Contrary to what Google says, Rye is not a French restaurant. You may see ingredients on the menu like chèvre or duck confit, and some of the vintage vermouth posters on the walls may be in French, but the brainchild establishment of Kiyallah Heatherstone, Wendy Watson and Jeff Passerotti serves a lot more than French food.
“We worked together at a place called Bel Ami,” Heatherstone, co-owner of Rye, said. Heatherstone met Passerotti and Watson at the now closed Eugene restaurant, and after they all left in 2008, they were looking to try something new together.
Heatherstone said the financial crisis at the time made planning very difficult. There were many moving parts and none of them were certain, but the trio wanted to use their joint experience and take a shot in the restaurant business together. They thought about either buying Bel Ami and converting it into something new, or starting from scratch somewhere else.
After three years of hard luck, they finally had a breakthrough. They knew the owners of the property Rye lives in now, and in late 2011, “This place kind of fell into our laps,” Heatherstone said. The three finally had the setting to test out what they had been looking to do for so long. Their vision was a semi upscale spot with flavors inspired by simple European recipes.
Fast forward to now and that vision has come to fruition. Located right next to the river in the northeast corner of downtown, Rye is now a “From scratch, craft bar, full service, dinner house,” Heatherstone said. He said the menu is guided by French, Italian and Spanish cuisine, making for a varied European dining experience. Heatherstone explained that they also take inspiration from Greek and North African seasonings to enhance these flavors further. The interior reflects their vision with a graceful rustic feel brought to life by vintage food posters and dark wooden walls.
At the center of the room is their craft bar headed by bartender Derek Lianos. “I’ve got a pretty massive playground,” Lianos said. The booze selection is vast, and Lianos is the personal curator of the library. The backbone of their drinks is a stack of papers Lianos and Heatherstone call the Bible. Inside are the recipes for every drink Lianos and any other bartenders have made at Rye, and it’s no small list.
“I’ve been here since the beginning,” Lianos said. He has worked as a bartender at Rye for 11 years, and has spent his time perpetually expanding their drink selection and archive of drink recipes. Following in suit with the food menu, Lianos said, “We’re all over the map with our cocktail menu.” In order to foster such a wide selection, Lianos and the other bartenders are always experimenting and looking for something new. Back in the days when they had an in-house chocolatier, Lianos and the owners would spend some nights tasting chocolates and whiskeys trying to find good pairings — a truly grueling job it seems.
In all seriousness, Heatherstone and Lianos both said that the work environment is what makes Rye special. They have a close knit, experienced team, which is a pretty great combination for a restaurant. “We all get along really well here, we’re all pretty much friends,” Lianos said. Heatherstone said, “The thing that I’m most proud of is having a staff that sticks around.” That fact is all the more impressive in the restaurant industry where there’s always such a high turnover in employees.
Good food, a talented staff and a pleasant setting are what makes a good restaurant, and Rye is no exception.
