Mmmm… Belly
Nov 21st, 2008 by Amy
It’s rare that we go out for dinner these days, so tonight was pretty special. We have almost stopped going out altogether because we generally feel like we have better meals at home and we are guaranteed that the food sources are mostly local.
We had a wonderful meal with friends Brian and Caroline at a relatively new Eugene restaurant called Belly.We ordered a bottle of Tempranillo to share, which seemed perfect for a fall meal. I rarely have a difficult time making a decision on my dinner, but I was tempted by several dishes and concluded that we would have to revisit several times in the next few weeks to try everything that interests me on the menu before it changes. I typically make a decision after looking at the menu once, maybe twice.
The Belly menu presented a little more difficult decision with its numerous local, unfussy options. The menu is full of tempting fall dishes like pork shoulder confit, pork belly over lentils, braised lamb shank, and braised duck leg. The menu focuses on fresh, local ingredients and changes monthly.
My first decision was between an endive salad with roasted brussel sprouts and roasted cashews or a beet salad with smoked trout, capers, and hard-boiled egg. Caroline ordered for the beet salad, so I decided on the endive salad. I was not disappointed, although I will definitely return to try the beet salad. I am a sucker for smoked trout.
For my main dish, I opted for a small plate of their house specialty – pork shoulder confit with fall fruit.When given the choice, I will almost always choose pork over fish, seafood, beef, or chicken. With my predisposition for pork, I was sold on the “house specialty” description. The fall fruit was grilled apple slices, which was perfect with the slow cooked pork. Matt and I followed our normal ritual of sharing our meals so I also sampled some of his braised duck leg with mashed sweet potatoes and chanterelles. Yum and yum.
Before our dinner tonight we joked about how our other friends, Ron and Judi, had visited Belly 4 times within 6 weeks. It makes sense to us now and we are counting how many times we need to return in November to taste all of the dishes we want to try. And I almost forgot one of the best parts – the most expensive dish on the menu is the filet mignon for $19. I have a feeling they will be seeing a lot of us at Belly.
Amy, love your blog and can’t wait to visit you guys in order to sample what sounds like a wonderful menu. Saw the change of web address on facebook and couldn’t resist commenting from the Netherlands. Miss you both. Your pictures are awesome!
Amy: Come visit soon! You will love Belly…
[...] amazing meal at a restaurant that focuses on local ingredients. Click here to see my [...]
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[...] have never thought that borscht looked like a soup that I would like to eat, let alone make. But our visit to Belly changed my opinion of borscht. Brian ordered borscht for dinner and kindly let us all taste it [...]
As part of our “no gift” Christmas, Nate and I planned to enjoy a nice dinner out together. After hearing your rave reviews, we knew we wanted to try Belly. We were not disappointed! We bumped into Brian and Caroline there
Nicole - So glad that you enjoyed Belly as much as we did. What did you have? Anything you would recommend? Not surprised you bumped into Brian & Caroline - Eugene has a way of working that way… I am excited to go back soon.
[...] menu, and price. And in case you don’t know how we feel about Belly, read about it here. Matt ordered their special which was a flat iron steak sliced thin with chanterelles, andouille [...]
[...] menu, and price. And in case you don’t know how we feel about Belly, read about it here. Matt ordered their special which was a flat iron steak sliced thin with chanterelles, andouille [...]
[...] have never thought that borscht looked like a soup that I would like to eat, let alone make. But our visit to Belly changed my opinion of borscht. Brian ordered borscht for dinner and kindly let us all taste it [...]
[...] amazing meal at a restaurant that focuses on local ingredients. Click here to see my [...]