By Vern Holmquist
There’s something new and delightful in our town. Just across from the Glockenspiel and back of Spoletto’s Pizza is a little Mt. Angel shop displaying the art of local wood carvers. The skill and artistic quality will astound you. On display you will see carvings of very interesting characters, turned bowls of exotic woods, beautiful wall pieces, wild life, pieces ranging in cost from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars and worth it.
This is an association of carvers, I’m not sure how many at this time, but I do know their numbers will grow. So far I’ve met Kenny Wilson, who I understand was the instigator of this association. He likes to carve wild birds, song birds and decorative reliefs. Ken Lake turns those beautiful bowls. Then there’s Mike Reifel with an imagination of no end who carves laughing dragons – delicate work. For all these men this is a labor of love. I doubt there is much in the way of profit here, just gratification.
For those of you who might want to try your hand at this art, they can sell you the best of knives, the wood ranging from soft beginner’s wood to exotic hard woods for the more accomplished, and they can teach you, but what they really want you to do is drop in, enjoy seeing their art, and welcome them to our community.
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Have you dined at the Bavarian Haus lately? If not you are in for a treat. Gone is the warehouse look of the old Bavarian tavern. The dining room features tasteful new furnishings and interesting pieces to make it a comfortable and warm-feeling room. As to the food, if you have not tasted Chef Eric’s Bavarian-inspired hand-crafted dishes you have something to look forward to. Not only is the food palate pleasing, but tummy filling as well and the portions are more than adequate.
The establishment is the effort of two brothers, Shaun and Eric Rottner. Shaun I gather from our conversation is the business head. He bought the tavern, takes care of the business end and does the promotion, Eric is the chef in charge with wide experience in fine restaurants. Nothing goes out of his kitchen he is not proud of – he insists on the finest meats and produce, and it looks good, showing that touch of know how. Shaun and his charming wife, Jackie, live in Silverton. Shaun commutes to a Portland job every weekday. We used to say truckers know where the best food is. From what I have seen bikers know where the good food is, too, as on some days motorcycles line the street in front. (If you have some misconception of bikers as hell raisers forget it, these are nice people and good customers).
The tavern side of the business is still there, a full service bar, but it is nicely separated from the dining area where young folks are most welcome. And now I’ll tell you how smart these brothers are – they kept Ginger Mikklesen on their staff! It’s the same Ginger with the big smile and warm greeting, the one who seems to be able to call most customers by name. She’s the hostess with the mostess.
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I was walking past the Senior Center in Mt. Angel when I stopped to look across the street at a rescue truck with its red lights flashing. Next to it was an ambulance with its red lights flashing. On closer look I saw a row of bodies laying on blankets the full length of the Glockenspiel restaurant, a devastating sight. Turns out, there was a woman in distress in the apartments above, but the bodies were wood carvings by the same carvers I began with, placed there while work was being done on the Glockenspiel. My regret was that I did not have my camera with me.
