Solstice Cafe by Diane

August 9, 2007

The Solstice Café is a lovely lunch-only café at 121 SW 3rd Street in Corvalis, Oregon, and was the perfect stop for us on our drive between Eugene and Portland. The owner, Reiner, his wife and adorable six-month old daughter, hosted us as town residents flocked to the store to order lunch.

The café is set up for the lunch time crowd, especially for workers – you order at the front counter and then can sit at the tables where your food is served. You get your food faster so you can spend more time relaxing at the tables and enjoying it. The menu ranges from sandwiches to salads to specials like turkey stew (which was a big hit at our table).

The absolute highlight of the meal and visit was their blueberry pie. I’ve never had a blueberry pie this good. You bake the crust and let it cool. You put about 1/5 of the blueberries in with the sauce you create and cook that up. You then mix in the rest of the blueberries and press it into the shell – you then put it in the refrigerator so you don’t even have to bake the pie. What happens is that the blueberries retain their shape, taste and texture, so you get a blueberry pow when you bite into the pie. It’s simply delicious. And to make something so good even better, if you top the pie with some lemon zest just before serving, you turn the dessert into an eating event. Plop a little homemade whip cream on there and words will escape you.

And rather than me try to explain how good this pie is, Reiner very kindly gave us the recipe to share with you all, so I’ve pasted it below – and put some photos of it up also.

The reason we picked The Solstice Café to stop at was through a connection we’d made with Reiner’s sister Whitney, who happens to be based in Los Angeles. Whitney sent Sustainable Table some Goji Bar samples that Reiner makes, and we fell in love with them. And once we found out that we’d be passing through Corvalis on our trip, we knew we had to stop in. You could call the goji bars an energy bar, but they’re more like a meal in a bar. Among the ingredients are oats, goji berries, chocolate, and peanut butter. Reiner was so kind, he even made up a lot of samples of the bars that we’re giving out as we travel across the country.

Now you could say this isn’t eating local, and I guess once you get out of Oregon it’s not (the goji bars are shipped around the country), but I think this is one of those examples where a person has to make a choice. Sometimes I don’t have time to eat, and I’m not too keen on energy bars – even organic ones – because they taste empty to me, and I’m always hungry an hour or so later, and I found that goji bars taste much better (they’re delicious) and are much more satisfying.

What I also like is that Reiner and his staff hand make each batch in the back kitchen of their café. They label, sticker and ship from back there also. When we toured the kitchen, two pans of goji bars were drying in the sun next to a large window. They’re a small, independent operation who are making a good product, so I think they need to be supported also.

So this was another enjoyable meal with warm, generous people – and another perfect stop on our Eat Well Guided Tour of America.

Solstice Blueberry Pie

Crust

9 T Butter (4.5 oz)
1 c Flour (pastry flour if available)
1t Salt
3.5 T ice water
1T cider vinegar

Cut butter into 3/4 inch cubes and freeze 1/3 (3 T), refrigerate the rest.

Process refrigerated butter 20 sec w/flour and salt. Add frozen butter and process ‘til the size of peas.

Add water and cider. Knead slightly and chill before rolling.

Filling

5-6 c blueberries, rinsed and dried
1/2 c plus 2T water, divided
2 T cornstarch
1/2 c sugar
2t lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Pinch of salt

Measure 1c blueberries, choosing softest. Simmer with 1/2 c water in covered pan.

In a separate bowl, whisk remaining water (2T) with cornstarch. When water and blueberries come to a boil, lower the heat and continue to simmer until it begins to thicken.

Add lemon juice, sugar, salt, and cornstarch mixture and simmer until translucent. Remove from heat and toss remaining blueberries to coat.

Spoon mixture into pre-baked pie shell and press gently into shell and refrigerate until set (around 2 hrs).

Optional: pipe whipped cream around the edges and zest a lemon on top just before serving.

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