(gentle music) - Today on "All Across Oregon," we return for a second unforgettable visit to Springfield.

We sit down at a top-notch restaurant right on Main Street.

Then we got to learn the history of Springfield, Oregon.

As the night comes alive, we raise our glass, taste bold local whiskey and street food at a buzzing gathering place, and discover why Springfield keeps on calling us back.

Here we go.

(upbeat music) "All Across Oregon" is made possible in part by Travel Southern Oregon Coast, Travel Curry County, and John Warekois CPA.

(upbeat music continues) Springfield's roots go back to 1848 when Elias and Mary Briggs settled along the Willamette Valley and built the beginnings of a community around freshwater and the pioneering spirit.

For decades, Springfield's downtown, especially along Main Street, served everyday needs, theaters, shops, lunch spots, and cafes for locals and travelers alike.

But by the early 2000s, many of those storefronts had fallen into vacancy and the area struggled.

Over the last 15 to 20 years, residents, business owners, and city leaders teamed up to renew downtown's heartbeat.

That revitalization brought new life and new flavors, to historic buildings and blank walls with murals, breweries, distilleries, bakeries, cafes, and local-owned eateries clustered along Main Street.

Today, Springfield's restaurant scene reflects both its rich past and energetic present, a place where locals gather over shared meals, visitors discover fresh tastes, and every new restaurant adds another chapter to the city's ongoing story.

(upbeat music) No doubt, this town has a rich past, and here is one of the present-day standout gems.

Welcome to Tavern on Main, where a dedicated crew brings Main Street to life, one plate at a time.

Yes, sir.

We're in the kitchen.

Man.

- Thank you for having us.

- Dude, this is great.

You mentioned when we were standing right there, and you said, "Fish and chips," right?

- Yep.

- So I don't have to go to the coast to get good fish and chips.

- Easy.

It's a pretty classic.

We got a crowd that comes in consistent every single day for lunch, and our fish and chips is one of those ones that'd be a riot in the streets if we changed.

We keep that.

It's one monster piece of fish.

It's not a basket of, like, fish sticks.

It's one giant piece of Oregon white fish.

- Okay.

- We do that with a little basket of fries.

It's just a- - I'm smiling.

I'm smiling ear to ear.

We don't wanna riot either.

We wanna see your fish and chips.

- 100%.

- Let's do it.

It's time to do work.

- So we're pulling rockfish straight off the coast.

We get all of our rockfish fresh, straight off the coast, never frozen.

Some that's easy.

- Look at that.

- It's accessible.

It also makes sense.

It's actually local.

We're getting a year-round.

There's never a break in it.

- I think rockfish is definitely been underrated.

I mean, people, they don't realize how incredibly flavorful rockfish is.

They always think of the cod or the halibut.

- It as delicate, it's light.

It kind of has that body.

And it also just sings Oregon as a product.

One of the things that we're emphasizing super hardcore with our whole menu is our locality with it.

(upbeat music) This is our easiest starter for a lunch is our fish and chips.

Like I said, just one monster piece.

- You, guys, gotta smell this.

Woo!

(upbeat music) Yes sir.

(upbeat music continues) Man, oh man.

This is perfect batter.

- Like I said, riot's in the streets if we got rid of it.

- That's right.

No, I would riot.

Oh, oh man.

(upbeat music continues) Going on the emphasis of what I'm talking about with the rockfish, you almost like you have to try to go outside of Oregon to find something that speaks as loud and as good in quality as Oregon can present.

This is something that I wanna show because it is something- - Okay.

- That we're doing that's not local.

- Okay.

- This is an amazing venison steak coming down to New Zealand.

It's some of the best venison in the world.

So I'm gonna pair it with collard greens and a fried white bean.

And it's something that speaks to Oregon super easy with all of our kind of local, country.

So many hunters here that like it speaks to them.

- [Vinny] Uh-huh.

But bringing a venison, that's unlike anything that they're ever gonna hunt.

(upbeat music continues) - That is some beautiful red meat right there.

Man, look at a color on that thing.

You know, you don't meet a lot of people like you.

I mean, really, where does the passion come from?

Like... - I think roots of it, honestly, comes from giving myself something, in a very selfish way, giving myself something that I wanted to find, I wanted to be passionate about, and I wasn't gonna get.

I grew up in the trailer parks of my town.

I remember I moved to San Francisco, just turning 18, and I got brought to Atelier Crenn, Dominique Crenn's spot in San Francisco, who she's a master.

Hitting that and being like, "Oh, this is something I can do and it can take me anywhere.

It's my passport to the world."

