Rogue Dining

Each listing includes the name of the town; you can use the whitepages to look up the address yourself. Unless otherwise mentioned, prices are for dinner and include one drink per person and tip.

Where to Eat

Kaliedescope Pizza, Medford: "Alaskan pizza", if you can imagine that. The owners moved to Medford from Alaska, presumably to try some light in the winter for a change. Good everything-but-the-kitchen-sink medium-crust pizzas; good crust, if a trifle overloaded. Unfortunately, their recent menu change has cut the vegetarian options and almost eliminated the seafood pizzas in favor of lots of chicken. Excellent draft beer selection, almost entirely Oregon beers. About $16 per person.

Miguel's Guadalajara, Shady Cove: the exception to the old rule "You can't get decent Mexican food north of San Luis Obispo". Miguel has, in fact, built up Shady Cove's most successful restaurant into a mini-empire, with 5 locations in the Rogue Valley. However, only the original location is personally supervised by Miguel and his daughter, so you should pass up Gold Hill and Eagle Point and go straight to Shady Cove. An option-paralysis-inducing menu combines with a moderate tequila bar and the view from the dining balcony over the river to make you completely lose track of the time. Advice, though: come with a huge appetite, or ask them to swap the rice & beans for salad. Around $15 per person for dinner, unless you get into the margeritas.

The Wharf, Medford: I'm so thrilled to see someone bringing really fresh seafood to Medford that I'm willing to overlook the problem that this son-and-mother team isn't quite sure what to do with the seafood once it arrives. Besides, since it's a first-timer restaurant and has only been open for a month, I'm willing to give them some slack. Go there for dinner, pass up the heavily-breaded deep-fried options (a concession to local tastes) or the pasta, and instead get the cracked crab, the choose-your-own grill or the skewers. Or just buy something from the surprisingly affordable fish counter and cook it yourself. It's the freshest seafood you'll get for 60 miles, and comes with good local beers. About $18.

Summer Jo's, Grant's Pass: a few enterprising restauranteurs are trying to bring truly fine dining to the Rogue Valley, and many are having a rough time of it (Caterina's closed last year). Summer Jo's is an Alice Waters-ish place, on an estate with its own organic produce gardens which supply the restaurant at least part of the year, and a highly seasonal, eclectic menu. Unfortunately, I've never been there in the summer, and the more limited winter menu is hard on a non-meat-eater. Like most other high-end restaurants in the area, the food can be a little hit-or-miss (mostly hit, fortunately) and the service friendly but a bit amateurish, and the things which are truly excellent aren't necessarily the ones you expected; last week, the carrot soup was superb and the desserts delicious but the salmon was largely bland. The wine list is limited but low-markup and contains a lot of good local mid-priced selections. Best, Summer Jo's has a romantic, intimate atmosphere and allows you to eat gourmet without rubbing elbows with the Ashland hippie-yuppies (though they could stand to remodel the bathroom). Around $50, with wine.

Brunch at Elmer's, Medford: for semi-fancy, high-calorie brunch in Medford (or Grant's Pass, but I haven't tried that location) Elmer's is hard to beat. In addition to usual, and unusual, eggy and starchy options, Elmer's offers cheesy potato pancakes and their signature crepe-like German oven pancake (Dutch bunny). Warning to veggies, though: Elmer's tends to put pork products in everything. Around $13 per person.

Cafe Dejuner: fresh-ingredient Cal cuisine. Excellent for a high-class lunch, especially in good weather when you can eat on the patio. About $14 per person for lunch, with no booze.

Bambu, Medford: Asian-fusion. Not San Francisco-class, but generally good and excellent service. Many non-meat options.

Phoenix Bento, Phoenix: charming little bento/rice bowl place next to the 99. Portland cusine comes to the Rogue. Good and cheap; about $6 each for lunch.

Becky's (pie), Union Creek: you've been up to Crater Lake or the "Sno-Park" for a day of sledding, skiing and trudging through the snow. You're ravenous and it's 3pm. What to do? Becky's on Highway 62, of course, where they have between seven and eleven different flavors of homemade pie on any given day. $4 each, with coffee/tea.

Semi-Reliable Recommendations

Here's some places I've been recommended to by people who can tell the difference between sauvignon blanc and beurre blanc:

• 38 On Central, Medford: Cal cuisine.
• Elements, Medford: tapas bar.
• Jacksonville Inn, Jacksonville, OR: traditional high-end francophilic food, but good.
• India Palace, Medford: Indian, of course.
• Butte Falls Cafe, Butte Falls: good old-fashioned hamburgers.
• Bella Union, Jacksonville: Italian, without the meatballs.
• Zack's Deli, Medford: good basic deli food. Popular.