It's Delightful, It's Delicious, it's De... vegan?: Divine Cupcakes

I have an apology to make.

I have tasted The Divine Cupcake's wares a few times before, but not under optimum circumstances. I've had them at food fairs three times: twice under a sun that's normally illegal in Oregon and once during a downpour no one was prepared for. I've also had them late in the day in a coffee shop, where they had been sitting in a plastic case that was probably left open for a few hours during the morning rush. Every time, I've been enticed by the flavor combinations -- real ginger in your gingerbread cupcake? Sure! -- and each time, I've been disappointed by a slightly dry cake under admittedly scrumptious frosting.

My apology is this: I have blamed veganism, and for this, I am sorry. I should, instead, have blamed the weather, the venues, and my own sorry supposition that it's ever fair to judge a food when it's out in the wild instead of on its home turf. These aren't Cheetos we're dealing with, after all -- they're sweet little baked goods. There is a certain required delicacy that must be respected.

So I went on safari to stalk the Divine Cupcake in its lair on 11th Street recently, and I've discovered that my earlier samples were, indeed, not representative. In fact, the cupcakes I tasted there -- and took home in a box -- were spongy, fresh, and rich in flavor. The choco-classic cupcake is dark and satisfying; the pumpkin chocolate chip was so moist as to put pumpkin pie to shame (or at least to bring it to mind). They actually stayed very tasty for two additional days, as we picked new samples from the refrigerated box.

My blood-orange cupcake on a more recent visit sung with notes of real fruit under its flat chocolate topping, and C's "Tao of Green Tea" cupcake (matcha green tea cake, green tea frosting) tasted like a cup of tea itself -- warm, rich, and strangely refreshing.

Like with most dining experiences, the atmosphere is key; thus, the extremely cute Divine Cupcake storefront is almost necessary to the experience. Walk in, and you'll find a pleasant coffee-shop front lounge, with a small couch and two matching armchairs, a few tables, and a four- or five-seat bar. Local art (some of it referencing cupcakes, and all of it for purchase) hangs on the colorful walls. Just past all of this lies the shop, where not only the cupcakes but all of the cupcake accoutrement is kept. There are cupcake accessories (tiny wooden sticks that say, "Happy Birthday!" for you to use at will), there is cupcake art, there are cute bags and lamps and virtually anything one would need to start a book group where no one really reads the book but instead gets together to eat sweets.

And oh, the sweets. They are displayed in a two-level case, and on my visits -- even late in the day -- there have been at least eight varieties on display, plus several others in the mini category. Cupcakes are available in two kinds: standard ($2.50 for a regular sized cupcake; $1.25 for a mini) and gourmet ($3/$1.50). The difference seems to be one of fanciness and imagination. Standards include chocolate, peanut butter, vanilla, fruit (banana, lemon, raspberry, etc.), and maple; Gourmet selections include red velvet, lime coconut, coffee, carrot, and mango, among others. Nearly all of the cupcakes can be special ordered without sugar or gluten or soy, but those in the case are only guaranteed to be vegan and organic (except on certain days, when there will be sugar-free or gluten-free guarantees -- see store or twitter for details). There are also drinks on offer: cappuccinos and lattes, using any kind of milk (cow included) that you can think of, European-style drinking chocolates, and a tea list that makes C get a little emotional (in a good way).

My only concern, having now gone native to experience the wild, divine little beasts in their natural habitat, is that it can be a little tricky to know what's what. Strangers from strange lands might walk in and find that only four of the eight cupcakes have labels, and if there's a crush of people (which, on Friday night -- game night! -- there certainly was) it can be difficult or embarrassing to have to ask for each flavor to be explained.

There are, however, kind cupcake guides to aid you -- and on every visit, there have also been many cupcake veterans to offer suggestions, too. This place is a magical, mysterious blend of everything Eugene has to offer: vegan tastiness, hippie culture, free wifi, and trendy little treats, all in one (biodegradable? I bet it is!) little paper wrapper.

Location: 1680 W. 11th, Eugene
Hours: Monday through Thursday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday 10-7. Notes: They also offering catering and advanced orders via their web site, and their baked good are available in a variety of shops around town.

Hot hot hot: Dizzy Dean's Doughnuts

^donuts.

The reigning champions of Eugene donutry have already been crowned: Kristen votes for Lee's; VooDoo is practically (hey!) a religion; and Holy Donuts wins the vegan crowd, known in Eugene as "everyone else." There are, however, trusty, traditional, mediocre donuts available in Eugene outside of a Safeway: They can be found, all day long, at Dizzy Dean's.

This place is everything that doughnut shops have always been. It smells like sweet dough, too much glaze, fry grease, and the smoke of a 1970s diner. Did anyone ever smoke here? I have no idea, but they should have. The place makes me want to smoke.

It is, in a word, unpretentious. Donuts are $.80 to $1.35, depending on their degree of dress. Dizzy Dean's has been (the times I've visited) staffed by a single person who's frantically trying to do eight things at once: make the donuts, sell the donuts, pour the coffee, answer the questions. It is stuffed into the space leftover when Staples took a spot on West 11th, and it has mis-matched dining chairs set up against tables that would have been comfortable in a 1980s McDonald's. There's six kinds of coffee being served from big, heat-retaining carafes, but you know without trying they're all going to be strong, dark, and kind of bad.

Dizzy Dean's serves Hot! donuts at different times of the day. You can tell whether there are any available because they actually light up a neon sign outside, saying "HOT DONUTS!" The donuts are kept in a warmer, next to the other donuts, the oldies that didn't make the cut.

Here, in the oldies case, there's at least substantial variety. All of the traditional favorites -- bars in maple and chocolate; plain glazed and cake donuts; chocolate-frosted cake donuts; twists in plain and cinnamon -- are here, but they're joined by their desperately over-done friends. Damn you, VooDoo Doughnuts, for this: Dizzy Dean's now has a Bacon Maple Bar, and a purple-frosted donut with a piece of taffy stuck in the middle that resembles the Grape Ape. It has donuts with crushed Oreos and donuts with Butterfinger candy on top. The chocolate donuts sometimes have sprinkles, nuts, and stripes. Those donuts have their place -- and it's in the stunt bakery downtown.

What you could come to Dizzy Dean's for, instead of the eye-candy (sure to disappoint once you take it home; aw, isn't that always the way?), are two things: the filled donuts and the crullers. In the filled donuts, I applaud the lean toward variety, because these all seem like natural extensions. Raspberry, hurrah! Lemon, sure! Marionberry? Why not. Bavarian cream? Fine by me. There's also chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, and those are all welcome varieties that seem exactly in line with the mission of a small-time doughnut place.

The crullers, too, are something. They have an eggy, almost custard-tasting dough inside, hidden under the shelter of glaze so crisp and enthusiastic that it calls to mind the mechanical glee of Krispy Kreme. They come with a variety of flavored toppings, but why, oh why, would you put maple on this? Why raspberry? Why anything?

Dizzy Dean's is clearly a store that wants to catch up to its big, famous, beloved rivals. The path to that, though, is focus on the fundamentals. I think that's within the store's grasp, but right now, it's too busy having its head spun -- and trying to spin those of its customers -- to settle down and excel at the everyday.

Location: 2380 W. 11th

Hours: 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

I prove I'm my mother's daughter at Albee's New York Gyros

When I was small, my mother used to periodically get a real craving for gyros sandwiches. This was in the affluent suburbs west of Kansas City, and while there might have been authentic Greek food downtown in the 80s, it was not to be had in Johnson County. We'd go to the Mr. Gyro's on Metcalf so she could get her fix, and usually she was eating alone. My little palate wasn't down with the gyros, with all its weird yogurt sauce and onions and the dreaded tomatoes. (I was a horrid little picky eater.) I probably went home and made myself some macaroni and cheese.

Later, I came around to the gyros love. (Learning to like yogurt, onions, and tomatoes probably helped!) We had dabbled in a few places in Eugene that serve gyros, and I even like some of them, but when I heard through the grapevine/Internets about Albee's New York Gyros, I had to go try it. Thanks to the blog, I had an excuse, and away we went!

So, Albee used to run a food cart, and I sort of still expected this to be a food cart venture since it is cash only, but Albee has a pretty sweet little storefront these days. The menu is very simple: Gyros, either meat or falafel, with your choice of lettuce, tomato, tzatziki, onions, olives, feta, and peperoncinis. The regular size is substantial, and it costs 6.00. There is a new Junior sized option for 4.00, too, which would be good for a lighter option. He also has a New York beef hotdog, spanakopita, and baklava (more on that in a minute).

So we ordered a meat gyros and a falafel gyros, two cans of soda, and a baklava. It came in at 16.25 for a LOT of food, and I dropped the rest of the 20.00 in Albee's tip jar, because he worked hard to get our food together fast, and he was incredibly pleasant to talk to during. Not to mention it was delicious. G and I swapped the two sandwiches back and forth so we each got to try both, and then we split what turned out to be the best baklava I have had in ages. It was honey-soaked and absolutely FULL of cinnamon, and there may or may not have been a plastic utensil fight afterward about who got to scrape out the paper tray in which it came.

I loved this place, in spite of a few minor quibbles. The olives are domestic-type, not the kalamatas I expected. The tzatziki could have been a little more flavorful. But everything was HOT like it should have been, or cold and crisp. It comes wrapped in a foil, perfect for eating on the go, so on-balance, this place is still full of win. If you want fancier, more 'Greek'-style gyros, you might try Poppi's Anatolia, but this place has a pastiche that's all its own, and it's very worth checking out. Albee is as charming as his business, too.

When my mom visits next, the gyros are on me.

Location: 391 W. 11th St, Eugene

Hours: 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM, Monday - Saturday.

Discounts: a punchcard that gives you a free sandwich after you buy ten.

The Unbearable Lightness of Bean Curd: Ocean Sky Restaurant

Don't even start with me, Eugene transplants, and your whining about a lack of good Chinese. I don't want to hear it and I also don't care, because I, my friends, have found love, twu wuv, at Ocean Sky Restaurant.

Well, OK, I've found the sibling of twu wuv, because my heart's first desire is Ocean Sky's sibling restaurant in Corvallis, King Tin (more on that place when my Corvallis Correspondent pipes up). Ocean Sky, however, does some very tasty things very well -- and in enormous portions. Say good-bye to that old problem of feeling hungry again an hour after polishing off your Chinese take-out; this place will offer enough food to get you through a night of every-hour feedings, and you'll probably still have some rice left the next morning.

So what you're probably getting here is the heart of the matter: this isn't the Chinese restaurant you go to when you want a wide variety of different-tasting dishes, tenderly prepared by a caring chef who agonizes over the details. That restaurant -- no, it doesn't exist in Eugene. But Ocean Sky does, and it's the one you go to when you have a general desire for "Chinese food," and want to satisfy it as briskly and completely as possible. Some call this mediocre; I call it "what are we doing for dinner tonight?" (Yes, our love is based on low expectations. What can I say? I'm that kind of girl).

Lee's Donuts: Like the Little Donut Shop I Grew Up With It

Growing up, there was a little donut shop by my elementary school. It was called Mr. D's Donuts, and it was owned by a really nice Korean couple who loved the kids who would come in before school to buy an early morning donut. For a while, it was a semi-regular stop on my way to classes, and I would sit at the counter and have a cinnamon twist or an old-fashioned and a pint of milk, reading a book, waiting for class to start. As far as I know, the donut shop is still there, though it's run by the next generation of that family, now.

