Best Mushroom Burger: Review Tufted Puffin Lounge

Tufted Puffin Lounge

At Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

Bandondunesgolf.com

We’ve heard about Bandon Dunes for its golfing but we are not golfers so had never been. On our way out of town we decided to drive through and take a look. An entire community centered around golf right on the ocean, a kind of paradise I assume to the golf enthusiast. Felt like we’d entered the Disneyland for golfers! So many winding roads lead to lodges, clubhouses, pubs and cottages. Inside the main lodge is the Tufted Puffin Lounge. Starving we opted to eat there. A completely unexpected great lunch is what we got. Fully satisfying and the prices were the best we’d seen all weekend. Rick and I both ordered the Forest Mushroom Burger, being the mushroom lovers we are this all mushroom burger was a definite try. Topped with Swiss cheese, Dijon mayo, lettuce, tomato and red onion all for $8, and that’s not all, it comes with your choice of French fries, fresh fruit or green salad for a whopping $8! Unbelievable. And I can’t end without mentioning the wonderful service, personal, professional but not uppity, again the best we’d experienced all weekend. I’d say the highlight of our weekend from a good find perspective is hidden inside this golfer’s paradise of the Bandon Dunes we will be back.

Kathy Dancer/Northwest Reviews

Small Town: Big Screen: Size Matters

Hey, I’ll make this short and sweet. If you don’t have tickets to the game tonight and you want the next best thing, Creswell Coffee is the place to be. I got this message from Seth the other day. He and his wife own the place. It may be a small town but they’ve got the biggest screen I’ve ever seen. When it comes to football size matters.

Enjoy.

Saturday, the Ducks take on the leader of the Southern Division, Arizona State.  With ASU running a spread offense like the Ducks, and one of the best D’s in the nation, it’s sure to be an exciting game.  Come watch it on our 84″ big-screen and grab yourself a Brat & Microbrew.  Kick-off is at 7:15pm.

Friday Night: Creswell Coffee is the Place to Be.

Not sure what you guys have planned Friday Night but the Creswell Coffee shop has some great entertainment this week. Kathy and I have been before and it’s a great way to spend an evening. The setting is intimate sort of like the musicians are playing in your living room. It’s only 10 minutes south of Eugene and I’m telling you it’s worth the short drive.  They serve beer and wine (Pelican Pub Beer Yum).

Here’s some information Seth sent me today. You will have a wonderful time.

We’ve got a powerhouse weekend for you, and I can hardly contain myself.  We work hard here to continually raise the bar with talented musician.  Fortunately for us, most musicians enjoy the venue.  The acoustics are great, the audience listens, the food is tasty, and the hospitality is generous.  That combination has kept the best of the local talent coming back again & again.  This weekend, we are adding to that list with the (dare I say famous) Paul Biondi.  Paul J. Biondi – saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist and vocalist – has backed up such artists as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbara Streisand, Ray Charles, and Lena Horne.   Touring with Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Ike and Tina Turner and Smokey Robinson. He has written and played on movie scores and television theme songs, and performed with many famous individual artists, including Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers, The Temptations, the Four Tops, The Drifters, and The Platters.  Needless to say, Paul has a resume worth looking at.  He’ll be accompanied by Skip Jones on Keyboards and Rick Cobian on percussion.

As usual, the music starts at 7pm.  There will be a $5 Cover, and we’ll be serving Meat Loaf with Mashed potatoes & fresh-cut green beans.

Now that is Sour Dough

My wife makes the best pizza. She used to hand make the dough but has found dough at Trader Joe’s and other spots is just as good.

While heading home from Bandon on Sunday we drove through Winchester Bay and saw a big sign for the Sour Dough Bakery.

We had planned to have pizza for dinner that night so we made a “U Turn” and walked into the Sour Dough Bakery.

The place is filled with bread. They make a pizza to go but that’s not what we wanted. All we needed was the dough.

The woman said she had just made up a batch and would sell us some for $6 bucks. Well, $6 dollars is a bit steep for dough but we were in the mood and forked out the dough for the dough.

The pizza was the best and the dough was great. Kathy made up a sauce with cream cheese and red sauce that went so well with the fresh crab. Yes, a fresh crab pizza with sour dough, try to buy that at your local pizza joint?

We highly recommend stopping at the Sour Dough Bakery next time you are driving through Winchester Bay and need a little dough.

Best Chocolate In Town: Full City

This blog comes with a warning. If you ever take my advice and try the chocolate at Full City in Eugene you will never be able to drink anyone else’s chocolate again.

I managed to squeak the ingredients out of the manager but I’ve been sworn to secrecy but I can guarantee you there are only three, they are all natural and the dark chocolate is the best you can buy. If I tell you any more than that I’d have to kill you and I don’t want to do that. It looks bad to have a murder wrap on your record if you ever choose to run for public office.

Anyway, about this chocolate, my boys both tried it and now we can’t have chocolate at other coffee shops anymore. I’m quite serious. The squirty kind is too sweet and fake tasting.

Full City’s Chocolate is a paste that they make out of those three highly secret ingredients. They put it in their hot chocolate, chocolate latte’s and any other drink you want. It’s very rich but not too sweet. I’m serious it’s just the right blend. Sometimes I order a cappuccino and have the barista’s add a teaspoon of the chocolate.

Most of you know that Full City is my favorite coffee in town. It is the standard by which all coffee is judged in my home.

Next time you visit Full City live a little. Just try chocolate you will love it. But remember you can never go back to regular hot chocolate again, I warned you.

To find out more about Full City and how you buying coffee there actually helps farmers in other parts of the world, check out this story we did on the company.

http://rickdancer.com/full-city-coffee/

Ships Fly in Port Orford

Sometimes beauty comes in the smallest of packages and that’s the case with Port Orford.

The first time I laid eyes on her I realized I’d found the perfect sea town. I’ve shot stories on Sea Urchin Divers and commercial fishermen. As a candidate for secretary of state I spoke at an event there.

I really like this town. There are no tee shirt shops that I know of and only one really nice restaurant that I will tell you about in a future Destinations Blog, but there is something about this town that is so attractive in a world where Lincoln City and Seaside seem to be the representation for the Oregon Coast.

In Port Orford fishing vessels are dry docked each day. The boats are kept on big dollies, wheeled to the edge of the pier and hoisted to and from the sea with these giant cranes.

The fishermen are not politically correct they are just men and women trying to make a living. At the grocery store you see a lot of Oregon Trail Cards a sign that times are super tough in rural Oregon. But these are Oregonians. They are used to folks in the valley placing rules and restrictions on them that make little sense. They don’t like it and are not quiet about it but have little time to fight lawmakers they are too busy trying to stay afloat.

One of the cool things in Port Orford is a state park housed at an old Coast Guard Rescue station up on the bluff overlooking the sea. Kathy and I hiked all around the place. It’s as if you can see the end of Oregon from there.

There are also the remnants of the original concrete steps used by the brave men who used to go out and pull sailors from the sea.

Port Orford is not the place to go if you are looking for the marketable Oregon Coast. This is perhaps one of the last towns that feel like the Oregon Coast I grew up with. Cape Cod style luxury has not found it’s way to this remote corner of Oregon and hope it never does. But I know that it will. Someone with vision will see the splendor this place has to offer and try to cash in on it.

Until that happens, Port Orford will stay, remote, a bit backwards and quite remarkable.