BY EUGENE WEEKLY READERS
VOTED NUMBER ONE
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THOMAS PETTUS-CZAR
AND DUSTIN KINSEY
2007
Best Bar Food
Best Happy Hour
541-683-3154
99 West
W EST B Broadway
ROADWAY
99
541-683-3154
Scan for menu
RUSTIC DOWNTOWN
Become a regular at The Barn Light
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homas Pettus-Czar and Dustin Kinsey have spent much of their time as friends
traveling the world together. Now they are introducing a cozy café/bar to
downtown Eugene where the community can relax and network — or summon
the muse.
The Barn Light will catch light in early September from 7 am to midnight
Sunday through Wednesday and until 2 am Thursday to Saturday on the ground
floor of the Broadway Commerce Center at Willamette and Broadway.
“One of the great things about Eugene and why we wanted to open up shop is just the
community that’s here — the small, independent businesses are really great in this town
and work well together,” Kinsey says.
The café/bar will serve coffee, pastries and scones in the morning, picnic-style lunches
and dinners with cocktails, beer and wine throughout the night.
Their good friend from home (Lawrence, Kan.), Tina Stamos, is helping to design the
menu as well as provide foods that are simple and pleasing much like the space itself.
“Some of the items I am most excited about are the meatloaf sandwich and the coffee
bacon BLT,” Kinsey says.
The Barn Light will serve Water Avenue Coffee from Portland. “They’re a small,
independent business like us, and their product is out of this world,” Pettus-Czar says, “not
to mention the founder of Water Avenue is from Eugene and liked the idea of having a
presence downtown.”
“The Barn Light just came to me,” Pettus-Czar recalls. Having lived in Oregon for
several years, Pettus-Czar was always fascinated by the rustic barns he would encounter
driving through Oregon country. Having dreamt up the name long before the seeing the
space, the pair discovered what seemed to be barn lights hanging on the exterior of the
Commerce Center — it was truly meant to be.
Through their travels between Europe and South America, Pettus-Czar and Kinsey
were practically defining their eventual business plan and philosophy. Having worked
together at a café called The Bourgeois Pig in Lawrence, they wanted to found a place of
their own; that reflected their pasts as well as their travels abroad.
According to Pettus-Czar, there is something special about the European ambiance that
communities need. European cafés and bistros always provide an open invitation; one can
come and go as they please. Most people can come by themselves and find other
individuals to share and collaborate with. He thinks that if one is successful in creating a
place where like-minded individuals can come together, it enriches the community with a
subsequent opportunity for creative growth.
The Commerce Center seemed to fit the industrialist, bringing-back-the-old feel that
the two desired. A maze of pipes hangs overhead where the white barn lights will hang,
and behind the bar the building’s bricks are exposed, adding a subtle rustic touch. The two
have also brought in century-old pieces of a McMinnville barn to use as wall paneling
around the space.
Whether you are looking to indulge on a craft cocktail or just need an ice-cold PBR,
The Barn Light is a place with a wide spectrum of spirits. Along with many other cocktails,
The Barn Light will introduce its own variation of a Kansas tradition called “Horse
Feather”; a delicious concoction of rye whiskey and ginger beer.
The Barn Light is running a Kickstarter Campaign for the next couple weeks until its
official opening in September. Their goal is $15,000 and pledges will receive special gifts
ranging from T-shirts to free coffee for life.
“Regardless if we reach our goal, Kickstarter has been a success in getting the word out
while interacting with the community,” Pettus-Czar says. ■
chow.eugeneweekly.com
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