And- - You're doing it, son.

- Yeah.

- [Vinny] Oh, hold on.

You're doing it.

But you're doing it.

- So we are doing classic southern-style collard greens, bacon, little vinegar, a ton of brown sugar.

One of my favorite products that we're doing this with, you'll see next, is this white bean.

It's a giant corona bean.

And we get it in this product that's this amazing brined bean.

Super tasty.

It's my own snack.

Once again, selfishly, it's one of those things that I like.

- It's okay.

- Was like, "Oh my God."

Like, "I'm eating this every day for lunch.

Okay, I gotta figure out how to do this in a dish."

(upbeat music continues) So those are those giant corona beans.

Like I said, you just get that outside of that bean just so perfectly gets crispy, starts to shed off of there.

- All you did is add a little bean juice to that baby.

Woohoo!

(upbeat music) This is insane.

Chef, this is killer.

- Yeah.

(upbeat music continues) This is my art.

I have so much fun in what I do.

But that feeling of knowing that, like, everyone here, whether they're 46, 23, they all get to go home feeling a little bit safer because of something that I didn't get and now I get to provide.

- [Vinny] I love it.

(upbeat music continues) - This is our New Zealand venison.

Amazing.

It's a Cumberland sauce underneath, so it's a classic venison pairing.

- I'm with you.

Come on, chef.

Take some of those collard greens and beans with me.

Let's go.

(upbeat music continues) Yep, I'll eat that every day for lunch.

Oh my goodness.

(upbeat music continues) Look at that meat.

Woo!

(upbeat music continues) Oh.

- What do we think?

(upbeat music continues) - You ever hold a 53-year-old man?

(Dillion laughing) - [Dillion] Good.

- Good, bro.

Thank you for everything.

- Yeah, thank you.

- Thank you for a special time.

That food is insane.

That meat is like butter.

It is.

- It's butter.

- It's insane.

(upbeat music continues) - Do you like history?

Do you like to know where things came from, how things happened, how things became, what they are today?

Well, this little Springfield museum gives you just that.

You step inside and they show you how it all began and where they are today.

This is the Springfield History Museum.

(upbeat music) Tell them why I'm here at the museum of Springfield, Springfield museum.

- Yeah.

So we are in the Springfield History Museum, which we are a history museum that collects items that are related to the history and the culture of Springfield and what we call Rural East Lane County.

We collect all the things that tell those stories, and it goes back all the way 10,000 years to before this was even known as Springfield.

- [Vinny] Wow.

- In this room, we have an exhibit that we did that is a collaboration with our Springfield Utility Board.

So we're lucky enough to have a public utility, and this year was their 75th anniversary.

So we collaborated with them and did this awesome exhibit that's all about their history and some of the early starting points in Springfield.

That photo that shows the elephant- - Yes.

- Is taken in front of this building.

So it was taken right outside here when this was kind of the opposition point against public utilities.

So our building was a electric substation for a rival company.

And then we've got a couple other fun areas over here.

We've got our research library and then we have our kids area.

So we want kids to come in here and learn about their local history.

This museum and everything that's in it belongs to everybody who lives in Springfield.

So we wanna get 'em in here as early as we can.

So we've got lots of 5 and 6-year-old regulars that come in on the weekends and hang out and play with the toys, do scavenger hunts, and learn about how cool museums are.

- So you have a passion for history?

- [Madeline] Yes.

Yeah.

- Wow.

(Madeline laughing) That's pretty cool.

- I know.

I'm probably one of the youngest town historians in the area.

- I was gonna say.

- You're very young to know all this, and not mention, just said no to be that interested in it.

- Uh-huh.

- Well, that's great.

- Yeah, museums were really instrumental in my childhood.

I grew up over on the other side of the mountains around Bend.

And out in Eastern Oregon, there's tons of little museums and historical sites, and I spent my whole childhood visiting those.

And it just made sense when I turned into an adult.

(upbeat music continues) So this is what we call our permanent exhibit space, and this is where we have materials from our collection of artifacts.

So we have about somewhere between 15 and 20,000 artifacts in the collection that we care for and steward for the community, and all of those tell different stories about Springfield and Rural Lane County.

So over here we have sort of a household scene from the early 20th century, and we use that to talk about the Seavey family who had hop yards in this area.

And we also then talk about kind of homewares and different things that you might have in your house during that time period.

So there's some of the stuff from, we had a mill that was in town that was really early 1850s.

We had a sawmill.

That was our first official business in the area.

And then right next to it, we had a grist mill.

