Eugene, Oregon

[flowergirl]

Going to see the university - any suggestions for great breakfast and great dinner - we like 'normal, fresh, non-fussy food' Thanks!

[duck833]

Dinners:

1. Probably best restaurant in town is Marche', in the fifth street market

2. Maybe #2 right now is Bel Ami
http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2007/01/2...

3. Also really like Davis's, corner of Olive and Broadway

Breakfast is tough, nothing jumps right out at me. Maybe Zenon, corner of Pearl and Broadway

[ScarletB]

Any updates on Bel Ami - how's the food, service, etc.? Would the in-laws like it is really the question :) They don't like anything too loud, too different, too hip, etc. Thanks!

[girlwonder88]

I have found Bel Ami to be hit or miss. We love eating in the wine bar there-great service, lots of opportunities to taste different wine, and Tim, the wine guy, is friendly and knowledgeable. You can eat from the restaurant menu there. I think the restaurant food isn't as good as it once was-it used to have some really fabulous and reasonably priced item, including a fabulous seared ahi and great crispy french fries with beef demiglace. I don't think the ahi is on the menu right now and the demiglace is gone, as well.

Last time we ate there, two of us loved our entrees and two of us thought "eh". The atmosphere is fairly nice-dark (which older folks sometimes dislike) but not too noisy or hip, and lots of familiar food on the menu.

[ScarletB]

Thanks girlwonder - I appreciate the response! It's looking like we'll be trying it Friday. True, they do not like dark but noise is worse so glad to hear it's not too noisy. I'll just read the menu to them.

[LAFoodGuy]

I'm looking for opinions re: Adams Sustainable Table in Eugene please...

[girlwonder88]

We loves Adams, though think the name is incredibly stupiid :) Anyway, very good food at very reasonable prices.

[skipperr]

Rogue Ales Eugene City Brewery
844 Olive Street
Eugene, OR 97401
541-345-4155

Good ale, very friendly. Food is not cheap but real good. Right down town.

Red Barn Natural Grocery
357 Van Buren St.
(4th & Blair Blvd.)
Eugene, OR 97402
[phone] Phone

Nice grocery store with natural food. Some "Deli" items

Saturday Market when it opens in April http://www.eugenesaturdaymarket.org/

[duck833]

We have a good pizza place now, La Perla. Located on corner of 13th and Pearl.

Just got back, my fifth time since the opened early in July.

[mrnelso]

We enjoyed Morning Glory one bright morning

[SauceSupreme]

Okay, so it's technically Springfield, but I gotta tell you that AIYARA THAI is very, very, very good. It's the type of places that would fit in well in Thai Town in LA, or even be a local-fave alternative to Pok Pok in Portland.

[kelmead]

Best breakfast is the campus area Glenwood... Nothing fancy, down home oraganic, fresh breakfasts. Eggs benedict is a favorite choice. Lunches are also good, but they do serve breakfast all day. Other locale is not as good. Dinner for interesting food, Marche' sometimes the menu is hit or miss for me. El Vaquero has intersting small plates, but not cheap. Fabulous Thai is Chao Pra Ya... Hope that helps!

[bluefescue]

I visited the Glenwood recently, having read reviews here and elsewhere. I am a big fan of "nothing fancy' breakfasts, however was disappointed with the food here. I has the huevos rancheros, which I found flavourless. The sliced potatoes accompanying the dish were charred on the outside and mushy on the inside. Perhaps I should have opted for the eggs bennie?

Service was fantastic, attentive and cheerful.

[Jeni Bean]

We just ate at Belly, review here:

Based on the suggestion here, and the fact everywhere else looked, as you had suggested, was just eh, we found BELLY. I thought Belly is the type of restaurant I would open if I were rich. Simple, simple, simple, but good, good, good, too. We started with a Little Gem Salad with tomatoes and bocorones. The Bocorones were a little overpowering if you ate them straight, but the flavor they imparted to the olive oil was fantastic, sharp and salty. Our mains were skirt steak with spinach and salsa verde and the pork belly over lentils. First, I have never seen such generous portions for $14 that taste this good ever, I don't think. The pork belly was HUGE. My only complaint was the lack of green on the dish. I thought that a vinegary swiss chard would have complemented the dish nicely. The steak was lovely, and the rough cut salsa verde (just parsley and garlic, really) was delicious. I used the spinach from my DH's dish to supplement my own. Everything at Belly was nice, and the price, with 2 glasses of wine each, plus 1 salad and 2 mains was about $75, which doesn't seem outrageous at all. The chef may get dinged for being "too simple" but I think the flavors are there, just need refinement. Solid B, in our book, but we think if we had tried more the rating might have gone up. As an aside, for a place with a growing wine region, the lack of ANY local selections was just weird...so that needs work. Wine list is a C, if not worse (cheap, but limited).

