At one time or another, the vaulted, wood-beamed ceiling of Horsehead Bar-BQ at 99 West Broadway in downtown Eugene has covered not only cocktails and pool sharks, but rattlesnakes, alligator tails, horse skulls, Birkenstocks, and a 108-year-old man.
“We had a little renaissance,” said Chef Jevon Peck, while standing under a large black and white photograph of Johnny Cash giving the camera the bird. Peck, who describes himself as the bar’s “creator,” took over about a year ago, and since then Horsehead has been offering authentic southern cuisine. About five years ago, the building was occupied by a Mexican restaurant, and before that, Peck said, by the first place that Birkenstock sandals were sold in the United States.
“Customers show more respect here, compared to other places … and the owners are great people,” said bartender Tiffany Cortez. But beyond the full bar and the 10 beers on tap, people come to the Horsehead for the unique southern food, which is served from 11:30 a.m. until 2 a.m, including breakfast. If you want biscuits and gravy at 2 a.m, Cortez said, Horsehead is the place to go.
Peck, who is second-generation Louisianian, has compiled a menu that includes not only the usual pub-grub, but also catfish, collard greens, grits, gumbo (the house specialty), frogs legs, and even gator burgers, made from real alligator tail. The tail, apparently, is the only usable meat on alligators.
“I’m into ‘dare food,’” Peck said.
Another ‘dare’ dish is called “snake bites,” which is a kind of Russian roulette of the palate. It is rattlesnake, cut into several bite-sized pieces, one of which is drenched in hot sauce. The rationality, Peck said, is that “if you’re going to eat snake, it ought to bite you.”
Occasionally, in the mornings, a 108-year-old man named Jim Lincoln visits Horsehead. Born in 1898 on a wagon train in Alaska, and a survivor of both World War I and the 1906 earthquake, he apparently looks younger than he actually is, despite his experiences.
“I didn’t even know he was that old,” said Peck.
Peck said Lincoln goes to the Horsehead “probably because he knows I’ll cook him anything he wants.”
The Horsehead is a spacious venue, with a full kitchen, two patios, a game room with two pool tables, a jukebox, a dart board, and a large main room with plenty of tables, booths and big wooden benches. The walls are painted black and red, with sloppy pastel paintings of horse heads and other related themes, like a wounded matador, and there is a real horse skull mounted on a pole above the bar.
The Horsehead’s “super” happy hour lasts from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m, when domestic beers are $1, and microbrews are $2. Between 11:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. is regular happy hour, with $1 off all liquor, and up to $1 off beer. Daily specials include burgers, steaks, catfish, and oyster shooters.