A step into Chez Ray’s restaurant in downtown Eugene is a step into the past. From the walls adorned with pictures of owner and operator Ray Sewell arm-in-arm with the likes of Timothy Leary and Carlos Santana, to television monitors that continuously play kaleidoscopic psychedelic images, it is clear that this is a restaurant which has been influenced by the ideas and ideals of the late 1960s.
But what is most outstanding about Chez Ray’s is how it has become the contemporary focal point of downtown Eugene.
“Chez Ray’s has brought new life to downtown,” restaurant regular Stephanie Perceful said.. “And it is so brilliantly decorated.”
Since moving into a larger space in December — complete with a bar and music stage — Chez Ray’s has broadened its appeal far beyond just the Saturday Market audience. Any night of the week, the restaurant is packed with an array of hungry customers.
“Conservative people in business suits come here and get loose,” said Shine Sewell, Ray’s daughter and a restaurant hostess. “Dreads eat next to a judge or a fire marshal or a police man. This is a place where people can let go.”
Patrons range from University exchange students seeking a slice of American life, to drop ins by Ken Kesey and touring musicians.
“Few people come here who don’t come back,” Shine Sewell said.
Ray Sewell sees the broadening of his clientele as a positive — and somewhat surprising — change.
“There is no one type who comes to eat here, this is a very neutral room,” he said. “I attribute that to the fact that we’ve become mainstream. When I reflect upon the whole journey and the entire struggle to remain an independent thinker, there was rarely a thought given to, ‘What if it works?’ And it has.”
Sewell’s journey began when his mother moved from Cleveland to a San Francisco apartment above City Lights Books between the Tenderloin and North Beach districts in the early 1930s. That’s where he got his exposure to counter-culture life, with the likes of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and William S. Burroughs frequenting the bookstore.
“My mother was a great lover of books and stories. The path I chose was not to listen to too many stories but to make up my own,” Sewell said.
Sewell never excelled academically in high school and was later diagnosed with dyslexia. His high school placed him into a food service program, which ignited his interest in cooking. Although he said he was bitter that at the time he wasn’t properly diagnosed as being dyslexic, Sewell now views his early exposure to food preparation as a blessing.
Sewell went on to a three-year apprenticeship in San Francisco, learning classic French cooking from strict Swiss chefs. Sewell tempered 18-hour days in the kitchen with late nights taking in tunes at the Fillmore West Auditorium.
“The music was an escape from the intense apprenticeship,” Sewell said.
At this time, the cultural revolution was coinciding with the culinary revolution. The culinary revolution — sometimes called “California cuisine” — involved not taking any ingredient as an absolute. Rather, it encouraged chefs to look locally for similar, if not better, ingredients.
In 1972, Sewell decided to leave the Bay area for Eugene.
“I saw the Saturday Market once when I was visiting and thought, I can do this,” Sewell said. The Oregon Country Fair was his first introduction into the community. Having a certified French chef cooking in the middle of the forest helped lend credibility to the County Fair, according to Sewell.
In the mid 1970s, Sewell started working for Bill Graham Presents. He began cooking for the Grateful Dead on tour and didn’t stop until 1994. He is the first and longest-running chef the Grateful Dead ever had. His success with them lead to offers from such legendary acts as George Clinton, James Brown, Frank Zappa and Bob Dylan, just to name a few.
Today, Chez Ray’s menu is an adventurous assortment of dishes Sewell learned while cooking on tours. From his “world-famous” salmon burger to his original custard french toast, Sewell’s menu delivers the same flair that the man does. Sewell calls his style of food preparation “jazz cooking,” due to the arty and improvised angle he takes towards the preparations of his dishes.
Sewell calls the mixture of art, music and dining “culinary theater.”
“Back when people ate around the fire pit, there was heat and light and food. While you wait, there is time so there is storytelling and joking. After dinner there is the traditional dance and jam session,” Sewell said. “That has continued to manifest and I think that is the genesis of celebration.”
Sewell said that his goal has always been to provide an arena where he can offer entertainment and food in an environment that is comfortable. At Chez Ray’s, Sewell brings together the components of the feast.
While the future remains unwritten, Sewell is anything but short on ideas, including music every night of the week, a short-film festival, vaudeville nights and poetry readings to live jazz. As for himself, Sewell is looking into making a cooking television show, finishing up a book he is writing with longtime friend Tripp Sommer about cooking on the road, and celebrating his 23rd wedding anniversary with his wife, Dawn.
“One of the pluses of owning a business is that you can explore your own passion and surround yourself with it,” Sewell said.
Chez Ray’s is open seven days a week and is located at 44 W. 10th Ave.