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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
Walking through the dense, cherry-wood front door of The Pint Pot Public House, you’re greeted by many things: the sound of bagpipes, the smell of hearty spices, snug armchairs in dimly lit corners, stacks of board games and smiles from welcoming strangers. Immediately, your eyes are drawn to writing in chalk atop the bar: “May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.” And while The Pint Pot may be small, its collection of patrons is brimming. Continue reading
Tiny Tavern is dead. Long live Tiny Tavern. With the protracted death rattle and final expiring sigh of the Whiteaker’s seediest bar now just another piece of Eugene folk history, the question “what will become of Tiny’s?” has at last been answered: It will be a restaurant, of course. Continue reading
Living in Lane County can be a charming mix of city culture and country life. For example, a short drive west from the city of Eugene is Our Daily Bread Restaurant in Veneta. Located in a renovated ’40s-era church, Our Daily Bread is a full-service restaurant offering home-style comfort with a fine dining twist. The vintage atmosphere of the church offers intriguing nooks for intimate conversation or open space for a family-style, communal experience. You may even chat with a server who attended the church as a young girl. Continue reading
Bisexuals don’t eat cheeseburgers. This thought had never crossed my mind in 20 years of advocating for LGBTQ people and issues. But having come out of the closet as a bisexual just a few days earlier, it seemed like this might be true. I came out at a high school staff meeting in 2014 after my fellow teachers had spent an hour debating the nature of LGBTQ students. Earnest but clueless, many of them were discussing something they knew nothing about. My favorite: “I don’t know why it’s such a big deal who you have sex with.” Continue reading
• ODOT is currently spraying roadsides. Call Tony Kilmer at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call (888) 996-8080 for often inaccurate herbicide application information. Highways recently sprayed include I-5, 36, 99 and Beltline. Continue reading
* Want to grocery shop online? You can do it locally at Lane Local Foods, an online farmers market operated by the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition. Online shoppers can login at lanelocalfoods.com, or access it through the market’s mobile app, and order groceries any time from Wednesday morning to Sunday night. Farmers post their products and shoppers can choose what they want, anything from okra from Mountain View Farm in Junction City to feta cheese from Ferns’ Edge Goat Dairy in Lowell. Continue reading