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- Paradise Camp |
McKenzie River: Eating WellBesides the dogs and fruit flies, Bea has a very interesting family, some of whom will figure in this narrative. Although there's a complicated set of relationships that may interested you, I'll just identify people sort of by generation and relationship to Bea. It's a matriarchal sort of family. Bea is the major matriarch and Patsy, her daughter-in-law (no longer married to the requisite son, but who cares?), is the entrepreneur and matriarch-in-training.Patsy is a GREAT cook and for the last several years has owned the McKenzie Stagestop in Cedar Flat, on Highway 126 just out of Springfield. This is a breakfast, lunch and early supper place, much loved by locals and truck drivers and a delightful surprise to tourists and fishermen who stop on their way up the river. Her catch-phrase is "The best food west of the Sisters," and I haven't found any that beats it. The family mostly calls it "the deli," partly because they have great deli-style sandwiches and partly because it was previously named the McKenzie Deli. It's much more than a short-order place, though, the Saturday night prime rib special is a social focus for quite a ways up and down the highway. It helps that they have a beer and wine license, of course. And the breakfasts are another draw, wonderful omelets and sausage and biscuits. And did I mention that Patsy is a GREAT cook? Patsy has just acquired a "real" restaurant about 15 miles up the road. This one is called the Riverside Inn and is located at Vida, just east of Leaburg Lake, about quarter mile above the Goodpasture Covered Bridge. It has a real dining room, a full-service bar and a full dinner menu with wonderful things like Baby Back Ribs, Filet Mignon, Parmesan Chicken and Pan Fried Oysters as well as hamburgers and lesser fare (those deli sandwiches for a take-out lunch). Patsy and her sister and brother-in-law and oldest son are the principal players and they're all working very hard to make a go of it. Bea does the menus and advertising flyers and most of the bookeeping for both places and eats at one or the other several times a week (for services rendered). She also runs errands and takes pictures and gives advice as I have learned. Once when we were having lunch at the Stagestop, we were pressed into duty ferrying pickles and quarters to the Riverside. This willingness results in various privileges. When we were having dinner at the Riverside one evening, I noticed a guitar sitting next to the bar. "Do you have entertainment sometimes?" I asked Patsy's sister. "Well, just my husband, Dan." "Okay, let us know when he feels like playing and we'll come and listen." But Dan came out from behind the bar and said he was willing right then. So we got a nice, private concert until some other customers came in and he turned back into the bartender. Patsy says that when she re-upped the restaurant license at the Riverside, it was number 11, meaning that it was the 11th restaurant opened in Lane County since they started licensing them. She has been told that the prior ten have all closed, so this is the oldest operating restaurant in the county. She's not willing to market it that way until she's checked it out further, but I think it's quite likely. The place also has four motel rooms above the restaurant that look out over the river (across the highway) which will be available when everything gets settled down. She's thinking about putting in a hot tub on that level. Does that sound marvelous or what? Oh, and a small family aside, Patsy's father, George, has reclaimed the grown-over rose beds and they look great. George, in our younger days, was the one who twice a year "did" my yard when I lived in Eugene, so I could keep up with it the rest of the time. He's still got the touch. My favorite "opening a new restaurant" story is this one. Bea was eating at the Riverside one evening and Patsy came out to sit with her while she ate. "How did that come out?" she asked. And Bea, of course, handed her the fork and said, "Try it." Which she did. The lady at the next table (clearly no relation) announced, not very subtly, "Gee, I hope she already knows how mine is." When we're not eating at one of Patsy's restaurants, of course, we cook at home. Eating and cooking is always fun at Bea's. She's a good cook and we work well together, but there are other advantages, too. Her middle son and his wife are small-lot pork and beef raisers and mighty hunters and fishers, so we always have home-grown and butchered bacon, roasts, etc, and wild salmon and deer and elk if we want it. I love the salmon, sausage and bacon, but am less enthusiastic about the game. This week a grandson came by and brought chanterelles that they had gathered in the forest. A good start on outstanding stir-fries. Another son has a sizeable garden, so we also have fresh cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli and green onions, but that's all he's harvesting now. He's raising organic chickens, though, so I'm hoping for good chicken soon. Actually, the chickens turn out to be a brilliant thing to raise beside an Oregon garden, because THEY LOVE ZUCCHINI!! And as every Oregonian knows, getting rid of your excess zucchini is a big job. When I first moved to Oregon, a shirt-tail cousin of mine said she would give me the most valuable recipe I could have in Oregon. It was for zucchini and went like this. Wash the zucchini and cut it in half lengthwise. Hollow it out leaving a thin layer next to the skin. Stuff it with anything that sounds good and bake at 350 until done. Next, the local pumpkin patch. |
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