BIG KAHUNA BOWL RAINBOW BOWL WITH ALMOND BUTTER EUGENE IS READY FOR FRUITY HAWAIIAN Big Kahuna Bowl offers açai treats BOWLS BY VANESSA SALVIA çai bowls — those fruity concoctions like years,” Choe Miyashiro says. “It’s only just getting popular The açai berry comes from Brazil, where açai bowls are smoothies you eat with a spoon — may in Oregon now, though.” typically nothing more than the berry puree and banana. be a trend but they certainly aren’t a fad, Choe Miyashiro has lived in Oregon since 2002, moving “It was in Hawaii that people started adding all the tropical say the three owners of Big Kahuna Bowl. first to Portland and then Eugene, where he's been for the fruit to it,” Choe Miyashiro says. Christopher Tennis, Elliot Gruver and past eight years. “W e feel like Eugene is ready for it,” he At Big Kahuna Bowls, diners choose from a base of HowardA Choe Miyashiro who were all born on Oahu. says. “But it was a leap of faith. We all put everything we thick puree of purple açai or bubblegum pink dragonfruit, “We’ve all been getting açai bowls there for the last 10 had into the opening.” called pitaya. The bowls are topped with a rainbow of fruit including banana, strawberries, blueberries, mango, pineapple, kiwi and dried goji berries. Add delicious goodies such as granola, coconut flakes, honey, bee pollen and flax, chia or hemp seeds, and you have a delicious and filling meal or treat. “We all eat açai bowls religiously,” Gruver says. “It’s an alternative to ice cream or it’s a healthy breakfast. You can eat it for any meal really, and feel satisfied.” All bowls are customizable with options for dietary restrictions such as gluten-free granola, almond butter and agave syrup in place of honey. Organic options are important to the owners — dry goods come from Hummingbird Wholesale and ingredients are Northwest- sourced whenever possible. Big Kahuna Bowls opened March 2, and though they haven’t done much to get the word out, customers have found them nonetheless. “The first weekend was really rough!” Choe Miyashiro says. “We’ve worked out the kinks since then.” While Tennis remains in Hawaii and Gruver is in Eugene for now, Gruver will likely return to Hawaii and open a Big Kahuna Bowls there as well. Choe Miyashiro plans to add cold-pressed juices in a grab-and-go case in the store, THE CREW AT and he hints at the possibility that there might be another BIG KAHUNA Eugene location of Big Kahuna Bowls in the future. PHOTOS BY TODD COOPER BOWLS Big Kahuna Bowls is open 10 am - 7 pm Tuesday to Sunday at 1351 Willamette Street. Find them on Facebook at facebook.com/B.K.Bowls. 2 CHOW SUMMER 2017 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM/CHOW EUGENEWEEKLY.COM/CHOW CHOW SUMMER 2017 3 PICNIC PROVIDERS For when you want to ditch the dining room BY VANESSA SALVIA MARCHÉ PROVISIONS Located in the ground floor of the 5th Street Public MARCHÉ PROVISIONS PREPARED PICNIC MEAL Market, Marché Provisions has no shortage of specialty foods to select, from wine to cheese to jams, and they’re making picnics easier than ever by offering wooden crates holding a pre-selected picnic meal for four people for $50. “We’ll put together cheese, olives, crackers, sliced meats, fresh fruits and chocolates,” says Sam Rollins, specialty foods buyer at Marché. “Along with a half a bottle of wine to get the party started.” Rollins says Provisions will have a couple prepared crates on hand, or customers can call ahead and order one. The keepsake crates also hold reusable silverware, napkins and bamboo plates. For customers who want to put their own basket together, Provisions can still do some of the work. Simply tell the staff that you’re planning a picnic, and they’ll cut wedges of cheese into bite-sized chunks and arrange in individual boxes. Stop by about 3:30 pm daily for fresh- from-the-oven breads. “We can put together a picnic as simple or as elaborate as the customer would like,” Rollins says. “It just takes us about 15 minutes to put it together and we love doing it.” LONG’S MEAT MARKET “Let’s start with condiments!” says Loretta Frye, who owns Long’s Meat Market with her husband, Robert Frye. Frye is excited to run down the many different flavors customers can choose from to add some zip to their meat and cheese tray, from gourmet chipotle mayonnaise to horseradish or honey mustard. “Oh, and the olives!” she says. “Many different varieties of olives and sweet peppers, all in jars.” Robert Frye had been a butcher at Long’s for 31 years before he and Loretta purchased it last