So farmers in the area would grow grain and then bring it to the grist mill, and they used water power from a mill race that was hand-dug along the Willamette River.

And they would grind it up and then make flour.

So we were really well-known for having this very popular grist mill during those early years in Springfield.

The museum originally started in 1981, but there were community members who were collecting artifacts all the way back into the '50s and '60s, and with the idea that they wanted to have a Springfield museum.

But it took all the way until 1979 for the actual idea to turn into the Springfield Museum Commission.

And then they started collecting things up together.

And the city purchased this building in 1979 and renovated it because it had been abandoned.

It was not meant to be a museum.

It was meant to be a power substation.

And in 1981, they opened their doors, and we've been here ever since.

- Why are you so into history?

Like, why?

I mean, you'd love to... I know you grew up around museums.

- Uh-huh.

- But that's not enough to make you interested in history.

I mean, is there something that you'd like to see today that was back then?

I mean... - I would not wanna live in the past.

- Okay.

No, I'm just wondering.

Yeah, I'm just wondering.

- No, thank you.

But I just really like, I like being able to connect what Springfield looks like now- - Okay.

- To kind of this whole long history that goes back to, you know, pre-history of what brought people to this area.

- Uh-huh.

- And being able to trace that path all along through artifacts and then be able to see all of these different, each item that we have in the collection tells so many different stories.

Like, it tells the stories of, you know, who owned it and who used it.

We get to learn about that.

There may be something unique about how it was made or where it was made.

And so there's all these different layers of investigative work that you can do.

That to me is just endlessly fascinating.

- So that's what fascinates you.

- Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, that chainsaw is pretty amazing.

(upbeat music continues) - Wow.

Guys, do you see the size of his chainsaw?

I mean, how big was the guy using it?

- Probably not really that big, but it is incredibly heavy.

- Yeah, that's what I mean.

That's heavy.

I have a little one like this.

- Yeah.

Even not filled with gas, that thing is, that thing is difficultly heavy.

- I think the guys were a little stronger back then.

- Uh-huh.

- I think they were a little stronger, for sure.

- Yeah.

We have a lot of the collection is based around lumber history because we had such a, you know, the history of harvesting timber is a huge part of Springfield.

So we had our original sawmill back in the 1850s, and then the Booth Kelly Company started and purchased a mill in, I think, 1900.

So all the way until well into the 1980s, 1990s, this was a mill town.

And that's how it saw itself.

And that's, you know, when you look back at the newspapers and other things from that time period, it was a really proud mill town, so.

- That's how it saw itself.

- Yeah.

- Saw itself.

- Oh God.

- That was good.

- Yeah, get outta here.

Get outta here.

- That was good.

That was props to you, Maddy.

That was good.

You did it.

You didn't even try it.

- Yeah, get outta here.

(Madeline and Vinny laughing) (upbeat music continues) - [Vinny] Oh, thank you for showing us around.

- We want people to be able to get connected in with their local history, 'cause then they get to know more about their community.

- Of course.

- And learn more about themselves.

- Man, this day's going by so fast.

Then we had a special guest show up, the mayor of Springfield.

What a nice guy.

You're gonna love him.

See, this is a mayor you can trust.

He's got a backpack.

(everyone laughing) I'm going back to city hall soon.

- When we pulled into downtown, it was automatic.

Like this is, this is a cool place.

- Yeah.

- And we've been wanting to come here for years.

- Yeah.

So we're gonna stop up here and we're gonna take a look at this, the Kesey mural, and it's on the side of the Odd Fellows building.

We just redid it for its 10th-year anniversary.

They repainted it.

They had this whole area closed.

So Ken Kesey is the local author, really famous, wrote "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," was a Springfield High graduate.

That's why his family worked with us to put his mural up here.

You can see, you know- - [Vinny] Yeah.

- [Sean] They've got this real- - [Vinny] Springfield High.

- Yep.

But there's actually a lot that's happening on this corner, right?

When you see and you look down that that street, you're gonna see restaurants.

But that investment... In 2008, that corner was the highest crime corner in Springfield, right?

It's dropped 90% since then.

And the work that the PD has done to make sure that we're a clean and safe community really created this environment where we can invest in murals, where we can have people come downtown with their families and feel really safe and proud to be here.

This community is an iconic Oregon community.

- It's deep in history.

- Every building has got a story behind it, you know?

But the downtown resurgence we've had the last 10 years has been absolutely fantastic.

(upbeat music) - So now we're heading over to a place called the Public House.

This is an old, renovated building.

But from the food to the alcohol, I mean, there's everything you need in here, even a place just to hang out and read.

