Lauren Lebien

J463

Assignment 1

2/4/14

Unseen Eugene

“Coconut Milk Lavender Latte”

            Eugene, Oregon is a city of narrow, twisting one-way streets, environmentally-friendly businesses and vibrant colors – even on an overcast day in February. It is a city of coffee-drinking travelers, animal-lovers and educated bookkeepers and baristas. The little gems of Eugene are unobvious and require an acquired taste.

Hideaway Bakery is one of those gems. 

            Hideaway Bakery is a challenge to find even after having been there multiple times, for once its peculiar location on south Eugene’s Amazon Drive is determined, the bakery itself remains tucked away, practically sign-less, behind Mazzi’s Italian restaurant. Mazzi’s is a mustard yellow, sage green, wine-red and dramatically peaked restaurant situated outside the bustle of downtown. Its guests are intentional and its balconies are covered in potted wildflowers. Frank Ernandes, the owner of Mazzi’s, named the restaurant after his Italian father Tommaso (“Mazzi” for short) who is from Favignana, an island off the west tip of Sicily. After opening Mazzi’s, Ernandes decided to also open an adjoining bakery.

Small and muted yet artistic signs on either side of the restaurant point guests inward. Black wire patio tables and chairs fill a covered courtyard, which is nestled in the right-hand elbow of Mazzi’s main building. This is Hideaway Bakery, and though it remains open year-around, all seating is outdoor seating. The walls are a burnt orange stucco with extra Oregon-weathered texture. Greco style fountains hang on the walls next to wire newspaper stands littered with old copies of Eugene Weekly. Fans with leafy-spokes, a garland of unlit, round white Christmas bulbs and green plants dangle from the arbors and pillars surrounding the tables, disguising several outdoor heaters.

A creaking wooden door on the far wall of the courtyard opens to a warm, artisan bakery. It smells like yeast, sweet steamed milk and parmesan cheese. The walls are rounded, floor to ceiling, in amber yellow stucco. Earthy bread rolls, pecan pies, vegan scones, slices of pizza and various types of coffee cakes slant behind a cramped display with handwritten price tags in the space between the door and the cash register. Behind the shrilling espresso grinder, the bustling college-age employees, and the floured countertops sits a gray, stone wood-fired oven which takes up any and all leftover space in the café kitchen. The oven is fired once every 24 hours; it produces everything from pastries to menu entrees with names like Pizza alla Diavola and Sundried Tomato and Chevre Gnocchi, while the beverages are left up to the baristas. The coffee is smooth and the chai lattes are spicy.

Though it is literally a hidden bakery, Hideaway does not advertise its business.

“We’ve had a lot of luck with word of mouth,” says barista Nicole Kannaday. “People tell their friends and then their friends bring more friends back.” She thinks that people return to Hideaway because of its overall atmosphere: the outside seating, the loud music, the wood fire oven and what she calls an “open kitchen” – an environment where customers can watch the baking process.  

Outside, fearless brown birds twit about, eating crumbs from the ground. A couple in their twenties huddles over stapled papers and a MacBook. A barefoot 4 year old who looks like Shirley Temple pets a gray and white miniature greyhound at the table next to her. The dog wears a plaid wool vest.

            “You can play in the sandbox once you’re done with your lunch!” Shirley Temple’s mom says, as her daughter tries to scamper away with her older sister. A wooden, octagon sandbox full of well-used tonka trucks and pink plastic shovels sits in the corner of the courtyard. The pavement around the sandbox is covered in sand. Footprints from barefoot 4 year olds and miniature greyhounds leave their mark.

University of Oregon journalism professor Debra Merskin chats with a friend and orders a tea to go. Two women in their late fifties talk about books in a corner, one donning a soft British accent and a bold scarf. A slender, dark haired, dark skinned man dressed in black from head to toe sits and reads an article called “Home is where the food is.” Sounds of newspapers flipping, cars driving by and people talking are drowned out by a diverse playlist of Jamaican beats, techno music, Spanish guitar and more. No one seems to care that the Super Bowl starts in less than an hour.

            “Coconut milk lavender latte!” a voice yells from the hand-out window.

            “Merlin!”

A red, orange, green and yellow tie-dyed beetle sits near the parking lot exit outside Mazzi’s. The words “present president for president,” “Ferrari” and “big wide eyes for a big wide brain” are painted on its exterior amidst other Aztec designs. Most of the other cars in the parking lot are hybrids.

Driving away from Hideaway Bakery is like driving away from a secret only local Eugenians get to keep – an unassuming, Italian secret with from-scratch foods, bold flavor and a bit of latte art on the side. It’s the kind of “gem” friends can’t help but tell each other about.