Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | The local newspaper did an article on me. :)

They don't have it completely right but close enough.;)

End Zone chef upping the ante

Photo By John Gervais
Shawn Case (in white) cuts through a piece of prime rib during a typical evening at the End Zone in Woodburn.

By John Gervais

WOODBURN -- If you would like to sample the cuisine of some of the better restaurants in Portland or New York, all you need to do is go to the Endzone Restaurant in Woodburn where one of the better chefs in the state resides three days a week.
Shawn Case has been at the restaurant for three years, however, only under the new ownership of Bert Jones, has he been elevated to head chef/kitchen manager and persuaded to work the three busiest days of the week, Friday through Sunday.
"We love his food and when we know that he is working, we drive over to have a wonderful meal," said Aurora residents Bill and Janet Meulemans. The couple has experienced foods from all over the world and have compared to Case with the best.
Born and raised in Hyde Park, N.Y., Case has lived in Oregon about 35 years. His first career was in silviculture and fire fighting for the U.S. Forest Service in the Siuslaw National Forest on the coast.
Federal cutbacks forced him in a new direction and he went to work for his brother, Marcel, the head chef at the renowned Portland restaurant Jakes, near 12th and Burnside.
He was then assigned to the sister restaurant of McCormick and Schmick's at 1st and Oak and began as a prep cook and worked his way up to expediter.
That included cooking on the broiler, saute chef, pasta chef, baker and kitchen line supervisor.
After several years, Case went back to his home state and worked for the four star restaurant, Plumb Bush in Westchester County as the lead saute chef.
He also spent two years as saute chef at the Hudson House on the Hudson River, the oldest continuous inn operation in the state of New York.
When he returned to Oregon, he worked for five years for Jake's Grill as kitchen supervisor and the master baker and as the number two person to the catering department at Jake's Grill.
"I would describe the Portland restaurants as upscale fine dining that features northwest foods and seafood," said Case.
Three years ago, Case and another friend began a computer web site design business and maintenance of the sites and currently have 350 sites that they have developed and maintain.
"A lot of our work is in the area of musical and medical web sites, however, we even have one for divers in Puerto Rico," said Case.
Case moved to Woodburn to be close to his parents and a year ago married Sandy, a local woman.
When Bert Jones took over the Endzone about eight months ago he made drastic changes in the whole building, adding another large screen TV and raising the quality of ingredients that are used in food and other items.
"Our menu is American, but we have specials that may be Swiss or French or Cajun and we have added luncheon specials and a wider line of appetizers," said Case.
One thing that he really enjoys is for customers to come in and ask him to surprise them. They are not sure what they want to eat and they know that Case has the knowledge and ability to go many delectable directions and they are not disappointed.
"Cooking is a little bit of science, art and design," said Case.
He talks of blending just the right ingredients and the right spices and the art comes in when the meal is displayed in a pleasing way on the plate.
The Endzone Sports Bar and Grill is located on Highway 99E just north or Roth's Family Food and on the same side of the highway. The restaurant/lounge is a mix of sports bar with a music override, music, pool, video poker, karaoke and TV's where ever the eye ventures.
Beginning this month, Jones plans to bring bands to add to features such as Texas Hold 'Em on Tuesday nights and darts on occasion.

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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com

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