Prospect Cafe & Trophy Room

Although this place changed hands a while back, the food has remained consistently good. I have had both lunch and breakfast here. Today the staff bent the rules and let me order pancakes well after 11 am. The cakes are best with the cafe's own strawberry jam.  The photo with just the bike parked in front is misleading; the cafe soon filled with a dozen kids from the school across the street and some adults,

There are few places to eat between Shady Cove and Crater Lake. My favorite is Becky's in Union Creek. For a fancy dinner there is the Prospect Hotel and the Rouge River Lodge. The other choices are The Gorge for Mexican food, the pizza place in Prospect and the little cafe in Stewart State Park next to the boat ramp.

In a Benjamin Button twist of fate, the older I get, the fonder I'm becoming of stuffed animals. But -- twist, twist -- only the taxidermied kind. I can't explain it. Mummies freak my shit right out. And I can't see why animals would be any different. But there you have it. So anyhow...

We're driving along, on our way to a five-day camp-a-thon, and Hey, you know what? It's vacation. Yes I AM gonna go out of my way to stop by a place called a Cafe & Trophy Room and boasts COMFORT FOOD on a sign coming into town.

Sure, I might be a teeny bit disappointed when I realize that the Trophy Room is really just a bar, but as you've guessed, the thrill is back when I come to understand that the Trophies in question are taxidermied everythings. Turkeys. Fish. Wildcats. Badgers. One intense moment between a deer and a mountain lion is frozen forever in time above the pool tables and a poem about The Bartender. It's like the Safari Club Jr up in here.

The drinks are mostly bottled and bottle-esque. We didn't have the food, but the cafe on the other side (more diner-y and with a separate entrance) does have a variety of homemade pies in a glass case. The toilets have little wildlife decals lovingly applied to the lids. The locals who are there at 3pm on a Thursday are surprisingly outgoing, but not, y'know, TOO friendly. I sorta outed myself as a city girl, when I caught a glimpse out the back door and was all, ooh, what a spacious yard! But no bother.

The TV was playing some survival reality show. It looks like they have some regular dancing and maybe some karaoke, too. This place is the only place to be on a hot summer night in downtown Prospect, OR. Like, literally.

You can buy bundles of wood and bags of ice here, which we did. Also, Prospect is the last place you'll get any kind of cell reception before you get to Crater Lake. So.