This Artsy Oregon Town Pairs Global Food With Mountain Views

A small artsy town of about 21,000 residents in southern Oregon, Ashland is famous for its Shakespeare Festival, which is in season from March through October. Near the California border off Interstate 5, the town marked by a strong New Age and global vibe now offers a vibrant, eclectic dining scene, featuring James Beard Award finalist credentials, global eateries, and a rich cultural scene. The theater festival, which draws theater-goers from many West Coast cities (and is celebrating 90 years in 2025), and the location, midway between San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, have influenced the thriving food scene.

“We have such a cosmopolitan group of people coming to see plays — about 350,000 each year — who expect and want something else while here, and the town responded in kind,” says Drew Gibbs, owner of Alchemy and Chateaubriand 36 restaurants and The Winchester Inn, named the best B&B in the country in August by 10best. “As a local boy born in 1984, I’ve seen such a restaurant boom in the past 40 years, from the handful here when my parents opened our inn in 1983.”

Here's where to eat and drink on a visit.

MÄS

This tasting menu–only restaurant from a 2023 and 2024 James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific offers a parade of 10-12 exquisite Japanese-influenced courses, mostly showcasing seafood. “I’m so humbled by the support this community has given me,” says Josh Dorcak, a native of Cupertino in the Bay Area, who says seeing Tokyo’s micro-restaurants and bars was a life-changing experience that inspired him to open MÄS in 2018 in a small alley. Called one of the 50 best restaurants in the country in 2022 by The New York Times, it serves “Cascadian” cuisine, sourced from Oregon and California, at a six-seat counter and in a tiny dining room and private library room. 

Uni (sea urchin) custard with corn dashi topped by shaved truffles and trout roe is a standout. So are halibut flavored with Meyer lemon juice, fermented blueberries, aonori seaweed (which lent a grassy green tea-like taste), and crispy dried fig leaves (which taste a bit coconutty) infused with Thai basil, and a savory macaron infused with black Hojicha tea and filled with foie gras and shiro plum gel. “I like an elevated surf and turf,” says Dorcak of the bite of guinea fowl stuffed with scallop and truffle, topped with fava beans and chanterelles in a sherry sauce, on my 11-course menu. 

Alchemy

Ashland’s first fine-dining restaurant opened in 1983 in The Winchester Inn, a Victorian-style B&B with a main house that dates from 1886. A signature starter, mushrooms served three ways (flan, sauteed, and a consommé poured tableside), delivers an “umami bomb of flavor,” says Gibbs. Octopus glazed in housemade XO sauce (which takes 24 hours to make), served with basil leaves, cilantro, diced cucumbers, plus a dash of Vietnamese fish sauce is an unexpected take with rich, deep flavors. Alchemy, which offers Ashland’s biggest wine list (500+ labels), including many from Oregon, is also acclaimed for its steaks. (The owners have opened a steakhouse across the street.)

Blue Toba

A native of Sumatra’s Lake Toba region, chef-owner Birong Hutabarat serves traditional Indonesian cuisine at Blue Toba, which is stylishly and colorfully decorated with shadow puppets, textiles, and masks from all over the archipelago. “Guy Fieri was blown away on his visit — he never ate Indonesian food before,” says his wife and co-owner, Leslie Caplan, of the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host. The Food Network show shares recipes for the restaurant's intensely flavored beef rendang, made with 19 spices and marinated for five hours (my menu choice) and opor, a candlenut curry, online.

Cocktails feature Indonesian spices with housemade syrups and tonics, such as Matahariku, a blend of light rum, candlenut orgeat, Giffard banana liqueur with a hint of Cognac, orange juice, and Blackstrap rum. “It’s craft food, craft cocktails, craft everything here,” says Caplan, who met Hutabarat in Ashland after eight years in Indonesia. “People came in saying, I bought this 40 years ago in Indonesia, I want to gift it to you,” says Caplan of how grateful customers donated many artifacts. 

