When University graduates Eowyn Bondurant@@http://www.facebook.com/people/Eowyn-Bondurant/1108880359@@, 38, and Kaj Kaldahl, 43,@@http://www.alumniclass.com/bismarck/alumni-profile?id=2080351@@ were running a food cart selling fish tacos at wine and seafood festivals along the Oregon Coast, neither of them had visualized Whirled Pies.
Eighteen years ago, Bondurant — fresh off an associate of arts certificate in culinary arts from Linn-Benton Community College — did an internship in San Diego where she made fish tacos.
“I was like, ‘These are great, and we don’t have these up north.’ I grew up in Astoria, coastal kid, love seafood, and I thought it was a great idea,” she says. “It seemed like a lot of work. It’s easier to work for someone else sometimes.”
When Bondurant and Kaldahl wanted to go into business together, her first instinct was to open a fish-taco cart, which they did, traveling from festival to festival, from Astoria to Bandon.
But even though that experience was a lot of work for the couple, both of them wanted to do more than run a food cart on the side while still working — she running a childcare center, and he working as a carpenter. So they started thinking about what kind of restaurant they would open.
“You can’t just do fish tacos out of a restaurant,”@@uhh…yes you can@@ Bondurant says. “You can just do fish tacos out of a food booth at wine and seafood festivals but not out of a restaurant, so we pretty much shifted gears.”
One year after finally visualizing a business idea they believed they could pull off, the couple opened Whirled Pies — a pizza restaurant and bottle shop — Dec. 16 at the site of the old Monroe Street Cafe, just south of West 11th Avenue, along with a third partner, Laurel Bui.@@@@
The pair decided on opening a pizza restaurant that would serve other Italian staples, like strombolis and calzones, because the only large equipment needed for those is an oven, unlike a full-fledged restaurant with a fryer and a grill.
Kaldahl, who has a Bachelor of Science in political science with a minor in Japanese, says the restaurant’s name came from a friend’s suggestion of a bumper sticker making light of the phrase “Visualize world peace.”
“When we were thinking about what to name the place, we decided we liked the bumper sticker idea,” she says.
The restaurant got an off-premises liquor license and stocked a large selection of beer, because their venue used to be a go-to place for people in the neighborhood looking for drinks, and longtime Eugene residents Bondurant and Kaldahl wanted to continue the spirit of the location.
There’s also a practical reason for the restaurant to have a liquor license.
“Beer and wine goes with pizza, but we wanted to have an off-premises license too, so you can buy a pizza and a six-pack to go,” Bondurant says. “That seems even better. Not only can we get our pizza to go, we can get our beer to go, too.”
For Kaldahl, being a part of the neighborhood is an important aspect of why he chose the Monroe Street location over going to West Eugene or other areas. More than two decades ago, he was first introduced to the area while working at the New Frontier Market on West Eighth Avenue and Van Buren Street, and he fell in love with the area.
With the restaurant’s feel, Bondurant, who now has a Bachelor of Science in fine arts with a metalsmithing focus, strives to keep the “neighborhood vibe” and bring out a family atmosphere. The hardwood-slab tables have a rich, thick finish, and the mismatched chairs give an eclectic feel to a “comfy and cozy” place.
For the three owners, family is an important aspect of their lives. Bondurant and Kaldahl have three children, and co-owner Bui has two of her own. With the three as the only workers at Whirled Pies right now — all working 11-hour shifts — there hasn’t been much time to focus on anything but the restaurant.
“I would say really, it’s a lot of hours to be here,” Bondurant says. “All of a sudden, you’re like, ‘There’s the house and the kids and the groceries.’ I don’t know when the last time I made a regular grocery run is.”
Whirled Pies
1123 Monroe Street
Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily
Happy hour every day from 3-6 p.m. Dollar slices of pizza, dollar-off beer, dollar-off wine