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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
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
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
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
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