Prune Hill Bread and Wine

Here is another of my reviews from The Columbian. Prune Hill Café recently switched owners, and this is my report on the new menu:
Why: The Prune Hill Café in Camas will tempt you in off the street with its sinful window full of baked pies, cookies, puddings and breads, but don’t fill up just on sweets. The cozy little eatery also features a variety of lunch and dinner items that are made mostly from scratch by owners Todd and Donna Ravenberg. You can blame Todd’s mother, Shirley, for those decadent homestyle confections. The Ravenbergs bought the café in August and staged a grand opening on Saturday, Oct. 4, to show off the new menu and look of the place. Todd says that customers will notice that the lunch menu has been streamlined while the dinner menu has been expanded to include steaks.
Atmosphere: If cozy is sometimes a real estate euphemism for small, in the case of Prune Hill, it’s an apt description. Tables line both walls of the narrow space and simple country art decorates the walls. The display window opens into the table nearest the window, so be advised not to sit there without will power to spare. Todd and Donna bustled about the restaurant, tending to the needs of the diners, and every few minutes one would open the case, apologizing to myself and my dining partner for the inconvenience. It was simultaneously great customer service and an elaborate con to get us to leave with one of their miniature apple pies, wafting a fantastic cinnamon aroma throughout the seating area.
Food: While the dinner menu features chicken marsala and pork ribs with house-​made barbecue sauce, we stopped by at lunch and so sampled some of the salads, sandwiches and soups the place is known for. My Camas Cobb came loaded with grilled chicken breast, bacon, blue cheese, tomato and green onion, as well as avocado and egg. I might have liked just a bit more avocado and egg, but otherwise it was delicious. The white-​meat chicken was moist, the bacon lean and chewy and the cheese sharp and creamy. They even make their own blue cheese dressing, which is miles from the anemic ranch substitute many places serve. I also tried their potato salad, flavored with just a hint of garlic. The potatoes were pleasantly soft, neither too firm nor homogeneous mush.
My partner opted for the roasted turkey sandwich, and was pleased by the just-​carved, day-​after– Thanksgiving quality of the meat. She also said the tomatoes were quite flavorful, although she was somewhat disappointed by the use of shredded iceberg lettuce. We both recommend that they switch to the same romaine used in the salads to put the sandwiches over the top. We were also in agreement on the homemade soup, an impressively spiced Italian bean and pasta concoction. Given her aversion to spicy foods and my philosophy that the phrase «too hot» doesn’t exist, it’s quite a feat when something sits on both our palates with equal aplomb. Todd says they also feature homemade cream of broccoli, cream of mushroom and clam chowder on other days of the week.
Finally, pushed to the breaking point by the goodies in the window, we left with one of Prune Hill’s miniature apple pies. They’re served in the ramican they’re baked in, with a Dutch-​style crust on top almost like a cobbler. At the restaurant, they come heated with Tillamook vanilla ice cream, but we found ours stood up just as well nuked at home with Haagen-​Dazs.
Price: Sandwiches, which also include a Reuben, a BLT and barbecued pork and brisket, are all $ 8 or $ 9, and a cheeseburger is $ 7. The Camas Cobb was $ 12 and the Caesar salad with a bowl of soup is $ 8. The desserts ran from $ 1 for a cookie to $ 5 for a root beer float. The pies are a steal at $ 4, or $ 6 with ice cream. The appetizers at dinner include spinach artichoke dip, chicken tenders and Beau Monde Bread and are all about $ 5. Steaks range from $ 15 to $ 22, and the pork and chicken are both $ 16. Pasta, from spaghetti to Shrimp Supreme, runs from $ 14 to $ 18.