Tastebuds Bistro is on a roll
By Sabine Wilson
For the TODAY
“My philosophy is to always use the freshest ingredients I can for homemade food,” said Gene Tougas, head chef and owner, with wife Jenny Tougas, of Tastebuds Bistro.
The couple opened the restaurant in June of 2021.
“I wanted to do homemade food but elevate it,” Gene said. “I was tired of seeing the same old things over and over. Everywhere I worked had a ton of frozen food items on their menus.”
Gene has an incredibly long history with the food industry, cooking for roughly 46 years, starting when he was just 15 years old and embarking on different cooking endeavors along the coast for much of his career.
“I cooked everywhere and tried everything from Asian and Italian food to Greek and Mexican food,” he said. “I love it all.”
This helped foster the creative palate Gene cooks with now.
By the time he was 18, he was managing a restaurant. When he ended up on the coast, Gene had worked at restaurants from Cannon Beach to Florence to Santa Barbara.
“I’ve managed, ran and cooked for other people’s restaurants for years,” he said. “So I said to Jenny, ‘Why can’t I do that for us?’”
For the foodies who enjoy quality ingredients, savoring the food at Tastebuds immediately reveals a freshness that simply tastes better. And even though Gene can undeniably make any dish delicious, he is always looking to elevate and improve his skills.
“We all really try to push ourselves,” Jenny said.
To confirm this, all you have to do is look at the time they spend curating high-quality foods for their customers.
“We make our own corned beef and Canadian bacon as well as French bread, hamburger buns and English muffins,” Gene said. “We also make our French toast bread, all the gravies, our own ketchup and sauerkraut from scratch.”
As far as what the restaurant owners currently love snacking on from their menu, Gene has a more savory tooth and Jenny has a sweet one.
“I honestly love to eat everything on the menu,” Gene said. “I just love food. But I do love our homemade biscuits and gravy as well as the clam chowder.”
“I love the stuffed berry French toast,” Jenny said.
Their extensive sandwich menu offers a delicious double-decker Reuben, filled with their homemade corn beef, turkey, melted smooth swiss cheese, made-from-scratch thousand island sauce on toasted and crisp rye bread.
Each bite is filled with a symphony of textures and flavors that blend perfectly together. Paired with their homemade baked potato chips, this item is a wonderful choice.
Their fish and chips is also hard to ignore. The cod is crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Placed on a bed of homemade fries with a side of tartar sauce, the dish bursts with flavor that should be the standard on the coast. Squeeze the lemon wedge on it, and you’ve got zest that ties it all together.
But Gene’s dream of opening a restaurant was nothing new.
“I sketched the logo for Tastebuds around 11 years ago,” he said. “The original drawing is still here, framed in the hallway of our restaurant.”
Originally the “T” in “Tastebuds” was just a bulbous letter until his son, Dakota Tougas, said “Hey dad, that T looks like a tongue!”
The rest was history. The decor in the restaurant is made up of carefully scouted items the family had been collecting for years, knowing one day they would achieve their goal of owning their very own restaurant right here in Lincoln City and infusing it with the inviting and warm spirit that it has today.
“We love it here on the coast,” Jenny said. “We raised our kids here and each one of us just feels a connection to this place.”
“One of my favorite compliments is when people call us ‘the hidden gem of Lincoln City,’” Gene said.
And though no one can deny that running your own business is difficult, Gene and Jenny seem to collaborate with ease.
“We’ve actually worked together at eight different restaurants before this one,” Jenny said. “And on top of that, we’ve been married 22 years.”
For good measure, Tastebuds has recently acquired a liquor license with the plan to serve beer, wine and brunch mimosas.
Gene eventually wants to put more international foods on the menu and add live music.
“The long-term goal for our restaurant is to eat the world,” Gene said.
These very words encircle their logo.
With more than 120 cookbooks in his possession, ranging from Filipino food to Cuban food to Thai food, there is nothing but good things and innovative flavors to come for the Chef and Tastebuds Bistro.
Tastebuds Bistro is located at 6042 SE Hwy. 101 and is open every day from 8 am to 4 pm. For more information, go to tastebudsbistro.com, where you can use their online ordering system “DinDin,” or call 541 614-1467.