PRESS RELEASE

Source: Katie Sproles, (541) 346-0942, ksproles@uoregon.edu

Sept. 8, 2004

Marché will open new café in UO's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

EUGENE, Ore.-Eugene's critically acclaimed Marché will operate a café in the renovated Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon. The Marché Museum Café is slated to open in October, offering visitors an opportunity to sample the new eatery several months prior to the museum's Jan. 23, 2005, grand reopening.

Initially, the café will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. After the museum reopens in January, the café will be open seven days a week with extended hours on Wednesdays to 8 p.m. and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.

Visitors will enter the 33-seat café through the museum's new south courtyard. The outdoor courtyard will offer an additional 16 seats.

"We are thrilled to be in the beautifully expanded Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art," says Marché Museum Café manager Leah Pearl. "We are looking forward to offering our wholesome, creative and delicious menu to faculty, students and community visitors for many years to come."

Marché takes its name from the French word for market-a word that describes owner Stephanie Kimmel's philosophy of cooking. The new café's affordable menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, pastries and coffees will be based on foods that can be found at a farmers' market-fresh, seasonal and regional. Winter menu items may include a pear salad with Rogue Valley blue cheese, a curried Oregon bay shrimp tartine or a Portobello mushroom panini with herb aioli and sun-dried tomato relish.

"The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and Marché are a perfect match," explains museum director David Turner. "Stephanie's reputation has been built on the highest standards of quality, presentation and service. We share the same values. The new facilities will offer our visitors exceptional dining options and will become a destination for university and community members."

Kimmel has created several celebrated restaurants over the past 22 years. Less than a year after opening the Marché Café, a casual-concept eatery offering French café classics, Kimmel opened the full-service Marché Restaurant in 1998. Featuring market-driven regional cooking in an elegant and lively atmosphere, the restaurant opened to an enthusiastic audience.

For more information about the new Marché Museum Café, contact public relations/marketing coordinator Katie Sproles at (541) 346-0942, or ksproles@uoregon.edu.

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