For the rest of the crowd there will be hotdogs and chips, an old-fashioned cider press and children’s activities.

Proceeds benefit ORCCA programs; Head Start, CASA, Snack Pack, and Community Action Adventure.

Mark Bedard has quite a history with Forest Hills Country Club in Reedsport. His family became charter members in 1964 – he was 6 at the time – and he’s been a member ever since.

The course was built by International Paper and opened in spring 1965.
So when did Mark play his first round there?

‘We were playing out there before it opened,” Bedard said, explaining that the course was ready in the fall, but didn’t officially open until spring. ‘We snuck out there. I was going out with my dad when we weren’t supposed to.”

Bedard played all four seasons when he was at Reedsport High School, his teams finished state runnerups three times. His younger brothers, Kerry, Kelly and Benjamin also played on those teams.

He still plays in Forest Hills tournaments.
So to say that Bedard has spent a good portion of his life at Forest Hills would be an understatement.

‘I’ve played a lot of golf out there in a lot of years.”

The Bedards also have owned restaurants in Reedsport and Winchester Bay for the past dozen years. First Bedrock’s and then Bedrock’s On The Bay.

This spring, he finally broke down and he and his wife, Karen, decided to run the restaurant and lounge at the pristine 9-hole golf course. He’s had his chances in the past.

‘I’ve resisted working out there because that’s where I go to relax,” he said.

The restaurant had gone through several leaseholders in recent years before Bedard decided enough was enough.

‘After years of watching (others try),” he said. ‘We decided to take over and try to give it some stability.”

He knows that taking over the The Club in a trying economy will not be easy.

‘Things are so different in this area. We lost so many manufacturing jobs. We used to have 1,400 in Reedsport and Gardiner alone. It used to be a kid could get out of high school and find a good paying job.

‘Every one of those jobs are gone.”

The Club is Reedsport’s lone fine-dining establishment.

‘What we see is hopefully being able to manage it, break even and keep that service open to the public.”

He’s excited about the possibilities.

‘On the food side, we have a good chef that we’ve hired, and a menu that fits our clientele. We have a lot of seniors in the area, and they can come out and eat for under $10.

‘We have a pretty diverse menu.”

It’s hard to believe that Bedard is even more invested in Forest Hills than he has been in the past.

‘Golf’s been a big part of our family for a lot of years. It’s an interesting deal to be out there (running the restaurant). It still feels surreal.”

The Club, which has been bustling this summer, goes to its winter schedule starting Oct. 1. The lounge will be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., lunch will be served Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner will be Friday and Saturday night from 5 to 8 p.m.

By Ron Jackimowicz
The World

He was also a smart enough businessman to know that he couldn’t just come in and make wholesale changes to the menu right away.
So he started slow, with one Peruvian special every week.
That turned out to be popular, so he added another night with a seafood special.

“People really love the Peruvian flavors,” Fernando said.
But still, he took his time. About a year later, he added a small section to the back of his regular menu.

“Just five items,” he said.

Now, five years after opening, he’s featuring 20 Peruvian dishes, five Peruvian desserts, a number of drinks and most recently he’s added Peruvian style fire roasted chicken.

LaCosta offers four different sizes of roasted chicken meals. From the quarter-chicken with two sides for $7.95, all the way up to the family meal, which is two whole (4 1/2 pound) chickens, four side dishes and two soft drinks for $34.95.

Photos by Ron Jackimowicz

The chicken dinners also come with a special dipping sauce.
Fernando worked for a month to perfect the recipe for the chicken. The dipping sauce was much easier.

“It’s my great-grandmother’s recipe,” he said.

He gets all the deep, textured flavor by marinating the chickens for 48 hours.

“That way, the flavors are inside.”

The half-chicken platter also comes with two sides for $11.95, and the whole chicken meal is $18.95 with two sides.

Fernando says that now nearly half of all orders are for Peruvian menu items.

So how did Fernando make the decision to move from Peru to Coos Bay?

“There’s a Peruvian family here,” he said.

“My uncle came to the United States in 1956. He met a woman and they got married. She was from here, so they moved back here. So my uncle brought his three brothers and sisters and his parents.”
After 12 years in the Peruvian navy, Fernando got a call from his cousin, asking him to come to Coos Bay.

“I told him I wanted to go to Miami,” Fernando said. “But he told me to come here.”

After a few weeks of job searching, Fernando found work.

“Soon as I got a job,” Fernando said. “I never stopped.”

Six years later, he bought his restaurant.

