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The Gorge is full of stellar food and drink options. Below are the Thursday Tidbits for this week.  Everybody's Brewing in White Salmon, WA • For a memorable time, head to Everybody's Brewing tonight at 5 PM in White Salmon for their Oyster & Brews Night. Enjoy fresh oysters and craft beers while staying warm on their heated deck. • Wanting to level up your culinary skills? Save the date for March 1st from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM and join food Scientist Michelle McCafferty while she teaches how to make cheesecake and lemon curd from scratch at Dani's Kitchen Shop. • If you are a beer enthusiast, check out the Saison Beer Masterclass happening at PFriem Family Brewers on March 3rd from 4 PM to 6 PM. The event will take place in Pfriem Upstairs Library. Admission is $10 for the public and complimentary for Pfriemsters ( those with beer club memberships). You could be a Pfriemster too, by joining the Cellar or Artisan club membership. • In White Salmon, Le Doubblé Troubblé Wine Co. serves up a meal the first Monday of every month. On March 4th, head to the tasting room, The Clubhouse, for a meal with Beer Bourguignon served atop mashed potatoes and adorned with hand-foraged porcini mushrooms. Pair this with a glass of one of LDT's wines. • And finally, save the date for Grasslands Barbecue's grand reopening in Hood River on Saturday, 3/23, starting at 11:30 AM. Thank you all for following along!
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• Today is National Margarita Day! Ixtapa is celebrating with margarita deals all weekend. • In White Salmon, Le Doubblé Troubblé Wine Co will have Bestie Bowls over for a Pop-up event today 2/22. There will be wonton soup starting at 5PM. • Pixán added new menu items that look fantastic! Their new menu items, pictured above, include: ~ Pipián Con Cerdo / pork shoulder braised in pumpkin seed mole ~Pescado Frito / whole fried river trout with cilantro remolada ~Lomo Bajo / pan-seared 14oz. strip steak with creamy mushroom sofrito, charred scallions & chili butter. • The Fruit Company is having a fruit overstock event this Friday! They will sell fruit by the case and will have red and green Anjou pears, Comice pears, Fuji apples, Granny Smith apples, Pink lady apples, Cosmic crisp apples and Gala apples. • Grateful Vineyard has announced a change in their open hours. Visit them Thursday-Sunday 12pm-6pm.  Pipián Con Cerdo / pork shoulder braised in pumpkin seed mole. Photo by Pixán.  Pescado Frito / whole fried river trout with cilantro remolada. Photo by Pixán.  Lomo Bajo / pan-seared 14oz. strip steak with creamy mushroom sofrito, charred scallions & chili butter. Photo by Pixán. Send us any delicious or new meals in The Gorge that you would like to share and please remember to tag Hood River Eats in any food or beverage posts on social media with the hashtag #hoodrivereats.
Confluence Café creates community space in LyleStory by Laurel Brown  Paige Munyan at work crafting an espresso drink at Confluence Cafe Photo by: Kelly Turso Community is created through local connection and shared spaces, but what do neighborhoods without the opportunity to gather do to mingle? Lyle is a town residents might consider limiting in this way, lacking in spaces to gather and create friendships. Ali Hamerstadt and Matt Bynum are here to change that. Together they collaborated to open Confluence Café just off SR-14 in Lyle on Nov. 17. “The café was born of a need. Ali was bummed that she had to drive so far for a good cup of coffee,” Bynum said. On her treks to get caffeine, Hamerstadt would pass the tenantless building where the café now resides, wondering day after day if she should do something about it. Her vision for the café went through many iterations, but serious planning started in early 2021. By the end of 2023, the co-owners were excited to rent their space from owners Mary Kleihege and John Streur, who remodeled shortly after buying the building. Bynum described the space as the single most beautiful location in the Gorge that is open to the public. They split the main floor of the building with Domaine Pouillon’s new tasting room. Featuring natural wood from Kleihege and Streur’s farm, the café has a grandiose yet minimalist feel. They attained the wood through wildfire risk reduction work and chose to reuse it for everything from tables to counters to trim and paneling. The wooden floors and deck were strategically laid to draw viewers’ eyes down to the Gorge and the sunset. The railings and table bases, too, are work of Future Folk Supply, a metal company in Parkdale. With countless windows and great natural