Eugene Weekly

Cori Haines-Tutrone and her family took a leap of faith when they decided to switch their business from coffee to waffles and ice cream. For years, she ran Aroma Café out of the Gateway Mall, but after the mall underwent remodeling, Haines-Tutrone and her family chose to move on to creamier, more waffle-y pastures — in this case, a food truck called I Scream for Waffles. Continue reading →

Bubble tea is the coffee of Taiwan. That’s why Shuang Han and Crystal Zhao, owners of The Rabbit Hole Tea Bar, decided to open shop last year and bring the authentic Taiwanese bubble tea experience, as well as other kinds of tea, to Eugene. Real bubble tea is a rarity in the U.S., they say. “You see a lot of restaurants have bubble tea, but it’s totally different than what good bubble tea is,” Han explains. “The main thing is we use real tea, not water and powder. It takes a certain technique.” Continue reading →

Hands wrist-deep in masa harina, Mayra Medina thinks back to when she was little and her mother worked in a cramped kitchen behind a tiny eatery in Morelia, the city in central Mexico where Medina grew up. The modest comedor was so small it didn’t even warrant a name. Though the place was a lonely hole in the wall, Medina’s mother cooked with the same ardor she applied to preparing meals for her family at home.  Continue reading →

When Aaron and Mariah Kastrava acquired The Divine Cupcake in early May, they were ready for a challenge. Previously, the married couple had planned to open a coffee house, but when an opportunity for something sweeter arrived, they went all in.  After closing its store in west Eugene in 2012, The Divine Cupcake (which existed for nine years under previous ownership) operated principally as an online business, and the Kastravas understood this going in.  Continue reading →