New Orleans in Eugene

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 

Bonkers for Burrito

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 

Sweet Life to add second location near campus

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 

Celebrating the Sabbath

Temple Beth Israel’s new rabbi

Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein

The chairs were organized in circles in the library of Eugene’s Temple Beth Israel, and the congregation was chatting, swelling the sound of their collective conversation. But as the rabbi entered, singing, the talking quickly faded and everyone began to take their seats.  It was the beginning of the havdalah, meaning distinction, a ritual that marks the end of holy time and transition back into ordinary life at the end of Shabbat or Sabbath, Judaism’s day of rest. Continue reading 

Time in a Bottle

Check the circa-1965 YouTube video of Mick Jagger and Stones crooning “Ti-i-i-ime is on my side, yes it is.” Mick looks like a kid; they all do, the whole band. Well, time is not on your side, or mine, or Mick’s or wine’s. Continue reading 

Cafe Soriah to expand into adjacent building

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 

It’s About Time – January 2016

Kind of like in summer, the winter Solstice just slipped by with nary a wink or a nod. The approach is so gradual in both ways that only a calendar watcher (or member of a pagan community) knows for sure what day to celebrate Solstice. The extra rainy December meant that it was cloudy most nights. Night sky changes were hard to follow despite regular bedtime walks. I have seen Orion less than five times since he first returned to the night sky. Continue reading