Prineville's Patio Taphouse is open for business

The last time the space that now houses the Patio Taphouse was open, it looked a lot different.

The former location of Crooked Roots Brewing, on 400 block of North Main Street, now has brighter-colored walls, features multiple new booths and a bar table and stools that spans the middle of the dining space. Green plants are plentiful and placed between tables throughout and new food and beverage menus and Patio Taphouse branding complete the updated look.

Closed for nine months for extensive renovation work, the facility opened on June 18 and owner Jason Rate scheduled a grand opening and Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting last week. The event drew a crowd as people were introduced to the new taphouse and the some of the people behind the project.

Rate wanted to create a dining and gathering environment that brought many of the popular food truck site elements to an indoor location.

“I like an outdoor environment, and I know that it’s not always comfortable to be outside,” he said, the words spoken amid a triple-digit heat wave. “So, I wanted to create the same outdoor environment in an enclosed space.”

As funds allow, he would like to add a couple trees inside the building to join the plants already in place, and like many food truck sites, he invites customers to order food at the counter, pick it up when it’s ready and bus their tables when they are finished.

“Since the customer is doing all the work, we are not up front asking them to tip us,” Rate said. In fact, the debit and credit card receipts won’t feature a tip amount line and customers won’t find a tip jar anywhere in the establishment either.

The other great emphases are speed and efficiency with the food service.

“Speed is a big factor because I want everything to be done efficiently and quickly – I don’t want people to wait,” Rate said. “We have these rapid, high-speed ovens. They are kind of like a convection oven-slash-microwave, and they just cook everything super fast.”

Consequently, the menu features foods that can be cooked in that fashion and items that the staff can prepare quickly for patrons. The list includes breakfast items like French toast sticks and waffles, a variety of different salads and hummus dishes and pulled pork sandwiches, chicken strips and mac and cheese. In addition to the food, the Patio Taphouse offers a variety of beers on tap as well as many different wines.

But so far, the most popular item on the menu has been the frozen yogurt. According to sales tracking software, the small, medium and large frozen yogurt servings all occupy a spot in the top five items sold. And Rate doesn’t think it’s a seasonal phenomenon.

“I think that’s a constant,” he said. “I think in the winter, that is still going to be the same.”

The Patio Taphouse is a first-time venture into the restaurant world for Rate. Initially from Montana, he lived in nine different states throughout the western U.S. before settling into Bend five years ago.

Since arriving in Central Oregon, he has been developing a restaurant project that has undergone several iterations. He even put together a team comprised of a financial advisor, restaurant advisor, real estate advisor, construction advisor and human resources advisor.

“I knew I didn’t have experience in a lot of different areas, so I found professionals to help me out,” Rate said. He added that some of those advisors are also investors in the project.

Rate had originally planned to launch his project in Bend, but when he found out that the Crooked Roots property was available, he changed course.

“I immediately told the other people who are helping me out with this project, and we jumped on it right away.”

And while the venue is now open, the project is still in transition. A large area under the cover of thick plastic is the future space for new restrooms (the restrooms that came with the building are still functional) and a space that was formerly used by Crooked Roots as a theater will be converted to a conference room and space for birthday parties and other events.

Meanwhile, Rate expects to continually make small changes as he adjusts to customers’ tastes and preferences.

“It is getting better. Everything is getting better,” he said. “It seems like each week we keep making pretty big improvements to the building and we keep tweaking the menu so it is better.”