Last year when I wrote about gluten-free restaurants in Portland, a reader told me about a great restaurant in Eugene with many naturally gluten free options called Cafe Yumm. This Spring when we drove from San Francisco to Portland, we stopped in Eugene for a tasty and healthy lunch at the Cafe Yumm. They have locations in Beaverton, Bend, Corvallis, Springfield as well as Eugene.
The Cafe Yumm menu is based around healthy rice bowls with beans, but the inspiration for the name comes from what they call Yumm sauce- a creamy sauce made from nutritional yeast, soy, and chickpeas that happens to be gluten-free. The sauce contains no wheat, dairy, gluten, eggs or sugar, so it works well for additional allergies as well as a vegan diet. Unfortunately the Cafe does not have a gluten-free menu as such, but they do have a book at the counter with all of the ingredients of each dish, and the servers are really helpful about looking through the book with you and helping you find a dish that will work for your diet.
When we walked up to the counter, I was a little nervous and had no idea what to order, but the really sweet girl at the register helped me look through the book. The Yumm rice bowls are most suitable for a hearty gluten-free meal, and the DH and I chose the Original bowl as well as the Smoky Bowl. All bowls come with Tillamook® cheddar, diced tomato, fresh avocado slices, sour cream, black olives, & cilantro as a topping. The Original bowl has brown rice and organic black beans with Original Yumm! Sauce® and organic salsa. The Smoky bowl has Organic brown rice, Original Yumm! Sauce, house-made chipotle chili, and organic salsa. The DH considered getting tofu skewers, but we couldn’t find them in the ingredient book and the server said they were made off site, so we didn’t order them as they seemed likely to not be gluten-free.
What did we think when the bowls came? I was quite hungry, and it was really nice to get a big bowl of brown rice with lots of yummy tasting, fresh toppings. I liked the fact that almost all of the ingredients were simple and fresh, and I knew that the one ingredient that was more complex (the yumm sauce) was confirmed gluten-free. That being said, I did find the original Yumm bowl to be a little plain for my taste, and the DH and I both preferred the Smoky bowl with the added kick of chipotle chili sauce. The restaurant did make a great, hearty and gluten-free food stop, and best of all, I felt great after eating there. I’ve always enjoyed the health food stores and cozy college atmosphere in Eugene, and now I have one more reason to stop there- Yumm Cafe. The Yumm sauce IS one that is based in a vegetarian or vegan flavor palate, so not everyone may love it, especially if they aren’t use to the flavor of nutritional yeast. I thought it was great, though, and was happy to purchase a bottle of the Yumm Sauce to take home with me to make my own tasty rice bowls and to use as a topping for baked potatoes. The only thing I wish was that the cafe had a gluten-free menu or easily accessed gluten-free menu chart as it would make it faster and easier to find an appropriate dish. Also, even though the sauce IS gluten-free and is advertised as such on their website and in their literature, the serving girl did not know that it was gluten-free, so I actually had to tell her that it was safe- but I really did appreciate how helpful and patient she was, even untrained, at helping me find something safe to eat from the menu.
Have you eaten a gluten-free meal at Cafe Yumm? Tell me about it in the comments!
List of Gluten-Free Restaurants in Eugene, Oregon
*of special interest: Chinese restaurant Lok Yaun has a Gluten-free Menu*
List of Natural Health Food Stores in Eugene, Oregon
One of my favorites is
SUNDANCE NATURAL FOODS
748 E. 24th Ave.
Eugene, OR 97405
541.343.9142
7am -11pm
While they don’t have an especially fancy gluten-free selection of prepared baked goods or anything, they do have a good vegetarian, mostly vegan deli that “features many raw foods entrees. The prepackaged cooler is available from 7 AM until closing time at 11 PM. The soup, green salad, raw entrée, and prepared salad bar is open from 9 AM until 9 PM, and the hot buffet is available from 11 AM until 9 PM”. (from their web site, confirmed in person) Offerings are generally labeled with ingredients and staff is great about helping you confirm ingredients. Some offerings are from local places, so they might have to call them to confirm some things- and that will require them to actually be open and answer the phone. However, I’ve gotten some very tasty and safe vegan/vegetarian meals from Sundance that I thoroughly enjoyed.
What are your favorite gluten-free stops in Eugene? Tell us about it!
I hadn’t had breakfast, so I was ready to do some serious damage. I ordered the soup AND a quiche and figured I’d share with the DH. They heated both up for me, and I was thrilled with both. The soup was complex and rich, with a serious spicy kick, and it tasted deliciously vegetarian and it was perfectly to my taste. It was served with Ener-g Foods GF Gourmet crackers and I couldn’t have been happier with the combination. The quiche had a delicious gluten-free crust that was the perfect thickness, and nicely rich. It also complimented the cheesy quiche filling quite nicely. Both went well with the Coffee Plant’s lovely chai and half of a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie. But then, most things do go well with chocolate chip cookies.
How was the wrap? Well, first, if you’ll recall, I absolutely loved their gluten-free sandwiches, but alas, they don’t seem to offer them any more. It does seem that you can get a loaf of their bread IF you request it ahead of time, but they don’t seem to keep it on hand. I was excited to see the wrap, and very curious about the mediterranean filling. Unfortunately, when I actually tried it, I was a bit disappointed. The wrap was quite egg-tasting and there was a strangely sweet element that somehow clashed with the savory feta-tomato filling. I only ate half, and the rest went to waste. The cabbage salad with gingered tofu was a bit more to my taste but the tofu had a rather heavy and flat flavor that I didn’t completely love. I would try anything they offered, and love that there are so many vegetarian options, but I really wish they still had their gluten-free sandwiches. Next time I’ll have to order their bread and make some of my own…
The cookies were perfection, as I mentioned, and the scones were also delicious. The DH said they tasted just like gluten scones (seems to be a theme with this place)- all I know is that they are the best gluten-free scones I’ve ever had.
News from the Corbett Fish House and its gluten-free cousin the Hawthorne Fish House:
