An Oregon Roadside Guide to Eco-Healthy Eating

For a printable version of this roadside guide to take with you, click here [PDF].

Bend

The Newport Avenue Market was a pioneer in offering local Oregon Country Beef. DeVore’s Good Food and the local Wild Oats market have organics to go.

Corvallis

Nearly Normal’s, Intaba’s Kitchen and the First Alternative Co-op are places to go for eco-healthy food, as is Calabaloo’s on the OSU Campus where you can find organic Oregon beef and local fruits and vegetables.

Eastern Oregon

Organic products are offered in Pendleton (Local Harvest Natural Foods), La Grande (Nature’s Pantry), and at the Greater Baker Food Co-op in Baker City. For information on farmer's markets in the area, check out the Northeast Oregon Regional Farmer's Markets website.

Eugene

On the U of O campus, the Holy Cow Café is the only organic restaurant in a college student union food court. (They’re also fully vegetarian and mostly vegan.) Other cafés that offer organic items include Café Soriah, Café Zenon and the Keystone Café. The Marché Restaurant offers fine dining with a menu that features locally grown and gathered food. The Pizza Research Institute has organic pizza. Early risers might want to check out the Morning Glory Café and Bakery. Sundance Natural Foods has been a local landmark since 1971; Cornucopia, Kiva, Friendly Foods and the Red Barn also offer ample grazing opportunities.

Hood River

Maui Meyer’s 6th Street Bistro is a member of the Chef’s Collaborative. Just across the Columbia River in Bingen, Washington, Kathy Watson recently opened Viento, which serves locally grown lamb, fruits and vegetables, and natural beef and chicken.

Oregon Coast

On Yaquina Bay in Newport, check out Local Ocean, a restaurant/fish market that offers locally caught albacore and other fresh seafood. The Blackfish Café in Lincoln City is another great spot. You can find organic food stores all along the coast, from the Brookings Natural Food Co-op, to Gold Beach (Savory Natural Foods), to Bandon (Mother’s), to Coos Bay (Coos Head Food Store), to Florence (Salmonberry Natural Foods), to Newport (Oceana Natural Foods), to Lincoln City (Trillium Natural Foods), to Manzanita (Mother Nature’s), and the Astoria Co-op.

Portland

The upscale Higgins Restaurant downtown has been a leader of the Chef’s Collaborative, a national organization promoting sustainable cuisine. Papa Haydn West, Paley’s Place, Caprial’s (of public broadcasting fame), Blue Hour, Gino’s, the Veritable Quandary, and the Rivers restaurant at the Avalon Hotel are all members of the Chef’s Collaborative and pride themselves on using fresh, local ingredients, as do Wildwood, Park Kitchen, Navarre, Lotus Blossom and the Vita Café. For a quicker, more casual meal, grab a slice at Hot Lips Pizza, which uses local ingredients, or visit the Food for Thought Café on the PSU campus. You can always just graze at Whole Foods downtown, or one of six New Seasons or seven Wild Oats markets around the city, or at local coops like Food Front in Northwest Portland, the People’s Coop in Southeast, or the Alberta Coop in Northeast. The Bijou Restaurant downtown is a local breakfast favorite.

Rogue Valley

Amuse Restaurant is a member of the Chef’s Collaborative, and Pangea and the Greenleaf Restaurant offer organic menu items. You can stop in at the Ashland Food Coop to gather your own goodies or at Harry and David’s in nearby Medford for fresh, locally grown fruit. Further on up I-5, you can find organic food at Rogue River Natural Foods in Rogue River and Sunshine Natural Foods in Grants Pass.

Yamhill County Wine Country

The Dundee Bistro is a member of the Chef’s Collaborative.

Almost Anywhere

If you’re in a hurry, you won’t find a better fast food option than one of 39 Burgerville locations in the Northwest, which offer fresh, local ingredients (see also pg. 4). (Oregon locations are limited to communities within an hour or so of Portland.) If you have the time to sit down for a casual meal, one of 50 McMenamin’s pubs (also offering local products) can be found as far east as Bend and as far south as Roseburg.

This article appeared in the January 2006 issue of One Oregon One Environment, OEC's quarterly newsletter.