resorts, owner of more than 70 resort and recreational properties in the United States, Europe and Africa.  Corporate ownership and management equates to corporate food in the Parry Lodge dining room. Chances are good that the menu at Parry is roughly the same at you'd find at other nearby Forever Resorts properties such as Bryce and Grand Canyon Lodges or Signal Mountain Lodge in Grand Teton National Park.

My wife and I occasionally stop by Parry Lodge between lunch and dinner hour just to visit the empty dining room and look at all the nostalgic Hollywood Era photos on the walls.  The Staff doesn't seem to mind and it's a fun "oh-so-Kanab" thing to do.

http://www.houstons.net/

Now that we've paid our respects to Kanab's rightful heir to the Oldest Restaurant Title, let's turn our attention to Houston's Trails End which happens to be right across US 89 (AKA: Main Street) from Parry Lodge.  The Trails End has been around and doing quite well, Thank You, since 1945.  You'll find a lot of vintage postcards on eBay showing Peaches Trails End under operation during US 89's 1950 go-go days. The Houston Family took over in 1975.

Trails End is the place you're going to find the US 89 fixing's to feed your comfort food cravings.  Even though Trails End might seem like another local mom and pop kind of place, it's run by some of the best food service people in the business.  In 1978 the Houston Family expanded into the mobile catering business and since that time has worked for the Federal Government feeding fire fighters at remote sites all over the West. In 1999 Houston’s Catering, Inc. was awarded the “Small Business Contractor” of the year award by the Department of Agriculture. This was no small task for a company from the small town of Kanab, Utah. The catering company continues in operation today and you may very well see their rigs running up and down the roads of the West.

As the Houston's website says, "The pride of the operation has always been homemade cooking with a touch of western personality. Today, Grandpa Bob still makes 10 gallons of his country gravy and DayLean bakes her rolls daily. It’s the old family recipes and home style cooking that have made the Trails End a legend."

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