Restaurants

Posted by Nancy D. Brown of What a Trip

Crater Lake Oregon photo by Nancy D. Brown

Have you ever eaten inside a volcano? Well, neither have I. But I’ve dined on the lip of a caldera. It’s true. My family and I were recently at Crater Lake Lodge in southern Oregon. We didn’t stay over night at the Lodge because we didn’t plan our reservation in advance and they were full. We did manage to make a dinner reservation before our roadtrip, and that’s a good thing.

Lodge Manager Martin McCartan was kind enough to show me some rooms and invited us to dine as guests of the lodge. As is often the case when I’m reviewing a restaurant, I asked my fellow dining companions to order something different off the menu so that I could sample a variety of items.

The kids started with the pesto focaccia pizza for $9.95. I ordered the French onion soup, featuring a signature blend of onions at $6.25 Our daughter selected the wild Alaskan salmon with long grain rice. Our son, the hunter, ordered grilled venison in a sherry berry demiglace, accompanied with local Klamath gold potatoes and vegetables for $31.

A growing teenager, he polished off the venison in no time and was soon eying my plate of lamb. I was willing to share, as my husband was offering me bites of his baked Oregon Blue Cheese Halibut sauteed with shallots and paired with long grain rice, priced at $30. Of all the entrees I tried that evening, the grilled marinated, double bone lamb chops with an olive oil garlic marinade and balsamic onion chutney in a rosemary demi-glace was the stand out for $30 with the Halibut a close second.

Double Lambchops

Our waiter, Travis, couldn’t believe the amount of food we were comsuming. “Wow! You guys must have done a lot of hiking today,” he remarked as he refreshed our bread basket. Frankly, I don’t think he was planning to show us the dessert menu, but we asked about the house specials. “You must be really hungry,” he added as he offered up the menus.

Dismissing his comments, I ordered the Crater Molten Lava Cake, warm and fudge-filled at $9.25. Frankly, I was not impressed. The always hungry teenager wolfed down the Triple Berry Cobbler Crisp, with layers of flavorful blackberry, raspberry and marionberry, while our daughter ordered the Divine Vanilla Cheesecake for $6.95. My husband, keenly aware of Travis’ comments on our food consumption, declined to order dessert.

Molten Lava Cake photo by Nancy D. Brown

The historic lodge dining room was welcoming, as was the staff. While it was billed as a fine dining establishment, guests with young children should feel comfortable here. The young wait staff was accomodating to families with children in high chairs. We gave the Crater Lake Lodge a thumbs up for quality.

Crater Lake Lodge 1 (541) 594-1184

Posted by Nancy D. Brown of What a Trip

Marche Restaurant

Nothing says love like eating and drinking your way through a city. I love Eugene, Oregon in the spring time. Let me count the ways…

Best organic, sustainable food: Marche Restaurant located at the base of Eugene’s Fifth Street Public Market. Owner/Chef Stephanie Pearl Kimmel and Executive Chef Rocky Maselli believe that seasonal and local are where its at when it comes to food sourcing. “I live in a chef’s playground,” marvels Maselli. It is all about celebrating the bounty of Pacific Northwest locally grown and gathered food. FYI, my wild salmon tasted like it was fresh from the ocean. The soup of the day, a puree of spring onion with panchetta; fantastic.

Follow Marche Restaurant on Twitter @Marche_eug

King Estate Burger

Best Burger: The KE Burger, with estate bacon, Tillamook cheddar and beefsteak tomato served on a house bun with pommes frites and home made ketchup was killer at $10. For $8 more, you could make your burger sing with Foie Gras and Truffled Fries.  If you happen to be at King Estate Winery on a sunny day, I recommend dining outside on the patio with a glass of 2006 Oregon Riesling or a NxNW 2006 Walla Walla Syrah or the 2007 Signature Pinot Noir. The restaurant seats 80, with 23 inside tables. For those daring to walk on the wild side, order Executive Chef Michael Landsberg’s Profiterole of candied bacon ice cream served with caramel sauce. Personally, I prefer my bacon on the KE Burger. Awesome!

Follow King Estate on Twitter @kingestate

Ravioli of the Day

Best Pasta: Beppe & Gianni’s Trattoria, located on East 19th Avenue, didn’t exist when I attended the University of Oregon. I’m glad some things about Eugene have changed since I’ve been gone. I ordered the Ravioli of the day with roasted chicken, baby spinach in a dijon mustard cream sauce with crimini mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes, in addition to a ceasar salad with homemade dressing. Going strong since it opened in 1998, this is a fun, lively addition to campus.

Prince Pucklers Ice Cream

Save room for ice cream after dinner at Beppe & Gianni’s. Cross the street to Prince Pucklers and have a scoop of mint chip. If it’s good enough for Barack Obama, it’s good enough for me. This institution was a going concern when I was a college-coed and it’s still a campus favorite. In fact, Prince Pucklers has its own Facebook fan page.

Best Chocolate: Euphoria Chocolate Company has the best hand-dipped chocolate truffles. I was bummed that I didn’t have a chance to stop by the store on 17th and Willamette or make it to the Euphoria at Valley River Center. There’s always next time.

Bangkok Grill

Best Food Booths at the Eugene Saturday Market: Bangkok Grill makes an excellent pad thai with homemade peanut sauce and pork on a stick.

Best Desserts: Dana’s Cheesecake Bakery. Since 1980 Dana and his wife have been creating cheesecake such as the best seller Oregon Berry, a combination of marionberry, raspberry and blackberry. My personal favorite, peanut butter!

