You’ve heard that absence makes the heart grow fonder. And for some couples, the proverb is true; but for others, there is no such thing as spending too much time together. Especially if they share a mutual dream, and their time is spent living their dream. Being in a happy marriage takes work. Running any kind of restaurant—big or small, successful or not—requires a whole lot more work. The idea of having your life partner as your business partner might make some (or most) shudder at the thought of the constant collaboration, but not these four couples—they wouldn’t have it any other way. Each husband/wife team owns and operates a popular, successful restaurant. Each have the unfailing support of the other. Each would say their staff is an extension of their family and their restaurant a second home. Though there are similarities, each couple has a unique story and each are inspiring.

Becerra's on 6th Bistro

Working with your spouse means more time in each other’s company and that works well for Sheila and Moises Becerra. You can tell the moment you meet the couple that they enjoy being in each other’s presence and that working together is a natural extension of their relationship.

The Becerras could have retired instead of opening a restaurant, but that wasn’t in their cards or in their nature. Moises, a veteran who decided to tackle culinary school upon his retirement and Sheila, whose varied work background includes being a farmer, decided to pursue another dream together instead of resting on their laurels. They’re both passionate about good food and good customer service. That passion led them down the path of restaurant ownership.

“We love going out for dinner and enjoying a nice ambience, great food, and great customer service. We decided to create a place that had those components that we appreciate every time we go out,” explains Moises. Sheila reiterates that they have always loved entertaining and hosting dinner parties. Of course, running a restaurant is on another level than hosting the occasional dinner party. The food business can be challenging, but as Sheila puts it, “We just went for it. It was and is a challenge—but a wonderful challenge. We are thrilled. We really are.”

It was several years back that the Becerras found the building that would ultimately be home to their bistro dream—an old 1920s hotel building in downtown Redmond that was in dire need of renovation and restoration. They bought the property and went to work. While the building was being transformed into the elegant, well-appointed restaurant it is now, Chef Moises was designing, testing, and planning the menu.

From freshly baked baguettes to classic French offerings like Beef Wellington, Duck Cassoulet, and Coq au Vin, the carefully curated menu is an immersion of French-inspired American cuisine featuring fresh seasonal ingredients and high quality meats and seafood. A standout among standouts is the White Corn Agnolotti with Truffle with handmade pasta, corn puree, spring vegetable nage, mascarpone, mushrooms sautee, finished with shaved truffle.

Becerra’s is fine dining at its absolute finest with impeccable service, delicious food, warm staff, and inviting ambiance—everything Sheila and Moises ever wanted in a place of their own so others can truly enjoy an evening dining out.

This highly lauded bistro also features an extensive wine list with a variety of wines from the Pacific Northwest, California, and other regions around the world, plus a nice selection of handcrafted cocktails and mocktails.

While Chef Moises leads the back of house and oversees each plate of food before it’s served, Sheila runs the front of the house, greeting each party as they arrive. Both ensure each guest is treated like VIP royalty. “Our vision is exactly the same, and we support each other every day,” they say. But they give all the credit to their staff, “We strongly believe that the most important asset we have is our employees and everything we accomplish is a result of team effort.”

That staff includes Chef de Cuisine Tim Pirisky and Sous-Chef Blake Foster who work in tandem with Chef Moises to deliver traditional bistro favorites along with daily specials, prepared to perfection. Servers Brian Golly and Scott Tracht deliver exemplary service with attention to every detail.

The Becerras originally opened their bistro in September 2019. In March 2020 they were mandated to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their dream was put on hold, but somehow the couple clung together and held strong for almost 18 months before re-opening in November 2021.

“It’s been a labor of love and we are very happy to share it with our guests once again,” beamed the couple upon celebrating their anniversary in November 2022. Guests are embraced by the warmth and beauty of Becerra’s immediately upon arrival. While the space is modern and updated, it still retains some historical elements and is reminiscent of a French brasserie with belle epoque and art deco design elements.

The Becerras are an exceptional example of a husband/wife team owning and operating a successful restaurant focused on impeccable service, welcoming ambiance, and elevated food.

Becerra’s on 6th Bistro is located at 646 SW 6th Street in Redmond, OR. Open for dinner Wednesday thru Saturday. Call (541) 527-4336 for reservations or visit becerrason6thbistro.com.

Zydeco Kitchen & Cocktails

Fine Northwestern cuisine with a Southern twist. That’s how Zydeco Kitchen & Cocktails, famous for their Barbecue Shrimp & Southern Grit Cake appetizer, among other signature dishes, describes their menu. Husband and wife partners Steve and Cheri Helt opened the restaurant together in 2004, and have since garnered local awards, national recognition, and many loyal customers.

It was a dream they never imagined coming true. The couple contributes their success to luck, guidance, follow-through, and love, which is how it all began. When they met in high school, she liked his smile and energy, so she asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance. That was 35 years ago. They recently celebrated 30 years of marriage in October 2022.