light, Confluence Café is a great birdwatching destination. Bald eagles, golden eagles, and all sorts of water fowl circle the building and binoculars sit atop Pacific Northwest birdwatching books for customers. Hamerstadt’s goal for the café really involved providing a public gathering space for Lyle, which is a key cultural cornerstone of any community. “There’s a reason the right to assemble is in our Constitution, and we need a place to do that,” Bynum said. Simply put, Lyle was lacking a gathering space; the community was in need of a place for neighbors to meet and hang out. “Too often I meet people and the conversation goes, ‘You live in Lyle too?’ because you’d just never know. I wanted to fix that,” Hamerstadt said. Together Hamerstadt and Bynum have a combined history of 50 years in front of house service all over the nation, so they feel well-equipped to provide a warm and welcoming space to their neighborhood. Seeing worldly faces and younger generations alike frequenting the café instills nostalgia for the pair. Customers are a generous mix of people from all over the Gorge: Hood River, White Salmon, to High Prairie, Appleton, and Murdock. Confluence Café is just the beginning of fostering sense of pride and ownership for the Lyle neighborhood. Their menu offers a variety of local delights and visitors often praise the quality of their product. Confluence uses coffee roasted by Coava in Portland and offers housemade pastries and breakfast sandwiches, such as the Confluence Muffin. They also have pastries from White Salmon Bakery and Edeske Patisserie as well as burritos from Min’s, made-to-order food from a local in Husum. Hamerstadt herself spent many years working at White Salmon Bakery and uses their high-quality products and community-building energy as a model for Confluence Café. “I hope that we can create something similar to the bakery, something that’s its own little community with regulars who use the space for connection,” said Hamerstadt. Looking ahead, they have plans to get more engaged with the community and be good neighbors for the folks in the area. “We intend to be in Lyle for a very, very long time,” Bynum said. For example, their proximity to the sandbar lends a common interest in what happens with it and Bynum mentioned possibly sponsoring a public sandbar cleanup. The couple feels encouraged since their opening, especially choosing to open during the slower winter months and see what locals like and where the café might need attention. They said they are learning the ropes of both busy and slow days in preparation for spring and summer. For the time being, Confluence Café welcomes the community and those passing through alike, Wednesday through Monday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Pastries, muffins, and burritos are available for purchase at the cafe. Photo by Laurel Brown  The Riv Cafe (photo by The Riv’s lead baker, Kat) • Hood River Organic has many new goodies for you to load up on. On their website, you can order various-sized boxes with items such as local organic produce, farm-fresh eggs, juice from Columbia Gorge Organic, or local meat and have it delivered to your door.  Hood River Organic • KickStand Coffee & Kitchen has new menu items, including a caramelized onion and cheese omelet with melted chihuahua cheese, caramelized onion, Mexican crema, spice & seed-crusted avocado, cilantro & sourdough toast. • Ferment Brewing will open their doors this Saturday from 11 am to 1 pm for tours! The tour will be led by their lead brewer, Nik, and no reservations are needed. • For those who need an afternoon boost, Moby Coffee Roasters recently extended their hours to 4 pm Monday through Friday. • The next dine and discover series at Skamania Lodge features a five-course meal with wine pairings from Maryhill Winery on March 9th.  Cork Wine Shop in Hood River, Oregon By Laurel Brown After a grand opening party on Dec. 15, there is officially a new wine store on The Heights: Cork Wine Shop. With bottles to-go or selections by-the-glass, the shop has been open since late fall 2023, and has already had overwhelming support. Owned by Dave Nagengast, Cork has a diverse selection of wines that range from under $20 to $100. They offer varieties from all regions in the hopes that customers can always a find a wine that fits their occasion. “The goal is to create a neighborhood wine shop that brings special and unique wines to the community at a price everyone can afford,” Nagengast said. He also explained that, while they lean in the direction of a natural wine shop, they sell many wines that fall outside of that parameter. The wines that make the cut at Cork are responsibly