Soup café opens in Sisters

Sisters' Cascade Avenue is sporting a new "open" sign: It's the "Soup Sisters Café," serving home-made soups, salads and sandwiches in a bright, comfortable atmosphere.

Joanne James opened the doors of her new restaurant a little over three weeks ago, and it seems to be taking off.

"It's growing every day," she says. "We get people coming in all the time saying they were referred by a friend."

Located at 411 E. Cascade Ave. (in the Cascade Station Building), she's created a place where diners can get a made-to-order sandwich and a bowl of hand-crafted soup at a reasonable price, with a Wi-Fi hotspot thrown in as well.

"I've always made soups for people I've worked with," she said. "And lots of them have said 'you should go into business doing this,' so one day I thought 'I'll give it a try.' And so far it's working."

James said, "I do three soups every day: Two meat-based and one vegetarian, all prepared from scratch. With my vegetarian soups, mostly I don't use a milk base - because some people can't tolerate milk - but occasionally I do (use a milk base). Often people will specifically ask for a soup with no milk products in it, so I try to always have one ready.

"I cook my own meats, create my own broths. There are only a couple times I'll use a prepared broth, but when I do, I make sure it's organic."

She notes that, "I make my sandwiches to order, with three types of bread; white, a whole-wheat and usually a sourdough. I have turkey, ham, beef and vegetarian; tuna salad and egg salad, and you just put what ever you want on them."

The list of condiments is extensive.

Joanne plans to start barbequing on the deck the weekend of June 7 - Wednesday through Sunday - with hot dogs, hamburgers and shish kebab during the lunch and dinner hours.

She does limited catering, so if you have a function that you'd like catered, give her plenty of advance notice.

"I actually just hired someone that'll help me with catering," she said.

"People have asked me if we'll start serving breakfast, and I've said we have very limited breakfasts - because we don't have an oven - but if they'd like to have a group come in (for breakfast), I can do it. It takes so long to make a soup from scratch, and it's a lot of work to make it in big pots. So for me to open in the morning and get everything ready for the lunch crowd, it's just too much to do (preparing daily breakfasts). But if I have a specific group, I can."

James lived in Central Oregon for about 30 years before moving to the Corvallis area and working in administration for Benton County, where she recently took early retirement.

"It's not that I didn't like the work," she said. "I did, but I got tired of going to work in the dark, sitting under fluorescent lights all day - and in the Valley it rains so much... I'm very active. I did a triathlon last year, hiking with the Sierra Club, ballroom dancing... Being a bean-counter in a back room was just too much.

"I have four children living in Central Oregon," said the mother of five. "And five grandkids, so it's like coming home to me."

Hours for the restaurant are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. For information call 588-6177 or visit http://www.soupsisterscafe.com.