It was Steve’s energy that propelled him up the corporate ladder to the position of VP for a large midwestern steakhouse. He and Cheri followed that huge corporation for years, living in 10 big cities in 11 years. Once their children came along, they both decided they wanted to slow down somewhat and figure out a different direction.

They had never anticipated living in Bend—much less owning their own restaurant—until they flew into Portland, took a hike on Mt. Hood, and ventured over the pass to Central Oregon. Like so many other Central Oregonian transplants, they fell in love with the area and decided to put down roots. “We bought a really cheap house; cheap enough that we could work wherever if the restaurant didn’t pan out and still afford to live there,” Steve recalls.

“Owning a restaurant always seemed out of reach. So, when we had the opportunity to open our very own restaurant, we seized the moment,” Cheri remembers. “We felt like we would be able to prioritize family and serve Steve’s food at the same time.”

What’s it like working side-by-side with your spouse day in, day out? “We’re both there to do whatever needs to be done, and we both know what’s going on. Either one of us can do it, and the same thing comes out of both of our mouths.” That’s the upside of working with your spouse according to Chef Steve.

Cheri shares, “The restaurant business is always in flux and inventory and labor are expensive entities. There’s pressure in managing those difficult entities on a daily basis, and having your partner in life be your partner in that endeavor is awesome. You need a rock that’s solid, that you can depend on, and working with your spouse provides that solid dependability.”

While restaurateurs always do a lot of balancing to keep their businesses thriving, the Helts say it was Olympic-sized balancing that had to be done during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The only reason we made it through was because we prioritized our co-workers,” they both agree. Co-workers is how the Helts refer to their employees. Cheri goes on to say, “Our family and our work family have been our commitment always, and what really matters is that commitment and what we do to keep that commitment.”

The Zydeco mission, even during the worst of the pandemic, was to keep employees employed and keep the restaurant putting out great food. “We wanted to keep the business alive while taking care of as many employees as we possibly could and be a pillar in the community at the same time,” Steve explains. It took creative, out-of-the-box thinking to figure out how to make it work.

Their Our Kitchen, Your Table meal donation program created during the height of the pandemic shutdown offered meals to dozens of underserved communities. In the process of creating the program, they saved some of their employees’ jobs and transformed federal assistance they were granted through the Paycheck Protection Program into a valuable community service.

And then, right before Father’s Day weekend 2021, while COVID restrictions were still intact, the Helts got a call from a production company working with Food Network’s Guy Fieri. Fieri wanted to feature the restaurant on his popular, long-running program Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. “It was one of the hardest times in general to shut down the restaurant to accommodate the filming, but it was such an honor to be on the show and it was fun. We are so glad we did it,” says Steve.

While a strong couple can move mountains it seems, they give credit for their continued success to their “village.” “It takes a village to run a restaurant, and we are blessed with staff and camaraderie. They’re doing a great job helping us run our business and we are nothing without our staff, our team, and our family. It takes all of us to run our organization and make it happen.”

Zydeco Kitchen & Cocktails is located at 919 Bond Street in downtown Bend, OR. They are open for lunch and dinner. Takout is also available. Call (541) 312-2899 for reservations or visit zydecokitchen.com.

Yoli

Weathering the pandemic storm at a large downtown restaurant was part of the incentive for Joe and Laura Kim opening their own smaller restaurant. “We just kept talking about doing something smaller that didn’t require a big staff that could just be done with a couple of employees and us. We’ve never been afraid of doing the work ourselves,” Chef Joe Kim explains.

Chef Joe and his wife Laura met about 10 years ago while both were working at 5 Fusion & Sushi Bar in downtown Bend. Joe was the acclaimed chef at 5 Fusion for a dozen years, accumulating three James Beard nominations for Best Chef NW during his tenure. He also gained priceless skills and experience in notable, award-winning restaurants like The French Laundry, Masa and Eleven Madison Park to name a few. Laura was the front of house manager at the restaurant. The two worked well together and that led to dating, which led to marriage, and ultimately led to the couple opening their first restaurant together, Yoli.

Yoli opened in downtown Bend at the corner of Wall Street and Newport Avenue in June 2022. It’s Central Oregon’s only Korean restaurant, but it’s Korean with a twist, apropos for Chef Kim’s creative inclinations. Yoli, which means cuisine in Korean, honors the historic flavors of Korea intertwined with Kim’s modern, unique style. Although the pair weren’t necessarily thinking of Korean when they were trying to decide what kind of place to open, thoughts of their family came into play.

“It came about because our daughter Elise was getting older and about to start school. You always hear stories from Asian chefs about how they ate weird foods growing up and kids would make fun of them, and we didn’t want that to happen to our children. So, it occurred to us to bring this food of my heritage (Kim is Korean American) to the community so they could get more used to it and that would benefit our kids, especially our youngest daughter who just started kindergarten,” Chef elaborates.

The Kims have two older children, Hannah and Lucas, who also spend a lot of time with their parents at the restaurant. Joe wanted his kids to feel at home in the new place. “I grew up in my dad’s restaurant. I didn’t like it and went away from it for years before eventually coming back to it.” He and Laura wanted to create an inviting space to make the entire family feel at home and make them smile since they knew they would be spending a lot of time at work—their home away from home.