By Ron Jackimowicz
The World

Photo by Rockne Andrew Roll

Max Douk, the owner of Mamma Mia, has joined forces with Pit Master Mike Reaves and the pair are putting together meals that are quickly gaining in popularity.

With Reaves barbecue specialties, Mamma Mia recently reopened for lunch and Douk (pronounced Duke) said it has been a success and is growing.

‘Every day, we’re serving four to six more lunches,” he said. ‘It looks like people like it.”

The new lunch menu includes old standbys like manicotti and tortellini Angelo, but also includes a pair of pulled pork sandwiches and a brisket sandwich. There’s also a Pit Master Combo plate that includes pulled pork, brisket and tri-tip.

‘They’re coming for the sandwiches,” Douk said. ‘We sell about 60 percent barbecue and 40 percent Italian at lunch time.”

Douk knows that time is of the essence at lunchtime and said Mamma Mia specializes in getting your order to the table.

‘At lunch, you order it and we have it (to the table) in 10 minutes,” he said. ‘Also, they can call ahead and we’ll have it ready.”

The barbecue is also making its way into Douks dinner menu. They now offer a penne pasta tri-tip that is becoming quite popular.

‘This table ordered six of them,” Douk said motioning to the party of 10 which he had just cooked dinner for.

The Italian-barbecue combination has even been introduced into Mamma Mia’s catering services.

‘Now when people come to me for catering, I can offer meats,” Douk said. ‘People like the idea and mix the two.”

Douk said his full-service catering is all-inclusive (linens, silverware, plates, etc.) and starts at $10 per person.

After years in the restaurant business, Douk had ‘retired’ and moved to the Bay Area. He then decided to open Mamma Mia for his son, Bruno, who was a recent culinary school graduate. Douk would fill in back in the kitchen on Bruno’s day off and work the front of the restaurant the rest of the time.

Bruno got married and moved to Las Vegas, and Douk found himself back in the kitchen full time.

So what dishes does Douk consider his specialties?

‘Well, the eggplant Parmesan and the tortellini Angelo. My ciopino is to die for and the osso bucco. The manicotti is a big seller and you can choose from the cream sauce or the tomato sauce.”

So how about that retirement?

‘I can’t retire,” Douk said. ‘I like to work. I like to create here in the restaurant.”

His newest creation seems to be working out just fine.

Mamma Mia is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. for dinner. Lunch is served Monday through Friday. Dinner is served Monday through Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sunday.

By Ron Jackimowicz
The World

Photo by Lou Sennick

Thousands of people fill downtown seeking things blackberry. Jams and jellies, baked goods, candy and wine, and the all-time favorite PEO blackberry pie.

The festival hosts many artisans and food vendors with wares to hock.

Want to know more? Call Beth Clarkson at 541-269-5312.

The club invites all to a day filled with good food and a great view on the beach. While the weather may be uncertain, fresh barbeque salmon and a secret sauce that no one knows about will be served with baked potatoes, coleslaw, and rolls.

Arrive early because the club may run out of food.

It’s a good buy for $14.

The barbecue will run from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 7, at Bastendorff Beach County Park. The beach is off Cape Arago Highway and two miles west of Charleston.

Admission costs $14 for adults, $7 for children, at the event or in advance by calling Gary McCullough at 541-756-1282 or Bonnie Olson at 541-888-7232. Proceeds will benefit local Boy and Girl Scout troops and youth sports programs.

The biggest fundraiser every year, the group serves an estimated 1,000 meals.

Miller's athe Cove Sports Bar & Grill. Phots by Lou Sennick

CHARLESTON — When Scott and Andrea Miller opened Miller’s at the Cove in Charleston they had a plan — get in early before tourist season, get everything running smoothly and be ready to go when the crowds hit.

Not everyone thought this was a grand idea. Miller recalls that right after opening on Dec. 17, one of his early customers was a psychologist.

Miller said the man offered him his services for free because he opened during the dead of winter.

‘We wanted a soft opening to work out the kinks,” Scott said. ‘Then there was the ‘honeymoon period’ when we were the new place in town, and then we had the Grand Opening.”

Five months later, Miller says things are humming along.

‘To me, it’s as good as you can ask for,” he said. ‘We’re paying the bills.”

And now the tourist season is right around the corner.

‘I hear it gets busy here in the summer,” he said. ‘I’m counting on it. I’m excited. I think it’s going to happen. I hear summers around here get kind of crazy.”

This isn’t Miller’s first rodeo; he’s been in the restaurant business since 1994.

He didn’t have to worry about seafood on the menu at his last restaurant, but here in Charleston, it’s some of his biggest sellers.