Best wheat or gluten free desserts: Sweet Life Patisserie. I confess, I didn’t have time to stop at Sweet Life but everyone I polled said this was the bees knees for cinnamon rolls and all things sugary. Next time; I’m on it!

Best Beer: Eugene City Brewery is part of the Rogue Ales family of breweries. Founded in 2004, the Brewery takes its name from the original Eugene City Brewery, established in 1866. They even have a brewery, Rogue Ales Public House, in San Francisco’s North Beach area. (Oregonians are serious about their beer.)

Best Micro-brewed Beer: Ninkasi Brewing Company was born on June 15, 2006 when Jamie Floyd and Nikos Ridge spent 17 hours brewing their first batch of Total Domination IPA. They have now moved to the Historic Whiteaker neighborhood in Eugene. Call ahead before you go (541) 344-2739

Photos by Nancy D. Brown

From Nancy D. Brown of What a Trip

Plankhouse Chowder, Nancy D. Brown

Give me a steaming cup of local clam chowder with a good hunk of bread and throw in a crab cake for good measure and I’m a happy camper.  That’s exactly what I experienced on a recent trip to the coastal community of Coos Bay, Oregon.  Being the San Francisco Bay Area food snob that I am, I’m quick to judge restaurants from the starting gate. I expect a smile, a filled water glass and good food, served hot.  In Oregon, where the smiles flow as freely as the water, I was rewarded at almost every dining stop.

Hilltop House

Chef Joseph Zamora began his culinary career in Contra Costa County at the Diablo Valley Culinary Program. He’s been the chef/owner of the Hilltop House for the last eight years and intends to stay in North Bend, Oregon.

I ordered the salmon special stuffed with local crab, bay shrimp and cream cheese that was baked and served on a bed of hollandise. An excellent dish at $24, including clam chowder.

Sea Scallops photo by Nancy D. Brown

Porta

For a dining experience on par with any San Francisco restaurant, don’t miss Porta in North Bend, Oregon. Husband and wife team Alex and Kaisa Bourgidu met during their Seattle restaurant stints.

The Empire Cafe

Empire Cafe

On your way to the beach in Charleston, stop for lunch or dinner at the Empire Cafe. Owner Edna Ryzebol got her start in bread baking and it shows. I ordered the tuna sandwich on whole wheat foccacia. I even stopped to pick up a round of the ten grain miche bread to take with me on my flight home. Ryzebol said she’s considering starting a mail order business for some of her products. Sign me up!

Oyster Cove Crab Cakes

The Oyster Cove Grille and Bar

The Oyster Cove Grille and Bar has bragging rights with their “As Seen on Food Network” $40 A Day with Rachel Ray comment on their business card. Owner’s Michael and Connie Robbins are proud of their unique dishes such as Mike’s Oysters Charleston and the house made Cream Brulee or Bread Pudding.

Oyster Cove Grille & Bar 1 (541) 888-0703

63346 Boat Basin Rd. Charleston, OR 97402

Fishermen’s Wharf

For the “do-it-yourself” diners in the crowd, I recommend steering the car to D Dock and picking up fresh, cracked crab from Fishermen’s Wharf before you head to the beaches of Charleston. President Matt Ledoux says his family run business offers some of the best pricing in the area. I was happy to take some crab and canned tuna back with me to the Bay Area.

Fishermen’s Wharf 1 (541) 888-TUNA

63534 Kingfisher Rd. Charleston, OR 97420

(noahs.com)

Noah’s Bagels is a regional chain, with stores mostly in California (and some in Oregon and Washington). This West Coast provenance is interesting, in that its full name is Noah’s New York Bagels. As a former New Yorker, I find this pretty amusing. However, when all is said and done, it’s the best large bagel chain restaurant in California.

East Coasters frequently deride what Californians consider a good bagel, and they have a point. No West Coast bagel has yet matched the bagel perfection of H&H (Upper East or Upper West Side, I’m not that much of a connoisseur!) in NYC. It must be something in the East Coast water, or…magic. Until that magic is successfully transplanted on the West Coast, Noah’s Bagels are the most tolerable bagel chain in California. High praise from a reformed New Yorker, right?

Neither Rain Nor...etc, Will Keep Us From our Daily Bagel (Jennifer Miner)

Long-time residents of California, Oregon and Washington do like Noah’s Bagels very much. The lines often extend out the door on weekend mornings, and during the week young moms sip coffee, waiting out the morning while their preschoolers gnaw on bagels. Even on busy Los Angeles strips, Noah’s Bagels offers a feeling of a neighborhood hangout (the yeasty smell is hard to resist, too).

Classic Bagel with a Shmear from Noah's Bagels (Jennifer Miner)

Noah’s offers a lot more options than your standard sesame-bagel-and-a-shmear. Yes, there are the plain, sesame, salted, onion, poppy, and everything bagels you’ll find at old school bagel places, but Noah’s also offers options like asiago, cinnamon raisin, and chocolate chip bagels. These may raise the question, what properly constitutes a bagel? It’s not supposed to be just round bread with a hole in it, after all. And don’t get me started on the “tomato and roasted red pepper with pesto bagel.” In any case, these new-fangled bagels are popular with the restaurants’ regular clientele.

Noah’s makes very tasty sandwiches and a decent challah too. The coffee is fine, although I’ve never seen a Noah’s Bagels that wasn’t located a within a block or two of a popular coffee chain. While dogs naturally are not let inside, bagel-shaped dog snacks are sold by the register, and on hot days water bowls are left outside. Noah’s Bagels is a family-friendly, dog-friendly restaurant chain that manages to offer both a casual neighborhood feel, and a decent bagel. For West Coasters who weren’t raised with H&H, it’s the best bagel chain around.