"Nearly Normal's:" Restaurant Review and Other Musings

While we were in Oregon, Phil's sister and her husband came down to the farm and we all went to town (Corvallis) to eat at Nearly Normal's, a veggie restaurant featuring what they call 'gonzo cuisine.'

I feel like our own life is full of 'nearly normal.' Like this turkey, one of our neighbors' birds, who's become broody and decided that this pile of fishing net floats is her clutch of eggs.

I was rude--I got too close and she's stalking off. Bad photo. Unfortunately, the resident weasel in the woodpile seems to have been pilfering quite a few of her eggs, judging by the shells in its poop...

At Nearly Normal's, you order food at the bar, right inside the door, and then seat yourselves. Most people sit upstairs, as did we--here are Phil's mom, sister and brother-in-law...

It's a beautiful, airy place and those screens and plants really help to mask the ugly air-conditioning unit on the roof right outside and divert your gaze to the trees beyond.

The menu is diverse and richly themed: it's easy to avoid tofu if soy's not your veggie, they have Mexican-themed and American-themed dishes as well as breakfast foods and a few curries and other Asian dishes.

I was enticed by a chipotle veggie and beans dish but upon inquiry it turned out that it was irretrievably gluten-laced. They have little sub-menus that tell what is gluten free and what is vegan and I was pointed to those--very helpful.

Is it nearly normal to dig up a whole mature apple tree, drive it 250 miles and plant it in your yard at the end of a long journey?

Or to replace the berries in your smoothie with peas, and then replace those with green beans (even though they don't taste as good) because the omega 3:6 ratio is better?

Ever since I lived in the Bay Area, I've found a pink flamingo theme cropping up in art and kitsch, in people's front yards and bathrooms, climbing their trellises. It sneaks up on me here and there in my life, and apparently it's part of Nearly Normal's theme too!

My husband's daughter's fiance has a bunch of pink flamingos in his yard, variously beheaded and mangled: it seems they make moose angry.

Underneath the pink flamingo in the Nearly Normal's upstairs dining room is the stairwell by which the food is brought up. I was impressed with how straight the waiter had our order: I imagine that could be a glitchy thing if people are ordering at the bar, with special quirks and requests.

You also get to collect your own silverware and bus your plates afterwards, and they have water on tap in both the upstairs and downstairs eating areas. The water was delicious, btw--not chlorinated tap water nor nothin'.

What is gonzo cuisine? According to their website, it refers to an emphasis on fresh ingredients, organic where possible, to inventing original recipes, using thoughtfulness in preparation and presentation of the food, as well as a cooperative work environment where even the cooks do dishes. Sounds good to me: the atmosphere was lovely in general and I could imagine I'd enjoy working in an environment like that.

Three of the six of us (including me) chose the curried veggies with tofu or tempeh, rice, raita and raisin chutney. My plate had neither tofu nor tempeh, and sliced cucumbers instead of the raita.

I had a nibble of someone else's tempeh and almost wished I'd had some: it's a fermented product and thus less worrisome than unfermented soy, and it was tasty! The menu listing did say 'curried vegetables' but I was somehow expecting more of a sauce on the veggies: it really was discrete vegetables over rice. I liked it, but I prefer my curries more saucy. That was the second time on my trip that I had rice on my plate, actually ate a little of it, and noticed no ill effects. A good sign.

Phil had a spinach lasagna and was happy with it. His sister had the pad thai, which turned out to be angel hair noodles on one side of the platter and veggies on the other (she was expecting the flatter noodles that usually associate with pad thai) but she said it was very good. His mom had the red thai curry. It looked a bit heavy on rice noodles and tofu and light on veggies to me, but she liked it (except for the tofu).

I thought the food was very good, especially for the reasonable pricing. It's down-to-earth rather than spectacular: a word that comes to mind is 'wholesome,' in a good way. I was glad that it's the kind of place that you can bring the more traditional 'meat and potatoes crowd' and know that they'll be happy too!

And I'd far rather be 'nearly normal' than 'normal,' I think--wouldn't you?