Baja Fish Tacos probably wouldn’t have been a big hit in Loveland, Colo., where Miller owned two establishments, but nearly every table had at least one fish taco on it at lunch one afternoon last week.

‘The seafood part came from Andrea,” Miller said, explaining that Andrea had spent time in the Bay Area ‘on and off for the last 20 years.”

But he did bring some of his favorites from Colorado, like the hand-pattied burgers and the Colorado-style pork tenderloin sandwich (bring your appetite for this one, it’s huge).

While in the area last July, Andrea struck up a conversation with the owners of Oyster Cove, and told them she might be interested in opening a bar in Charleston. Andrea was told that the restaurant might be for sale.

‘They sent me some info,” Scott said. ‘And I came out and took a look and loved it. They offered a price, and here we are.”

The cozy restaurant didn’t need much work to change it from Oyster Cove to the Miller’s current configuration of a sports bar and grill.

‘Nothing but the pool table,” Miller said. ‘We added the (big screen) TVs and gave it a sports theme. … and we painted a little.”

Now it’s a place where anyone can feel comfortable.

‘We get fishermen and we get people in suits and ties and everything in between,” Miller said. ‘People can bring their kids in, we’re kid-friendly until 9 (p.m.).”

It’s just the way Miller wants it.

‘It’s a nice, local, friendly, good food, good drink, good-priced hangout,” Miller said.

So how about that psychologist?

‘He’s been back several times since,” Miller said.

Miller’s at the Cove Sports Bar & Grill
63346 Boat Basin Road, Charleston
Hours: Daily, 11 a.m. to midnight or later.
Closes Tuesdays
541-808-2404

By Ron Jackimowicz, The World

Not to worry, says Jim Lorenz, who along with his wife Carol have owned Coach House restaurant in Coos Bay/Eastside for almost 30 years.

That’s because Coach House’s outdoor dining area is completely enclosed so guests can enjoy it year-round.

‘The portable tent is all enclosed and zips up tight,” Lorenz said. ‘We warm it up with heaters.”

But what about those recent nights when it was supposed to snow?

‘Tonight, we’re completely booked out there,” he said.

Queue for barbecue
Another reason people flock to the Eastside landmark is the menu. If you like barbecued food, this is your place. The steaks, chicken and seafood are all done on the grills outside. Even the oysters are done on the barbecue.

‘(Over the years) we’ve tried different kinds of foods and tried different methods of cooking. We tried barbecue … and things have taken off.”

Oysters are one of the menu items that came along after the restaurant went to a predominantly barbecued menu about eight years ago.

Coach House serves oysters four ways, pan-fried, deep fried, barbecued with a garlic-butter sauce, and barbecued with a Cajun sauce.

Fresh oysters cooked up on the half-shell at the Coach House in Coos Bay. World Photos by Lou Sennick

So which ones do customers prefer?

‘The most popular are the barbecue oysters, by far,” he said.  ‘The customers just love them.”

Lorenz says he stays local when buying his oysters.

‘Oysters are just one of the seafoods we have locally,” Lorenz said.

‘I get about 97 percent of my oysters at Clausen’s. They’re nice and clean and ready whenever I want them.”

Seasoned staff
Another thing that makes Coach House stand out  in a crowd is their staff.

‘We’ve had the same staff for quite a while,” he said.

Most of the waiters have been there for years.

‘In the restaurant business, they come and go, but we’ve been pretty fortunate,”  he said.

‘We have kind of a niche that doesn’t exist anywhere else. We have the barbecue, the outdoor eating, we have excellent food and reasonable prices. And our waitstaff is very good.”

Coach House has seating for 70 in the restaurant — 30 inside and 40 outside. It also has a full-service bar with lottery games that is separate from the restaurant.

Reservations aren’t necessary, but if you want to make sure to get a spot in the outside dining area, you should probably think about them.

By Ron Jackimowicz
The World

Chef Joe prepares fresh halibut daily for dishes like Seafood Chiappino. One of several dishes that includes fish. Photos by Benjamin Brayfield

Chef Joe Zamora knew exactly what he wanted more than a dozen years before it ever became a reality.

“In about 1990 I looked up here,” Zamora said of Hilltop House. “And I said, ‘There’s my restaurant.’”

It wasn’t until 2002 that Zamora got the opportunity to call the historic steak and seafood house that has been a part of the North Bend landscape since 1934 his own.

“Timing was everything to get into here,” Zamora said.

And he’s been having a grand time ever since.

“I was looking for a dinner house,” he said. “I really enjoy cooking seafood and steaks.”