Laura and Hannah chose most of the décor and did the decorating themselves, with Chef’s input of course. “There were lots of compromises. For example, I wanted a yellow circle on the walls. Joe wanted a fuzzy wall. Enter the fuzzy yellow circles,” says Laura as she points to the big fuzzy yellow circles on two of the walls inside Yoli. The restaurant is small, with only 10 tables, but the bright pop of color mingled with natural wood and rice paper window coverings make for a very eclectic, inviting vibe.

And the compromising extends beyond the decorating scheme according to Laura, who is at the front of house again in their new endeavor. “While we do well working together, as I think he understands me pretty well and I understand him pretty well, there are times we don’t necessarily agree. At those points, we ask ourselves what the customer is going to want the most and that guides us to solutions should we not agree.”

Chef is grateful that it’s his wife giving him feedback at the end of the day. “I’m typically hiding in the kitchen cooking, so I don’t see customers’ reactions. If I don’t get feedback or good dialogue from her, I might keep making something customers don’t like, or quit making something that I don’t like making, but it’s what the customers love. So I appreciate that honest dialogue I get from my partner.”

That feedback seems to be working well for the Kims. “We hope it continues like it has been so far,” Joe says. “It’s been going great, and people have been very accepting of the food whether they’ve had it before or not. Customers have been really happy about it, and my hope is that people will continue to try it. Our goal is to continue to make the food accessible and unintimidating.”

When the entire family is involved in a business, everybody has everything at stake and the Kims enjoy being in it together, as a couple—and as a family. “I enjoy it,” Laura admits. “Honestly, I wouldn’t see him otherwise if I weren’t here working alongside him. And I eat well. I like food and my husband keeps me very well fed. That’s definitely a bonus,” she laughs.

Yoli is located at 1133 NW Wall St., Suite 100 in Bend, OR. Open for lunch and dinner Sunday through Friday. Visit yolibend.com or call (541) 323-0480 for reservations and more information.

Ariana

It’s a family affair at Ariana restaurant in Bend’s Westside. While it may be more common for married partners to split the duties between front of house and back of house in a restaurant, at Ariana’s, both Ariana and Andres Fernandez are chefs. Ariana’s mother Susan Asti is the general manager, while her father Glenn Asti is the beverage manager. The cheffing couple’s daughters Gabriella and Isabel have been raised in the restaurant—and according to Andres and Ariana, “have taught us how to prioritize our lives. Our family is always our focus.”

It all started back in 2002, when Ariana and Andres met while working alongside at a restaurant in downtown Bend. The young chefs quickly developed a mutual respect for each other’s cooking skills and work ethics and started spending time together outside of work, becoming best friends. Then they started dating and ultimately fell in love. By December 2004, they had opened Ariana, thanks to help from Ariana’s parents.

“We could never have done it without Ariana’s parents, Susan and Glenn,” declares Andres. “We had talked about our future in the industry and had dreams about one day having a restaurant of our own. Ariana’s parents believed in us and what we could do, so they offered their retirement savings to provide the capital to start Ariana.” Two months after opening the restaurant, the couple got engaged.

The Fernandezes still love working together and consider themselves an unbeatable team. “We are truly best friends, and we love working together,” Ariana states when asked what it’s like to work with her husband. “We share the burden of work, and we understand what the other is going through. We can depend on each other to pick up the slack if one of us is not 100 percent. We also share the joy of a job well done and celebrate achieving our goals and dreams together.”

Located in a charming craftsman bungalow on Galveston Avenue, the restaurant has become famous for the dynamic duo’s fresh perspectives on classic dishes. The two work together to utilize a bounty of local and Pacific Northwest products to create extraordinary dishes. Along with a daily six-course chef’s tasting menu, there are also seasonal à la carte offerings, a vast and carefully selected wine list, and distinctive cocktails.

Despite their popularity, like other dining establishments, the Fernandezes have weathered their share of storms over the years including economic recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. They survived and are thankful. Ariana emphasized that gratitude with a powerful statement, “We will never take for granted the guests who love what we do and allow us to keep living our dream. We are committed to doing our very best to bring our guests an incredible experience every time they visit us.”

They are also grateful for their staff. “We continue to push and refine in every possible way. We’ve been able to do these things thanks to the hard work and dedication of an amazing team. The people who work or have worked with us are our family, and they bring this restaurant to life.”

When reflecting on all the years of working together, Ariana and Andres talk about the quiet mornings drinking coffee together, the time when it’s just the two them, chatting about the menu and the ideas they have, discussing what mushrooms are starting to come out, brainstorming a new flavor combination or cooking technique they want to try. “We are still working on our dreams and goals for our future and that’s beautiful,” Ariana says with a smile.

Ariana restaurant is located at 1304 NW Galveston Avenue in Bend, OR. Open at 5 pm for dinner, Wednesday thru Saturday. Call (541) 330-5539 or visit arianarestaurantbend.com for reservations and more information.