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By
George Medovoy, Editor (A handful of truffles, above, represent a new and growing industry in the southern Willamette Valley of Oregon) I can't think of a better introduction to Eugene and Lane County, Oregon than my table at Marche, Stephanie Pearl Kimmel's extraordinary restaurant at the bustling 5th Street Market, where the food and courtyard boutiques reflect the sophistication of this southern Willamette Valley town. I had just arrived after an overnight trip in a cozy Amtrak sleeper, and in the next few days my senses awakened to the area's bounteous tastes and visual treasures: the flourishing young wineries and delightful menus, the quaint bed-and-breakfasts inns, and the bucolic forests and rivers. It was all there in an easy-going pace that made a Californian like me wonder why he's been going so fast all this time. Eugene Still a 'Small Town' Of course, it helps to remember that Eugene -- even as the hub of Oregon's second largest metropolitan area after Portland - is still fairly small, with a population of just around 148,500.
(Still very much a "small town," Eugene is a place where one can enjoy concerts in the park and experience a slice of true "Americana") Kimmel, a west Texas native, named her restaurant Marche partly due to the year she spent at the Sorbonne before returning to the United States to study romance languages at the University of Oregon here. The year in France, she told me, taught her the "importance of food and wine in daily life" - an obvious reference to Marche, where the hearty flavors and casual dining style evoke the tastes of a French bistro. The other half of Marche's name pays homage to the local Lane County Farmers Market and the very best of seasonal Oregon foods.
(Stephanie Pearl Kimmel of Marche has created a sophisticated French-style bistro at Eugene's 5th Street Market) "We continue to find our inspiration," Kimmel said, "in the colorful booths and able hands of the farmers in this bountiful valley." On the wine side, Kimmel features vintages from the West Coast - Oregon, Washington, California - and, reflecting the French foundation of her menu, from France, too.
(The Eugene Farmers Market, a real community event, is filled with fresh produce of virtually every kind, perfect for planning a tasty meal) A Soft Spot for Rhone Valley and Burgundy "I have a soft spot for the Rhone Valley and Burgundy," she said wistfully. "When you consider the whole West Coast, we have almost all of those same French varieties here now, and it's quite exciting." And speaking of exciting, one extraordinary development connected with the tastes of the southern Willamette Valley is the truffle, whose earthy, smoky character can add flavors of orchard fruits, like apples and pineapples, to prepared dishes. Because of its ample rainfall, the valley is ideal for growing truffles. In fact, it is becoming North America's truffle capital and, just perhaps, a serious competitor to the historic truffle empires of France and Italy. Kimmel reminded me that it was no less a food authority and Oregon native than James Beard who compared Oregon truffles very favorably to their European cousins. At Marche, Kimmel serves Oregon truffles in a variety of ways, including shaved white truffles in an asparagus salad with poached egg. Truffle Salad Filled with Spring Flavors Filled with the seductive flavors of spring, this salad goes exceptionally well with a fruity Oregon Pinot Gris, which is one of the wines, along with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, for which the microclimate at the southern end of the Willamette Valley is so well known. The next day, my first full day up here, I planned to visit a nearby truffle farm, so truffles were uppermost on my mind.
(The Oval Door B&B sits on a quiet street in downtown Eugene) After bidding Kimmel good-bye, I headed for the Oval Door, a five-room, farmhouse-style bed-and-breakfast near the 5th Street Market, the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, and the sprawling University of Oregon campus, whose tree-dotted grounds and solid buildings have the look and feel of an eastern campus. Of course, the big story at the home of the "Ducks" is the 2008 Olympic Track and Field trials slated for legendary Hayward Field, the university having bested Sac State for this honor. It's a proud moment for a community long known as "Track Town USA" and whose original Nike Store, at the 5th Street Market, contains the waffle iron used to create the first Nike shoes. Meanwhile, at the Oval Door, I settled into a big poster bed in the Queen Anne Room and dozed off, anticipating my visit to Mike Hoppe's truffle farm. Tasty Breakfast at the Oval Door B&B In the morning, I looked through the living room window and watched a light rain turn everything into a deep green and fill the air with the earthy fragrance of spring.Funny, but for the greater part of my three-day visit to Lane County, the rain and I arrived at a sort of "accommodation" - whenever I needed to be out and about, it would let up, but it would start up again when I returned to my car.