You are gonna absolutely love this place.

It's a must-visit.

Places like this across America, old buildings with storied pasts are being reimagined as vibrant community destinations, breathing new life into spaces that were once factories, warehouses, or corner stores.

These transformations often honor the building's history, keeping exposed brick, wooden beams, and vintage facades while creating open, welcoming interiors, perfect for food, drinks, and specialty offerings.

In cities from Portland to New York, chefs, brewers, and entrepreneurs are turning these historic walls into modern dining destinations, proving that history and modern innovation can coexist deliciously, one plate, one cocktail, and one experience at a time.

How long ago did you open it?

- This is our eighth being open.

- With all the same vendors?

- No, vendors have changed over time.

Yeah.

Yeah, we started out with just a handful in here.

Maybe just three total.

Now we have six total vendors.

The business picked up quite a bit when we remodeled and took over.

Just got a lot busier.

- [Vinny] Okay.

- And ended up with kitchens that can handle that load more.

- You took over an old church.

- Yep.

- So where was the concept come from?

Like, what made you think of it?

- Well, eight years ago, almost to the day, we walked through here, my business partner and I, and they had this commercial kitchen in here.

It wasn't quite set up like this, but pretty close.

And they were using it as like a food business incubator.

My business partner and I walked through and we felt like, "Well, this clearly needed to be utilized for people every day to be able to come into."

We decided we'd put the whiskey bar over here in this space, have the beer bar over here, utilize all these different spaces for, you know, groups or whatever.

- Right.

- And then in the back, we put in the turf and a tent later on, but we put out tables in there and they're just grass.

It wasn't being utilized.

So this went from kind of a sleepy destination place that most people didn't know about to something that was really busy overnight kind of thing once we got it all built.

- All right, Vinny, you wanna get a bite of food here?

- I always wanna get a bite.

I can eat, always eat.

- We have three open for lunch right now, including Moi Poki Grill.

And I think they've got some offerings for us over here.

- Moi Poki.

- [Colby] They do Hawaiian plates, and clearly, poki.

- A spicy tuna, what?

- Onigiri.

- Onigiri.

Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

Do we eat this with a fork?

Obviously.

- No.

You use it like a sandwich, right?

(upbeat music) - [Server] That's good?

(hands clapping) - That is good.

- I can see why you're a fan.

- Yeah.

- That's good.

You, guys, would love this.

After some great food, cold beer, and fun company, it's clear this isn't just a stop, it's a vibe, the kind of gathering place where you just want to visit, hang out with friends and family and try new things.

But the day's not over yet.

We are heading deeper inside to cap things off at the Whiskey Lab, where the pours are bold, the selection is massive, and then mixologist knows exactly how to bring it all together.

- How many bottles do you think you have?

Do you know?

- Yeah, so I think it's probably, maybe right around 150 or something like that.

- [Vinny] So, well, I got a three-hour drive home in that RV, so- - [Trey] Yeah.

- [Vinny] I gotta chillax.

Gotta have just one.

- [Trey] Yeah.

- So if you were, if someone's gonna say, "Hey, Trey, I just drove up from wherever, Medford, can you just make me your signature drink?"

Do you have a signature drink?

- Totally.

I mean, I would say in here, we are a full bar, but I would say mostly whiskey.

So, you know, the two cocktails we make the most of are gonna be something like an old fashioned.

- Yep.

- Or just a whiskey sour.

We do both of 'em super classically.

So they're simple, straightforward to the point, but we do a lot of 'em.

And so, yeah.

- [Vinny] We can do anything that on the shelves.

- We can do anything on the shelves.

You know, we do have the well, so if somebody does want have a well old fashioned, you know?

- [Vinny] Okay.

- Yeah.

We always, you know, ask everybody if they have a preference.

We kind of try to get to the bottom of what their flavor profiles are.

You know, whether that be bourbon, rye, scotch, 'cause an old fashioned, or even a sour can be made with any whiskey, so.

- [Vinny] Okay.

- We do have some kind of allocated stuff that's a little bit harder to find, but we've also got approachable, affordable things that, you know, are just a couple steps up from the well that are just as delicious.

- But you got an incredible selection.

- [Trey] We did.

- So how about you make a killer old fashioned- - Okay.

- With one of your favorite ones.

- Yeah, most definitely.

I can do that for you.

Okay, cool.

- [Vinny] You order, man.

- [Trey] Yeah.

- [Vinny] And this is a no judgment zone.

- [Trey] No.

Absolutely.

Well, and I think- - It's a matter of preference no matter what you do, - In general, that's our motto in here.

