Restaurant Review

Cafe Yumm!

Location: 2001 NW Monroe Ave. Corvallis, OR 97330.

Food: Nutritious cuisine featuring the tasty Yumm! Sauce. Hungry guests can find Yumm! Bowls in eight varieties, sandwiches, soups, salads, burgers and wraps.

Try: The Original Yumm! Bowl. This popular bowl of brown rice is topped with the Original Yumm! Sauce, cheese, tomato, avocado, sour cream, olives, cilantro and salsa.

Price Range: About $4.50 - $7.95 for meals. Soup prices start at $2.75 for a small bowl with bread.

Open For Business: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Come for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Info: Contact Cafe Yumm! at (541)-757-YUMM or visit http://www.cafeyumm.com/


Warm southern colors across the walls contrast with low lights and rich wood tones of booths and tables. A walk through cafe door's welcomes guests to this comfortable but sophisticated atmosphere.

Welcome to Cafe Yumm!

This unique hang-out is a restaurant that serves vegetarians, vegans, and meat lovers alike. It offers menu items unique to their shop, like the Yumm! Bowl and tempeh or tofu skewers. Cafe Yumm! also invites guests to enjoy classic cafe dishes.

Their soups remind me of home, with a delicate taste that relaxes and warms. Sandwiches and salads are also offered in fresh and healthy Cafe Yumm! style.

I must admit, deciding on just one dish was a tad overwhelming. I finally settled on the Southwest Tofu Wrap. The idea of tofu sounded a little scary, but when I bit into the unfamiliar bits of spiced soy, I was pleasantly surprised.

"Wow!"

The seasoned tofu combined perfectly with the spicy salsa and melted cheddar cheese.

This serving was a little larger than needed, but it kept calling me back to savor the experience all the way to the last bite. I did and it was amazing.

Tofu is not the main item on this spread, though.

The most popular items on the Cafe Yumm! menu would have to be Yumm! Bowls. These bowls come with rice covered by special toppings, combined to create the perfect flavor.

All Yumm! Bowls come with these deluxe toppings: Tillamook cheddar cheese, tomatoes, black olives, sour cream, avocado slices, salsa and cilantro.

Owner, Denis Abreu says the most often purchased Yumm! Bowl would have to be the Original. This one comes with brown rice, organic black beans and Original Yumm! Sauce, covered by the deluxe toppings.

There are several other varieties of this bowl as well. One with a savory zucchini sauce, another with some extra spice.

Abreu, says his favorite dish is the "Jazzy," made using jasmine rice, red beans and salsa with Yumm! Sauce, but, smiling adds, "it always changes for me."

He livens up his dish by adding extra toppings. Papitas, or dried pumpkin seeds, are the extra ingredient currently found decorating his lunch bowl.

The name of this restaurant is another unique addition with a beginning that developed from the invention of Yumm! Sauce.

The sauce Cafe Yumm! boasts is central to the menu's theme. It can be found on many of the plates adding a creamy spiced-up jive to great food.

When creator Mary Ann Beauchamp owned the Wild Rose Cafe and Deli in 1991, she served a dish of rice and beans with some of her special sauce and salsa.

The constant cry of "Yumm!," testers responded with when sampling it, was enough that she simply named it, "Yumm! Sauce." This title later became the name for her new chain, Cafe Yumm!

Guests can also purchase takeout containers of Yumm! Sauce at the restaurant, making it easy to create their own dishes at home.

Cafe Yumm! is a great place to relax, a good deal, and tastes excellent. The fresh food this restaurant offers, definitely makes it worth a visit.

Don't be fooled by unfamiliar foods. Tofu, for instance, can taste glorious when made by the right people.

These are definitely the right people.