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Apple cider flows at Detering Orchards, Nelson's expands to campus, Poppi's serves its final Greek Night before a big move and more.
Apple cider flows at Detering Orchards, Nelson’s Taqueria doubles down with a campus expansion, Poppi’s Anatolia serves its final Greek Night before a big move and more happenings in the food world.
Detering Orchards cider release party
Over the weekend of Sept. 27-28, Detering Orchards will host Apple Daze with a cider release party. Detering Orchards presses its own apples into a nonalcoholic cider and bottles by hand. New fall flavors of hard cider will be on tap in Detering’s saloon. Farm activities include the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch, corn cannons and apple blasters, which allow visitors to shoot at targets. This year the farm also has goats, chickens and cows. Also up and running will be a cow train and a gentle mechanical bull for the little ones. The farm’s Apple Daze activities, including U-pick, continue each weekend in October.
Detering Orchards was founded in 1934. Stephen Demergasso, a former accountant whose family lived near the Deterings and farmed hazelnuts at a farm called Saint Filberts, purchased the 120-acre Detering Orchard from the Detering family in 2017. Demergasso said accounting was interesting work, but he prefers the physical work of life on the farm.
The saloon offers a place for guests of all ages to take a rest from farm activities and have one of four beers or cider on tap. Adding the saloon was one of the first changes Demergasso made after he bought the property.
“I gave up my accounting job to work on the farm here,” he said. “So if I’m going to be … on the farm, I want to at least have a hangout spot.”
Detering Orchards
30946 Wyatt Drive, Harrisburg
541-995-6341
Nelson’s opens second location on campus
Nelson’s, the popular Mexican restaurant that has been serving the Whiteaker neighborhood for 10 years, is expanding with a new location near the University of Oregon campus. The restaurant will hold its grand opening Saturday, Sept. 27, from 5-10 p.m. in the former Atlas Mediterranean restaurant space on East 13th Avenue.
Co-owner TJ Mooney said the campus location will focus on quick service and to-go orders, featuring a streamlined menu that includes the restaurant’s famous birria tacos, burritos, breakfast burritos, nachos and quesadillas. The full cocktail menu, including Nelson’s signature margaritas, will also be available.
The new location will operate Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to midnight, and be closed Sundays. Regular hours begin Monday following the grand opening. Nelson’s Taqueria food truck will close to allow the owners to focus on the new space. Nelson’s started as a food cart before establishing its brick-and-mortar location in the Whiteaker neighborhood. The restaurant faced adversity three years ago when its original location was damaged by arson, forcing the owners to close for a week.
“We wouldn’t have survived that arson without the community, that’s for sure,” Mooney said, going on to say that the team is excited and has gotten great feedback from the community on the expansion.
Nelson’s on Campus
871 E. 13th Ave., Suite C
Nelson’s in the Whit
400 Blair Blvd.
541-844-8404
Cottage Grove celebrates Oktoberfest Sept. 27
For the fourth year in a row, the city of Cottage Grove will host its own Oktoberfest celebration. The event is centered on the historic Cottage Grove Armory on the corner of South Seventh Avenue and Washington Street. There is no cost to enter the celebration area. Activities for all ages include a paint-and-sip event, live music and kids activities from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. In addition to vendors, Cottage Grove’s South Valley Farmers Market will be taking place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Downtown Cottage Grove
628 E. Washington Ave.
George + Violets announces Wednesday ramen nights
George + Violets steakhouse announced on its Instagram feed Sept. 21 that Wednesday nights would become Ramen Night at the restaurant, with the steakhouse menu available Thursdays through Sundays. The Ramen Night menu includes smoked pork belly ramen ($17), braised pork cheek ramen ($16) and smoked chicken ramen ($16) in either a shoyu or curry broth. The bowls include marinated bamboo shoots, green onions, pork dumplings and Sun Noodle-brand noodles.
George + Violets
305 Main St., Springfield
541-393-6512
Poppi’s last night on Willamette Street
The Sept. 28 Greek Night will be the last night of service as Poppi’s Anatolia prepares to relocate from its longtime home on Willamette Street to a new space in the 5th Street Public Market. Poppi’s, open in Eugene since 1977, has been at its Willamette Street location for 37 years.
Poppi’s plans to hold a grand reopening Oct. 7 or Oct. 8. The new location will be closed on Mondays but will add a Sunday lunch service while continuing its Sunday Greek night tradition, which features an expanded menu of Greek specialties. The restaurant will reopen with new branding and a new name: Poppi’s Greek Taverna.
The final Sunday Greek night Sept. 28 will serve as both farewell and celebration, featuring the usual menu alongside toasts and acknowledgments of the restaurant’s journey.
Poppi’s Anatolia
Current location, until Sept. 28:
992 Willamette St.
New location, open in early October:
296 E. Fifth Ave., Suite 220
541-343-9661
Portland’s Kann No. 27 on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants List
A restaurant in Portland, Kann, led by chef and founder Gregory Gourdet, was named No. 27 on the inaugural North America’s 50 Best Restaurants. The honor was bestowed at the debut awards event held Sept. 25 at The Wynn in Las Vegas. The James Beard Foundation Awards previously recognized Kann as the Best New Restaurant in 2023. Kann opened in 2022.
North America’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, with 300 voting members, issues the list, which encompasses the United States, Canada and parts of the Caribbean. Kann was the only Oregon restaurant, and the only Northwest restaurant, to make the list.
Gregory Gourdet’s fame rose as a contestant on the 12th and 17th seasons of Bravo’s TV show “Top Chef.”
“As a first-generation Haitian American growing up in Queens, the dishes of my culture were a constant presence — at home, at family gatherings, and throughout the neighborhood,” Gourdet wrote in a statement about his placement on the list. “In opening Kann three years ago … our goal was unwavering: to spotlight traditional Haitian flavors alongside dishes inspired by the cuisines of the African and Caribbean diaspora locally, nationally and internationally.”
Kann
548 SE Ash St., Portland
