Log Haven, the 75-year-old home, restaurant and reception center located four miles up Millcreek Canyon, is back in the meals and memories business.
Ask any native Salt Laker if they've ever been to Log Haven, and you'll likely get an earful about their wedding breakfast, rehearsal dinner, retirement party, missionary farewell, 50th wedding anniversary, the place where they got engaged . . .The list is endless. If you've lived here all your life, chances are at least one of your "passages" took place inside Millcreek's big log cabin.
It seemed for a while that Log Haven wouldn't be making any more memories for anyone. After many years in which patrons universally agreed it had "gone downhill," Log Haven closed in January, its demise scarcely noticed by a clientele that had taken its business elsewhere.
But on Monday the venerable restaurant reopened with new owners, a totally renovated interior, a new chef and manager, a new menu, and new plans for expansion, including a bed and breakfast inn and a wedding chapel by the waterfall.
"I think people will be surprised at how different the building feels; I feel it smiles at me," said Margo Provost. "I feel the building is happy to have had some attention paid to it again."
Margo and her husband, Dr. Wayne Provost, bought the building and its 40 acres of private grounds in March and have been working on it ever since, improving access, replacing all the electrical wiring, plumbing, heating, doors, floors and fireplaces.
They put on a new roof, expanded the dining room, built new disabled-access restrooms, new kitchen and bakery, new sewer system and a new reservoir and pipeline to bring in spring water for patrons.
"Basically, we gutted the place; the logs are the only thing left unchanged," said Margo. "Did we plan to do all that? No. But the building had been neglected for 15 years, and we wanted it to last a long time."
Not a native Utahn, Margo has no Log Haven memories. But Wayne, who is a Utah native, has enough for both of them. Margo recalls she was in Dallas on business in February when she got a call from her husband.
"He asked me if there was enough money in our checking account to cover a very large check because he had just bought Log Haven." Margo emphasizes that she and her husband bought the property but not the liabilities of the former owners. "We've gotten calls from their creditors," she said.
Wayne is the former president of FHP of Utah. He now is vice president of corporate assets of FHP Corp., which means he has to spend a lot of time in California, where FHP is based. Margo has closed down her health-care consulting business to devote her full time to the new family business.
When she first got inside to see what they had taken on, Margo admits she had second thoughts. "Boy, was I shocked," she recalled. Initially, the Provosts thought they would just lease it out and let someone else tackle the task of renovating the facility, but they soon realized that if they wanted it done right . . .
They had a lot of help, she said, particularly from Jim and Jean Rains. Their father, L.H. Rains, built Log Haven as a second home in the 1920s. Jean has supplied the Provosts with old photos and other memorabilia.
"I found pictures of the original construction," said Jean Rains. "Daddy bought the logs in Oregon, had them shipped to San Francisco and then overland to Salt Lake City. He hired two Swedish craftsmen who supervised the unusual construction."
Gleed Miller bought the home from L.H. Rains during the 1930s. The insurance executive added rooms and converted it to a year-round home.
In 1958, Stanley Sprouse bought the house and turned it into a restaurant that became well known in Utah and across the country. At one time, it was known as "America's Most Scenic Restaurant and Reception House."
The new Log Haven chef is Chad Scothorn, who has worked in Vail and Beaver Creek, Colo., the latter as chef of the nationally known Beano's Cabin. The new front manager is Mark Stamler, who has experience running restaurants in New York, San Francisco and Atlanta.
The new Log Haven also has separate private banquet facilities.
Log Haven will serve dinner only Monday through Saturday, 5:30 to 10 p.m. and Sunday brunch 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For now, reservations are not necessary.