(Oval Door innkeepers Nicole Craig (left) and Melissa McGuire) Melissa McGuire and Nicole Craig, the Oval Door's owners, are California natives who met as culinary students at the University of Hawaii. Their breakfast menu has a different entrée every day, based on what's in season at the farmers' market. "We go down to the market," said Melissa, "and whatever is on the stands, whether asparagus, herbs, or new melons, we try to bring that into the inn." After a tasty asparagus-and-feta omelet prepared by Nicole, it was off to Mike Hoppe's truffle farm in Cottage Grove, a nearby community of 9,000 at the foot of the Cascade Mountains. With natural surroundings ideal for hiking, boating, fishing and cycling, Cottage Grove is known as the "Covered Bridge Capital of Oregon" and has the largest concentration of covered bridges in the state, including one down the street from Stacy's Covered Bridge Restaurant on Main Street, where I stopped for lunch later in the day.
(A group of bikers pauses at a covered bridge on a tour of the southern Willamette Valley countryside)
Of course, one can't do justice to Cottage Grove without mentioning the town's other claim to fame as the setting for parts of some well-known films, including the hilarious Deathmobile scene from "Animal House"; the coming-of-age drama, "Stand by Me"; and "The General," the 1927 silent flick, starring Buster Keaton. A giant mural of Keaton, looking as stone-faced as ever, hovers over Stacy's parking lot, by the way. Arriving at Mike Hoppe's Truffle Farm The rain subsided as I turned off the highway and headed up a dirt road past a barking mongrel running up and down inside a fenced yard. I got out of my car and buttoned my jacket against the afternoon chill. After Mike Hoppe purchased his 12-acre Christmas tree farm, he discovered that its Douglas fir trees were producing prized Oregon white truffles. A Sonoma transplant, he is adding 100 Hazelnut trees, whose roots have been paired with Perigord French truffles under laboratory conditions. "All I do is clear the trees and let nature run its course," said Hoppe, who never imagined he would be growing truffles. And
at $20 an ounce for the Oregon truffles and double or triple that amount for the
French varieties, he is very pleased that he is!
(The trio of enrepreneurs who are helping to put Lane County on the world truffle map, from left, Aaron Kennel -- with his Lab Stella -- Mike Hoppe, and Dr. Charles K. Lefevre) While at the farm, I also met two other pioneers of Oregon's nascent truffle industry - Dr. Charles K. Lefevre, a mycologist who runs a Eugene business selling oak and hazel nut tree seedlings with French and Italian truffles on their roots to farmers all over the U.S., and Aaron Kennel, a truffle farmer who brought along his truffle-sniffing dog Stella, a three-year-old white Lab. How to Harvest Truffles I learned that there are three ways to harvest truffles, which grow around the base of trees at varying depths: by emulating the rural gentlemen in the forests of southern France, using truffle-sniffing pigs; by using a trained dog; or by raking them.
