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Flavor and quality reign supreme at Tastebuds Bistro in Lincoln City

The main rule at Tastebuds Bistro is that there are no rules.

“I’ve been doing this so long I just know how to make things taste good without being stuck to a recipe book,” said chef Gene Tougas, who owns and operates the restaurant with his wife, Jenny. “I created everything on the menu. I have things I’ve seen other places but I did it differently so it is my own recipe. Everything we have is at least a little bit different.”

The other theme of the restaurant, located at the south end of Lincoln City, is homemade.

“I used to say we were 95-percent homemade,” Gene said, “but then we started making a few more things in house like the biscuits and sauces, so now I say we are at 96 percent.”

Items made in-house include roast beef and turkey, pancake batter, chili, chowder, sausage, chorizo and coleslaw.

“I’ve also been trying to make my own corned beef but I haven’t quite perfected it yet,” Gene said.

Things they do get ready-made are still held to a high standard:

“We get our bread from the Portland French Bakery because I wanted the good bread,” Gene said.

Making things in house not only makes Gene proud, it also keeps them from having to charge higher prices.

“I even make my own breading because it’s actually better and less expensive that way,” he said. “We have people tell us all the time that we should charge more, but since we make so many of our own ingredients we don’t have to charge as much.”

Gene has been in the food industry for roughly 45 years,

“I started out managing kitchens then moved into cooking,” he said. “I cooked all over the country. When I would get tired of a place I would just move on to a new place I was curious to see. The whole time I was watching people do what they do and figuring out what to when I was ready to open my own place.”

Tastebuds opened in June and serves breakfast and lunch, with omelets and burgers being customer favorites.

“Our burgers are very popular,” Gene said. “My favorite is the twisted bacon burger.”

The twisted bacon burger is topped with fried cheese curd, bacon jam, roasted tomatoes and roasted onions.

Another favorite of Gene’s is the Chorizo burger, featuring a chorizo patty topped with bacon, pepper jack cheese, jalapeños, cayenne mayonnaise and old-fashioned relish. The flavor profile of that burger is spicy, sweet and salty.

“I like a lot of components in my food because I like depth of flavor,” Gene said.

The chili burger includes cheddar cheese, diced onion and a special ingredient inspired by Gene’s upbringing on the East Coast.

“My Greek chili is based on one I had when I was a kid in New York,” he said. “I loved it so much that I decided to bring it to the West Coast.”

Portobello mushrooms or chicken breast can be used as a replacement in any of the burgers.

Breakfast items include the chef’s scrambled breakfast, which has a biscuit topped with sausage, scrambled eggs, country gravy and cheddar cheese. Berry-stuffed French toast, and chicken and waffles also make for hearty breakfast fare.

The menu also has ingredient-rich salads, seafood items like fish and chips and clam strips and fries and, on weekends, eggs Benedict served classic style, country style, with shrimp or with crab.

“For a long time, I didn’t think it was possible for a cook to open their own place and I was scared of the headaches that I saw other restaurant owners go through,” Gene said. “But I slowly learned how to avoid those headaches and I decided to go for it. I’m hoping to start a training program so people can learn how to do their own thing. I hear so many cooks say ‘I want to open my own place.’ I wish people had taught me so I could have done this a lot earlier, so I want to help others but encourage them to do it with their own style.”

With an eye toward serving dinners, the couple have applied for a liquor license and have done a few “soft opening” dinner nights, but for now, they continue to serve the breakfast and lunch crowds.

“We’ve had some issues with getting our hours perfect but I tell people we’re trying,” Gene said. “People can check our Facebook page if they want to double check before heading here.”

While the couple works to find the optimal times to be open to the public, Gene continues to tinker in the kitchen in the off hours.

“I just want to keep making the food better,” he said. “That’s my passion.”

Tastebuds Bistro is located at 6042 SE Hwy. 101 and is open Thursday through Tuesday from 8 am to 4 pm, and Wednesday from 8am to 2 pm. For more information, go to tastebudsbistro.com or call 866-935-7871 or 641-614-1467.