EAT BEAT
by Martha Wagner
)88 Italian Restaurant Update ... plus
T Picnic Pleasures
Las-211
M
ost everyone loves a picnic. Food always
seems to taste better when laid out on a pic
nic blanket or taken out of a daypack in a
beautiful outdoor setting. You can rush through a meal
indoors, but picnics are meant for slowing down, for
slowly savoring the pleasures of good food and the
outdoors.
Picnics can be as simple as a meal of take-out deli
food eaten on a park bench. What makes a really
memorable picnic, though? Last week I put this ques
tion to several Eugeneans who enjoy making a produc
tion of picnics.
For John Hurst, a former cooking instructor who
now works as a restaurant consultant and graphic ar
tist, “A great picnic is when you do the unexpected.
You use fine china and crystal, sit on a beautiful quilt
and bring along fresh flowers and sun umbrellas. Or
the place itself can be the element of surprise. The way
they picnic in France is to just pull off the road in a
pretty spot and set up a picnic close to the road—not
a freeway. I used to do this on Prairie Road.”
When it comes to menu planning, Hurst considers
several factors. “Color is especially important in the
outdoors. I like grilled vegetables for this reason. I also
like Middle Eastern and Greek food because they're
not messy to eat and they don’t need to be hot or
chilled. If there are enough people to help. I'll bring
along an ice cream maker and we'll make ice cream
for dessert.”
Anyone for Exercise?
For some picnickers, churning ice cream is exercise
enough; for others, exercise is part of the formula for
a great picnic. “I like to hike up Mt. Scott, then the
food tastes all the better,” says Gayle Jolley, owner of
Edibles, a catering business.
Jolley considers fell the ideal picnic season. She likes
a picnic of French bread, cheeses and fruit, but also
has a favorite fall meat dish for picnics—prune
and apricot stuffed pork loin roasted with rosemary
and sage. “It’s better eaten cool than warm.”
Register-Guard reporter and picnic enthusiast
Carolyn Kortge loves the adventure aspect of getting
to a glorious picnic spot. She admits a preference for
sharing picnics “with people adventurous enough to
drive to the coast or hike three miles to the top of Mt.
June.”
Inspired by visits to a health spa, Kortge and her
husband. Dean, are experimenting with a leaner cui
sine for picnics this summer. “For one picnic we made
roll-up sandwiches with large Ak-Mak crackers and
two fillings: one, a tofu salad, the other, sliced turkey
breast with onions and a mixture of ricotta cheese and
yogurt. We also like salads a lot, such as turkey or
chicken salads.”
Kris Neilson has served champagne brunches in
farmers’ fields, following the touch down of the hot
air balloonshe and her husband used to pilot. A long
time river rafter, she’s also developed a reputation for
one-of-a-kind rafting picnics.
Pick a Picnic Theme...
Neilson loves a picnic with a theme, a picnic she
can approach from her background in art. Last month
she supervised a crew of volunteers in creating an “East
meets West” picnic beside the McKenzie River for 35
participants in The Common Foundation’s annual fund
raising float trip.
“Ron Mattson, the Yangtze River explorer, was com
ing on the trip so we decided on the East West theme.
He brought back from China a wood block which we
used to make 50 prayer flags for our picnic site. We
strung them in the trees. We had cloths on the serving
tables in red and gold, the colors of the Chinese flag.”
The outing menu included won tons; Ron Mattson's
wok fried rice, vegetarian and pork; several salads;
baked chicken wings; and Chinese tea eggs—marbled,
smoky-flavored hard-boiled eggs prepared by gently
cracking the surface of the cooked eggs to form fine
lines, then steeping the eggs in black tea seasoned with
soy sauce and star anise.
East met West at the dessert table where rafters found
more familiar edibles: fruit tarts and pies, chocolate
chip cookies, chocolate tortes and more.
The raft trip took place July 18, the day of a down
pour, but Neilson said it barely dampened the rafters'
spirit of adventure. It was just another way to enjoy
what she likes best about picnicking—“getting out of
your everyday routine.”
Two new Italian restaurants have opened recently in
Eugene, each offering a sophisticated, updated inter
pretation of that cuisine.
Provati Ristorante, located in the former Old Susan
nah’s location in Oakway Mall, offers lunch and din
ner menus that reflect Italian inspiration, but take
advantage, says chef Paula Scharf, of many local
ingredients—fresh herbs and produce, seafood, etc.
The restaurant produces its own smoked meats and
poultry, featured in such dishes as Smoked Chicken
Cannelloni and Smoked Duck Pate.
