JOSEPH – Silver Lake Bistro, a new Joseph restaurant, opened its doors Oct. 3. The restaurant is located at 5 South Main Street, and owned by partners Ryan Cook and Samantha Weaver.

Silver Lake is the name that settlers of European ancestry originally applied to Wallowa Lake.

Cook is a California native but a longtime Oregonian and a veteran of the restaurant business. He is essentially the chef and baker of the bistro. Weaver is a fifth-generation Wallowan who met Cook while she was working and attending school in Bend. Weaver is the barista as well as covering the serving end of the restaurant. She also contributes significantly to the baking.

Speaking of baking, the restaurant bakes all its own breads, pastries and desserts.

Cook comes by his profession honestly. “I’ve cooked my whole life for my family because my dad was always away at work while my mom was busy enough cleaning up after and doing laundry for my three brothers and me. I’ve been a professional chef about eight years,” Cook offered.

After several years in Bend, the couple tired of the city life and moved to Wallowa County. “We moved down here without even a place to live – we camped out,” Weaver said. “Our first day here we got hired on at the Lostine Tavern, which was just reopening. I was their main chef, and Sam was the main bartender, and we have to come home to a tent,” Cook added.

After four months with the Lostine Tavern, the couple found the restaurant opportunity in Joseph and jumped at it. “We’re the type of people who go home and constantly have ideas of our own, and we always had owning our own restaurant in mind,” Weaver said.

Besides his talents as a chef and baker, Cook is also a butcher. He learned the skill while working at Pono Farm and Fine Meats in Bend. He credits his time in the butcher shop as a pivotal part of his decision to become a professional chef.

The couple credits Mary Wolfe of Mad Mary and Company for their start into their own business. “She gave us a very good deal and really worked with us,” Weaver said. The bistro is housed in the space of Wolfe’s former soda shop.

One of the restaurant’s selling points is its constantly revolving menu. “If something is selling like crazy, we’ll keep it on the menu, but this is a place you can always go to get something weird or crazy, the kind of place that sells something you can’t get anywhere else around here,” Cook said. The restaurant also buys as much local produce as it can afford.

Although the couple currently work the restaurant alone, they plan to hire two to four employees to help keep up during the summer months. “Judging by what we’ve seen this summer, we won’t have a choice,” Cook said with a laugh.

The current menu includes several sandwiches including Banh Mi, roast beef and cheddar, turkey bacon avocado, French dip and two sausage sandwiches. The restaurant makes its own soups and salads daily. Fresh-baked from scratch desserts including cookies, croissants, tarts, pies and cinnamon rolls line display cases. The restaurant offers a large variety of ice cream and Longbottom specialty coffees.

Cook offered his philosophy as a restaurant owner and chef: “We don’t want to get stagnant as a restaurant. We want people always checking our Facebook page, always coming in to get something today that maybe they couldn’t get yesterday.”