(gentle music) - Today on "All Across Oregon," we start our day with some of the best breakfast burritos around.

From there, we hit up a super hip coffee bar, and then head up to the mountains to visit a landmark lodge perched on the southern Oregon Siskiyous.

And I take my wife dancing, sort of.

"All Across Oregon," here we go.

(upbeat music) This episode of "All Across Oregon" is made possible in part by John Warekois, CPA, tax professional and profit builder in southern Oregon and Northern California.

Superior Athletic Club, owned and operated for over 40 years with three convenient locations.

And Travel Southern Oregon.

Travel Southern Oregon supports a diverse, thriving, and sustainable visitor economy to create a better life for all our region's residents.

Visit Southern Oregon.

Do something great.

Here we are just on the outskirts of Central Point, Oregon, and it's here behind all these commercial buildings you're gonna find something very unexpected, some of the best Mexican food in town.

Check it out.

(upbeat music) And this is Lisandro, owner and operator of this little hidden gem.

And I've been looking forward to coming here, because like the burritos are my favorite.

- No, thank you.

Yeah, no, they're very popular here in the valley.

There's a lot of people that come and order their breakfast burritos.

One of our top sellers is the chorizo.

- That's why I drive all the way over here just to get the chorizo and huevos and papas.

- Huevos rancheros and, - Oh, man.

you know, huevos a la Mexicana, we got all that stuff here.

- [Vinny] Get into those breakfast burritos.

- [Lisandro] Okay.

(upbeat music continues) - I just got to see him make some of the breakfast burrito.

- Yeah, no, they're very delicious, and you know, high request here.

- [Vinny] So how long have you been here?

- I've been here for eight years in this location.

I started out with my taco cart and then I'll be cooking outside and then serving people inside the room.

- I remember.

- So from there this opportunity came along.

So I moved here and that's when I, you know, I started doing now like restaurant style, but I still have that authentic Mexican street, street style touch, you know?

- Like it, and here you are tucked away back here in this commercial area.

- No, and it's been very tough.

You know, it's been very tough, 'cause I don't sit here and wait for the customers.

Look, I go out there, especially having Carlos here that, you know, we train him to do everything the way it's supposed to be, so that gives me time to go out there and get people back here, because we're so tucked in back here.

A lot of people don't know we're back here.

- Yep.

Carlos is a beast.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

No, he's very good at it.

- Carlos is the man.

- Very, very good chef.

And like I said, you know, I deliver breakfast every day.

I go out and deliver breakfast burritos.

- This ours?

- Yeah.

- This is ours?

This is our little gold bar.

Was this the chili?

The chorizo?

- Yeah.

This is the chorizo breakfast burrito.

You know, it has a hash browns, egg, cheese.

- That chorizo's off the chart.

It's got just the perfect heat and that sweet flavor, man.

Oh, and the... Are those potatoes?

You put the potatoes in?

- Potatoes.

We grill 'em.

We cook them, make them that soft taste.

- Oh my goodness.

- Chorizo is pretty unique.

You gotta have the right chorizo to put in in a breakfast burrito.

So you gotta have that good taste in it.

- I can't describe how good this, it's like eating candy.

Guys, I can't leave when I just figure...

I gotta wait till I give it a go.

(laid back music) Are these the red tacos?

- Yeah.

So those are the taco rojo.

Those are, those tacos are the most popular tacos here in TacoRiendo, which is the birria tacos, and we have a special sauce that we marinade the tortilla.

So you can have that flavor as soon as you take that bite- - Yes.

- You can taste that, the shredded beef, birria flavor, and just to kick it up, that sauce in the tortilla.

It just, it's just really good.

- So you marinate the tortillas?

- Yeah, we marinate the tortilla first.

- [Vinny] That's why they have the- - With a little bit of corn oil.

Then after that we melt the cheese, and then we put the shredded beef on top.

- Do you see this?

Do you see this?

- It's not just making a taco.

It is making an art with that food.

It's just art right here.

- [Vinny] Oh my goodness.

- We always leave a little bit of extra juice, so it's not that dry.

So just make it juicy when you take that first bite.

- [Vinny] Just a little bit extra.

- And then here comes the, the final part, which is the onion and cilantro, the pickled carrots and jalapenos.

We make 'em from scratch, too.

- [Vinny] Really?

- Yeah.

They're not canned jalapenos.

We make 'em from scratch and it's a process, and a lot of people like just to come in and just have those pickled carrots and jalapenos.