Morning Glory

The town’s beloved go-to breakfast spot (an hour wait on weekends is common) offers creative takes on omelets and crêpes and generous portions. The bold blue interior features a painted quote from Japanese haiku master Basho (“I am one who eats breakfast gazing at morning glories”). My Alaskan king crab omelet was positively bursting with crab, artichokes, and scallions in Parmesan cream, and a rockfish crêpe with bacon delighted on a previous visit. French toast with salted caramel, or with lemon ricotta, wins rave reviews. Opened in 1997 and ranked Ashland’s top restaurant on Tripadvisor, Morning Glory survived a near-death experience when it closed during the pandemic. But two loyal customers purchased it in 2021, keeping recipes and longtime staff, and a new owner took over in January 2024. 

Chateubriand 36

The Gibbs family’s French-style steakhouse, opened in late 2021, offers a variety of steaks, including a 32-ounce chateaubriand cut for up to four people, duck a l’orange with sweet potato gnocchi, and French onion soup with Tillamook cheddar and Gruyere. Chateaubriand 36 serves wines from France and Oregon, plus 10 absinthes from France, Oregon, and California. Patio seating offers beautiful views of the Siskiyou Mountains.

Bar Julliet

Shatteringly crisp fried chicken, honey, and Aleppo chile spiced with Calabrian ranch sauce, served in a heaping bowl enough for two, is a staple at this bistro on the Downtown Plaza known for comfort classics. Scallops served with hazelnuts, wax beans, tomato, and spicy fish sauce is another specialty at Bar Juillet, whose young married owners have pedigrees from San Francisco (chef Wesley Reimer worked at Octavia; Corrie was manager at Frances) and Portland (Reimer at The Woodsman Tavern).

Oberon's

This bar on the Plaza may look like a British-style tavern thanks to its Shakespearean play posters and pub grub, but there’s a serious spirits list of more than 100 Scotch whiskies, including some from Japan and Taiwan, 70 tequilas, and a four-page list of Bourbons. A “Best Damned List” offers cocktails priced at up to $75, due to rare bottles. Self-proclaimed “Ashland’s most Ashlandiest spot,” Oberon's Cocktail Bar and Restaurant is popular for live music.

Harana Cafe

A casual café for modern renditions of traditional Filipino food, Harana opened in October 2023. Chef/owner Chris Lopez, who worked at Portland’s Urban Farmer at the Nines Hotel, opened it with his mother, Teresita. “Working together was a pipe dream of ours, and when this opportunity came, we just dove into it. We wanted to share the beauty and complexity of Filipino cuisine, which is sparse in our neck of the woods.” 

My chicken adobo, braised in soy-coconut vinegar with garlic confit, featured mushrooms for an umami kick. My pancit miki, a noodle stir-fry, contained shrimp and scallops, not the usual chicken or pork, and yakisoba noodles. Lumpia, pork spring rolls, had an added crunch thanks to water chestnuts. A coconut milk squash, green beans and fermented black beans stew was stellar. A Filipino woman next to me praised the authentic flavors at Harana, which offers a natural wine list, cocktails and beer.

Greenleaf

Local favorite Greenleaf opened in 1985 on the Plaza with a delightful patio on Ashland Creek, offering yummy sandwiches like a blackened chicken BLT with Dijon aioli and avocado and many vegetarian options, like Mediterranean quesadillas and soba bowls. Bookish course names, like Preface, Main Story, and Bookends, are a nod to Ashland’s cultural bent.

Belle Fiore Estate Winery

An elegant French chateau-style building whose floors bear pietra dura designs (inlaid colored stones) is the tasting room at this winery a 15-minute drive from downtown Ashland. Belle Fiore Estate Winery makes award-winning wines from 17 Italian, French and Spanish grapes, like Barbera, Chardonnay and Montepulciano, from its 31-acre vineyard in the surrounding Rogue Valley AVA. A large upstairs terrace, which features live music, offers majestic views of the Siskiyou mountains. There’s an all-day fine-dining menu, plus pizza and cheese boards.

Weisinger Family Winery

A 10-minute drive from downtown Ashland, Weisinger Family Winery was the first winery in the Rogue Valley when it opened in 1988. Its casual two-story, dog-friendly deck with sofas and expansive views of the Siskiyou Mountains is a delightful place to taste wine, which hails from its own vineyard or within five miles. A flight of six is $18.