BEST OF EUGENE 2004
tHE
BEST
OF tHE BEST
Ring of Fire
Chao Pra Ya
BEST CHEF: Porn Wa Dee Gamer
BEST TAKEOUT
BEST SOUTHEAST ASIAN
BEST BARTENDER: Don Mike
Do you think you really deserve to win?
Honestly, I go around town to every bar, and
I know about every bartender. Personally, I
voted for Albert over at Soriah’s. He’s an
awesome bartender as well. I’m a hard
worker. I try to be really efficient. I strive for
excellence in my service. What’s your worst
behind the bar disaster? Two broken glasses
by customers right over the ice-well during a
rush — right in the ice. It slowed up every-
thing for like 15 minutes. Did you get a good
tip? Honestly no, they just got up and left.
They were embarrassed. I got robbed. I did-
n’t say anything, but by the look on my face
… What’s the most bizarre bar story you’ve
got? Honestly, we have bachelorette parties
in here that get pretty wild sometimes. I’ve
seen tops come off in here. It’s Eugene, a lot
of things can happen. Like people passing
naked-guy cards around to everyone.
BEST PACIFIC RIM
EW talked to Josh, the owner:
Do you really deserve to win? Yes. Because
we love what we do. The flavors are so dis-
tinct and when you put a few different dish-
es on your plate and eat them together it
brings out really intense flavor combina-
tions. What was your worst kitchen disas-
ter? One time the fire suppression system
inside the hood of the stove went off in the
middle of dinner. It sprays white powder
everywhere, and it just went off randomly.
We had to close the restaurant and tell
everyone we were sorry we couldn’t serve
them their food.
Porn Wa Dee Gamer - BEST CHEF
EW talked to Vivat Kaokept, the owner:
Do you think you really deserve to win? We
serve good food. Good service. What was
your worst kitchen disaster? The curry is
sometimes too spicy, and we get complaints
from customers. Of course, some customers
don’t understand Thai style. A real hot Thai
style is real mean spicy. I have to tell my
waitress to mention to customers, the spicy
in our restaurant is really Thai-style spicy.
Kitty Piercy
BEST POLITICAL COUP
BEST ELECTED OFFICIAL
Do you think you really deserve to win?
Gosh. I just want to say that I’m honored
that people would think I deserve this.
There are a lot of people who could also
have been chosen, and I’ll just say thanks
and be glad that people think of me in this
light. In running for this position and what
I face in the future, I just want to make it
clear that this is me and hundreds of other
Oregonians working together to try to build
a better future for our community. Tell us
something only your close friends know
about you. I guess what people might not
know about me is the years I struggled to be
able to be comfortable speaking in public. I
was just a pretty shy person, and I probably
spent seven years with my knees knocking
and my voice trembling, thinking I would
never be able to speak in front of people.
Kitty Piercy
BEST POLITICAL COUP
BEST ELECTED OFFICIAL
TODD COOPER
Why do you deserve the Best Chef award? I
do the best I can with my food. I’ve been
cooking for 40 years, and I can do anything
that the customers tell me to do. My food
comes with my heart, and I like my job. If
you were an animal or vegetable, what
would you be and why? An elephant because
they are big animals and live in the wild.
Soriah
Burrito Boy
BEST MIDDLE EASTERN
BEST CHEAP EATS
BEST BURRITO
EW talked to Ibrahim Hamide, the owner:
Do you think you really deserve to win?
Well, I’m the father of Middle Eastern food
in town. I think I almost introduced it in
Eugene and have been doing it for more
than 25 years. I’m from Palestine. It’s my
home-cooking, what I grew up with and I
don’t know anybody who does it better.
Worst kitchen disaster? We had someone
switch the salt and sugar container once so
all our food was sweet. Years ago I set the
Eugene Hotel on fire. I do tableside flam-
bées and the booze bottle caught on fire and
shot out flaming liquid across the room. It
got a few people and the floor to ceiling
French drapes. Fortunately there were no
injuries. That was literally 35 years ago,
and I’ve been a good boy ever since.
Home
BEST PLACE TO FIND TRUE LOVE
BEST PLACE TO WORK
We’re not sure what this says about our
society these days but maybe Eugeneans
are just homebodies. Then again there’s a
lot to be said for getting smooches over
morning coffee, then wandering over to the
computer to start the day’s work in your
jammies and slippers.
Don Mike - BEST BARTENDER
EW talked to John Ramirez the owner:
Why does Burrito Boy deserve to win?
Because I think that we are the best. Our
food is cooked fresh — I even have noticed
that vegetarians are coming back to our
place for the flavor of the vegetable burritos
because we stay on top of that freshness. I
like making good food — a cook has to
love what they do.
16 OCTOBER 21, 2004
Remember: the first date can be make-or-
break, so you gotta do it right. And what’s
more tried-and-true than dinner and a movie?
Especially if dinner is at Café Soriah, EW
readers’ favorite romantic restaurant. The
Soriah chefs make the best fattoush in town,
and the bartenders mix up mojitos that’ll make
your head swim! Once you and your crush are
well fed and maybe a little tipsy, you can head
down the street to our readers’ second-favorite
first-date location: the Bijou, Eugene’s only
independent movie theater. Maybe you can
play a little footsie while the film rolls.
JAMES BATEMAN
TODD COOPER
JAMES BATEMAN
BEST PLACE FOR A FIRST DATE
Ibrahim Hamide, owner of Soriah -
BEST MIDDLE EASTERN
BEST PLACE FOR A FIRST DATE