Smoking Waters Coffee Co.

The Smoking Waters Coffee Co. has been serving locals and visitors to the Columbia Valley for several years. Lately, it has been undergoing an amazing redo that has taken the restaurant to a spectacular new level and is winning rave reviews.

Although new owner, Cindy Levagood, had been visiting with her family in Fairmont for the past 30 years, it was just a few years ago, while having a glass of wine with friends that she said, “Boy, would I ever love to live and work here!” A friend challenged her to make it happen and, in 2009, she did. In September of 2011, she bought the Smoking Waters Coffee Co. and has never looked back.

Cindy brings to her new endeavor an impressive culinary resume, beginning with her top-of-the-class standing at the Dubrelle French Culinary School of the Art Institute of Vancouver, where she won the honor of cooking with the executive chef’s team for 750 people for a televised event called Taste of the Nation at the Hotel Vancouver.

She followed this with a number of catering events on behalf of the school, then in 1994 she was asked to join a group of 6 chefs who, for 21 days, worked round the clock to cook breakfast, lunch, dinner and a soiree meal for 150 dignitaries and government officials from every country competing in the Commonwealth Games -– on a yacht!

Cindy started an event and catering company and worked with the owners of several major Vancouver hotels. She has done events for from 20 to 4,000 people, about 80 of which were weddings; for some, she planned the entire wedding. Crediting her success with an ability to be detail-oriented, Cindy says, “For a wedding, everything must be timed correctly, color-coordinated. You only have only one chance to do a wedding and get all the aspects together.”

Her largest event was a public memorial for which she and her team had only 6 days to plan and prepare for 4,000 people, with a private gathering of 400 friends and family afterward.

In her first 8 months as the owner of Smoking Waters, Cindy has done about 30 events in the Columbia Valley, both in-house and off-site. There have been birthday parties, sit-down dinners, wedding showers, family functions and community events.

The first impression people have when they enter the refurbished restaurant is of its inviting ambience. Warm red walls have become a revolving art gallery with a new and different display of local art each month. New tables with leather parson chairs indoors plus the deck seating overlooking the mountains add up to an enlarged capacity of 72 seats.

Smoking Waters now has its own private-label medium-roast Nicaraguan coffee and visitors can purchase gift bags and baskets for coffee and tea lovers, Dave’s famous hot pepper jellies and Sophie’s Choice antipasto, pickles and preserves are also for sale on the premises.

Many of the recipes for which Smoking Waters has long been known are still available, plus some absolutely scrumptious new offerings such as:

• pistachio-almond cake
• lemon loaf
• Red Velvet cake
• a fabulous German chocolate cake
• a spectacular breakfast entrée which is a cinnamon bun French toast with the exotic addition of Grand Marnier and fresh strawberries with whipped cream
• made-from-scratch eggs Benedict, which draws a crowd each Sunday
• homemade Belgian waffles
• homemade carrot cake

Smoking Waters is famous for breakfasts and people travel long distances to sample such items as the home-made cinnamon buns, large and topped with rich cream cheese icing, and fresh-made each day. Visitors from as far away as Calgary call ahead and put in their orders so they can stop and pick up their cinnamon buns on the way to the cottage. Two kinds of muffins, home-made scones, home-made breakfast bagels and breakfast wraps draw hungry crowds each morning. If you prefer, you can even order a custom breakfast with all your favorite foods.

For the lunch crowd, there are 2 kinds of home-made soups each day, various sandwiches, vegetarian options such as coleslaw, spanikopita with tzatziki sauce and samosas with mango chutney.

“Gluten-free is a big component now in the restaurant world,” says Cindy, and Smoking Waters offers a wide variety of delicious items from which to choose, including eggs Benedict, English muffins, a scrumptious turtle cheesecake, homemade granola bars, cinnamon-raisin and regular bagels, banana bread, gluten-free bread for sandwiches and soon-to-come, muffins, cookies and brownies.

The restaurant is now fully licensed. You can choose from 6 kinds of award-winning wines from the Okanagan and Osoyoos and 5 Erdinger beers (1 non-alcoholic) from the Bavarian area of Germany, much beloved by European visitors.

Smoking Waters Coffee Co. is open 7 days a week, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm. They are located just behind the Fairmont Village Mall.

Smoking Waters Coffee Co.
4985 Hot Springs Rd.
Fairmont Hot Springs, BC V0B 1L1
Ph./Fax: 250-345-4008
Email: swcc@shaw.ca