Some masterpieces only come after years of dedication, practice and tinkering.
Others are born out of pure necessity.
That’s how Jackson Higdon describes the creation of his “mountain nachos,” which were voted the best nachos in Central Oregon by readers of the Source.
Higdon started his mountain man-themed food truck, Luckey’s Woodsman, in the parking lot of the Sunrise Lodge at Mt. Bachelor six years ago. That year, Higdon says, the lodge had turned to a menu of Asian fusion and wasn’t selling chili-cheese fries — a classic that Higdon grew up eating at the mountain. To fill the gap, he started selling chili-cheese nachos.
But space became limited when he took the truck to Silver Moon Brewing in Bend. It came down to chili and baked beans competing for a single steam well. So instead of chili, he decided he would top nachos with grilled pork and baked beans.
Little did he know, it would become his best-selling menu item.
“I went ‘ah, good enough, who cares, it’s just a nacho,’” Higdon told the Source. “Everything else, I try and pour my life into and make it the best. This one I didn’t. I just pivoted, and it created this beautiful flavor.”
The nachos come with pork carnitas, baked beans, queso, pico de gallo, roasted jalapeño, arugula pesto, chipotle aioli and cotija cheese.
In particular, the pesto, aioli and beans create a “craveable” flavor that keeps people coming back, Higdon said.
The homemade baked beans are modeled after Busch’s, but include a trifecta of organic black beans, pinto beans and kidney beans. He sees baked beans as the quintessential outdoorsy food.
Luckey’s Woodsman is modeled after a Willamette Valley restaurant his grandparents opened under the same name in 1956. Today, Higdon has a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Sisters, a food cart at the new Basecamp lot behind Powderhouse and an outdoor-adventure focused catering business.
Lucky’s Woodsman also took home runner-up awards for Best Caterer, Best Restaurant in Sisters and Best Lunch in Sisters.
Runner-Up Best Nachos: Active Culture
Luckey’s Woodsman
352 East Hood Ave., Unit B, Sisters
luckeyswoodsman.com
This article appears in Best of Central Oregon 2026 and the Source August 13, 2026.
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