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Home My Public Portal AboutSimplot7 A. e St G f &lino rt 2 8(% b' /0cp 1 i Here you ave Idaho - Simplot styl A majestic ponderosa helps harbor the summer home of Idaho industrialist J.R. Simplot. McCall puts its best food forward By LARRY GARDNER The guest list may never be duplicated, and the setting on the western shore of Payette Lake should stamp an indelible picture of a mountain paradise on the minds of the nation's gover- nors and their families. It's a hearty welcoming barbecue for the governors and their families — the big fling on Saturday evening, the first day of the 1985 National Governors' Conference. About 350 people will be transported to the mile -high mountain lake, where they can absorb the fjord -like scenery, taste the finest home-grown food available and sample the state's lifestyle and hospitality at the summer home of Idaho millionnaire industrialist J.R. Simplot. The Simplot home rests on a point jutting into the lake about five miles north of McCall, along the historic Warren Wagon Road on the western shore of the glacier - formed lake that reaches depths of 1,000 feet. It is an idyllic site. The main log house, a cook shack, three guest cabins, a caretaker's cabin and a couple of shop buildings all are built of logs. But man's presence is dwarfed by 300- to 400-year-old ponde- rosa pine, Douglas fir and tamarack trees. The three - acre complex covers the out- cropping that defines the northern boundary of the Syl- van Beach resort area. "We want to make an im- presson of Idaho as Idaho really is," said C.L. "Butch" Otter, chairman of the barbe- cue and a vice president of the J.R. Simplot Co. "If they can see a true Idaho, it'll stand on its own merits." Otter, Simplot's son-in-law, owns a more modern house on the property. The distinctive green summer home — which matches the color of the flou- rescent moss on the huge pon- derosas around it — rises just off the beach on the northern- most portion of the Simplot property. Simplot's log house and the guest cabins were constructed in 1937 and '38 as part of the sets for the 1940 movie North- west Passage, starring Spen- cer Tracy, Robert Young and Walter Brennan and directed by King Vidor. Lake scenes for Dave BrookmaniStatesman the movie were snot in the Syl- van Beach area. The complex then was used for several years as a guest resort before Simplot purchased it in the late '50s. The final touches for the Idaho -Western -style party o1 the year will be made midaft. ernoon Saturday as the gover nors and their families ride z fleet of corporate aircraft tc McCall under the direction o'. state Adjutant Gen. Darrel Manning. As the governors and their entourage arrive at the McCal Airport, they will travel bac' into a Western time warp They will climb out of corpo rate jets onto horse-drawr wagons for a hayride to the shore of Payette Lake at the public boat dock in downtowr McCall. Jim Bean and Sons o Nampa will furnish teams o r draft horses and at least one of the hay wagons, while other wagons will be donated by residents of the McCall area. Passengers on the hayride will be serenaded by a pot- pourri of Idaho entertainers during the 15- to 20-minute trip to the lakeshore. Then their mode of transportation will take another twist at the lake as a fleet of at least 15 donated speedboats will whisk the gov- ernors across the lake to Sim- plot Point where they will be met by Gov. John Evans, J.R. Simplot and other members of a special welcoming commit- tee at the by -invitation -only kickoff barbecue. The guest list includes governors, their spouses, barbecue sponsors and their guests. A Western theme based on Idaho's official state song, Here We Have Idaho, will ex- tend to the lavish cuisine and home-grown entertainment. The Idaho beef industry took steps in mid -June to assure the governors would dine on the finest steaks available in the state. Tom Hovenden, execu- tive vice president of the Idaho Cattle Association, helped arrange a special roundup of the 350 New York strip steaks. With the help of J. Robert Kemp, former chief executive of Iowa Beef Proc- essors Inc., he selected cattle from a southwestern Idaho feedlot. The cattle then .were butchered, to be aged six weeks before the conference. In addition to the Idaho beef the barbecue will feature roast pork, lamb and poached salm- on, plus several varieties of potatoes, corn on the cob, baked beans and salads — all Idaho -grown, Two 40-pound lambs and a 150-pound pig will be prepared on spits, forming a backdrop for the cuisine creations that will decorate the serving tables, said John Edwards general manager of McCall'sf Shore Lodge, which is catering the barbecue. 771, Simplot dinner menu Two 40-pound Iambs One 150-pound pig 25 New York strips (yield 350) Four 20-pound salmon with heads and tails Steak -fried potatoes or skin -on wedge cuts Baked beans Corn on the cob Salad and fruit Bread Milk, coffee and soft drinks Hard liquor, beer and wine Shore Lodge is charging $15 per person for service and sidedishes for 350 people, or $5,250. (If do- nated food is included, the actual cost would be $35 to $40 per plate, or $12,250 to $14,000) ■ Randy Langley, 29, general manager at the Red Lion- Riverside hotel, %."sty+rted his car+eet in a kitchen 15 years ago. flit..xt week -he will be restsonsIble far keeping the governtofs iiniortab , dclrint . bona! A - ors -