Thursday, January 28: The three-day Oregon Truffle Festival doesn't even get underway until tomorrow and already the scene in Eugene is changing. The lobby of the Valley River Inn is dotted with dogs. Dogs with ambition. Dogs that will soon be trained to sniff out some of the most mysterious morsels in Oregon: white, black and brown truffles.
Calming anxious dog owners is Jim Sanford of Blackberry Farm in Tennessee. Since 2007, he's been training Lagotto Romagnolo dogs to scout for truffles. They found 200 pounds of Perigords (the fabled French kind) in nearby orchards in one year alone. Before handling dogs, Sanford trained elephants. Yes, elephants. Sanford and another instructor, Jean Rand, have two days to teach Sam (a chocolate lab destine to be the teachers' pet) and 11 other four-legged students how to detect the scent of the elusive ripe truffle.
Also padding around the lobby are French men and a man who is from Maine but who is speaking French to the French men. The American is author Michael S. Sanders. He's merci-ing this and oui-ing that with famed truffle cultivator Pierre Sourzat and chef Jacques Ratier. Neither has seen Sanders since the last time the author was in their native country. [More about Sanders and his book about Sourzat and Ratier here.] All three will be on the hotseat tomorrow: Sourzat is the keynote speaker in the afternoon; Sanders will address the guests at the evening's reception and Ratier will be creating the long-awaited La Recreation Dinner.
But that's tomorrow. Tonight is reserved for checking in. Not only into the hotel or at the festival registration desk. It's time to meet others who are possessed enough about truffles to walk, drive, fly to Eugene for this festival, some for the fifth year in a row.
What better way to prepare for the Oregon Truffle Festival than to dine at one of Eugene's best-known restaurants, Marche, and eat four courses made of locally produced ingredients and highlighted by shavings from Oregon truffles picked at the peak of their perfection in the last day or so.
This prix-fixe menu ($60), inspired, of course, by the Oregon Truffle Festival, continues for two weeks or until the ripe truffles are no longer found.
Amuse bouche: Duck liver mousse with black truffles. If you can't decide between a 2008 Matello Whistling Ridge white (in the Alsatian tradition) or a 2008 Saumur les Pouches Chenin Blanc, try both (as I did)
First course: Choice of Dungeness crab melt with truffle butter, brioche and gruyere or crispy fried poached farm egg, braised pork belly and black truffle sauce. Both adored being accompanied by a 2007 McKinlay Pinot Noir
Main plate: Choice of seared sea scallop, white truffles, caviar beurre blanc, potato puree and crispy prosciutto or poussin and sweetbread crepinette on braised rice soubise with black truffles
Dessert: Truffle ice cream with white and black truffle and sesame cookies
If you'd like a crash course on small lot wines, stop at Steven Baker's Authentica wine store on 766 W. Park, a few blocks from Marche. Baker personally knows most of the winemakers in the area and enjoys sharing his insights from traveling what he calls the "artisan wine underground."
For more info: Marche restaurant, 296 E. 5th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon, (541) 342-3612, www.marcherestaurant.com