High Wheeler rolls out hand-made cuisine in Astoria

Published 4:00 pm Sunday, February 28, 2010

When Laurie Olds and Donovan Duchene decided to take over the former Columbia River Coffee Roasters facility in Astoria last year and open a restaurant, they knew the building was a fixer upper.

But they wanted the lovely waterfront location just south of the Old Youngs Bay Bridge for their new restaurant, the High Wheeler.

By the time they opened the eatery in January, the hardworking couple had replaced the entire waterfront side of the building, reinforced pilings under the floor, and installed a commercial kitchen.

Now the High Wheeler is open for business and locals are discovering their hand-made, easy-going approach to Northwest cuisine.

Olds, a native Astorian, said she’d had her eye on the waterfront location for a while.

“There’s not a lot to eat out here,” she said of the dearth of restaurants in the area where the High Wheeler is located. “Now that Costco has moved, I watch the traffic go by all the time.”

She said her partner, Duchene, has been a chef for 25 years. The restaurant’s name and décor stem from his love of bicycling. He’s cooked for the Columbian Café and Baked Alaska restaurants in Astoria. The couple met in Spokane where they lived before they moved to Astoria a few years back after their daughter was born.

Olds has also spent a career in the restaurant business – she’s worked as a waitress, bartender and restaurant manager.

Their motivation to combine forces and open their own place came partly from a niche they saw in local cuisine.

“We decided we couldn’t get a really good burger in this town – a homemade, patted out burger,” she said.

The couple planned the High Wheeler’s menu around advice Duchene received from a chef mentor, who told him to “cook like you cook at home.”

As a result, the restaurant’s offerings, in addition to home-style burgers, now include handmade pasta and dressings, and pancakes like Mom used to make. The restaurant also offers a beer and wine list.

And a meal at the High Wheeler won’t break the bank; prices are intentionally low.

“Most restaurants on the water are expensive,” she said. “We wanted to have an affordable place.”

Olds, who helped start up the Pizza Schmizza franchise in Astoria, said she and Duchene are continuously fine- tuning their operation to better serve customers on the go, while still honoring their “made to order” approach to cuisine.

“We are getting our groove,” she said. “We’re getting pretty good at getting people in and out at lunch.”

Olds had high praise for Shorebank Enterprise Cascadia, which she said was the only financial institution that would give the young couple a loan to start their business.

That and generous help from family did the trick. Duchene’s dad, and Olds’ father and stepfather, have all pitched in.

“Because of the dads and Shorebank [Enterprise Cascadia] we were able to open,” she said.

The décor in the High Wheeler is a cozy mix of eclectic furniture, including a sturdy oak clawfoot dinner table and chairs, and a small play area with a booth for kids.

The business’s motto is displayed on the counter: “A shared environment of family, art, the bicycle, a good cup of Joe, and food that makes you homesick.”

On the walls around the dining room are other hand-lettered signs of the type customers often see in small informal restaurants, with slogans like “Be nice or leave,” and “Welcome to the zoo.”

But one sign over the register is exceptionally telling and seems to sum things up in this appealing eatery: “All because two people fell in love.”