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Photo by Bob Pennell Gary Clements, center, of Eagle Point is among the crew working on the remodel of Shady Cove's Two Pines Smokehouse. Restaurant doubles its size Shady Cove's Two Pines Smokehouse will reopen in May By MELISSA MARTIN Business Card Name : Two Pines Motel and Smokehouse Restaurant Sevice : Banquet/meeting center and fine dining. Location : 21331 Highway 62, Shady Cove Phone number : 878-7463 Owner : Ron Boehm Manager : Jim Geear Number of employees : 35 (estimated after expansion) Other : Adding a larger banquet room that may seat between 70 and 90 people. SHADY COVE -- Two Pines Smokehouse owner Ron Boehm admits he is a Texan at heart. During a business trip in Houston five years ago, Boehm enjoyed a restaurant's barbecued brisket so much that he asked the owner about the smoker that cooked it. Boehm discovered it was a Cookshack, bought one just like it and shipped it back to his restaurant in Shady Cove. Today, the 5-year-old Two Pines is known for its smoked meats, as well as its Tex-Mex menu prepared by chef Luis Ramos, formerly of Loli's Medford and Shady Cove. But the owner hopes its reputation will spread farther when Two Pines reopens in May after a remodeling project on its two-acre lot that will more than double its size. "We're making this a place people will want to come to from all over the Rogue Valley," says manager Jim Geear, former owner of Digger O'Dell's restaurant in Medford. Two Pines has been closed this month while RA Murphy Construction fast-tracks the addition. Customers will find twice as much seating, a new, fine-dining room called Carlotta's and an upstairs banquet room. "We'll have a nine-and-a-half-foot-tall, bronze bucking horse, a (replica) Remington, out front and a five-foot eagle on the roof," Boehm says. The Western theme will continue inside with a long-grain pine floor salvaged from a New York warehouse, painted redwood beams on the walls and mountain lion and bear trophy mounts purchased from a Wyoming museum. The wooden booths at Two Pines are being built by Shady Cove cabinetmakers who work for Grey Oaks Development, one of several companies owned by Boehm. His main business is Trans-Box Systems Inc., an Oakland, Calif.-based courier company with 600 employees, 400 cars and 42 airplanes. The furniture and fabrics in the dining room will be selected by its namesake, Charlotte Boehm, Ron's wife. There will be an 18th-century hutch from Australia, a fireplace and an owner's booth with motorized drapes for privacy. Diners will be served with crystal and china. The room will have a circular staircase leading up to a loft-like banquet facility, complete with wiring for meetings that require audio, visual or computer technology. The kitchen is being enlarged as well as the pantry area where pies and pastries are made from scratch. Boehm is hiring an organic gardener to grow as much produce as possible in Shady Cove. And Two Pines will begin serving specialty coffee from San Leandro Coffee Company, Boehm's newly acquired business in California. And Two Pines will be one of the first in Oregon to have a Windows-based computer system used by every employee, from the servers to the chefs, for a more efficient operation. Although the restaurant has been closed this month during the remodel, the employees are maintaining their regular hours, the manager says. On a recent visit, a chef was driving a forklift and food servers were cleaning equipment. "It's unusual in the food service industry for an owner to care so much about the employees," Geear says. While he spoke, Boehm was ordering chicken dinner for everyone, from employees to construction workers. Another perk the restaurant offers: a shuttle service. The restaurant is three-tenths of a mile from Shady Cove's new motel, Edgewater Inn; Boehm says, "I gave the owners a golf cart as an open house gift. We can have an Edgewater-Two Pines shuttle." Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA