3-Year-Old Moss Bay Inn's Lease Running Out

The days of Kay LaFave's fresh-baked turkey sandwiches and homemade soups at the Moss Bay Inn are numbered. After 21 years, the popular Park Place restaurant in Kirkland will close the weekend of April 26.

Kay's daughter-in-law, Chris LaFave, says the property owner declined to negotiate a new lease.

Kay arrives at 4 a.m. each weekday to cook the turkey for her signature sandwiches and bake her famous pies.

"I don't know what Kay or the customers will do next month . . . or next Thanksgiving," says Chris. "Kay always bakes 30 to 60 pies for customers at Thanksgiving."

The Moss Bay Inn long has been equated with the bar on television's "Cheers."

"People here do know one another," said one customer, Dorothy Gonzales, of Kirkland. "I've been coming here 21 years - that's half my life."

J.J. Ottinger and Ron Curry, both Kirkland residents, echo her history of patronage. The three were resigned but bitter over the pending closure.

"They want to put another four-star establishment in here," said Ottinger.

Not necessarily so. Property manager Don Stabbert says the building is overdue for renovation. He doesn't know what will eventually take the restaurant's place.

"There's not going to be anywhere left in Kirkland for workers, the people who wear flannel shirts and do physical labor, to go," said Gonzales.

A farewell party will be held at the Moss Bay Inn on April 26.

Attention! When Ralph Cooper of Kirkland went for his morning walk earlier this week, it looked like rain.

So he grabbed his umbrella.

As Cooper exercised his way through the Houghton neighborhood, he reminisced about his military days and wondered if he could still do a present-arms routine.

The rolled-up umbrella was about the same size as a rifle. He looked around. The streets were deserted.

So Cooper went through the formal display of arms, holding it up in front of his chest, pretending to slide open the chamber, turning it and finally resting the umbrella on his shoulder.

Just then a jogger passed. He quietly said to Cooper, "I hope that thing isn't loaded."

Private ceremony: Both Stacy Graven and Ken Johnson have upfront, public kinds of jobs, so it is appropriate they don't want that kind of wedding.

Graven, director of Bellevue's Meydenbauer Center, will marry Johnson, executive director of the planned baseball stadium's Public Facilities District, in a family-only ceremony early in June.

The couple will live in Clyde Hill.

Congratulations: General manager Allan Aquila, chef Vicky McCaffree and the staff at Kirkland's Yarrow Bay Grill have reason to celebrate.

For the second consecutive year, the grill has been named the Best on the Eastside in Seattle magazine's Readers' Choice Restaurant Awards.

By the way, the Yarrow Bay Beach Cafe, the grill's more casual sister restaurant in the lower level, just opened its outdoor dining deck.

----------------------------------------------------------------- Sherry Grindeland's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in The Seattle Times Eastside edition. You can reach her by phone at 515-5633, fax at 453-0449, e-mail at sgri-new@seatimes.com or mail at The Seattle Times Eastside bureau, 10777 Main St., Suite 100, Bellevue, WA 98004.