[ibstatguy]

I'd give the wine list a significantly higher rating. the offerings are very reasonably priced and reflect an attempt to pair wines very well suited to the food menu. I'd also guess that as Belly goes forward with capital permitting, more wines will be added.

[duck833]

Belly also allows BYOB with $15 corkage. I will probably use that as an option when I want to bring a special better wine for dinner from my cellar.

[ScarletB]

We are in Eugene for football season every year with my in-laws who are fussy eaters (at least the FIL is). What is this Belly? I tried looking it up but don't see a website, just one Yelp review. Can someone explain what kind of food it is, if they have a website, price point, etc.? Might be a nice break from the weekly Marche dinners.

Thank you!

[ibstatguy]

www.eugeneweekly.com/2008/07/10/food....

this might be of some help. it is a pretty new restaurant; the owner/chef worked at Marche and Red Agave, amongst other places.

[girlwonder88]

We had a rare and blessed night out without children last week-our anniversary-and thought we'd give Belly a try. Marche was doing a winemaker's dinner that night, but the menu didn't ring our bells, and at $76 a person in Eugene, I really want to love what I'm eating. Anyway, to Belly it was...and it was very good.

We had several small plates-the figs wrapped in bacon, the beet and goat cheese salad, the pork confit with plums and the gougeres. I loved the figs the most-beautifully sweet and ripe, with thick and rich and salty bacon. The salad was very good as well. The pork was good but not spectacular, though our friends who eat their frequently are huge fans. While I liked the gougeres a lot, great with wine, but not the best ever.

For large plates, we had chicken verjus (new that evening, our waitress said) and the boudin blanc with slaw and raisins. The chicken was good; tender and tangy. But oh my-the sausage! It was insanely fantastic. Tender and full of flavor. I can't wait to try it again.

We also tried the almond and fig tart, which was delicious.

Four small plates, a bottle of wine we liked but can't remember, two entrees, a dessert, and two glasses of port was about $100. The service was great-casual and friendly and attentive but not intrusive, and we had a nice chat with the chef. Recommended!

[Beach Chick]

running the marathon early next year and wondering if there is a great place to carbo-load the night before?
Belly sounds lovely..after the race..

[ibstatguy]

make sure you check out Sam Bond's Garage while you are in Eugene

[Beach Chick]

LOVE Sam Bond's Garage!
Longneck PBR and organic/vegan food..and live music too.
Wish they had something like this in SD..
Hell with the marathon.

[duck833]

Cafe Arirang - New Korean place at 485 East Broadway (Old Franklin Blvd Donut place)

It opened on Sept 15th, open Sunday through Friday (Closed Saturday)

I stopped by there today for a lunch order to go. Not fancy at all inside but nice and clean for a informal Korean place, family owned of course.

I ordered two lunch boxes, the Korean BBQ and Chicken Cutlet. They came with steamed rice, miso soup, veggie and shrimp temura and two small California rolls. The BBQ boxes was $10.95 and the Chicken $9.95. Also ordered a side order of Kim Chee.
Tried to order some Bee Bim Bob ($8.95) but they were not doing it today they said.

Looked at the menu and they had lots of various bowls like Spicy Pork Bowl for $7.95. Dinner entrees were around $13.00. They had six kinds of Tempura, five kinds of Yakisoba and several kinds of Udon.

No liquor license yet, server said they would have beer soon, he took under advisement my suggestion that they do byob for wine, he was going to speak with owner about it.

Nice local place with good food. I really enjoyed the BBQ and Kim Chee, we will be back.

[primitivecinema]

Thanks for the update, saw the Korean place opening up the other day and was wondering what it might be like. Kinda pricey lunch for a university-area joint in a former donut shop but I guess they're aiming at the courthouse crowd. Dinner seems in line with the other asian-oriented places in town. Definitely worth a try.

[ibstatguy]

http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/...

Dinner: Belly, a popular new Eugene restaurant run by a lovely young couple doing honest, straightforward food and doing it well. (Among other things, I ate tripe and pig’s foot stew, and a braised lamb shank.

)

also check his comment about a dinner in Portland; less than enthusiastic...