farmed, authentically produced, and easy to enjoy.Long before opening Cork, Nagengast studied restaurant management in college before spending many years learning and refining his love of food. Though he didn’t love wine immediately, he developed an appreciation for it after working alongside mentors like Curly Shea in Big Sky, Mont. “He doesn’t know it but that guy taught me so much, not only about wine but how to treat people and make them feel welcome,” Nagengast said. Snowboarding by day and bartending by night, he enjoyed tasting wine with his boss and learning about the winemaking process. Nagengast eventually took courses through the Society of Wine Educators and Court of Master Sommeliers before working as a wine director and sommelier himself at a few restaurants near Reno and Tahoe. He grew to love the way wine connects and represents people, cultures, and regions.For a period in 2015 and until recently, Nagengast left the restaurant industry to work for the clothing company Patagonia. He found it a supportive company to work for while helping raise his children, and eventually had the chance to meet Founder Yvon Chouinard, another inspirational figure. “We made a brief connection over wine one evening and a few months later he sent me off on a flight to Germany to find a wine for the Patagonia Provisions label,” Nagengast said. “It’s ironic one of my wine career highlights was while not working in the wine industry.”  Dave Nagengast and family Nagengast moved to Parkdale with his wife and two children in 2020 and Cork Wine Shop eventually followed. “We’ve lived in some amazing small towns with tight-knit communities, but nothing compares to the community here in Hood River,” he said. Customers visit from the Heights just as much as from other towns in the Gorge and they are happy to see a wine shop on the block. The grand opening in December was a success, featuring wines from Loop de Loop in Underwood, a spread of fine cheeses, and plenty of community support. Nagengast hopes to host similar future events to showcase small wine producers who lack their own tasting rooms. His wine shop feels like a part of the neighborhood and he has begun dreaming of new ways to expand the business, including meeting with a cheese importer and distributor from Portland. Nagengast plans to bring in both domestic and imported cheeses so that guests can enjoy tasty pairings at the shop.  Cork Wine Shop in Hood River, Oregon Cork offers two wine club memberships that come with benefits like discounts on bottles and free tastings at events. They are located at 1106 12th St., Hood River and are open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
 Deb’s at Working Hands Fermentation The Super Bowl is this weekend! Here’s some tidbits on where to watch the Super Bowl and enjoy good food in the Gorge: • Working Hands Fermentation has all-day happy hour specials and will be playing the game. You can enjoy delicious wings from Deb’s Hood River while you watch! Their menu features many different flavors of wings, and you can even order a wings flight! • In Cascade Locks, Thunder Island Brewing Company has wings and bingo and will be showing the Super Bowl. • In Hood River, Full Sail Brewing Company is offering all-day happy hour deals and other specials to snack on while you watch the game. • Ferment Brewing Company will have the Super Bowl playing in their tasting room with sound on. • KickStand Coffee & Kitchen is showing the game and serving a happy hour throughout the event. Keep an eye out for their new menu additions dropping tomorrow. • Tilly Jane's Sports Bar & Grill is also playing the game. Try one of their burgers or their fried chicken sandwich. • Cousins’ Restaurant in The Dalles is hosting a Super Bowl watch party. They will have seven televisions to watch the game and food and drink specials like their football platters. They offer three different platters that you can choose from, available for dining in or to-go. • In Parkdale, Solera Brewery is showing the Super Bowl with happy hour beers starting at 3:30 pm until close. If you plan to watch the game at home, here are places offering meals you can order to-go: • Mount Hood BBQ is offering take-and-bake pizzas for your Super Bowl party needs. You can top your pizza with pepperoni, BBQ brisket, or veggies. • Double Mountain Brewery & Cidery has you set up for the ultimate Super Bowl party with their "Fire on the Mountain" special pizza available for takeout, along with growlers, kegs, and bottles to go.  Game Day Classics Platter at Cousins Restaurant in The Dalles  Photo and recipe by Sarah Harper Cozy Winter Soups |
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