By Stephen Floyd
A familiar venue will have a new feel this Oktoberfest in Mount Angel after Scott and Kristi Stokley moved Lou’s Kitchen beneath the glockenspiel in the Edelweiss Village Building.
The iconic clocktower stands in the center of town on E. Charles Street, with wooden figures revolving four times daily.
The venue beneath once housed The Glockenspiel Restaurant & Pub, which served traditional German-style food until it closed earlier this year.
Lou’s Kitchen may serve a more American-style menu, but it still reflects a Mount Angel tradition, say the Stokleys.
The restaurant is named after Kristi Stokley’s father Lou Beneke, who ran Angel’s Table in Mount Angel with wife Elna Beneke from 1976 to 1989. In addition to bearing Lou’s name, the menu features old favorites from Angel’s Table such as the farmer’s breakfast, the Angel Burger and homemade clam chowder every Friday.
This throwback to family reinforces the Stokley’s goal for Lou’s Kitchen of creating a space that feels warm and welcoming.
“We want it to be homey,” said Kristi. “Even though the interior looks fancy, we just want it to be casual and family and homey.”
Lou’s Kitchen first opened in 2022 down the street from its new location. It quickly outgrew the space. The kitchen was only large enough for simple meals and they were only open for breakfast and lunch, and now they can offer a larger variety of dishes and a full dinner menu.
The new location also features the talents of the Stokleys’ son, Derek Stokley, who has spent 20 years as a trained chef and is now the lead cook. Scott said this will improve both the menu and the cohesive family feel of the restaurant.
“Being able to bring him into the family business is great,” said Scott. “He offers some of that culinary expertise back in the kitchen.”
And the Stokleys are no strangers to the glockenspiel, as for years Scott has been in charge of its maintenance through the Mt. Angel Community Foundation.
He said Lou’s Kitchen will not impact this iconic exterior to the building, while he will continue overseeing the care of the glockenspiel with plans to soon refurbish the statues.
Lou’s Kitchen joins other thriving ventures the Stokleys have undertaken, including specialty clothing store Touch of Bavaria and holiday retailer Angel Mountain Christmas. On top of that they own a realty business, and helped found Discover Mount Angel earlier this year.
Scott said they are comfortable with this many irons in the fire but do not have plans for new undertakings in the near future. He said community support has been a significant reason the Stokleys have been able to take on so much, and one of the easons they keep investing in Mount Angel.
“We probably could take our retail business to a bigger city and get more business, but this is our home and we’ll bring them our way, bring them to Mount Angel,”he said.
