Travel Lane County | EugeneCascadesCoast.org | 541.484.5307 31 FOOD & DRINK CHEF CRYSTAL PLATT, LION & OWL The menu at Lion & Owl changes as often as vegetables are pulled out of the ground. Chef Crystal Platt, a 2023 James Beard Award Best Chef semifinalist, co-owns this charming farm-to-table restaurant with her wife, Kirsten Hansen. While Hansen handles the wine and cocktail program, Platt offers a dynamic menu that transforms familiar, fresh ingredients into unexpected combinations. Imagine heirloom tomatoes, for example, reconceived as a jeweled salad with harissa-scented couscous and a hummus-like peanut cream. The pair recently opened cocktail bar Lemon & Olive right next door with the same local flair. “It’s all made to showcase what we get from our little valley here,” says Platt. When they’re off duty, Platt and Hansen appreciate cocktails and food from Sabai. “It feels upscale without being expensive, and it’s delicious,” Platt says. “We always start with something fresh like the garden rolls or the green papaya salad.” They love the Thai steak frites, served with yam fries and spicy aioli, and the salmon Panang curry. “It’s a beautiful, traditional curry but with local salmon. And that’s always a treat.” CHEF TIFFANY NORTON, PARTY BAR/PARTY MARKET & WINE Party Bar’s chef and owner, Tiffany Norton, handles the kitchen while her husband, front-of-house manager Mark Kosmicki, is known for his wine curating. Norton’s menu is full of imaginative twists, from gourmet burgers to smallplate delights like Thai-inspired fried eggs or fresh oysters. Party’s intimate relationship with area farms and foragers goes back decades. Norton turns local produce into clean, vibrant ingredient-focused dishes. “If something is simple, it’s got to be perfect,” she says. The couple also owns the attached Party Market & Wine, where you can choose from more than 600 bottles of wine with a focus on organic and biodynamic styles, and stock your picnic basket with artisan charcuterie, tinned fish and cheese. Norton’s not-to-miss spot is Stretched, a food truck at ColdFire Brewing. Stretched chef and owner Jason Jaime makes fresh hand-stretched noodles called biang biang noodles, a popular Chinese street-food dish. These are thick, chewy and bathed in spicy, umami-rich sauces. Flavors vary, but try chili oil with bean sprouts and bok choy, or citrus-roasted pork with ponzu oil. Norton says, “He’s doing something no one else in Eugene is doing, and I love the bold flavors.” Lion & Owl Party Bar FROM LEFT: GWYNETH MANSER; MELANIE GRIFFIN
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