Market for Music

Kalispell landmark Sykes' makes some changes but restaurant rocks on

After nine months under new owners Mike and Mary McFarland, Sykes' restaurant rocks on - with more music, a new chef and a rave review from at least one long-time customer.

"I got here in '67 and I've been coming in here ever since," Viola McGrew said. "It's a friendly place and it's 100 percent improved."

McGrew, 72, and some new friends sat at ringside seats Wednesday, tapping and clapping in time as Mike McFarland's band Smart Alex played and sang an eclectic music mix, from rock to folk to country.

"I love just about anything they sing," McGrew said. "I guess country-western is my favorite."

Sykes' offers a good helping of that genre. Vern Nigg and Larry McAtee, a country duo, were slated to play Thursday, which is all-you-can-eat spaghetti night, and a host of other western bands, such as Country Classic and Friends of Sykes', show up on other evenings.

McFarland also books honky-tonk piano player Ed Vernarski.

"He plays a lot of the old favorites," he said. "People sing along."

Customers join in with Smart Alex too as McFarland plays the drums and crooned favorites like Louie Armstrong's "It's a Wonderful World." Teacher Craig Davey sings and plays lead guitar while Red Cross phlebotomist Mark Souhrada plays base and sings deep-down tunes like "Big John."

Farm duties kept the fourth member, keyboardist Kirk Passmore, away from the fun the last few performances. But the trio, like Sykes', carries on with traditions intact, such as Souhrada's humorous introduction to the Merle Haggard tune "Branded Man."

"There are two types of people in the world," he said. "Those who like Merle Haggard and communists -dirty, pinko communists."

Smart Alex played a straight two-hour set, hopscotching from covers of songs by everyone from Jimmy Buffett to Johnny Cash to Arlo Guthrie and more. Members draw from years of experience with fabled local bands including Loose Caboose and The Fanatics of the Great Northern.

McFarland counted up about 45 years of making music.

"I was playing in bars by the time I was 16 and on the road by 17."

Sykes' flickering flourescent venue replaces smoky bar ambiance with a huge helping of good humor, camaraderie and retro charm.

Wedged in between the cold pop, wine and the new checkout counter, Smart Alex got the restaurant rocking as waitresses squeezed between tables, dodging tapping feet, canes, walkers and a dancing toddler.

Customers come up to josh and thank the group when the music stops at 8 p.m.

"They really enjoyed the band," McFarland said. "We served 200 meals."

The point of cranking up the entertainment was to bump up the evening restaurant meals. Breakfast and lunch meals remain steady but dinner dropped off with the economic downturn, McFarland said.

"I think all the restaurants have taken a hit," he said.

Since buying the business on Oct. 8, McFarland and his wife have made changes in both the restaurant and grocery store to keep up with a changing business environment. Sykes' Grocery & Market morphed into a mini-mart, dropping the meat market, fresh produce and home deliveries.

"We tried to do deliveries with RSVP but we couldn't carry the groceries like the larger stores," he said. "It's hard to compete. The large stores buy by the truckloads and we buy by the case."

Now, Sykes' customers pick up items like beer, pop, chips and candy then check out at the new convenience store-style counter by the door. McFarland reduced other friction by no longer selling single 24-ounce beers.

"That stopped a lot of social problems," he said.

His remodeling doubled the size of the pharmacy, added a new office and two handicapped-accessible restrooms on the east end of the store. The former meat market remains a renovation project "in progress."

He has a lot of ideas, including adding that area to the restaurant which he describes as his main business focus. To that end, McFarland hired a new chef, Don Hammer, who cooked at Tiebucker's for many years.

Hammer introduced a new favorite soup, Hungarian cauliflower, and puts his own spin on old favorites like clam chowder and hamburgers.

"We have a much better burger -it's thicker and juicer," McFarland said. "We get a lot of compliments on the food."

Sykes' still serves prime rib on Saturday nights and features all-you-can eat spaghetti on Thursdays.

The look and feel of the restaurant remains much the same but now fresh flowers perk up each table. With razor-thin profit margins, McFarland said he had to adjust prices after years of no increases.

One treasured tradition survives with a caveat.

"We still have 10-cent coffee for seniors (55 and over) and with meals," he said. "For others, it's $1.25."

When McFarland bought the restaurant, he vowed to keep the dime cup of coffee as a tribute to former owner Doug Wise. He said Wise approved the change since seniors were protected.

The former owner remains a fixture at the restaurant which suits McFarland just fine. He said he changed the locks when he bought the business and presented Wise with a key.

"Doug is here every morning at 3:30 a.m.," he said. "He starts the grill and makes the coffee. Occasionally he sleeps in until 4. He's 91 -about to be 92."

Judy Wise also drops in often and Doug remains most days to visit with his friends. Doug operated Sykes' for 63 of the store's 104 years of history.

McFarland, who moved to the Flathead Valley in 1969, still remembers eating meals on card tables set up in the grocery store aisles in the days when a roast beef dinner commanded just $1.50. He said Doug and Judy added to the restaurant in 1976.

"Judy was worried because it was a big expansion but she says it was full on the first day and full ever since," he said.

McFarland and his wife Mary live close by Sykes' in a building he constructed, with an apartment above the beauty salon Mary operates. The couple ended up buying the next-door business which McFarland, a Realtor at the time, had listed for sale.

Now he walks to work, where he puts in 10- to 12-hour days. But he isn't complaining.

"I look forward to coming in every day," he said. "It's still the social gathering place. It's an interesting group of people."

McGrew seconded McFarland's opinion. Sykes' has become her second home since she lost her husband of 40 years about a year ago.

She loves the music but the people keep her coming back.

"When I get down in the dumps, I come down to see all the smiling faces," McGrew said.

Sykes' opens each day at 6 a.m. and closes at 6:30 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and at 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.