Eugene weekly., July 21, 2022, Page 11, Image 11

good that just about everyone eats their crust.
About a half a block north of 13th Avenue is Claim
52 . Now, everything is good, butour advice: come for
the kolsch and stay for the unique Thicc gose beers and
food. For the uninitiated on Claim 52’s Thicc series, it’s
a gose-style wheat beer with a puree of some sort, but
it’s best summed up as a smoothie mixed with a beer.
The Thicc mixes various fl avors, creating beers that
taste like s’mores, rocket pops or rainbow sherbert. Of
course drinking all that kolsch and Thicc beer means you
need some food in your stomach. The menu ranges from
a pretzel that’ll make an old mall rat miss their younger
days to bahn mi sandwiches and tacos.
On your way to Eugene, maybe you heard that psilo-
cybin (you know, magic mushrooms) will soon be legal.
These magic mushrooms will only be legal in therapeutic
settings, but you can at least get a digital Mario mush-
room at Level Up Arcade . Level Up has a full bar and
a ton of beer on tap and a ton of video games. But this
place diff ers than the Whiteaker’s Blairally or Big City
Gamin’. Level Up has some pinball options but more
modern arcade games, such as Star Wars, Guitar Hero,
MarioKart multiplayer — and more.
If you’re looking for an easygoing place to nerd out on
beer, head to 16 Tons Beer and Wine . The shop main-
tains a diverse tap selection, off ering beers from sours
to IPAs to stouts, as well as ciders. And its taplist likely
has drinks coming from breweries in the region that
you’ve never heard of, so it’s the perfect place to post
new discoveries to your friends on social media apps,
like the beer-centric UnTappd.
Hot Mama’s Wings, 420 W. 13th Avenue; HotMamasWings.com. Cafe
Soriah, 387 W. 13th Avenue; Soriah.com. Claim 52 Brewing,1203
Willamette Street; Claim52Brewing.com. Level Up Arcade, 1290 Oak
Street; LevelUpArcade.com. 16 Tons, 265 E. 13th Avenue.
YARDY
ColdFire Brewing Company,
food carts and history
After an afternoon run along Eugene’s riverfront trail, a
scenic pathway that includes the Willamette River and the
Owen Rose Garden , you’ve got to replenish your body’s
carbs. So head over to ColdFire Brewing Company for
locally made beer and food. ColdFire’s tap line has some
favorite types of beer — IPAs, kolschs and pale ales — as
well as more niche off erings — sours and goses.
But the food cart scene at ColdFire is home to some of
Eugene’s hottest kitchens. ColdFire’s food scene includes
fried chicken and West Indian food from Yardy Eugene
(voted as EW’s Best New Restaurant in 2021), mouth-
watering barbecue meats and sandwiches from Paper
Plate BBQ and locally sourced Japanese cuisine from
Yabai Nikkei . All of the food carts’ menus are subject
to change based on availability, but there’s something
for everyone here.
With a full belly of food and beer, take a stroll to the
historic Shelton McMurphey Johnson House Museum ,
a Victorian era house built near Skinner Butte. Through
October, the museum has an exhibit called Track Before
TrackTown, featuring memorabilia from local track coach
John Gillepsie, Olympian Annette Peters and photos
from the sport before 1975. After perusing the museum,
go on a short hike up Skinner Butte for a landscape view
of Eugene’s metro area.
And to get a sobering look at Eugene’s history —
before it was TrackTown — visit The Mims House . It’s
the Eugene Springfi eld NAACP headquarters, but during
segregation, the Mims family. who owned the building,
off ered it as a hotel for Black people traveling through
town, when no other hotel in Eugene would. If you want
more insight into Eugene’s history, download the Strides
for Social Justice app, developed by PeaceHealth and
Eugene Marathon, to guide your walking tour of this
area of Eugene.
ColdFire Brewing Company, 263 Mill Street; ColdFireBrewing.com for
food cart hours. Shelton McMurphey Johnson House Museum, 303
Willamette Street; SMJHouse.org. The Mims House, 330 High Street.
OPEN
EVERYDAY
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
Photo by Todd Cooper
J U LY
2 1 ,
2 0 2 2
11