When the beloved Cowpoke Café closed its doors, it left a big hole in Middletown. Originally opened in 1987 by Marlene Baker, Cowpoke quickly became a town staple. Marlene ran it until her passing in 2003, after which it changed hands a couple of times before eventually being owned by Jack and Karen Lair, who carried on the Cowpoke tradition.
Following Jack’s passing, Karen made the difficult decision to close the restaurant. Not long after, she approached us with the opportunity to take over the space. Owning a restaurant had always been a dream of ours, and we knew if there was ever a right time, this was it.
We poured our hearts into reopening the doors. The remodel took over a year, everything from the kitchen to the paint and lights was redone. But what guided us through it all was a shared love of food and a desire to bring something real back to the community.
These days, Jana runs the restaurant day to day while Dave handles the admin, maintenance, and marketing. We juggle the restaurant and our 3 Kids, Victoria Parker & Scarlett and a small farm. Together, we’re proud to be part of Middletown’s story and even prouder to serve the folks who make this town special.
The name Stonehouse came naturally, the building itself is made of stone, and as it turns out, before it was Cowpoke Café, it was actually called Stonehouse decades ago. We even connected with Mickey Aiello, the original Stonehouse owner, who brought us photos and stories from when his parents ran it. Bringing the name back felt like the perfect tribute.
Also, the Stone House Museum is the oldest building in Lake County and also a California registered landmark. That original Stone House was built in 1853 to replace the crude log cabin headquarters of the 21,200-acre Guenoc land grant. It contained all of Coyote Valley, from current Spruce Grove Road almost to Middletown, stretching southeast to include the lands that became Guenoc/Langtry vineyards. There is much history surrounding ‘stone house’ in south Lake County.