- Look at that.

Okay, this is a great way to start the day.

- Definitely.

Yeah, no, you gotta, you know, every person that comes in here, they gotta try the taco rojo, because they follow me on Instagram and Facebook, and they're like, "What?"

You know, they like them when we're dipping them in the consommé sauce.

And... - [Vinny] What is the sauce?

What is it?

Consommé?

- Consommé broth.

So it's a broth from the birria that we cook, and then what you do is that you dip.

You dip your taco in the broth and then you take the bite.

- What's a birria?

What is it, birria?

- [Lisandro] Birria is a shred of beef stew.

- That's actually what it is.

- Yes.

That defines it as that.

(laid back music continues) Amazing.

Like you said, just that little bit of sauce is just right.

And I love how the cheese is melted on there.

And you could tell those are marinated tacos, 'cause you don't tell the, you don't taste like just the corn.

You taste the sauce.

- Exactly.

You taste the sauce and marinade on the tortilla.

And it's just a whole combination that it just makes it a perfect taco.

- Ka bam.

We had the taco rojo, we had the chorizo burrito, which was ridiculously...

The third one's really interesting.

You said it's a queso, what?

- It's a quesabirria.

- Quesabirria.

So it's a quesadilla.

And you know, the first step is that, we have it here on the grill.

You know, we grill the tortilla.

Then after that it's a process.

It's not just a simple quesadilla.

So it's gonna be the same process as the taco rojo.

You put a little bit of a corn oil, then you grill that around the flat grill.

- [Vinny] Look at that.

Look at that.

Both sides?

And cheese.

Okay, so queso.

So we're going back with the birria.

- [Lisandro] Back with the birria.

That's one of our most popular meats here at TacoRiendo, the birria.

- I can't say it as, it doesn't sound as cool when I say it though.

Taco Birria.

- You gotta roll the R. (Vinny and Lisandro roll R's) - Taco birria.

- Taco birria.

Taco birria.

- Taco birria.

Here's what we're gonna do.

Ready, guys?

You're gonna flip it all the way from over there, and I'm gonna catch it right here.

Okay?

Go.

Ready?

1, 2, 3.

Wow, look at that.

Bet you didn't know Carlos could toss it and land perfectly.

Now we're gonna decorate it.

Ready?

- So now we're gonna decorate it.

We're gonna put your consommé right here, which is the broth.

You always gotta have, when you're gonna have birria, you gotta have your broth, because you like to dip the food in the broth.

- Okay.

- Then from here, - Okay, put a little bit of cilantro, some onion.

Get that flavor in there.

And you can't forget our pickled carrot.

- [Vinny] Oh, you forgot it.

- [Lisandro] And jalapeno.

- [Vinny] I don't see the carrot.

- Oh, what happened?

- It's hot!

You know what I love about this?

I love how authentic it is.

- [Lisandro] Thank you, man.

Thank you.

- And you know what?

It just is.

It just feels, just being in here, it feels authentic.

- Yeah.

No, no, we definitely have that.

We have that vibe.

That vibe that you know, has to be homemade.

You gotta have that good authentic Mexican food.

- Oh, you feel it.

You feel it.

You smell it.

The guys are auténtico.

- Auténticos.

Carlos, bro.

Dude, that's it.

- Thank you.

You got a lot of skills, man.

You got a lot of skills so, and you too bro.

- No, thank you very much for taking your time out of your day to come and enjoy our food.

- Of course.

This was a treat.

It was a pleasure.

And you know what?

I can't wait to dig into the rest now.

- Thank you, man.

No, yeah.

- This place is the real deal.

So what's even better for me, they're opening a second location, right down the street from my house.

So now here we are heading to the hills of Ashland.

But first we stop at a hip coffee place where there's way more than meets the eye.

This is Noble Coffee, and this is the man with the plan.

Meet Jared Rennie, owner and operator of this super cool coffee house.

So what, will I look like this if I drink Noble Coffee?

- You actually already do.

- I don't know.

Yes you will.

- I'm wearing black.

- Yeah, it's good for you.

- I'm sucking it in right now too.

- We actually just did a lab analysis, and it has a lot of stuff in it that we never anticipated, actually has something called ferulic acid, which is used in skincare products.

- Ferulic acid.

- Yes.

It's in the coffee?

- Yes.

- So yeah.

Incredibly good for you.

Grown in some of the most beautiful places in the world by really amazing people, and then prepared by fantastic people here.