[primitivecinema]

While he was kind enough not to name a place he wasn't really reviewing...the restaurant in question was Le Pigeon, which is a shame cause its one of my favorite places in PDX. However, way to go Belly for a well deserved, if brief, NYT nod!

[ibstatguy]

another nod (or two) for Belly:

http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2009/10/2...

[ourhomeworks]

I can't believe Bittman visited Eugene - he must know someone here? Hmmm...

-Amy
http://ourhomeworks.com/

[primitivecinema]

Yep, he has family here.

BTW, went to Porky's Pig Palace last nite, don't, ever.

[ourhomeworks]

Thanks for the recommendation (on Porky's) - never heard of it. I wonder who we need to talk to to get Bittman to make Eugene one of his stops next time.

-Amy
http://ourhomeworks.com/

[JillyJill]

Seconded.
Horrible. I was embarrassed to have coerced a friend into going.

[duck833]

Cafe 440, located on Coburg Road by the Liquor Store.

Locally owned place that is one of our goto places now. Chef used to work at West Bros. Good pulled pork sandwiches, I like the pork tenderlion and ribeye. You need to order the sweek potato fries. Well put together wine list, normally they have local brews on tap.

They are open for lunch and dinner, closed on Sunday.

[duck833]

Just found these folks selling Pasties at the Christmas Farmer Market at the fairgrounds. I tried a sample and was hooked. I don't believe they have a restaurant yet but I know if you call them you can buy them at their location.

This morning I has two of their egg & sausage pasties for breakfast and they were great. I took them out of the freezer and heating in the oven for 20 minutes, a great quick breakfast.

They have 7 different kind of pasties.
1. Egg & Sausage (case of 15 $33.75, bag of two $5.00)
2. Cheeseburger (case of 15 $33.75, bag of two $5.00)
3. Broccoli & Cheese (case of 15 $33.75, bag of two $5.00)
4. Fall Harvest Vegetable (case of 15 $33.75, bag of two $5.00)
5. Pesto Lamb (case of 15 $47.25, bag of two $7.00)
6. Steak & Ale (case of 15 $47.25, bag of two $7.00)
7. Smoked Salmon (case of 15 $47.25, bag of two $7.00)

They are using local vegetables, meats and cheeses from closest possible farms and ranches. These are nice local pasties. To get locally after the holiday market closes they said to call and they could be picked up at their 2nd street address.

I have heading to the market to get two cases of the cheeseburger pasties, I already have a case of the steak & Ale and the smoked salmon ones. I am going to use them for my tailgater at Autzen for the civil war. Perfect tailgate food, don't need a fork, great finger food.

Cousin Jack's Pasty Company
1333 West. 2nd Alley
Eugene, Oregon 97402

541-521-7496
www.cousinjackspasty.com
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

[Mr Eugenified]

For breakfast, I recommend Ye Olde Pancake House (yes, it is a stupid-sounding name). It's not amazingly great, but a solid 3.5 star place. World Cafe is a bit more hippie-ish and the breakfast menu looks interesting, but I have not tried it yet. Stupid One is often raved about for breakfast, but for me it is an epic fail. The Cooler is a sports bar with good burgers and also good breakfast food; stale beer smell is free of charge. ;-)

[antrobin]

Studio one is great. I mean, for Eugene. Hard to beat for an affordable, tasty breakfast or brunch.

[bluefescue]

I had breakfast at Studio One this week, when in Eugene for a workshop. The restaurant was charming and the food was great. I was so impressed with my breakfast that I was planning on returning for my final day in Eugene, until I visited the wash room before I left. It was filthy; the toilet was backed up and the sink and floor were unclean. Needless to say, I would not return.

[duck833]

Ahhh! Voodoo Donuts comes to Eugene. Big line out the door this Saturday, it appears they might sell out by 5:00PM today. Biggest food event in Eugene for a long time.

Trying a Eugene Cream, a piece of Portland Cream and a chunk of apple fritter right now, pretty darn good!

[roxie]

love those voodoo dolls!!

[LAFoodGuy]

?

[JDBear]

http://voodoodoughnut.com/ The "Voodoo Doll" donut is pictured on the home page...they're in the corners.

As for your question earlier about Adam's: Haven't been there in a while. Was good the last time I was there. They take their food sourcing VERY seriously, Would recommend to a visitor. There's also a Moroccan-themed restaurant owned by the same guy next door. http://www.thesustainabletable.com/ad...

[LAFoodGuy]

helpful. thank you.

[LAFoodGuy]

Willie's - a new restaurant at the Campbell House B&B - I'm looking for some opinions please...Thanks in advance.