We’re welcoming back High Eats, an old Leaf favorite feature pairing fine local food and complementary Cannabis. This month, you’re in for a tasty treat. The only trick is not switching to a fully fried chicken and hash diet after diving in.
Our Tech Issue had the team pondering products with a new-age twist when, suddenly, we found ourselves across space and time (or maybe just across town) at Eugene’s Tao Gardens. We rode one of their “Worm Holes” back downtown toward a local spot quickly solidifying its place in the PNW by pumping out unique dishes and drinks: Yardy Rum Bar.
As we took off toward Yardy, Tao’s one-gram True Glue flower joint filled with Fatso rosin provided a robust, rubbery and pungent punch that practically fueled our flight. This combination is not for inexperienced hashtronauts. But if you’re a guzzler of the gas, a seeker of the skunk, or a finder of the funk, we dare you to dig in. Rosin rolled right into a glass-tipped joint makes for smooth smoking and even smoother soaring on the go.
As we descended on our destination, it was time to take our taste buds on another trip. Yardy’s menu is a marvelous, market-driven West Indies adventure inspired by Founder and Chef Isaiah Martinez’s Caribbean background and East Coast experience. It’s hard to appropriately emphasize how solid the menu is during any given season. So just visit this establishment with an empty belly and buddies to share one of everything with.
For those easily overwhelmed or first feeling out the flavors, we suggest starting with the chicken (listed in-menu as “3-PC Pan-Fried Chicken” and available all year). The golden coating has a decadent crunch caressed by fatty flavors with warm paprika, cumin and nutmeg-like notes. Each bite offers a brothy fullness down to the bone. To top things off: fresh thyme, a pile of pickled perfection and a smokey-sweet, slammin’ house-made hot sauce.
After all of that, we needed an intermission from the mission and stepped out for a dessert of sorts: Ooh La La flower and Orange Cream rosin — another tasting compliment of Tao. The sweet, cheesy, lavender Ooh La La led us gently into Orange Cream’s vanilla-floral feel, but both met in the middle for a creamy finish.
Now, in need of a cottonmouth cure, we stepped back inside for a sip of something from Bar Manager and Partner Nico Centanni. He dished out Yardy’s Signature Daiquiri (composed of a rum mixture, Demerara sugar, fresh lime, soda and bitters), and we found ourselves drenched in a sweet, smooth and fruity round of refreshment. The bitters’ essence of cinnamon and clove and rum’s toasted caramel wrapped us and the afternoon up in a cozy blanket of bliss.