It also leaves him time for one of his other passions — golf. He plays a couple times a week with his wife Jodi at Watson Ranch.

But Zamora’s creativity really shines through when he’s in the kitchen.

He calls his cooking a mixture of continental styles: French style with the sauces; Italian style in his presentation; and a Northwest influence when it comes to seafood.

“On average, we deal with 24 different (hot) sauces a day,” Zamora said. “It takes a lot of time for cooks to learn how to do that many sauces.”

Crab cakes are another dinning option. Made to order. Photos by Benjamin Brayfield

“We have a well-balanced team,” he said. “We have a great staff and a great crew.”

And when Zamora says he cooks to order, he means it.

“When you order it, I go back and cut the steak,” he said. “When you order the salmon, I filet it and cut the portions.”

And he knows how to treat his guests.

From the time you walk into Hilltop House the attentive staff is there to help guide you through your meal.

Zamora knows making his guests happy makes for loyal customers.

“Even if it’s not on the menu, if I have it, I’ll cook it for them,” he said.

Not two minutes later, a waiter came back to ask if he had any of the albacore tuna, which had been the special the night before.

“Of course,” he said.

A minute later Chef Zamora smiled and headed back for the kitchen, “Some people just like to know that I’m cooking their dinner.”

And if you go right about sunset, what a fabulous view out over the bay and dunes north of the bridge.

By Ron Jackimowicz

Hilltop House

Where: 93405 Wilsey Lane &
166 North Bay Dr., North Bend
When: 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Daily
How: Call 541-756-4160 to make reservations.

Photo by Benjamin Brayfield - Chef Jeremy Buck creates his variation of a seafood classic, bouillabaisse.

By Ron Jackimowicz

From simple to elegant, the Alloro Wine Bar in Bandon can do it all.

It doesn’t matter if you want a glass of wine, a plate of pasta or an elegant four-course meal with a bottle of expensive wine, you can get it at Alloro.

And that’s just the way owners Jeremy Buck and Lian Schmidt like it.

‘At Alloro, we are completely committed to creating the best possible dining experience we are able,” Chef Buck said. ‘That’s why we source direct with local organic produce farmers, personally choose the live Dungeness crab we use and prepare practically everything we serve in-house and in small batches.”

So whether you were shopping in Old Town or been at the beach all day, or if you’ve just played 18 holes at Bandon Dunes you’ll feel as comfortable at Alloro as the large contingent of regulars.

‘It doesn’t cost a fortune to dine at our restaurant,” Buck said. He explained that there is a large selection of appetizers for $10 or less and a number of pasta dishes for $12 or less, as well as soups and salads. ‘We, in fact, encourage the sharing of small plates so our guests get to try as many dishes as they personally want.”

Buck and Schmidt had their choice of locations in Oregon, looking around Portland and the wine country as well as Manzanita and Newport along the coast. A long weekend around Christmas in 2004 sold the pair on Bandon.

‘We really liked the quaint, compact Old Town district with the nice shops and restaurants next to the port,” Buck said.

‘The beaches were drop-dead gorgeous and the access to the outdoors was at your fingertips.”

The pair moved to Bandon in 2005 and opened Alloro in February 2006.

Bouillabaisse

For the broth

• 6 cloves garlic, rough chop
• 2 small onions, thinly sliced
• 1 small octopus, if available, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup rough chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
• Sprig of chopped fresh thyme
• Small bunch of parsley, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel pollen, if available (substitute 1 tsp ground fennel seed)
• 1 small pinch saffron, lightly toasted, dried and crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
• Juice of 1 orange
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne  pepper
• 1.5 quarts full bodied fish stock
• Salt to taste

Sweat the garlic and onion in some oil until softened.  Add the wine and evaporate by at least half.  Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the octopus is tender. Season with salt. 

For the stew

Various fresh seafood

• 4 or 5 good-sized Yukon potatoes, peeled and sliced
• Sea urchin roe, if available

In a heavy, wide bottomed pot, heat the broth to just under a simmer. Add the potatoes, then, in order of the time they take to cook, the various seafood you are able to procure from your market. Once all the fish is cooked through and the potatoes tender, stir in some sea urchin roe you have beaten in a bowl with a wooden spoon, the flavor is incomparable. Enjoy!

A traditional bouillabaisse includes lean white fish such as snapper, true cod, lingcod or halibut, along with other seafood.  In addition to white fish, Buck uses calamari, white prawns, Dungeness crab, black mussels and Manila clams.  He serves a garlic saffron mayonnaise and freshly grilled bread alongside the stew.