Bruno Bollag's Heart and Soul — Chef's Kitchen (PDF)

Al Meetways the Chef a Gourmet Bruno Bollag’s heart and soul — Chef’s Kitchen

by Lance SparkS P h o t os b y h O R a c e L ong

hef’s Kitchen challenges the adage that location is everything. Tucked into a nook between Hil- yard Street and West Amazon Drive, hidden behind a wall and nestled under leafy greenery next door to Jiffy Mart and a laundromat, the place is beyond cozy: It has just 30 seats, 20 more when the covered patio is open in warmer weather. CThis is the studio where Chef Tom “Bruno” Bollag plies his culinary art. It is a family venture. Bessie, Bruno’s wife of nearly 25 years, manages the front. Four of their children—Charlie, Joe, Sam and Max—work in the kitchen or on the floor. The space is tight; service flows with the economy of dance. It’s pretty, recently remodeled and repainted. The walls are now a shade of chartreuse, the curtains a deep burgundy, tables plain blond wood. What started in 1994 as a fine-food drive-through and self-service restaurant has evolved into a semi-secret nook for area seekers of haute cuisine. The food that comes to the table in Chef’s Kitchen ranks with the best the Eugene area has to offer, at bargain prices for those who know fine dining beyond the Emerald Empire. There’s passion in the food, and the passion emerges from the kitchen. Bruno Bollag was bred to fine food. Born in Santa Monica in 1951, he grew up in two worlds—in sunny Southern California, where his father operated a French restaurant, L’Auberge; and in Zurich, Switzerland. In that European nation, where Bollag has dual citizenship, he began his chef’s training at age 16 under “old school,” Escoffier-trained chefs in the great Hotel Baur au Lac restaurant. There Bollag learned to be “a safe person in the kitchen, safe for the public.” But Bollag credits his heritage, especially his grandmother—“I used to sit as a boy and watch her cook”—with convey- ing the gift that’s “on the tongue.” Years later, while attending the University of Denver (Bollag graduated in 1973 with degrees in business administration and hotel management), he worked at restaurants with other Swiss chefs, refining his skills and tuning his intuitive palate. He gained experience in San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel, two Oregon Coast hotels and Bend’s Inn at the Seventh Mountain before he quit the world of corporate hospitality.

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In 1979, Bollag landed at Eugene’s La Primav- something really special that happens era. With him, he brought his French-chef father’s on that plate,” he says. concept of fresh food: “[My father said] the food was The menu changes frequently, yet being grown right outside the door, the wine was from some favorites carry over. “Every menu I that city, the cows were producing milk. ... There was do something that’s never been done, by a magic to the food because it all fit together. It united me or anyone else,” Bollag says. “There’s itself because the plants and animals were drinking the always one item that’s a totally new same water, breathing the same air, living on the same creation.” The wine list is modest—six spot. … When I moved to Eugene, I saw that here.” whites, a dozen reds—priced fairly. From 1980 to 1984, Bruno’s Bistro (which occupied At last, Chef Bruno Bollag is where he a space now held by Chanterelle) laid the groundwork was meant to be. “Even if I were the bloody for Chef’s Kitchen. Now, finally, Bollag can fully ex- richest man in the world, I’d still want to press his father’s lessons and his own vision for fine be here cooking,” he says. Surely, his grand- food. “When I put a piece of meat or cheese or fish mother would be pleased, but it’s his regu- in front of somebody, with my sauce on it, what I get lar diners who leave enriched. when I look into their faces, that’s the best feeling in the world,” Bollag says. Lance Sparks is a freelance food-and-wine Signature dishes? Bollag suggests opening with ahi writer living in Eugene. sashimi kahuna ($10.95) or razor clams ($8.95). The essential entree, he says, is plum-curried halibut ($23.95), a fillet broiled with cassis yellow curry and WHEN YOU GO shrimp, and served with plum chutney: “There’s 3443 S. Hilyard St. 541/687-2433 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday

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