(Photo above: Jen’s Garden in Sisters, Oregon. Photo by Jeff Spry)
Change is in the air for Jen’s Garden in Sisters as they transition into a fresh chapter of their existence as a new breakfast and lunch café this Spring. The iconic, Southern France-inspired, elegant restaurant in downtown Sisters has served up multi-course gourmet magic since 2005, garnering local and regional attention as a culinary destination not to be missed.
Now it will undergo a makeover as it transforms into The Cottonwood Café, a comfortable homestyle eatery with a local flair.
Business partners Jennifer and T.R. McCrystal opened Jen’s Garden ten years ago to fill a niche in the fine dining scene, offering high quality, locally sourced ingredients to customers yearning for a more intimate dining experience.
Over the years, Jen’s Garden has evolved into a distinctive occasion restaurant, recognized by magazines and foodies throughout Oregon and will blossom into a different incarnation in April.
“We started out with our intentions to open a restaurant serving exceptionally prepared, locally sourced fare in a cute cottage,” Jennifer said. “Really good food in this beautiful environment. For many, what it’s become over time is a special occasion establishment and not a regular routine.”
Due to the incredible success of Jen’s Garden, the McCrystals have been afforded the rare opportunity to create another unique restaurant option to fill an absent area of the Sisters dining spectrum.
“Everything has a lifespan and ten years for a restaurant is a very respectable run,” she added. “We’re choosing to do something different. And we’re not doing this as an act of desperation, we’re doing this with positive intention and want to infuse it with a new level of excitement and enthusiasm. Since we‘ve made this announcement, so many people have come up and said how thrilled they were, and had always wanted to try Jen’s Garden but had the perception that it was too expensive.
“Now with The Cottonwood Café they’ll get that same memorable experience in a much more casual, welcoming environment. There’s this perceived idea that Jen’s Garden was very exclusive and that’s not what we originally set out to do.”
The Cottonwood Café will be open for breakfast and lunch, initially from Wednesday to Sunday, then expanding to seven days a week this summer, once again delivering an eclectic blend of farm-to-table ingredients when available, creatively prepared with an imaginative bill of fare.
“We’ll offer a full bar with beer and wine and a variety of staple breakfast drinks like Mimosas, Greyhounds and Bloody Marys. Our main menu will include items like classic egg scrambles and hashes made with house-smoked meats.
“Home-baked parmesan biscuits and organic sausage gravy, house-made cinnamon rolls, steak and eggs and a French Toast bread pudding. Lunch will be a selection of healthy gourmet salads and hearty sandwiches like a meatloaf burger, a black bean quinoa salad and an old-fashioned chicken pot pie.
“We don’t want it to be just the place for mom’s Mothers Day brunch or birthdays, we want it to be a regular destination for locals and people coming out from Bend and Redmond to shop or hike the Peterson Ridge trail. A relaxed, local hangout for cyclists, skiers, runners and that whole athletic group Central Oregon is known for. We’ll have indoor and outdoor seating and be doing a whole revamp of the back yard patio and rear garden.”
With the upcoming transformation of the building, the interior décor will also reflect a more family-friendly feel, doing away with the fine country linens and extensive silverware lineup in exchange for a brighter, livelier café experience.
“We’re so fortunate to have had such a successful run,” said Jennifer. “And we’re delighted at the prospect of creating this new restaurant that will be fun and accessible to all and offering a refreshing change about which we’re really excited.”
Jen’s Garden will remain in operation until the last day of February, then will close through March.
Look for The Cottonwood Café in April at 403 East Hood Avenue in downtown Sisters.
Reservations call 541-549-2699.
