SPINACH SALAD
GLUTEN-FREE CHICKEN AND WAFFLES
MICHELLE REID, LEFT,
AND CARMEN NASHOLM
PHOTOS BY TODD COOPER
All That
Jazz
“I
t’s good but not as good as Michelle’s,”
is something Carmen Nasholm heard
often as her seven kids were growing up.
Michelle Reid, Michelle’s husband Dave
and their two children became friends
with the Nasholms through church in 1993.
“We always talked about how great it would be if I could
have a place that sold jazz CDs and books and Michelle
could have a lunch counter,” Nasholm says. In September
2015, once all but two of Nasholm’s kids had flown the nest,
that dream became a reality with four tables plus a handful
of stools in downtown Eugene. And, of course, a soundtrack
of Nasholm’s preferred Dixieland jazz (most of the time).
Michelle Reid says she’s been told all her life that she
should open a restaurant.
Her husband, Dave Reid, concurs. “I told her she should,”
he says. “I love reading our Yelp reviews where someone
says they just had the best biscuits and gravy in their life, and
I’m like, ‘Yep, I’ve known that for 20 years!’”
EUGENEWEEKLY.COM/CHOW
Two women live their restaurant dreams at
Jazzy Ladies Café and Coffeehouse By Vanessa Salvia
In the middle of a busy weekday lunch, customer Lou
Lynner came in craving a turkey and cranberry sandwich.
Lynner hadn’t been in for a few weeks, and after giving both
ladies a hug and catching up, Michelle Reid tells him she can’t
make the sandwich because she can’t get fresh cranberries.
Next year, she tells him, she’ll plan ahead and freeze more.
Lynner chooses smoked chicken tacos instead, and
says he’s been coming in since Jazzy Ladies Café and
Coffeehouse opened. “The food is very fresh, it’s friendly,
quaint, cozy and has a good feeling to it,” he says. “It’s
very personal.”
Reid admits that she sometimes starts to tear up when
she’s making dough for the from-scratch cinnamon rolls.
“It’s my grandmother’s recipe,” she says. “I remember
her telling me that I would learn to feel when the dough is
ready, and when I feel that, it’s very sweet to me.”
The kitchen smokes its own meats, including 50 pounds
of bacon every two weeks and pastrami on alternating
weeks. The menu revolves around what’s available from
the local farmers market right outside the door and the
smoker, which could be chicken, ham, brisket or pork.
Their proteins come from Long’s Meat Market, dairy
is from Lochmead, eggs are free-range and staples come
from Hummingbird Wholesale. Reid grinds wheat berries
on-site for fresh wheat bread from wheat grown by Camas
Country Mills in Junction City.
They also have gluten-free options for many of their
menu items — and many are naturally gluten-free. Reid,
who is gluten-sensitive herself, says her goal is that her
customers can’t tell the difference.
Other than years of good, from-scratch home cooking,
neither woman has a restaurant background. “We can break
the rules,” Nasholm says. “We don’t have any expectations
to follow of what a restaurant is supposed to do, so we just
do what’s good.”
Jazzy Ladies Café and Coffeehouse is at 45 E. 8th Avenue (Membrillo’s old
location), open 8 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday and 9 am to 3 pm
Saturday. See jazzyladiescafe.com for more information.
CHOW FALL 2016
3