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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2004)
BEST OF EUGENE 2004 over your lover to turn it off. Your lover snug- gles you closer; that skin-on-skin warmth is a whole lot more inviting than the chilly morn- ing air. Thoughts of work move to the periph- ery as your bodies come together in a cloud of hands, hips, tongues and hair… In your blissed-out state you roll your eyes dreamily toward the clock. And then, like a hot pepper in chocolate sauce, it hits you: YOU’RE LATE! You toss on your clothes, splash your face, peck your lover on the forehead and run out the door. Yeah, it was worth it, but how are you going to explain this to your boss? BEST REASON TO LIVE IN EUGENE: THE PEOPLE 2nd: Nature 3rd: The weather Well it sure as hell ain’t the weather, which oddly enough received enough votes to place third. But we think that was a joke. And we’re pretty sure this one isn’t. People here are nice. As a newcomer to Eugene I chose to write up this category because it reflects my experience, as least so far. My neighbors say hi. My co-workers rock and go out of their way to be helpful. The peo- ple at the DMV and even the board of elec- tions are sweet and helpful. And perfect strangers have given me their phone num- bers and said, “Hey, you’re new to town. Let’s go grab a beer sometime.” How much nicer could people possibly be? BEST RESTAURANTS BEST SOUTHEAST ASIAN: CHAO PRA YA 2nd: Broadway Market 3rd: Barry’s (See Best of the Best, p. 16) 2nd: Ring of Fire 3rd: Mekala’s BEST ECO-FRIENDLY FOOD: MORNING GLORY BEST RESTAURANT FOR A SOLO MEAL: CAFÉ YUMM! 2nd: Zenon 3rd: Cornucopia EW talked to Mark Beauchamp, the owner: Do you think you really deserve to win? We know that our customers appreciate the por- tioning we make available with many items. We have meal options for vegans as well for those that prefer a non-vegetarian diet, gluten free, dairy free, etc. Our environment is designed to be comfortable to the diverse group of customers represented in the greater Eugene area. And the café crews at our three locations are simply awesome — we appre- ciate them so much! Beautiful, delicious, nourishing food served with care in a com- fortable environment. That’s our goal. What was your worst kitchen disaster? A couple years ago our cook was going to use up about 20 pounds of a wide variety of expen- sive heirloom beans and make a special heir- loom bean soup. The first step, of course, is to soak the beans overnight. In the morning the opener saw the soaked bean mix and thought there must be something wrong with our regular black and red beans and dumped out all the soaked heirloom beans. Oh well, better to be on the safe side! BEST NEW RESTAURANT: IRAILA BEST BAKERY: SWEET LIFE 2nd: Zalaya 3rd: Laughing Planet EW talked to Mark Zolun, a co-owner: Do you think you really deserve to win? I do, because I think we’re offering something a lit- tle different and a little homier to people in Eugene. People who eat here feel like they could be in Eugene or transported to a little European town. What was your worst kitchen disaster? A continual kitchen disaster is burn- ing bread. It’s so treacherous and toxic. Sometimes you just have to pull a little Lucy and scrape off the burnt top. I have to say, we really haven’t had anything disastrous — other than burnt bread, and I can deal with that. (See Best of the Best p. 17) 2nd: Metropol 3rd: Eugene City Bakery 2nd: Sundance 3rd: Marché EW talked to Gail Brown, the owner: Do you think you really deserve to win? We try very hard to do this as environmentally- friendly as we can, and we believe in healthy food. Worst kitchen disaster? On a busy Sunday during Country Fair, my refrigerator broke. It just quit cooling. The employees moved things all over the place, they worked in total chaos, and they got somebody in to fix it the next day. BEST FOOD CART: CART DE FRISCO 2nd: Alexander the falafel guy 3rd: Rita’s Burritos EW talked to Eric Bergland, an employee: Why does Cart De Frisco deserve to win? Because we have hand-made food made by people who care. There are no chemicals, no ugliness. And it’s damn tasty. If you were an animal or vegetable, what would you be and why? I would be a cat because they are choosy. I was also a bike messenger in Seattle for seven years and I was hit by cars many, many times — so maybe I do have nine lives. BEST ITALIAN: BEPPE & GIANNI’S 2nd: Mazzi’s 3rd: Ambrosia EW talked to Gianni, a co-owner: Do you think you really deserve to win? We’re the best Italian restaurant in town. We make our own pastas, we have Italian heritage, and we travel to Italy quite often for new menu ideas. What was your worst kitchen disaster? On our opening week- end, we overloaded the circuit breaker. It would trip all night and the lights would go off. That hap- pened at least a half a dozen times in the first week. It was kind of a pain in the butt. BEST CHINESE: LOTUS GARDEN 2nd: Ocean Sky 3rd: Maple Garden Do you think you deserve to win? Well, I don’t know. I think the customers like it... I guess this shows customer support! What was your worst kitchen disaster? Oh no! [We] never had any problems in the kitchen! BEST DELI: CORNUCOPIA (See Best of the Best p. 17) Georg Birns, owner of High Priestess BEST PIERCING SHOP JAM ES BAT EM AN Toni Pimble, Artistic Director Toni Pimble’s A Tickets on Sale NOW! Midsummer Night’s Dream Also featuring Slipstream and Incidents and Accidents Saturday, Oct.23 at 8:00 pm Sunday, Oct. 24 at 2:30 pm Sponsored by Call 682-5000 or Order Online Anytime: www.eugeneballet.org OCTOBER 21, 2004 23