(Stella, Aaron Kennel's 3-year-old Lab, has a nose for truffles) The best method is with an animal because a rake can't distinguish strong scent, which indicates a truffle's readiness. Truffles take about six months to grow and mature in the soil. The Oregon variety grows close to the surface, while the Europeans grow four or five inches down. Oregon whites and blacks are found from the Bay Area to Vancouver, British Columbia, but are most abundant in northwest Oregon. Their life span is 7-10 days, but they can be frozen for up to a year. As I chatted with Lefevre, he told me that the University of California at Davis "could eventually - if the University of Oregon doesn't get it first - become kind of the academic center of truffle farming in North America in the same way that it has become the academic center for grape growing in North America." His reasoning is that just as Northern California "is the best place in North America to grow grapes because its climate resembles that of southern France and northern Italy, that's where the truffles grow also," except, of course, for the valleys where it's too hot. When it comes to taste, truffles, you might say, should be as strong as, well, true love. Said Lefevre: One "should never eat a dish with truffles and say, 'I think I taste something.' You're not getting the experience if you're not absolutely sure of it. A good experience with a truffle is one that you continue to experience for hours after you've had your meal."
(A biker rides in a blaze of fall color in Eugene. With more ways to cross the river by bike than by car and miles of riverside paths, Eugene is a bike-and pedestrian-friendly community.) The best measure of the potential of a truffle, he said, is the color of its interior - the darker it is, the greater the potential. And while a meal is the true test of a truffle's worth, for me another part of the experience was observing Stella, as she hunted for the mushroom-sized delicacies. Hunting for Truffles Kennel trained Stella by having her hunt for a buried canister of truffle pieces - with a reward for success. She obviously learned her task well, because she's very determined. Once Stella picks up the scent and starts scratching around the base of the tree, Kennel takes over and removes the truffles. And, of course, Stella gets a well-deserved treat! Hoppe's truffle farm was definitely one of the highlights of my day, but that wasn't all. I was also looking forward to Kathe and Harry McIntire's Apple Inn, a gingerbread-style bed-and-breakfast in the middle of a 190-acre tree farm in the Cascade foothills. On the way, at the middle fork of the Willamette River, I stopped at the Lowell Covered Bridge, which sits between two dams just off State Highway 58. The bridge, no longer in use, houses an interesting interpretive center with picnic benches nearby. Lane County has more covered bridges than any other county west of the Mississippi - a total of 20 -- 14 of which are open to traffic. Apple Inn B&B Surrounded by Trees Five minutes from Cottage Grove and a few minutes off Interstate 5, I arrived at the Apple Inn. But surrounded by Cedar, Douglas fir, and Big Leaf Maple trees, the inn felt miles from civilization.
(The Apple Inn B&B is located on a 190-acre tree farm outside of Cottage Grove) Kathe McIntire is a retired home economics teacher and great cook. For breakfast, she regaled me with a crepe-style Puff Pancake Round, plus cinnamon muffins and blueberry scones. Husband Harry, a semi-retired forester, gives advice on biking or hiking, including a 35-minute hike to the top of the trail for a panoramic view of King Estate Winery, one of many wineries in the valley.
(Apple Inn innkeepers Kathe and Harry McIntire share their home with you) By day's end, ready for sleep at the Apple Inn, I was ready to toast the natural pleasures and creative spirit that make Lane County a treasured find. On my final day in Lane County, I got to know some of its wineries, which draw on the area's lush soil and temperate climate to put their wines on the world map. The wineries I visited are found along the Territorial Highway corridor, which threads its way through the gentle valleys of the southern Willamette Valley. "Pink Martini" and a Passing Lumber Truck Setting off in the morning from Eugene, I drove along a tree-lined ridge on a two-lane highway, listening to a recording of Portland's "Pink Martini" band do samba as a passing lumber truck splashed rain on my car. By the time I reached Sweet Cheeks Winery, the sky had cleared, and I stood at the edge of a 65-acre vineyard that carpets a sloping hillside. The winery grows Oregon's four varietals - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Riesling. Its modern tasting room, built from a 50-year-old Junction City building that was scheduled for demolition and moved here, has a sleek tasting bar made of Oregon ash.
(Sweet Cheeks winemaker, Aussie Mark Nicholl)
Sweet Cheeks' crisp Pinot Gris has given the winery some notoriety. Winemaker Mark Nicholl, a young Aussie, noted that it has ripe fruit flavors with "a really good minerality to it."
