I was driving back from Edmonton two weeks ago when I received a text. My sister Neisha sent a text indicating that Cochrane Café would be closing this month. I was saddened to hear this because like many Nakoda people, it was one of my favourite places to eat in Cochrane.
It was a place that brought back memories because it was my late father, Kent Fox, who used to take me there as a child. Chicken fried rice was my favourite meal as a kid. I used to order a plate of it and nothing else at Charlie’s Café.
My father, a cowboy and later a rancher, met up with his old cronies at Cochrane Café. Retired cowboys from the Foothills Cowboy’s Association, former employers, and friends would stop and chat with “Kenny” while I sat quietly and ate. You could see mischief in their eyes, and hear fondness in their voices as they talked about the good old days.
Cochrane Café, and Charlie’s Café before it, were symbols of liberty and freedom – a place where people of colour could enter freely. This is why Charlie’s Café became popular with our people. Charlie welcomed our people as his guests at a time when racism was overt and abundant. One must recall that until 1960 Native people did not have the right to vote. That’s only 57 years ago.
Charlie learned Nakoda words and would greet our people cheerfully when they entered his café. It was a place where our people felt comfortable.
When Charlie’s Café closed, people were relieved that the new owners continued to offer a Chinese and Western menu. As a result, many people from our community continued to patron “the café” and enjoyed its simple menu.
I was always sure to see Elder J.R. Twoyoungmen and his wife Pauline at Cochrane Café. My late aunt Doris and her son Shawn were regular customers. Any day you walked in you were sure to meet a person from this community quietly eating in the back.
My nephew Joe would order the “girl” cheese and fries as a little boy. The waitress, who worked there for a number of years, would always ask what he wanted. She just wanted to hear him say “girl” cheese.
Many Nakoda kids have ordered the kid’s dish of mashed potatoes and corn and even more ordered the delicious corn chowder. However, most went there for Chinese.
As news of its closure became widely known here in Morley, people started talking about it on social media with many posting that they simply had to go eat there one last time. I went there on the 16th to find many people from our community enjoying their last meals at Sexy Sue’s.
I sat in the back, as usual, beside the picture of the horse and rider startling a grizzly bear. It is a picture that reminded me of my late father, horseback riding and yore.
Cochrane Café was a special place for different reasons and held many memories for the Nakoda people. Thank you to the Steinstras and to Charlie before them for many years of great food and great service!
