Our Philosophy

Our first desire in creating the restaurant was to create a place that represented the valley as we see it, alive, beautiful and full of good things to eat.   We had watched other places, Walla Walla in particular create good, growing food scenes that pair with their renowned wine countries, and to us, that future is only a few years away for Yakima.  Two years ago, the stars and cosmos began to align and it became a real possibility that we could start to affect this change by opening our own restaurant.   So, we began.   And although it has been a long road, we are finally opening in the summer of 2009.

We (Jeff and I) both grew up in Yakima.   He left for college, began cooking, went to culinary school, cooked some more and eventually made his way back home.   I went away to college, came home for a summer and met Jeff.   We planned on leaving to find bigger and better things, but this is where our family is.   It is in the deepest sense our home.   We realized that we could either move to a bigger place, or we could work a little harder and bring the things that we wanted from a bigger city to Yakima.   There is a tendency when you grow up in a small town to get out as fast as you can if you want to do anything big in your life.   We decided to try the opposite, to use our skills and talents to make our small town where we wanted to be instead of moving to find to bigger, better opportunities.   Foremost in our desires was to create a food scene that would play off the local wineries and create an atmosphere that would encourage all the good things that go with good food and good wine, like art, performance and community.

Sage Restaurant and Wine Bar represents more than good food, it represents our desire to have other people see our home as we see it, rare and unique.   Yakima has all the ingredients necessary to make a successful Wine Country, and we are excited to be a part of that transition.