There’s no dessert on the menu at Saigon Restaurant, but some days owner Lee Nguyen says he makes the Vietnamese sweet Ba Mau. He was unable to describe the popular dessert, except to say that it was green.
Nguyen opened his restaurant this past year and said that “everyone likes it.”
“Look,” he said, pointing at a couple finishing off their bowls of pho. “It has very little oil, so it’s good for the diet.”
Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is a hearty bowl of soup with rice noodles, vegetables and beef, but Nguyen said he can make vegetarian pho on request.
Saigon Restaurant, at 1461 E. 19th Ave., is just one of a number of restaurants north and south of the east side of campus. For students in a hurry between classes or looking for a meal right across the street, there are many dining options.
The specialty egg dishes and the laid-back atmosphere draws crowds to Studio One Cafe, at 1473 E. 19th Ave., where caricatures of Dustin Hoffman and Laurel and Hardy look out from the menu, admonishing diners to eat their vegetables.
Right next door, East 19th Street Cafe, at 1485 E. 19th Ave., attracts late-night customers with happy hour from 10 p.m. until closing. They serve pub food with a daily selection of 25 types of beer.
On the north side, Franklin Boulevard is full of eating establishments close to home.
Van Louie, owner of Louie’s Village, said his restaurant is a
quiet place, making it very popular meeting place for grad students. Louie said he expects to
see a lot of business school students as soon as the new building is finished.
Louie’s, at 947 Franklin Blvd., offers Cantonese and American food, while down the street at the Golden China Buffet, 1525 Franklin Blvd., the specialty is Mandarin and Szechuan cuisine.
Jennifer Hsu said her family has a different concept for their buffet.
“We have real, popular menu items on the buffet,” Hsu said, “like Kung Pao chicken or cashew chicken. Not just a lot of fried things.”
The buffet comes with drinks and ice cream, and Hsu said they’re happy to accommodate vegetarians.
Further down the boulevard, the dining room at Mekala’s is all crisp cloth napkins and lush jungle plants.
The owners moved their restaurant from Thailand to Eugene in 1988. They offer soups, salads, curries, noodles and a full page of desserts. The restaurant, at 1769 Franklin Blvd., offers some unique cocktails, like ginger-lime and pomegranate cosmopolitans.
Track Town Pizza, at 1809 Franklin Blvd., is the place for the hungry Duck. It’s a museum of University sports clippings, and it offers generous student discounts.
The barbecue chicken pizza is the house favorite, but the menu also includes a number of themed pies, such as the “all meat” Heptathlon and the roasted red pepper Pole Vault.
Track Town delivers, but diners who choose to eat in should be sure to bring an extra 50 cents — for the machine with the toy-grabbing claw.