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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2003)
IQQQ BY MARiNA WhPB ITALY ON $5 A DAY? 15 LUNCH SPECIALS DAILY FOR ONLY Sublimity in the Suburbs $4.95! KoHo is worth the drive. KoHo Bistro: 2101 Bailey Hill Rd. 681-9335. 11:30 am-9 pm M-Th, 11:30 am-10 pm F, 5-10 pm Sa. $-$$. -830 OLIVE STREET • DO WNTOWN EUG ENE • W hen KoHo Bistro first opened, I have to admit I thought it looked like a recipe for disaster. The loca- tion was obscure; in.a semi-defunct mall o'ut on Bailey Hill, and the menu was gourmet, not geared at all toward the high school crowd across the street at Churchill. Now, over three years later, I have to admit I was · wrong : Somehow, beautifully and with sim- ple elegance, it works. From the bleak mall outside, the place feels like a cozy, sophisticated secret escape. The space inside is small, but carefully designed, and ends up feeling more casual and homey rather than formal or pretentious. 541-345-1072 Everyday from 11:30-4:J0pm! plates covered almost ~11 the table's surface area. The normal · trade-off between quality and quantity doesn't seem to exist here . Mountains of food, with impeccably fresh ingredients and high-quality standards m~e this place unique. And even reasonably priced: dinner for two came in ·around $40, including ti , drinks, and enough take~home for a nice lunch the following day. Other restaurants in town with comparable local and high-quality ingredients charge quite a bit more. The su~er soup is a tomato gazpacho, which comes with or without mussels. Gazpacho can be a million different things to a million different chefs. Here at KoHo it is simple to the point of plain , blended and smoothly zesty with garlic and onion. It is served with an island of diced cucumbers .. D[oTAUDAllT fx l)AD - ''If~ "'f kindQ /Q~j" ·The enchantment began when the plate was set, , down. It' looked like a Netherlands' still life. - , 541.o4<2.4141 • 114 t f)DOADWA'f WWW.All)f)DOcilADtClTAUDAllT.COm Espresso and ' . - Eugene 810 Willamette p Ba, . heeses pl,e,-e Springfield 5768 Main St. Professional and warmly courteous servers find tabl.es and dole out heavy, leather-bound menus . Each table, the night I ate, was start- ed with a plate of crispy fried green olives, and a basket of bread . The bread was amaz- ing, made in-house every morning, crusty on the outside and tenderly cakelike on the inside . It's enough to swear off the low-carb diet for good . KoHo also makes its own pasta, which I'll have to try next time . The menu changes seasonally, though the basics remain - salmon and seafood, pork, steak, a vegetarian entree, plenty of salads. KoHo features a salad of the day, from Hay Bales! farm, and a wonderful Caesar salad (with croutons made from that same wonder- ful bread, if I'm not mistaken .) I started my meal with the Obsidian Stout Battered Brie , tantalizing because it sounded so contradictory . Beer and c~eddar, maybe ; . brie and wine, sure. But beer and brie? However, my doubts were again unfounded - it worked perfectly. The enchantment began when the plate was set down . It looked like a Netherlands' still life. Gleaming colors and textures, such as crisp, bright green apples, golden buttery crackers , shiny black huckleberries and blueberries accented the wedge of cheese encased in its delicate, meringue-like shell. The brie was wonderful on its own, and tasty with the fruit. However , . water crackers might have matched better ..with an already slightly oily cheese like brie . When the entrees arrived, the amount of food on the table was a little staggering. • Heaps of food covered the plates , and the 25111 Anniversary Celebration . Come down to Sy's New-York Pizza & have a FREE SLICE & SODA ON US! WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20TH • 11 :30 - 4PM 1211 ALDER ■ ON CAMPUS ACROSS FROM SACRED HEART HOSP"AL 11 :30AM-MIDNIGHT MON-SAT *. 3:30PM-MIDNIGHT SUNDAY -------- 686-9598 _________ .. I I FARMER'S . ' and waves of avocado sauce: beautiful. The portion was way too much for me, especial- ...-,· ly with such a strongly flavored soup. Next time I'll just order a cup. Brown sugar ' J smoked Greener Pastures chicken also land- ed ori the table, with wonderful German- ,......, styled potato salad, filled with diced veggies, , , light and sweet, and grilled veggies. Everything was cooked to perfection. --, Dessert had to be tasted too, of course. I eavesdropped on a taple behind me and was ' ' all set to order the Napoleon, but it wasn 't being served that evening . The choices were another list of homemade decadences : ice , crea~s, cookies, cake, · strawberry cr6me bn1lee. The bn1lee is almost always impossi- - ~ ble to resist, especially if it's got a new twist. Strawberry qualifies , and I ordered it. The · custard was sweet and creamy, sweeter than traditional, but a dark, almost J:>urnt sugar on top compensated and balanced the flavors _ nicely. KoHo's new first sous chef, Nicole Peltz, ,.. is fresh from school, but not new to the restaurant. She was hired on · as a kitchen 1 ' assistant in the summer of 2000, just a month after Kim and Kevin Hyland opened the r, restaurant. She enjoyed her experience so \.. ~ much she went pro at the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier , VT. During ,--, her studies she interned at Frontera Grill and , Topolobampo, two of Chicago's . most suc- 1 cessful restaurants . Her skills are obvious and meld well with the wonderful atmos- phere KoHo has constructed so carefully in 1 its corner of the suburban jungle. IJI/I a MARKET -:~ ........ ~ ....... BAR CAFE SAT. 9-3 .......i & Lots of free parking 2835 Oak St. 284-2825 nm. 11.3 SOUTHTOWNE SHOPPES FARMER'S MARKEi' 28th & Oak St. 1 ' 1