- My goodness.

Well, can we take a peek back here?

- Let's do it.

(upbeat music) - Look at this machine.

I just found out this is like the most advanced espresso machine that's out there right now.

- [Jared] We've had an incredible espresso machine for about 10 years, and I haven't really seen the need to get anything new.

- Okay.

- And then we've partnered with this manufacturer.

Their name is La Marzocco.

They're out of Florence, Italy.

- Of course.

- They're the best, the best, the best.

And I found out that they were creating this new machine, and they asked if we would help them to develop it.

So this is actually a prototype, their kind of like final prototype.

Underneath the grill here.

It actually is written in Italian, "Prio i ta uno," which means- - The first one.

Or prototype.

- Prototype, and also priority, like number one.

This is their biggest thing.

And so what it does, which is remarkable, we have four espressos, and each of our espressos gets its own pressure profile, so it actually puts pressure on the coffee in a ramping up and ramping down pattern, different for each coffee to get different flavors out of each coffee.

So when we're making coffee, you'll watch our baristas.

There are these little knobs on the right of the screens.

They'll turn those knobs to get to the right profile, and then it'll tell you 28 seconds is the goal.

This was a 29 second shot.

These are actually scales that are incorporated into the drip tray to weigh how much the coffee is coming out at.

So the target here was 34 grams of espresso.

This is 33.1.

- 33.

These are perfectly within our parameters, so we know it's a great shot.

- [Vinny] Where does the parameters come from?

- Yeah.

So as a team, we basically just, I mean, when we first got this machine, it was in the back.

We're making coffee, making coffee, pulling hundreds of shots, tasting, and then deciding for each of the coffees which is the profile that makes that copy sing most truly.

And then we save that profile, and then we can just replicate it over and over and over again.

- Wow.

You guys must have been floating at the end of the day after sampling shots.

- It was a fun day.

Yeah, and we've been doing it for a long time.

- Long time.

Yeah.

We've been, we've had pressure profiling on our other machine for about 10 years, which is why La Marzocco chose us.

We really utilize that technology to bring the most out of the coffees.

- I love meeting people like you.

Just your heart and your passion behind things.

- Thank you, Vinny.

- You, and that's why it is, well look at this place, and that's why it is what it is, 'cause of people like you.

- We have essentially the most talented group of coffee professionals that I'm aware of.

It's, we're really lucky.

(laid back music) So we have a single origin coffee from Ethiopia that we're using as espresso.

So we have World Tour, which is what we put in our lattes and mochas, which is our big workhorse.

It's coffee from all around the world, the four major producing regions.

So it has coffee from Africa, Indonesia, Central America, South America.

- That's all in one blend?

- All in one blend.

Yep.

With Brazilian doing the heavy lifting, it's a very classic Italian blend.

Just smell that espresso.

- Oh my goodness.

You weren't kidding.

- So we pull what are called triple shots, triple ristretto.

So we use more espresso, more coffee, than most folks do in the industry to get more flavor.

- Wow.

May I?

- Of course.

- Wow.

- Right?

And you can even smell the cup.

- Oh!

- Right?

Smell the cup.

And we were only sipping.

I was going big time.

I was gonna get the full experience right there.

- Every time we do a roast, we take a sample and we taste every batch we ever roast.

And then on Tuesdays, we taste every batch we did that week.

And then we try to figure out, sometimes you'll make what you thought was a mistake that ends up being wonderful, and then you wanna replicate that going forward.

Our philosophy is that if we can improve by, call it 1% or 2% on a weekly basis, at the end of a year, right?

You're 50 to a hundred percent better, and then if you're doing that for, we've been doing this for 17 years, right?

So you get to learn a lot.

(upbeat music continues) - [Vinny] I mean, what are we looking at here?

- This is the siphon.

So this is a method that was invented in the 1800s, older than espresso, older than French press.

And what it does is it heats up water in this bottom bowl, and then as that starts to boil, which the barista is going to engage this top funnel, the pressure from the bottom bowl is gonna push the water up to mix with the coffee in the top.

After about a minute of extracting the coffee, we're gonna mix it with this bamboo paddle, and then we're gonna turn the heat off.

It's gonna create a vacuum.

It's gonna create a siphon, and it's gonna pull the coffee back through this paper filter.

The coffee grounds stay in the top.

We take the funnel off.

You've got brewed coffee in the bottom.

It's a beautiful science experiment.

(upbeat music continues) - It's just so charming.

It's so hip and fun and lively.

