Cafe takes risk with risque name.

Byline: ED RUSSO The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - Sandy Stewart and Su Rosenthal call their business The Brothel, but don't you dare call them - well - you know ...

These two ladies own The Brothel Cafe, which they opened in downtown Cottage Grove on Jan. 5.

If the name makes you think Stewart and Rosenthal employ scantily clad waitresses in a strip-club atmosphere, your prurient curiosity will be disappointed. Yes, you'll be able to claim that you had breakfast in bed, but everything about the restaurant is family fare - everything except the name, that is.

The Brothel Cafe has created a stir in this town of 8,300 people.

At its best, the name can be seen as an inspired bit of marketing, something sorely needed by every retail business that opens in Cottage Grove's struggling downtown.

"Everybody who comes in says the town is buzzing," Stewart said.

Many residents think the name is a humorous, though odd, choice.

"I might not have picked it, but I think they are having a lot of fun with it," said George Devine, co-owner of Cascade Home Center, a downtown hardware store.

Some, however, are offended. "Some of our friends who are religious said they would never be in the door," Stewart said. "But people who know us know it's nothing risque."

Tim Flowerday, executive director of the Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce, said he's heard a couple of criticisms amid mostly positive reaction.

"There is always going to be somebody who takes exception to the seamier side of life," he said. "It's a tongue-in-cheek thing."

Besides, Flowerday said, Rosenthal and Stewart are to be commended for filling an empty storefront.

The cafe is housed in a 100-year-old building in the heart of downtown. Some who see the name assume that the building at one time housed a brothel. But that's not so. Cottage Grove did have houses of ill repute, but those were in other buildings about a block away. Rosenthal said she thought of the name years ago when she dreamed of opening a soup-oriented restaurant. Brothel is a play on the word broth, she said.

Rosenthal owns Pandora's Box, a quilt supply store next to the new eatery.

Stewart and Rosenthal, who became friends through a love of quilting, both have restaurant experience. Stewart ran Main Street Deli in the old Cottage Grove Hotel building for a couple of years, and Rosenthal has worked in restaurants at various times.

Stewart and Rosenthal last year bought the empty two-story, 8,000-square-foot building for $150,000. After renovating half of the ground floor for Rosenthal's quilt shop, the partners set to work creating their restaurant.

"I never carried so many studs in my life," Rosenthal quipped.

The total renovation cost about $100,000.

Stewart, 61, said she's too old for the restaurant business, but still wanted to pursue the idea. "Life is too short not to move on your dreams," she said. "We didn't want to say that we wish we would have done that."

"And we have a good time," Rosenthal said.

So how do you decorate a Brothel Cafe? With furniture that looks like beds, of course. The partners used wooden headboards and footboards from antique beds to make booth-type seating at 10 of the 13 tables. Completing the bed motif: tables covered with quilted tablecloths that the partners sewed themselves. The restaurant serves breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Saturday. The menu features pancakes, waffles, eggs, sandwiches, soups and daily specials.

Most everything is made from scratch, the owners said, including desserts and "Su's Sinfully Sassy Carrot Cake."

Customers never miss a chance to make a pun or joke.

On Tuesday morning, Earle Quinlan, a parking control officer for the Cottage Grove Police Department, stopped by for a first-time look. "I was going to say that I came in to sample the wares, but I don't think that would have sounded right," he said.

Asked what she thought of the name, customer Opal Nelson feigned shame. "I think it's horrible," she said. "I don't want anybody to see what we are doing in here. I told my friend that we will just sneak in here, eat our breakfast and leave."

"I'm not sure about the name, but the food was fantastic," Nelson added. "Next time, I'm going to wear my knee-high boots, miniskirt and my boa."

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Sandy Stewart (left) and Su Rosenthal have furnished The Brothel Cafe in Cottage Grove with bedlike booths.