The Highlander Public House is still located at 726 Scott Avenue. However, the restaurant is growing and changing by adding a tea room and sandwich shop called The Coo Room.
Why the strange name? Well, a coo is the mascot of The Highlander Public House (HPH). A coo is the largest cow and it looks like a big hairy buffalo, according to Jan Phipps, one of the owners of the restaurant. “We wanted this room to be known as an extension of the HPH,” Jan said. While it is an extension, it is not located in the HPH location, but it is in the same large building with access from the 8th Street and not from Scott Avenue. If this all sounds confusing, once you get there it will all make sense and you won’t want to leave.
They opened November 1st for breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday 7:00 to 3:00 for walk-ins, and will have extended hours for special events. The location would be great for corporate events or even a Super Bowl party. It has a projector and large screen, internet, and cable along with audio visual equipment. Once a month the owners are planning a high tea by reservation also. “We are hoping to do events,” co-owner, Amy Scott said. “We just did a whiskey class in here.” “We would love to do receptions, birthday parties, bridal showers and more. We are pretty flexible, and we can do liquor, beer and wine, too”, Amy added.
“The room can hold up to 40 people, and for larger events we have access to Big Blue and can accommodate up to 300 people. We have a huge kitchen,” Rachel said.Rachel Sanchez is the chef of The Coo Room. She started out at HPH as a sous chef, but will now be the 
head chef of The Coo Room. “She makes killer homemade breads and eventually we will be able to sell them by the loaf,” Jan said. There will be homemade sandwiches such as pimento cheese and chicken salad on homemade bread. The chef is remaking the traditional Reuben sandwich and calling it The Rachel. Its ingredients are top secret, but it is rumored that bacon jam will be involved.
There will also be breakfast quiche and a daily quiche. “You can’t find a quiche anywhere in town except The Coo Room,” Jan said with a smile. “The big thing is that we will have delicious sweets,” Jan added. “We will focus on pies, cookies and scones. At the Highlander we do traditional with a twist. The pies will vary, but some that are planned are pumpkin, coconut crème, lemon meringue, and pecan. Her pecan pie is as good as my grandmother’s. I shut my eyes and it was like my grandmother was standing in the room”, Jan said nostalgically.
They will be open for Thanksgiving, and one of Rachel’s specialties is pumpkin log roll. Pies and log rolls can be pre-ordered to brighten anyone’s Thanksgiving meal. For business meetings off site, a lunch can be pre-ordered and the gang at The Coo Room will deliver. At the restaurant you can grab and go, or have a relaxing cup of gourmet tea. The brand of tea that they will be serving is Teapigs. In fact, they will be serving all kinds of specialty drinks, and they even have a Starbuck’s machine. Some of the specialty drinks are called Stubborn Sodas and are made with all-natural flavors and no high
fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. The flavors have fun names, and Stubborn Soda will be exclusive to The Coo Room. Some of the names are Lemon Berry Acai, Orange Hibiscus and Black Cherry with Tarragon. There will be diet sodas that have been sweetened with agave or stevia.
They want to collaborate with other downtown businesses to help compliment these other businesses; for example, a fashion show. “We have all these beautiful ideas of things to do at The Coo Room,” Jan said. “We want to have kid’s crafts and a downtown scavenger hunt eventually.”
“It is going to be so fun,” Amy added.