I saw your pastries that you do.

- [Jared] Yeah, we make those in house.

- [Vinny] Oh my.

And the... - We're very lucky.

We're really lucky to live in such a wonderful place that supports what we're doing.

- Oh, no doubt.

- You know?

I mean, if we look around, we have incredible staff.

We've got lots of really wonderful people who enjoy what we do.

- And we got invited back in the spring.

We get to go to their coffee tasting, try their pastries.

I mean, this place is off the hook.

Now we're getting back on the freeway and heading south to the Siskiyou mountain range.

Here we'll find a true historic landmark lodge, Callahan.

Meet Mark and Lisa, owners of this warm, down home, cozy lodge.

I mentioned to you when I talked to you earlier that this is a special place for me, and now you're the third family that's running it.

So the first thing I would love to show people about Callahan's, I mean, we're gonna show 'em the outside.

I wanna show 'em these incredible rooms.

- All right, come on down this way.

So Nilde and Don Callahan started it 78 years ago, I guess now.

It was a different location, up the hill, then everybody knows in 2006, it burned down completely.

And around 2008 it was rebuilt.

And in 2020, we were basically just looking for an investment, a fun investment, and I've always wanted to own a log cabin.

- We got a big- - I think you got a log cabin.

We got a big log cabin.

Exactly.

- So this is room 27.

- [Lisa] Special to a lot of people.

They love to request this room.

A little home away from home.

- So what's nice about this room, it is a suite.

So there's, you can have the children in the sofa bed, the adults in the other room in the king size bed.

But it's also at the end of the hall.

It's quiet, it's separate.

Private balcony.

- This is how I remember it.

It's been years since I stayed here.

And I have never ever forgot my stays here.

From the comfort, I remember the hot tubs, remember the fireplaces.

How many rooms are there?

- [Mark] 23 total, and then across the street we have a four bedroom, two bath house.

It's about 2,000 plus square feet.

- It's a win-win situation.

Come on, take a look.

Let's see all that gorgeous snow.

No snow angels.

- Oh my goodness.

- Look at this.

And it's perfect packing snow.

- And we usually, at nighttime, when this is groomed a little bit more, we set up the fire pits for all the wonderful skiers coming off of Mount Ashland.

They come out here and have their hot toddies and warm themselves up.

- Oh yeah.

- Snowball fights and all that good stuff.

- Snowball fights.

This view is incredible.

- And then when they come over, like I said, she said the amenities.

We have a game room with a pool table.

And since we bought the lodge, we've installed a gym, so there's equipment down on the first floor also.

- For those that after a full meal wanna watch their manish or girlish figure, they can work it off, and then come back up and have a hot toddy and dessert, and go back down to the gym again.

- It's gonna be a long day, guys.

It's gonna be a long day.

- [Mark] We want people to feel like when they walk in this lodge- - [Lisa] They're coming into our family room or living room.

- [Mark] Right.

Exactly.

- And that they feel the love.

- We don't look at it as the owner's perspective.

- We look at it from the guest- - Guest perspective, because we've been guests all our lives traveling.

Not that we're world travelers, but we do travel a bit.

We know what we like to be treated like.

We become more friends with the previous, the Callahans, the previous owners.

And they've been egging us on to do different things.

They've shared with Aloha old recipes.

They've shared their vision of how they saw it.

And it's completely different, the jump from the original owners to us, because we're more in aligned with those thoughts.

- Family and tradition.

I'm all about tradition.

- Right.

- The old menu, the old school.

- You'd like to get all the locals in the area to kind of remember, "Hey, this is how it was."

- But now we're gonna put a new fresh twist on it.

But by bringing old school and... - You know, we want people to come in, hang out, sit by the fire.

That's what we want, because that's what we enjoy.

And again, we look at it as being the guest, not as the owner's perspective.

(lively music) - So now we came all the way over here.

Aloha Alani, I mean, what a name.

- Thank you.

Would you like to make some spaghetti?

It's the original Callahan spaghetti, and the son actually came up, him and his wife, to help teach me some of the recipes, 'cause our new owners were so fond of the old time Callahan's that they were trying to bring it back.

- Look at all this space!

- I know, for activities!

- This is crazy.

You could do everything in here.

You could have catch with a football.

I mean, this is huge.

I'm sorry, what are we doing?

- Well, we put a little olive oil.

I forgot to put this in first.

- That's okay.

It'll catch up.

- It is a little salted pork and onions.

