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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 2004)
BY BOBBIE WILLIS The Corner Café Bookworms meet barristas in the library lobby coffee shop. W Traditional Greek & Indian Food 992 Willamette • Eugene, OR 97401 • 343-9661 RED BARN N AT U R A L G R O C E RY E S T. 1 9 8 2 Whole foods, for whole people . . . Fresh from the farm to you! organically grown produce • organic beer & wine organic bulk foods • vitamins & supplements • organic herbs & spices special orders / case discounts • natural body care products LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED 4 TH & BLAIR • 342-7503 • M-Sa. 8 AM -10 PM • Su. 10 AM -9 PM 30 MAY 13, 2004 e all know the adage that good business is about location, loca- tion, location, and Novella Café has a supreme one: the lobby of the Eugene Public Library on the corner of 10th Avenue and Olive Street. Novella serves a selection of coffee drinks, teas, hot cocoa and Italian sodas, as well as bagels and pastries provided by Bagel Sphere . I order a blueberry pastry ($1.50) and the day’s coffee special, an Almond Mocha ($2.50 for 12 oz.), both of which are sweet and comforting and a nice way to spend a morning coffee break. I’d love to see a broader selection of baked goods at Novella, but I did get there late morning, when pickings might have been slimmer than earlier in the day. Maybe even more than the fare, it’s that location — not to mention the atmosphere and people-watching that go along with it — that makes Novella a great place to hang out. No matter the weather, the three-story walls of windows allow in plenty of light and a fantastic view of Eugene’s downtown hustle and bustle. The seating area is about a dozen stainless steel bistro tables with bright pastel plastic, steel-framed chairs to match; patrons can sit and relax whether they purchase Novella food items or not. This is as true a cross-section of Eugeneans as I’ve ever seen in an eatery: white-haired ladies eating brown bag lunches of egg salad sandwiches and lemon-lime soda; the young bus depot crowd kickin’ it cool at a back corner table; parents with children sipping at hot cocoa and looking through the day’s library loot; person after person engrossed in literary selections borrowed from the library or bought from the Secondhand Prose Bookstore; the daytime downtowners look- ing very official in neckties and wingtips. This is a corner café that will really make you feel like a part of the community. 7 am-8 pm M-Tu, 7 am-6 pm W-F, 8 am-6 pm Sa, 11 am-5 pm Su. Wheelchair accessible. V/MC, $. Leftovers • New Korean and American cuisine restau- rant Cho Ga now open in Springfield, locat- ed at 3540 Gateway St. inside Gateway Inn. Call 726-1212, ext. 5 for more information. • Mitchel Hescheles has taken on Café-131- turned-Marco’s-Café on Main Street in downtown Springfield, renaming it Marco’s Café & Coffeehouse. If you’re looking for what Hescheles calls “something different over the river,” you’ll want to check this out: Marco’s Café & Coffeehouse specializes in fresh-baked pastries and lunch items that Hescheles says are “everything usual with a twist.” Marco’s Café & Coffeehouse focuses on fresh fare, even making its own mayon- naise and dressings. You’ll find the new place at 602 Main St. in Springfield, or you can call 726-4827 for more info. • Looking for hot stuff online? Check out online hot sauce retailer SweatnSpice.com , headquartered in Springfield and owned by local Nick Lindauer. Lindauer, 23, started the online store to fill a void he discovered as a hot sauce collector. “I had a hot sauce collection of about 100 different sauces, all of which I had bought from different retailers. I wanted to start an online business that I could enjoy… .” SweatnSpice.com carries over 150 different hot sauces that cannot be found at local gro- cery stores and is enjoying a growing fan base of hot sauce aficionados. ew
