Morning GloryCost: $ Atmosphere: 5 Taste: 4 Service: 3 Drinks: 4 |
Tucked away in a quaint yellow storefront in the Growers Market Building at 450 Willamette St. and right around the corner from the railroad station, Morning Glory is one of the most popular places in Eugene to eat breakfast and lunch. Inside, the yellow and orange walls, adorned with a variety of plants, local artwork and white holiday lights, create a warm ambiance, and the eclectic mix of chairs and mosaic-tiled tables adds a friendly, neighborly feel to the café.
From the open dining room, customers can hear the sizzling of a variety of vegetable-based dishes, including the Three Sisters, a scramble of herbed potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, onions and zucchini with a choice of mozzarella cheese, tofu sour cream or homemade mushroom gravy.
One of Eugene’s most eco-friendly restaurants, Morning Glory uses fresh, organic, locally grown ingredients and also recycles and composts leftover waste.
All menu options are either vegan or can be made vegan upon request, and nearly all of the fresh-baked goods at Morning Glory’s Out of the Fog Café and Bakery, from scones to cookies and banana bread, are organic and vegan-friendly. Due to the emphasis on vegan cooking, customers will not find the wide variety of egg dishes normally found on breakfast menus. Rather, they will be confronted with an array of mouth-watering, creative meal options, including chilaquiles and The Fusion, a potato shell filled with tofu, fresh vegetables and mushroom gravy.
For the somewhat less adventurous, Morning Glory also offers a number of traditional dishes, including French toast and Belgian waffles.
The owners of the Out of the Fog Café, which shares the same building as Morning Glory, also own Café Mam, a cooperative, organic farm in Chiapas, Mexico. Out of the Fog offers a wide variety of espresso drinks and teas, as well as fresh-squeezed vegetable and fruit juice; and, of course, all of the ingredients are organic.
For lunch, Morning Glory offers salads, sandwiches and noodle dishes, as well as an ever-changing but delicious soup of the day, which can be enjoyed with a variety of homemade rolls. Favorites include the Tofu Luna sandwich, the grilled cheese, tomato, mushroom and pesto sandwich and the Triple Lucky Noodle Dish.
Most dishes on the menu are priced between $7 and $8, making Morning Glory an affordable dining option and coupled with the large portion sizes, the restaurant holds particular appeal for the cash-conscious. The wait staff is polite and personable and the food service is timely; barring an overly busy restaurant, the wait time between ordering and receiving a hot meal is roughly 15 to 20 minutes.
Morning Glory succeeds in embracing the hippie factor of Eugene without renouncing urban appeal. The restaurant welcomes jeans, sweats, skirts and dreads alike while maintaining a relaxing, yet refined atmosphere.
After a walk or bike ride along the beautiful Willamette River trail, Morning Glory is the perfect place to stop off for a casual and tasty meal.
Weekday mornings are usually fairly calm and quiet, but the restaurant stays busy on the weekends, and is now open for dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings.