OPEN/CLOSE REPEAT

Kelley and Mitch Cook have owned and operated the Dakota Cafe on Pearl Street for the past 17 years.

It has been a roller coaster year for restaurant business

By RODNEY HARWOOD

staff writer

The Dakota Café is like a harbor light on the shore, guiding ships to a safe harbor. It just seems to belong on Pearl Street in the middle of the historic downtown with the John

24

almanac 2021 Clymer Museum/Gallery across the street and the iconic Davidson Building down the block.

The for sale sign in the front window is a bit ominous, but Mitch and Kelley Cook had plans to move on to the next chapter long before the pandemic. As they sat in the dining room of the business they’ve developed over the past 17 years, highlighted by the Western photos taken by Ellensburg and PRCA photographer Molly Morrow, they could only reflect and wonder what’s next?

To say the last 12 months have been a rollercoaster ride didn’t even begin to describe the emotional upheaval of sweeping change across America. Mitch and Kelley have been working together 25 years, having run a catering business in Seattle, a bakery here in town and eventually as owners and operators of the Dakota Café on Pearl Street, so they know the ups and downs

of the business climate. But this was different.

The year of the pandemic is not over by any stretch of the imagination and the past 12 months has been like a cork bobbing in the ocean with its great levels of despair over safety regulations and precautions factoring into every business decision. There have been closures, reopening at various capacity levels and everything in between.

“Oh, heavens yes, it’s been stressful” Kelley said, eyes rolling toward the ceiling just thinking about it. “We shut down completely for three months, then opened for carry out, but that’s not who we are.”

Mitch agreed, “From a business perspective, there was a certain amount of fear when we shut down the first time,” he said. “The restaurant business is stressful enough, but it was disheartening when we shut down the second time.”

A year ago at this time, it was in fact, business as usual. They were coming off a successful Valentine’s Day, one of the biggest dinner nights of the year. They booked Kyle Bain and Tyler Leavitt to play during a festive St. Patrick’s Day dinner. Later that week, they intended to expand the dining room to allow local band Chuck Boom to come in and provide a night of live music in historical downtown Ellensburg.

But the coronavirus pandemic struck and all that was canceled when Gov. Jay Inslee issued his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” directive, restricting individual activity and enforcing safety protocols and social-distancing.

“We came to this location in 2000 with the idea of providing an enhanced dinner menu. That was our specialty,” said Mitch, who has since scaled back his hours to 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., not even serving a dinner menu. “We serve breakfast and lunch, but the dinner menu was something we take great pride in.”

Kelley Cook cooks at The Basalt. She became the executive chef of the restaurant inside the Hotel Windrow in May of 2020.

EVER CHANGING

In the months that followed, they shut down the Dakota Café completely from March 2020 to June, eventually reopening for carry-out only. Just saying the timeline out loud is exhausting and the ever-changing safety regulations coming out of the governor’s office made every business decision even more critical.

They were able to eventually reopen to in-house dining under Phase 3 with social distancing and safety protocols in place. Kelley, who studied at the acclaimed culinary arts program at South Seattle Community College, was offered a position as executive chef at The Basalt in The Hotel Windrow in February of 2020, but had to decline.

She eventually joined the Basalt team on May 18, 2020, adding one more piece of local talent to the $15.5 million hotel and restaurant with its rooftop dining called Top of the Burg. Mitch moved over with her, joining the wait staff, and they worked together through the summer under the 50% capacity regulations.

They continued to keep the Dakota open under the direction of house manager Jack Cohen as they settled into the daily routine at The Basalt, serving dinner four days a week. But one more time, regulations changed and the governor’s office scaled back to Phase 1 and The Basalt opted to close for a second time during the pandemic in November.

“It’s just so emotionally draining,” said Kelley, who was laid off along with the rest of her staff.

The Basalt reopened to in-house dining two weeks ago and Kelley is running a scaled back kitchen staff for the time being. Mitch continues to work at the Dakota, offering breakfast and lunch.

“I will have to say this community has been amazing,” he said. “They continue to come in and support us as much as possible, and it helps us stay afloat.”

Kelley agreed. She’s running her kitchen over at The Basalt, doing a little more cooking than she did previous. But she is back to preparing a dinner menu with an exquisite steak program, as well as other dishes that allow her to utilize her culinary talents at the first downtown hotel in Ellensburg in the past 38 years. v

almanac 2021 25