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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2001)
Adam Amato Emerald Historically Homestyle Students love the campus restaurant because it offers ‘reasonable prices, homemade-style food and quality service’ By Aliyson Taylor for the Emerald When University Professor W.R.B Willcox designed 1340 Alder St. in the 1920s, it was intended to be an apartment building. Over the years, it has been home to a variety of dif ferent businesses, and today Uni versity students and Eugene resi dents know it as the Campus Glenwood. Rick and Karren Lareau founded the Glenwood restaurant in 1976 in Glenwood and named it after the town. On Friday, Oct. 13, 1978, Jacqui Monninger bought the Glen wood from the Lareaus, and in 1981, she moved it to Eugene, where it opened on Willamette Street. Then, Monninger said, a friend told her a restaurant on Alder Street had gone out of busi ness and the building would be good for another location. In April 1983, Monninger opened the Glen wood Campus Cafe. The building has a long history. Monninger said it was a bookstore when she was in college. Night Manager Michael Gann said it had also housed a jewelry store and once sold hot dogs from the side service door. But it was originally an apartment complex. “Customers who are 60 (years old) tell me they used to live in this building,” Monninger said. She thinks part of the Glenwood’s mag ic is that these people can visit their former home, have a nice meal and remember the times when they lived there, Gann believes the Glenwood has a good reputation because Mon ninger knows how to treat the cus tomers. “She has a policy: The customers get whatever they want,” Gann said. “Substitutions in the menu can be made to cater to the cus tomer’s needs. Tofu can be added service and affordable prices.” She also believes it is easier for the Glenwood to accomplish those goals because it’s an independent restaurant. “Independent restaurants often do better than chains,” Monninger said. “As an independent restau rant you can go with what the com munity wants, such as getting tofu on the menu, where at our other lo cation it is not as popular. You can Ul <3gg yUlKS LaKtUl out. She also be lieves in service with a smile. She makes up the menu herself, so it is all very origi nal, and that adds its own unique ness.” Monninger said she’s been in the restaurant business since she was 17 years ‘We don’t have any parking space around here, so we have to make up for it with great food, wonderful service and affordable prices” Jacqui Monninger owner, Glenwood Campus Cafe also respond bet ter to demand than chains when you are in dependent.” Gann has worked for Mon ninger for the past nine years and said the Glenwood “is the best place in town to work.” “Jacqui be lieves in treating old, and through that experience she “learned somewhere along the way how not to treat people,” which is why it is so important to her that her customers get what they want. “We want the restaurant to be something special and (memo rable), while at the same time af fordable,” Monninger said. “We don’t have any parking space around here, so we have to make up for it with great food, wonderful her employees as one treats cus tomers. She hires people who all get along,” he said. It’s important for employees to enjoy what they are doing because that feeling is then passed on to the customers, Gann said. Gann and Monninger both agree that “having a wonderful staff who all get along is another reason the Glenwood is such a wonderful place.” “This place is also great because of the location and the type of peo pie who come in to eat. We always have great customers,” Monninger said. “Every type of people comes in: old, young, students, business people, skateboarders. They make up our atmosphere where everyone feels welcome.” Student patrons like not only the Glenwood’s menu, but also its proximity to the University. “They have reasonable prices, homemade-style food and quality service,” University sophomore Andryce Anderson said. “I have my parents take me there when they come visit because it is close to campus and the food is great.” Gann said the tomato cheese soup is the most popular item on the menu and a Glenwood trade mark that everyone loves. “Break fast is also served every day, all day, which is very popular with the customers,” he said. “We also have one of the best patios in town.” “You can get a great grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato cheese soup for under $4. It is a nice place with good food near campus,” senior Peter Vomocil said. “For the first couple of years I was here, I took my parents there until we exhausted the menu. Now I get to share it with my grandpar ents when they come to town to visit me.” AUyson Taylor is a freelance reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald.
