{"id":13047,"date":"2020-02-19T00:03:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T07:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=13047"},"modified":"2020-02-19T00:03:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T07:03:32","slug":"vicky-walker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/19\/vicky-walker\/","title":{"rendered":"Vicky Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eric Valentine<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Vicky Walker is the person you\u2019ll meet at Oak Street Foods. Photo credit: Mandi Iverson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When you walk into Oak Street Foods, time seems to slow down a bit. There are several reasons for that.<\/p>\n

First, there\u2019s the food. Yes, you\u2019ll find in the display case more exotic, gourmet dishes. But it\u2019s going to be sitting next to some comfort food and something super-healthy, too. It\u2019s how our moms and grandmas and favorite aunt cooked for us, or at least how they wanted us to eat.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the d\u00e9cor. It\u2019s Americana meets Bellevue history. It\u2019s the way our moms and grandmas and favorite aunt decorated their kitchens and dining rooms.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s Vicky Walker, the owner and operator and chef and server of Oak Street Foods.At first glance, you can see her inner feisty. And every other glance thereafter is nothing but charming and sweet. It\u2019s the way our moms and grandmas and favorite aunt seemed to be.<\/p>\n

What follows is a brief Q&A session with, who some folks affectionately call, Miss Vicky. And what should follow after that is you going to lunch there some Tuesday through Friday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at 109 Oak Street off Main. You won\u2019t regret taking a deep breath and letting time slow down for a while.<\/p>\n

Six questions for Vicky:<\/b><\/p>\n

WRW:<\/b> Where are you from originally and how long have you lived in the Valley?<\/p>\n

VW: <\/b>I\u2019m originally from the San Francisco Bay area but my parents moved the family out here back in 1971. My stepdad, Sam Hazard, was the original founder of the Sun Valley Community School. People called it Sam\u2019s School back then.<\/p>\n

WRW: <\/b>How long have you owned and operated Oak Street?<\/p>\n

VW: <\/b>It will be 16 years this April. I\u2019ve pretty much worked in restaurants my whole life. I was the kitchen manager at Cristina\u2019s in Ketchum for about 12 years, developing menus, working the line, ordering product, you name it. But after spending so much of my life in the business I just needed a time out. Even when I was in school I was working in restaurants as a server, so I just kind of burned out. Then, when this spot opened up just down the street from where we live, my husband and I bit the bullet, picked up a hammer and saw, and refurbished the place to what you see now.<\/p>\n

WRW:<\/b> If you could be known for only one dish\/recipe, which one would it be?<\/p>\n

VW:<\/b> Soup. Any soup. There\u2019s just something about it that makes it the perfect comfort food. I have a funny story about it. My birth father was Armenian and his last name was Torgazian. When I told him I was opening a restaurant and would make a lot of soups all the time, he laughed. It turns out that our last name in Armenian mean \u201csoup maker.\u201d So I feel like it\u2019s in my destiny to make a lot of soups.<\/p>\n

WRW: <\/b>Your store hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, but when do you actually start and end your work day?<\/p>\n

VW: <\/b>It\u2019s a long day. I\u2019m here all day on Mondays. That\u2019s my prep day. I get all the dressings and soups ready. I chop all the vegetables. I start putting together whatever is on the menu that week. On the days I\u2019m open, I sometimes get here as early as 6 a.m. Some days I leave just after 3:30 p.m. but sometimes I\u2019m here until almost 6 p.m. Good thing I just live down the street.<\/p>\n

WRW: <\/b>How do you spend your off days?<\/p>\n

VW:<\/b> My husband and I like golf. We fish. We camp. We hike our dog (a golden retriever named Kai). And we do local traveling. We get around the state a lot.<\/p>\n

WRW: <\/b>Where do you like to eat when you eat out?<\/p>\n

VW: <\/b>That\u2019s a good question! We don\u2019t eat out much. But we enjoy La Caba\u00f1ita for Mexican food. We love Rickshaw when we\u2019re craving Asian food. Black Owl is great to get something simple for breakfast and to have their wonderful coffee. I guess when we want to get fancy we go to (The Grill at) Knob Hill. We\u2019ve only been a few times, but we really enjoyed what they do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eric Valentine When you walk into Oak Street Foods, time seems to slow down a bit. There are several reasons for that. First, there\u2019s the food. Yes, you\u2019ll find in the display case more exotic, gourmet dishes. But it\u2019s going to be sitting next to some comfort food and something super-healthy, too. It\u2019s how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-commentary","7":"category-people-that-you-meet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13047\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}