(A lovely view of the vineyards at Iris Hill Winery)
Iris Hill Winery has 44 acres of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay surrounded by meadows of wild Douglas Iris. Its wines have impressive fruit flavors up front, like hints of tropical fruit, banana, peach and apricot in the 2005 Pinot Gris. Lunch at King Estate Winery At lunch I sat down in the modern dining room at King Estate Winery, a spectacular 1,000-acre mountain estate, which produces Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and limited amounts of Chardonnay.
(The King Estate Winery sits above the spreading vineyards) Lunch was Grilled Salmon with Nicoise vegetables and garlic aioli. The suggested wine pairing was a 2005 Domaine Pinot Gris, with hints of lemon, pineapple and spice. Secret House Vineyards & Bird Watching After lunch, I stopped at Secret House Vineyards near Fern Ridge Lake, a serene setting for bird watching. The 54-acre estate also hosts a summer wine and blues festival, but on my visit, the sounds came from chirping birds feasting on seeds that had been set out for them in the garden. The winery features Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Gris. The Secret House Willamette Valley 2003 Pinot Noir has intense flavors of berry, black cherry and currants with tasty oak in the background. Territorial Vineyards and Wine Company My
final destination, the Territorial Vineyards and Wine Company tasting room, is
located in downtown Eugene. The winery grows organic Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot
Gris, and Muscat. IF
YOU GO… Marche is at the Fifth Street Public Market, 296 East 5th Avenue. Call 1-541-342-3612 or visit www.marcherestaurant.com. The sister Marche Café serves breakfast and lunch at the 5th Street Market and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the U of O. Marche Provisions, also at the 5th Street Market, is a deli, artisan bakery, wine shop and pizza bar. The Oval Door is at 988 Lawrence Street at Tenth. Call 1-800-882-3160, or visit www.ovaldoor.com. Rates: $75 -- $195 (double occupancy).
(A fisherman tries his luck on the McKenzie River, which supports spring Chinook salmon, winter steelhead, and summer steelhead as well as native rainbow, cutthroat and bull trout) The Apple Inn is at 30697 Kenady Lane in Cottage Grove. Call 1-800-942-2393, or visit www.appleinnbb.com. Rates: $100 and $120 for up to two. For guided truffle hunts at Mike Hoppe's farm, call 1-541-953-8506 or visit www.ShireWoodFarm.com. For information about Amtrak, call 1-800-872-7245 or visit www.amtrak.com.
RECIPE FOR ASPARAGUS SALAD WITH POACHED EGG (Courtesy of Stephanie Pearl Kimmel and Marche) This lovely combination of spring flavors would make a luxurious first course, accompanied by a fruity Oregon pinot gris. 1
pound asparagus Trim the asparagus stems into uniform lengths, discarding the fibrous ends. If the asparagus is larger around than a pencil, peel the shaft with a vegetable peeler. In a wide deep sauté pan bring water to a boil. Add salt and asparagus and simmer until just tender (about six to eight minutes), remove with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool on a tea towel. Poach four eggs using your favorite poaching method. To assemble, place the asparagus in a large bowl with the spears facing in the same direction, dress liberally with the vinaigrette and turn to coat well. Divide the asparagus between four large plates, arranging the asparagus in the center. Place a warm poached egg on top of the asparagus. Drizzle a little vinaigrette over egg and sprinkle with chives. Season with fleur de sel and fresh ground pepper if desired. Shave a few slices of truffle over the egg with a truffle slicer or a vegetable peeler-the warmth of the egg will release the wonderful aroma of the truffle. Serve immediately. For a more pronounced truffle aroma, add a few drops of truffle oil to the presentation. Vinaigrette
(makes 1 cup)¼
cup red wine vinegar Combine red wine vinegar and salt in a mixing bowl and stir to dissolve. Add shallot, then whisk in the oil to emulsify. Season to taste.
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