News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Trey and Kyle Harbick have launched Takoda’s Restaurant in Sisters.
Cousins Trey and Kyle Harbick grew up in the family restaurant business, washing dishes, bussing tables and eventually graduating to waiting tables. Now they are running their own show at Takoda's in the Three Wind Shopping Center.
Trey says that Takoda is a Lakota Sioux word meaning "friend to all." His parents picked the name for the restaurant they founded in Rainbow, Oregon, on the McKenzie River, seven years ago.
"We started working there when we were 12, 13," Kyle recalled.
The Sisters restaurant, launched this summer, is similar to the parent restaurant, but the cousins have added a few twists, like entrée salads and wraps. The Sisters restaurant also has a full bar.
Trey notes with a smile that, at 19, he technically can't walk into his own bar.
The new restaurateurs may be young (Kyle is 21), but they are unfazed by their own youth. Trey's dad Darin Harbick started his first business at age 20, so they are squarely in the family tradition.
"He's really been a great role model and mentor to us," said Kyle of his uncle.
The restaurant site was home to Coyote Creek Café for many years, and landlord Helmut Jung was eager to give the Harbicks a shot in the space. He talked to Trey's father several times, and he checked out the area and liked the potential. He thought the young Harbicks could succeed here with Takoda's.
"One day my dad just came home and threw it out there," Trey said.
The young men thought it was a great idea, but it didn't really seem real to them. Eventually, however, it became clear that it really could happen.
The Harbicks eased into their opening, hiring all their staff locally. Trey credits a couple of key employees with helping to get Takoda's established: head chef Keith Brandt and waitress Judy Gillan, whom many diners remember from Coyote Creek days.
"She's just nothing but awesome," Trey said.
The cousins are comfortable in their role.
"Our experience over there (at the original Takoda's) has really helped," Kyle said. "I'd say at first it was a little intimidating being the number-one and having to answer all the questions, but I think we've really eased into it pretty well."
And the cousins have earned the respect of staff and patrons alike by bearing down and doing the work. After all, they know everything that goes into making a successful restaurant from the ground up - and the key ingredient is hard work.
Takoda's will host an official grand opening in August, but they are up and operating for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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