We're gonna get that cooked off.

- Can't beat that.

- [Alani] That's what- - Close to my heart right there.

- So Brian and Laurie came up because Nilde's recipe is based on smell and by taste.

He has no like guidelines for it.

Like, it's just add this, or a handful of this, or half a jar of this, or- - Yep.

- No measuring cups.

- No.

So they have to come up to teach me, because they have to go by smell and by taste.

- Well, we are already there with the smell, and all we have... See that?

Three ingredients.

Best smell in the world.

Three ingredients.

Why have people gotta complicate things?

Now you gotta put 15 more ingredients after I say that, but that's okay.

- There's some bell peppers.

- Okay.

Celery with the leaves.

And then some parsley.

- Look at that.

Look at... Look at Alani flip the stuff.

Alani, you're so amazing.

- That's gonna cook down for a bit, and then we're gonna add in some wine.

- So now we got this.

Now you're gonna add some garlic.

- Garlic, tomato paste, tomato sauce, or red wine I mean.

- Oh, look.

Oh, we're going red wine?

- Garlic.

Are we going burgundy or pinot noir, or we going, what are we doing?

- Just a cooking red wine.

Just a cook- (laughs) - Don't worry.

Nobody will hear what kind of wine we're putting in there.

Look at that wine just absorb.

Oh my goodness.

This is the smell.

This is it.

This is the aroma.

This is home.

This is grandma's house.

This is my mom's, my dad.

Everything, just smell.

Oh!

Oh, we're making bolognese?

- [Alani] It's their meat sauce.

- Yeah, bolognese.

- Is that what it's called in Italian?

- Bolognese.

Bolognese.

If I mix this fast enough, and I move my arm fast enough, watch what happens.

Ready?

Watch, watch, watch, watch.

Ready, ready, ready.

And wham!

Look at that.

That's what happens when you move your arm fast enough.

You turn it into puree.

- That's magic.

Oh, you have outdone yourself.

- [Alani] Ready to try it?

- I'm ready.

I know you're already a chef, but you're a great student, because I want everyone to smell this.

I want everyone to smell this, and they're gonna eat so much that they have to spend the night.

- They have to, because they're gonna be... Oh yeah.

Look at him.

He's getting a bolognese facial.

- This is home.

This is it.

All right, we started off today with like 15 burritos to go.

- [Lisa] Wow.

- [Vinny] We're gonna finish the day with - [Lisa] Mama Callahan's- - Mama Callahan's- - Bolognese.

So a special thanks, yeah, for sure, to the Callahans for passing this down.

- Yes.

- I love the balance.

I love, it's just the right amount of salt.

The meat's perfect.

Oh man.

So good.

- It is very good.

And it's simple.

- Definitely old school.

I felt right at home.

Oh, look at that!

Oh!

Oh!

- That's how we roll.

(gentle music) All right, so we're gonna make the Cazadores- - Pineapple mule.

- Pineapple mule.

Just remember- - Pineapple.

- You need to squeeze in lemon.

- [Vinny] Are we just doing one half?

- [Missy] Yep.

Just one half.

- [Vinny] So not both sides.

- All right, stir it around, and then we top it off with a ginger beer.

- Oh, I love it like that.

- Is it good?

- Oh, wait a minute.

Let me close my eyes.

I'm on a beach in Maui.

It's a great experience.

I mean, you literally feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.

You're in the middle of the mountains.

The snow's coming down, the fireplace is going.

The smell of the food just permeates through the whole lodge.

You gotta come check this place out.

They are working so hard, so you'll have the old Callahan's experience.

That's what they're bringing back.

And we went back and saw Tess.

I took my wife dancing.

(funky dance music) That's it.

Season three's a wrap.

We'll see you next season.

(funky dance music continues) (gentle music) Another great day right here in the Rogue Valley.

We started with burritos, coffee, we had old school Italian meal in the middle of the mountains in a beautiful lodge.

We'll see you next time as we go all across Oregon.

(upbeat music) This episode of "All Across Oregon" is made possible in part by John Warekois, CPA, tax professional and profit builder in southern Oregon and northern California.

Superior Athletic Club.

Owned and operated for over 40 years with three convenient locations.

And Travel Southern Oregon.

Travel Southern Oregon supports a diverse, thriving, and sustainable visitor economy to create a better life for all our region's residents.

Visit Southern Oregon.

Do something great.

(gentle music) (keyboard clacks) (gentle music continues) (film projector whirs)