WALLOWA — Artisan pizza and a variety of sandwiches with the promise of more are now available at the recently opened Stone Tribe Restaurant in downtown Wallowa.

“We’re open here now with a limited menu,” co-owner Karin Keogh said Friday, Aug. 11.

Family ventureIn what had been the Wallowa Mountain Bar and Grill, Stone Tribe is operated by Keogh and her husband, Dean Keogh, along with their “tribe” of six kids. (Their dog doesn’t assist.)

Dean said the unique name comes from the family’s background in woodcarving and stone sculpture.

“It is a remnant of our past. We’re a family of stone sculptors,” Dean said. “We’ve been on national TV doing that. … My kids carve ambidextrously. … We left the trade but we didn’t want to leave it behind so we kept the name.”

They hope to keep up the craft by offering classes in stone sculpture and woodcarving.

The family claims roots as diverse as Battle Creek, Michigan, and Bremerton, Washington, with stop-offs in Texas and other places.

“We’ve just been clawing our way back to the Northwest,” Karin said, a goal they finally achieved three years ago.

The kids range in age from 2 to 21. The school-age ones are homeschooled and offer some help in the restaurant. Their 21-year-old does the online work for the venture, such as maintaining its Facebook page.

Others of the older kids help out in the restaurant. Two of the teenage girls were shyly working in the kitchen while their parents talked.

“These two, I wouldn’t be able to do this without them,” Karin said. “They come out here and take orders, they help cook.”

“They think this is the biggest novelty,” Dean said, adding that the entire experience will teach them about running a business.

A restaurant, for nowFor now, the Keoghs are operating their restaurant on the west side of the building with a variety of plans for the east side still in the works.

Karin said their menu, at present, is comprised of a meatball sub; a chicken-bacon-ranch sub; a BLT sub; grilled tomato, bacon and cheese; a pizza sub; and a chicken sandwich.

She said she hopes to expand to such items as a chicken Marsala, an Italian dish cooked with mushrooms and Marsala wine.

“I make a mean chicken Marsala,” Karin said. “We’re thinking of doing chicken Marsala pizza.”

They just recently acquired the pizza ovens for their artisan pizza.

“What makes it (artisan) is you’re not buying frozen, processed dough, you’re using good ingredients, well-sourced ingredients, you’re doing it yourself,” Karin said. “It’s really all about the ingredients.”

But she’s still learning to spin a pizza crust.

“I’m going to learn,” she said, but added: “I’m not going to be doing it in front of anyone for quite some time,” she said.

As far as the Keoghs know, they’re the only ones in Wallowa selling homemade artisan pizza.

Right now, they’re just open from 3 to 7 p.m. from Wednesday through Monday. But, they expect to expand both their hours and their menu.

They try to use healthy ingredients from local purveyors of produce and meat.

“We are health-conscious,” Karin said. “We’ve cured a lot of health ailments by just changing diet, so it’s kind of a crusade of ours to share that.”

Pointing to a line of sodas that come with the meals, Dean added, “We’re going to change this out as soon as we can with drinks that have natural sugars.”

More than a restaurantStone Tribe also will make an effort to become a cultural center for Wallowa.

In addition to teaching woodcarving and stone sculpture, they want to offer dancing.

“We want to do classes; we want to do dancing — I want to bring back dinner and dancing,” Karin said. “I’m angry that I missed that era, so I’m bringing it back. I’m talking like the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s — I’m not thrilled that I missed all that. That’s something that we definitely want to do, likely with our extra room on the other side.”

But they really want to adorn their restaurant with decor from local crafters and have a retail area for them.

“We really would like to have local art,” Karin said. “There’s a local businesswoman who has a nursery who will sell her plants. … We’re just very open to any local craftsmen and artists.”

She also hopes to make the restaurant a special place Wallowa residents can go.

“We want to be a late-night coffee joint,” she said. “We want to be a safe place for teenagers to come and hang out late at night and have a place. I remember when I was a kid I wanted to go and have a place to sit out late at night and have a nice place to go … and drink coffee and things like that. We had a place like that where I grew up and I’ve always wanted to recreate that.”

But Dean recognizes that 11 p.m. is about as late as would work in Wallowa.

“Yeah, that’s one of my favorite sayings: they roll up the streets and sidewalks,” he said.

“Maybe it’s because there’s nowhere to go,” Karin added. “I think it would be fun to have somewhere to go.”

What: Restaurant

Who: Dean and Karin Keogh

Where: 206 E. First St., Wallowa

Phone: 458-877-0833

Email: stonetribepizza@gmail.com

Online: Facebook