By: Jackie Varriano | October 14 2011
Posted in Eugene - Find It - Eugene

Jeannine and Jon Terry, Garbazno Grill co-owners. Photo by: Jackie Varriano

For Jon Terry, owner of the Whiteaker’s Garbanzo Grill, one of the best things about owning a food cart is the chance to see “explosions” every day -- meaning the explosions of delight radiating from people after taking bites of Terry’s vegetarian and vegan dishes. Terry is a chef that gets excited about his food. As he says, “good food puts me in a good mood.”

The food at Garbanzo Grill is good. But it’s also so much more than that. Terry’s care and attention to detail to the labor-intensive menu shines with every delicious, vegetarian bite. Specializing in veggie burgers, vegan gyros, falafel, and vegan mac-and-cheese, Terry hand crafts each of his menu items right down to the sauces.  
“I didn’t want to be a vegetarian; I loved meat, didn’t eat vegetables. Then I learned about the meat industry and I didn’t want to give them another dollar,” says Terry. 

After a few years of eating commercial veggie burgers, Terry says he stopped lying to himself and admitted, “You know what, I don’t really like these.” Vegetarian or not, Terry’s idea of a burger was much different. “When I was eating burgers I liked thick, juicy, medium rare. These were really thin like a well-done flat, dry horrible patty,” says Terry. 

The amazing Garbanzo Grill Veggie Burger! Photo by: Jackie Varriano

He spent some time thinking how to make a thick, juicy veggie burger that actually included real food. After rolling around ideas, he finally took his recipe -- a mixture of veggies and seitan -- off the drawing board and out for a test drive. The result was “easily as good as I thought they were going to be.” After one bite, he knew he had to share his creation with other vegetarian burger lovers.

The burger truly is picture-perfect. Seared on Terry’s flat top griddle, the thick patty gets a generous helping of his special caramelized onions (smoked over hickory and mesquite), and a slice of either Tilamook cheddar or vegan Daiya cheese. The buns are brushed with custom created garlic-infused oil, and left to toast on the grill while the burger sizzles away. Finishing touches are added, including two secret (fat-free vegan) sauces, fresh tomatoes, and lettuce before Terry wraps it all up and hands it over. 

Garbanzo Grill originally opened in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where the demand for vegetarian and vegan dishes wasn’t very high. “Let’s just say it didn’t really go over that well. They didn’t want vegetarian food in that area, nobody was really interested,” says Terry. 

So he went online in search of places kind to vegetarians that were also welcoming to food carts, and Eugene popped up. He moved here almost two years ago and hasn’t regretted the decision, loving the people and especially the Whiteaker neighborhood -- and the people also love him! At the time of this article's writing, Garbanzo Grill has an average five star rating on Yelp and is ranked one of Eugene’s top restaurants. 

Terry and his partner Jeannine run the shop seven days a week, serving up their unique menu from 11am to 3pm. Stop by and try one of their delicoius veggie burgers -- and don’t forget to ask for a glass of homemade kombucha with your order for the perfect combination of flavors. 

Jackie Varriano is a Eugene-based writer who thinks Garbanzo Grill’s burger is one of the best she has ever eaten. Keep up with her at seejackwrite.tumblr.com.

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