Like, when people ask questions on like what's good or what's not, we just say, "Really, honestly, everybody has their own preferences, everybody has their own tastes."

So, you know, it's definitely a... You know, we have to educate people and stuff on like, you know, the facts of the whiskeys and stuff.

- Uh-huh.

- But as far as like what you like, that's all personal preference, so.

- [Vinny] Absolutely.

- I'm gonna just make you one with something that we, you know, is easily accessible, just kind of a step up- - Do it.

- Well, for, you know- - Do it.

- Just it pleasing old fashioned.

We're gonna do Elijah Craig.

- Yep.

- Because we talked about it, so.

- Yep, we talked about the small batch.

- Yeah, yeah.

So I really do like small batch 94 proof.

So, you know, it's not too hot or anything like that.

- [Vinny] No.

- Like, it's pretty friendly for most people.

(upbeat music continues) We use a little bit of Turbinado sugar syrup, gives it a lot more kind of molassesy flavor rather than being just sweet.

- [Vinny] I just got a bottle of that.

(upbeat music) - I get a nice, big, chunky orange.

- Oh yeah, buddy.

- It's all about the most amount of oils you can get out of that thing is the best, is better, you know?

Old fashion.

- Happy to have one.

(upbeat music continues) Oh, boy.

- It's good.

It's a good one.

And, you know, like I said, we just kind of do a simple, simple fashion, you know?

Just three ingredients, whiskey, sugar, and bitters.

So sugar.

- Oh man, we just save this one to the last.

- Yeah.

Okay, yeah, let's do a whiskey sour too.

And I'll just do a whiskey sour with our well whiskey.

(upbeat music continues) Fresh lemon, always fresh ingredients.

We actually crack our eggs ahead of time.

(upbeat music continues) Not having to do that per order, but... - Trey, you go to school at all for this?

- No.

- For mixology?

No?

- No, I've just been doing it forever.

- Yeah, I just wondering.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- [Vinny] That's cool.

- Yeah, I started, my first restaurant job ever was P.F.

Chang's.

And I grew up in Oklahoma.

So actually, I moved up here in 2016.

- [Vinny] Oh, okay.

- But, yeah, just worked my way up from the bottom.

But started bartending when I was 21 and I'm 35 now, so.

- [Vinny] Okay, been doing it for- - It's been a while.

Gotta really break up those egg whites.

Give it that nice emulsified, kind of marriage flavor.

Double shake, you know, on the whiskey sour for that reason.

(ice clacking) - Yeah.

And it's important, if somebody was making a whiskey sour at home, you gotta do it without the ice first.

Otherwise, you lose everything.

- Exactly.

Without the ice to helps break up those- - Break it up.

- You know, those egg whites without over diluting the cocktail.

- Yup.

Yeah.

- And then you shake with ice after you've really got that cocktail nice and frothy.

(upbeat music continues) Yeah.

It should be like nice and opaque, like that, when it comes out first.

Cubes in there.

But we also like to like to give it a little bitters on top just to kind of give it an aromatics.

Helps with that kind of- - [Vinny] Beautiful.

Nice color contrast to it.

Not just a cherry.

- [Trey] Yeah, the Bada Ding Cherry.

Yeah.

- [Vinny] The Bada Bing Cherry.

- Yeah.

Nice whiskey sour there.

- Beautiful.

Look at that.

Look at that.

- Yeah.

- For all those you weren't watching, behind the scenes, Trey already had three of these.

That's why he made this so good.

- I did not have three of those.

- Three.

And he's on the clock.

- No, no, no.

- Oh, this is beautiful.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I mean, that's the reason you really gotta shake those up real nice without the ice first.

- Oh.

- That is a very important step.

- [Vinny] Oh, boy.

- Or else, you know, it just separates quickly.

Yeah.

- Goodbye and hug.

- [Trey] Absolutely.

Yeah.

- [Vinny] Thank you so much.

- [Trey] Yeah.

- Thank you for your show.

- Doing that.

Very much.

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music) Another great day in Springfield, from a walk with the mayor to delightful dishes at a local tavern, a bustling gathering spot full of flavors and drinks and community spirit.

And we got to learn a little bit about the history of Springfield, proving once again that Springfield is a town where every meal and every moment leaves a lasting impression.

We'll see you next time as we go "All Across Oregon."

(upbeat music) "All Across Oregon" is made possible in part by Travel Southern Oregon Coast, Travel Curry County, and John Warekois, CPA.

(upbeat funky music) (gentle music) (keyboard clicks) (gentle music) (camera whirs)