Fine Dining for the Cowboy

Any skilled cowboy knows what a latigo is, the leather strap on the saddle tree used to tighten and secure the cinch. It’s seemingly such a small thing to consider with all that rests on the mind of a cattle rancher during the day.

But like all good cowboys know, the details are vital, and so when naming and looking for inspiration for his new restaurant, Executive Chef Tim Christman looked no further.

Christman, who co-owns Latigo with his wife Sucy, the restaurant’s general manager, moved to the area with his family in 2011, and had been researching opening the restaurant of their dreams ever since.

As a former member of the PRCA, Christman was a steer wrestler and calf roper till he retired from rodeo in 2008, and Sucy still competes in barrel racing. So when looking for the perfect place to open Latigo, the comfort of Sisters Country not only fit the vision of what they were looking for but also their own personal lifestyle.

“We looked into opening in Bend and Redmond, Sunriver even, but the venue kept being the missing element.” Christman said. “Sisters had what we were looking for. It was important to us from the beginning that the place feel right. We made innate decisions based on how it felt to sit down in the space, what the surroundings were while you were enjoying your meal.”

What resulted was a clean yet inviting space. Sharp white table cloths are mixed with the tones of warmer upholstered chairs and traditional Western artwork.

“We wanted to create a sustainable restaurant with both ranch and urban influences,” said Christman in his dining room beneath the organic, yet crisp lines of reclaimed weathered beams and ironwork gussets.

“The floors are authentic reclaimed lumber as well,” continued Christman. “We had to get it from a lot of different places, but we wanted to create the place from scratch, really make it our own.”

Diners are offered such tastes as slow roasted Wagyu beef with a coffee and cocoa crust; local duck breast with a juniper berry gastrique; and smoked salmon with caraway infused toast, made from bread baked in house.

With a completely seasonal menu, Latigo aims not just to talk about organic, sustainable food, but to deliver in all aspects of socially conscious cuisine.

“We got a lot of flack in the beginning for not having enough poultry on the menu, but I just can’t find a farm that has practices that I’m satisfied with,” said Christman.

The Christmans have a measurably tangible goal of supplying the restaurant from within a 200-mile radius and says that they’re 90 percent there.

Still, Christman knows that there is more to delicious food than it simply being local and organic.

“Local and organic don’t mean restaurant quality,” said Christman. “Still, if we were gonna say ‘sustainable’ and ‘local-organic,’ we really wanted to walk the walk, while still making delicious food.”

Christman garnered much of his love for southwest flavors while owning a steakhouse in Dallas, Texas, but picked up his love for farm-to-table cuisine while working in Hawaii for famed chef Roy Yamaguchi at Roy’s Waikaloa.

This translates to Christman using more obscure cuts of meat such as oxtail and short rib that takes three days to cook from start to finish, while creating layers of flavor with local produce and spices.

“The first thing a chef has to do is procure. It all starts with quality ingredients,” said Christman. “And why wouldn’t I want to use local products with all the great growers and producers in the area. Heirloom vegetables, great meat — it’s exciting to be a part of that. We want to showcase the best of what the area has to offer in an elevated setting.”

It’s a small restaurant, just under 50 seats inside, with just a two-person kitchen, but the impact of what Christman is trying to do is already being felt in the community with events such as a Rombauer wine tasting planned for later this fall.

It’s fine dining, yes, but it’s also sustainable. It’s comfort and ranch-style cooking, yes, but it’s also accessible and inventive.

“Elevated food doesn’t have to be stuffy,” continued Christman. “We want people to feel welcome and comfortable, and most of all, we want the food to taste good. We want the service to be inviting. … We didn’t invent this style of food or dining, but we’re really proud to be a part of it, and we’re really excited to bring it to Central Oregon.”