Dragonfly Cafe and Gardens - Ashland Oregon Restaurant

By Anita Burke
Food Critic
Mail Tribune

A truly fine dining experience requires the perfect mix of quality food, gracious service and elegant atmosphere.

Ashland’s Dragonfly, in the former home of Primavera below the Oregon Cabaret Theater, provides just the right blend.

The restaurant that opened in November is the brainchild of San Diego restauranteurs Billy Tosheff and his wife, Isabel Cruz, who still own two popularly acclaimed restaurants in California. They hired another husband-and-wife team, Neil and Dee Clooney, to head up the Ashland endeavor.

Chef Cruz is known for her zesty, healthy fusion of Latin and Asian cooking, and her signature dishes — such as coconut French toast at breakfast or a Buddha Bowl of soup with coconut milk and lemongrass broth, noodles, mushrooms and veggies — suit local tastes.

All meat, poultry and fish Dragonfly serves are sustainably farmed and hormone-free, the menu promises. The menu also offers plenty of vegetarian and vegan options and touts that the kitchen staff prepares all its food "from scratch with love and care."

When my husband and I visited Dragonfly for dinner, careful attention to detail was apparent from the bright, welcoming foyer to the last bite of dessert.

The dining room glows with a warm ambience, thanks to textured rice-paper highlights on columns and a giant paper lantern hanging in the center of the room. A cozy banquette that wraps the wall and dark wood tables and chairs anchor the light airiness of the room.

We decided to start our meal with ahi wontons, crisp fried wonton skins topped with butter-soft slices of seared ahi tuna, silky slivers of avocado and delicate drizzles of a sweet soy sauce and wasabi-infused cream. At $9, these are the most expensive appetizer on the menu, outpricing even the plantains with caviar ($7), but worth every penny.

A section on the menu labeled "Big Bowls" listed delicious- sounding Asian inspired soups, including udon choices and the Buddha Bowl, as well as rice bowls laden with vegetables. The offerings are priced between $8 and $12, and diners can add marinated tofu, grilled chicken or beef for a few dollars more.

As tempting as those items sounded, I was in the mood for a more conventional night-out entree and the dinner menu offered plenty of options. Few places offer a choice of a melange of Asian grilled vegetables ($12) or a housemade chicken tamale ($10).

I chose the grilled salmon ($16), an impeccably cooked fillet with a sweet soy glaze that was caramelized to perfection. Balanced atop a mound of tender green beans, the fish was topped with a papaya and mango mint salsa. A cup of nutty brown rice accompanied the meal.

My husband ultimately settled on char-grilled chicken, dragon style. Dragonfly offers a half or a quarter of a char-grilled chicken for $15 or $10, respectively, served four different ways — Latino style with black beans, rice and crispy plantains; Asian style with rice edamame and peanut sauce; Isabel style with brown rice and vegetables; and dragon style with roasted potatoes.

The roasted red and sweet potatoes were outstanding with a crispy, crusty outside on each slice, and chipotle-infused sour cream on the side. The chicken was tender and moist.

We accompanied our meal with a Cristalino Brut, an acclaimed Spanish sparkling wine that’s so reasonably priced you don’t need a special occasion to bring it out. Dragonfly’s wine list includes 13 quality, affordable wines from California, Oregon, New Zealand, Spain and Italy.

For dessert, I had to try the flourless chocolate cake. Served with artistic swirls of raspberry puree and rich chocolate sauce and a garnish of sliced strawberry and mint leaves, it was almost too beautiful to eat. However, the deep chocolatey aroma made it too tempting to just gaze upon, so I plunged my spoon in. I was not disappointed; it was divinely delicious.

When a kitchen mix-up sent a nearby table its entrees before the appetizers arrived (oh, the horror!), the exquisitely professional staff handled the complaint with admirable finesse.

The restaurant is at 241 Hargadine St., below the Oregon Cabaret Theater. Dragonfly Cafe and Gardens is open 7 days a week, from 8 - 3 and from 5 till close.

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