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Thirty years ago, Abdul-Waheed Wahed was sitting in the Frankfurt airport, waiting for his flight from Germany to Eugene. Wahed, a Kabul native who’d earlier fled the Soviet conflict in Afghanistan, had some time to kill. So, perched at the airport bar in 1986, he had a few drinks. A woman he knew sat down beside him. They shared a whiskey, then a few more. Wahed missed his flight. Continue reading
EW often writes about the new and shiny. Readers and writers alike take interest in stories describing the latest food trends or the most recent restaurants to hit town. But sometimes, there’s value in taking a look back at the restaurants that have stood the test of time. The restaurant business has a high rate of turnover, and a trendy new place might close a month after it opens. Continue reading
Chef Josh Welton’s hairy right forearm has a big tattoo of fried eggs and a side of bacon. “I really love breakfast. I’m not kidding,” he laughs, patting flour off his black chef coat. Welton opened Tres Mil Border Cafe a year ago inside 5th Street Market’s food court. On a Sunday morning, he is busy behind the counter, serving up huevos rancheros with thick, house-made corn tortillas and generous spoonsful of sour cream. A reasonable trickle of people stand in line to order breakfast. Continue reading
According to Jorge Navarro, everyone should go to New Orleans at least once. He traveled to the Louisiana hot spot when he turned 40, and soon after, started Café Navarro, which served New Orleans-inspired dishes in Eugene until 2001. “I consider New Orleans-style food to be the real American culinary tradition,” Navarro says, explaining how the city’s famed Creole cuisine incorporates European, African, Native American and other influences, turning them into something new. Continue reading
Ask around the area of Eugene near the UO campus: “Where can I get a good burrito?” Odds are, the answer will be spoken in reverential tones of cult-like devotion: “Chachi’s.” “You hear sometimes people walking by,” says Chachi’s co-owner and founder Adie Coy, “and they’re chatting with their friends and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh try this burrito — bulgogi!’ or, ‘They make the best breakfast burrito!’” Continue reading
Catherine and Cheryl Reinhart, owners of the wildly popular Sweet Life Patisserie, announced via Facebook today that they plan to open a second location at 19th and Agate near campus, where Eugene City Bakery once resided. The Reinharts write that they will share the spot with J-Tea, which is also opening a second location. "Sweet Life Petite" will ideally open in spring of this year, the owners say. Continue reading
Good news for Cafe Soriah fans: The famously tiny Mediterranean restaurant on 13th Avenue will expand into its neighboring space, allowing owner Ibrahim Hamide to accomodate more customers. Hamide says that his neighboring business for 22 years, a dress shop, shut down last summer, and Hamide's brother-in-law purchased the building in late August. "So now I have an extremely friendly landlord," Hamide jokes. Continue reading
Chef Alex Moon announced on Dec. 9 that she has found a home for her gluten-free restaurant, Sundial Cafe. In the months following her successful Kickstarter campaign in March, raising $12,081 to fund the project, Moon has searched far and wide for a suitable place to operate her restaurant. 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
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