fall. The Fryes created something for themselves they call the Picnic Pack, and now customers can get it too — slices of hard salami, mortadella, soppressata and finocchiona (a salami flavored with fennel) along with pepper jack and smoked Gouda cheese. Add large dill pickles, bread or crackers and packets of nuts, and you’re all set. Located in the Southtowne shopping center at 28th and Oak Street, Long’s also has beer and cider, and that perfect picnic pairing — Bandit wine in a box with a screw-on top. “We’ve got pretty much anything you would want for a picnic,” she says. THE KIVA The Kiva excels at bulk ingredients and sports a fantastic deli case. Get just the amount you want of dried fruits and nuts and trail mixes in bulk. Place an order for a sandwich, but if you’re in a hurry, call ahead. Build your own six pack of beer or choose from a wide selection of kombucha. A fixture at West 11th Avenue and Olive Street, the Kiva is small but carries produce as well as housewares, which PHOTO BY TODD COOPER means you can get a cucumber, a cloth napkin and a hand- hat makes the perfect picnic? Aside from Eugene to any of the falls or lakes accessible from poured beeswax candle all in the same stop. from a memorable locale, isn’t it all Highway 58. Make a pit stop at the Cedar Creek Cafe and about the food? But just any food BBQ, located right off the highway as you enter Oakridge. FARMERS MARKETS does not a perfect picnic make. Picnic The café smokes its own brisket, ribs, pork, tri-tip Eugene and Springfield farmers markets aren’t just for food should be easy to transport and and turkey. It make its own breads, and gets some loaves vegetables. The Lane County Farmers Market runs 9 am easyW to eat, using fingers or minimal silverware. Nothing from Marché Provisions in Eugene (read on for more to 3 pm Saturdays, April 1 through Nov. 11, and Tuesdays fussy is allowed, but elegant is excellent. about that spot for picnic fare). Grab containers of any from May 2 to Oct. 31 from 10 am to 3 pm at 8th Avenue Where do you go to get these perfect foods? Here’s a of the barbecue sides — potato salad, baked beans, pasta and Oak Street. The Springfield Farmers Market, held at run-down. salad, cole slaw — and any meat by the pound. Fill up 5th & A Street, is open 3 to 7 pm every Friday through your growler and don’t turn down the Marion berry pie. September. At both places, buy your berries, bread, cheese CEDAR CREEK CAFE AND BBQ There’s also a coffee hut, and during the summer it's open and honey directly from local farmers and producers. ■ Oakridge is a natural stopping point if you’re heading 7 am to 9 at night. 2 CHOW SUMMER 2017 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM/CHOW EUGENEWEEKLY.COM/CHOW CHOW SUMMER 2017 3 CHEF CRYSTAL PLATT 4 CHOW SUMMER 2017 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM/CHOW EUGENEWEEKLY.COM/CHOW CHOW SUMMER 2017 5 FEEDTHE SENSES Solve Eugene’s brunch problem at Lion and Owl BY WILLIAM KENNEDY tep into Lion and Owl Brunch, a new food truck located on 5th and Washington, and immediately smile. Lion and Owl is in a converted sleek, silver 1977 Airstream that owner Kristen Hansen calls a “land shark.” The truck began its Slife in Portland, as Lebaneser Scrooge, a food truck open daily from 4:20 to 4:20 (Why? — Because Portland!) “Maybe it was the 4:20 thing,” Hansen says, but Lebaneser Scrooge didn’t work out and the Airstream fell into disuse. Eventually Hansen and her wife, business partner and head chef Crystal Platt, rescued the beached FENNEL LEEK BREAD PUDDING shark, bringing it to Eugene. Hansen says she and Platt met at Marché, where they One guest is visiting from Napa. Someone else brings Next off the menu, go with the open-faced omelet with spent 10 years. Hansen’s passion is for wine and champagne up bitter Northwest coffee and IPAs. “Why are we so asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, violet leaves and lardo — a — what would a brunch place be without mimosas? And bitter?” is asked. The response? “It’s the weather!” cured fatback. The net effect for the taste buds, as well as Platt’s passion is for food. Begin with the miso banana bread with farmer’s cheese sight and smell, is something like spending a warm spring The couple honeymooned in Europe, exploring a whole and rhubarb angelica jam. Light and airy, the bread floats morning in an Oregon garden — pleasantly face-first in new world of breakfast and brunch options. “We’re so on tart sweetness, remaining tethered to the ground by the flowers and greenery.