Lunch and dinner menus each offer several choices
of individual serving pizzas, a good variety of pasta
dishes and other entrees, hot and cold antipasti and
several salads. Desserts are anything but ordinary. The
list includes Mascarpone and Raspberries, a slice of
pound cake topped with the creamy Italian cheese, sur
rounded by raspberry puree. Menus will change sea
sonally.
Provati, owned by the Eugene-based King’s Table
restaurant chain, has two dining areas: a black, red
and white bistro for informal dining, and a carpeted,
two-level formal dining area decorated in pastel shades.
A pasta and salad lunch averages about $8. Dinner
pasta dishes start at $5.50, other entrees range from
$8.50 to $14.00. Dinner reservations are advised.
Ambrosia, located in the former Accuardi’s Old
Town Pizza building, 174 East Broadway, exemplifies
the bistro restaurant, considered one of the hot new
trends in the restaurant industry. Menu is a la carte,
decor is informal but stylish, prices are moderate.
Although the menu includes numerous salads, appe
tizers, pasta dishes and other entrees, pizza is a special
ty at Ambrosia. This is Eugene’s first wood-fired piz
za, baked over oak in a special oven imported from
Italy. The oven, located in view of customers, is of a
type used for hundreds of years in Italy, according to
Zareh Marashlian, one of the owners. (Also a partner
is Frank Emandes, owner of Mazzi’s and Marco’s
Gelato d’Italia.)
The oven, says Marashlian, imparts special flavor
and texture to the eight pizzas and two calzones served
at Ambrosia. The individual serving pizzas come plain
and simple (tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil)
or all dressed up with such ingredients as fresh tomato,
havarti, provolone, prosciutto, fresh basil and Nicoise
olives.
The menu, which will change seasonally, tends
toward the Northern Italian, but there are non-Italian
surprises, too: calzone and pizza with brie, fresh sal
mon baked in parchment, etc. Desserts include gelato,
fruit sorbets, and the Italian pastry, cannoli.
Pizzas start at $3.75, pasta and entrees are $6.25 to
$12.50. Ambrosia will begin serving lunch later this
month.
The
Bavarian
Restaurant
Try our new lunch menu!
Delicious sausages, hot and cold
sandwiches, salads, and much
more!
Over 85 imported biers, 4 micro
brewery biers on tap
Sandwiches served 11 am-11 pm.
Dinner served 5 pm-10 pm.
444 East Third Avenue
at south end of Ferry St. Bridge
345-9815
... along with fresh fruit, graham
crackers, shortbread, and oreo cookies!
6 W 17 th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97401
(503) 343-9223
erHoruy
CHOCOLATE ])
J
s-===================================== AO
SOON AT:
Salem Centre
401 Center St. NE
Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-5
Salem, OR 97301
LUNCH
R-ESPRESSO • RJLL BAR • DESSERTS
384 W. 13th • 343-9510
KEYSTONE CAFE
—Good Home Cookin’—
— WEEKEND —
DINNER SPECIAL
FRI., SAT., SUN.
5:30-9:00
Shrimp Salad
w/soup & cornbread
W. 5th at Lawrence
7 am-9 pm
catering
GJ)URMEI PIZZA
GELATO
BEER
• SPECIALTY FOODS
Informal dining at its best
• Fresh and Creative Gourmet Cooking
• Wines by the Glass
• Delicious Desserts
• Hors d’oeuvres
Dinners served:
M-Th 5:30-9 pm
F-Sat 5:30-10 pm
901 Pearl • 342-3110
GIFT BASKETS
EXCELSIOR PASTRIES
URBAN CAFE
WINE
miner FCKLETS
ICE CREAM & COFFEE PARLOUR
i ICE CREAM CAKES and PIES
V• FOR ALL OCCASIONS
r P— y
7 minerP
FCKLETS
/ Eugene's Own 1
/ Gourmet Ice Cream
Order your favorite or pick from our own
selection
Downtown, 861 Willamette. Mon-Thur 7:30 am-9 pm. Fh 7:30
am-10 pm. Sat 10 am-9 pm, Sun 12-6 pm
Campus, 13th & Hilyard. Mon-Fri 11-midnight, Sat-Sun 12-midnight
19th & Agate. Mon-Fri 11:30 am-11 pm, Sat-Sun 12-11 pm
SXSEbSIK SAPB
New Summer Menu
• Light Bistro Dinners ($6-$8)
• Hors d’oeuvres
• Seasonal Salads
• Cold Soups
• Creative Pasta Dishes
• Grilled Fish and Meats
• Homemade Ice Cream
Dine Outdoors in our Beautiful Grape Arbor.
We feature the area's largest selection of
Oregon wines—by the glass or by the
bottle
Serving meals
until 10 p.m.
Open until
midnight
/
754 East 13th Avenue Eugene, Oregon 342-6963