I moved away, though, and had to settle for Dunkin Donuts in the college town I lived in after I left home. It has a certain mall food appeal: everything is exactly the same, at every Dunkin Donuts in every town all over the country. But, when we got to Eugene? No Dunkin Donuts. We went on a search for the Good Donut Shop of this town. I don't know that we've found it, but we have found one thing that bears mentioning here: the best apple fritter in the Eugene/Springfield area.

You'll find it at an unassuming little donut shop in West Eugene. We have to drive about 20 minutes to get there, so it requires a little advanced planning if we're going to have donuts on any given weekend morning, but it's SO worth it for the apple fritters.

They're absolutely huge, for one. A single one is well over a meal for one, with a cold glass of milk. Sometimes, they could have a little more apple in them, but I have almost never had a fritter so perfectly fried. It's doughy and delicious inside and has the perfect outer crust and light coating of glaze. When we go, I get two, because they save well enough to make a late night snack or a second day breakfast, and they lose almost none of their deliciousness after 12 or 24 hours, provided you keep the bag closed tightly. If you're a fan of this kind of donut, you should definitely go have one soon!

They also have ice cream, though we've never partaken. Inside, the shop is pretty much exactly a suburban donut joint, complete with a TV that is usually tuned to TNT, as far as I can tell. We always just take our donuts to go, and Mr. Lee is often nice enough to slip us an extra donut for the road.

Location: 1950 Echo Hollow Rd, in the same parking lot as Big Lots.

Hours: I think they close at 3:00 PM.

Tasty, tasty value: Taqueria Mi Tierra

Not too long ago, a friend of mine from the law school was bemoaning that she wasn't feeling well. She worried that perhaps she had eaten something at a local taco stand that had given her food poisoning. Somehow, this conversation, which happened on Facebook, evolved quickly into "Where are the best places in town to get good, cheap Mexican food?" Several places were mentioned, and I contributed a few. (Full disclosure: I am a complete sucker for Mexican food. I could eat it every day.)

The place that caught my eye among the recommendations was Taqueria Mi Tierra. It's just south of the Whiteaker neighborhood, attached to what I assumed was an affiliated carneceria. I read up a little at Yelp, then I sent the link to G plead my case for trying a new Mexican place.

You should not come here for the atmosphere, which is mostly vinyl tablecloths and a flat screen TV showing either soccer or telenovelas every time I have been here. You order at the back, often with the woman who will cook your food once she's taken your order. The menu is posted on hand-lettered posterboard pinned to the wall at your right. The big draw at the review site I found was the cheap, authentic tacos; many kinds are just 1.00 a piece, though you will pay a little more for the exotic meats as well as the veggie tacos, if that's your thing. One of these days, I'll try these, I swear. First, I just need to get tired of the first thing I ordered here.

My thing to order here is the taco salad. It's 5.00. It comes in a freshly fried flour tortilla. It is, however, not REALLY a salad. It's packed full of rice, beans, and meat with a generous portion of lettuce, vegetables, and slices of avocado, then dressed with sour cream and cotija cheese. It's really filling and delicious, and I have yet to be able to finish one by myself. It goes perfectly with the Mexican bottled Coke they sell in the cooler.

But, proof that best things are free, if you order more than 5.00 of food from this place, they give you freshly fried chips and delicious salsa for free! And every order comes with an assortment of sauces to dress your food as you would like. The best one is referred to by G and me as the Green sauce, both for its creamy green color and its flavor, which I would guess was some combination of avocado, cilantro, and lime. We have often gone through a third of a bottle during lunch, eating it on warm tortilla chips. It's delicious.

This is a great place. Not for food snobs or people who need a lot of refined atmosphere in their dining experience, but it's a perfect way to eat out for under 15.00 for two people. If you leave hungry, you did it wrong.

ETA: I have been back, and I tried the veggie tacos. They are also amazing, with a thick slice of avocado as the highlight of each one. God, I love this place.

Location: 632 Blair Blvd, Eugene, OR