Overlooking downtown Truckee, with the huge glowing “Hilltop Lodge” letters, Cottonwood has became a Truckee staple, offering comfortable reverie, fine dining, and live music. After 26 years, ownership is changing hands, but with a plan to keep the same atmosphere and food flowing for years to come.
“People deserve to know that it’s going to stay the way it has been, and the consistency will remain,” said Mike Blide, who became co-owner of Cottonwood in 1996 and served as its general manager. “We are happy that it’s going to stay family owned.”
Cottonwood opened on New Year’s Eve in 1988 with Jennifer Haag and then-business partner Ed Coleman as the initial owners. In 1995, Blide and Jennifer married, and the following year the couple bought out Coleman. Cottonwood grew in popularity due to its nightly specials, busy bar, and live music on Thursday and Friday nights.
“At first, I didn’t have any type of big plan. We started it with almost no money, with the kitchen equipment in there from the previous owner, a Mexican restaurant called Don Juan’s,” Jennifer said. “It was an organic process; we zigged and zagged a lot.”
Besides expanding the bar to about double the original size in 1994, the Blides maintained the old-fashioned character of the property. The bar area and fireplace room are part of the original Pavilion, a warming hut built in 1928 out of salvaged railroad ties that served the neighboring ski hill. The Hilltop area where Cottonwood is located was a pioneer in winter sports tourism for California. Hilltop hosted ski jumping, lift-served tobogganing, a winter carnival, and ice-skating, many of which were brand new attractions to the public.
This rich history is ingrained in the Cottonwood spirit, and the staff is proud to have a connection to that period.
“The building provides customers with a glimpse back into Sierra history,” said head chef David Smith, who has been with Cottonwood for 17 years and will stay on with new owners Kathie Kearley-Green and husband Robert Green. “You can’t build them like this; it takes years to develop such character.”
A Change, of Sorts
While the Blides are stepping out, much of the core staff — the bar manager, several kitchen employees and waitstaff, along with Smith — will remain.
“The general feeling of camaraderie amongst the staff is that we are one big family, and I don’t think this will change with the new ownership,” Smith said.
The new owners are happy to continue what has been built up.
“We want to carry on the tradition that we inherited, to keep the live music going as well as the current ambience and style of food,” said Kearley-Green, who will begin as owner in early February.
The Greens have owned a house in Truckee since 2001, and are regular diners at Cottonwood. They were interested in owning a business in the area and considered buying a wine shop in Truckee in 2008, but they passed because of the sagging economy. When they received a call from the Blides’ realtor last summer that Cottonwood was going on the market and looking for interested buyers, they realized it could be a feasible option.
Kearley-Green works in the finance department at the University of San Francisco after working for Marriott for 10 years, and Green owns a small law firm in San Francisco. Their oldest son Tim, who currently lives near Mt. Rose, will work on the administrative end and in the dining room. Kearley-Green plans on living in Tahoe almost full-time and transitioning out of her San Francisco job within a few years.
While keeping much of what has made Cottonwood great, the new owners have some new ideas about how to improve the restaurant, such as adding a banquet arm for special events and lunch service. One initial change the Greens will implement is to install a new, larger kitchen that will make operations easier for the staff. They are also looking to hire a new general manager to replace Blide.
“We’ve spent 25 years working with small businesses amid the hectic atmosphere of the Bay Area, and are excited to start a new venture and be in Truckee more,” Kearley-Green said.
Mike says he will miss his staff, whom he calls “a group of energetic, fired-up ski bums,” and is elated they will carry on under the new owners.
The Blides decided they had put in their time and were in a good place to let the restaurant go and move on to fresh endeavors, which are currently wide open and being decided.
“It is a window of opportunity for us,” Mike said. “We came off a few good years, and we figured 26 years was plenty of time, but we will miss being a part of the growth of Truckee, [which] was a special thing.”
