Alea, led by two Ōkta alums, is dipping a toe into weeknight dinner
Since opening Alea in Mac Market last summer, Haley and Brendan Byer have been setting the new standard for what an Oregon wine country bakery can be. The menu looks familiar — a breakfast sandwich, chicken salad, scrambled eggs on toast — but the simple descriptions belie the couple’s technical prowess.
Customers expecting a basic bacon, egg, and cheese may be surprised with what shows up: tender slices of two-day cured pork belly shingled over a just-set egg with oozy Swiss on a tender, made-in-house sourdough English muffin. The tuna sandwich is line-caught albacore loin conserva dressed in aioli with parsley, pickled carrot, and green garlic. Buttermilk-dressed chicken salad arrives on a pillowy pain au lait hoagie roll with lovage, mizuna, and Aleppo pepper. It’s familiar, but also surprising.
Now, the Byers are ready to see what happens when they invite in people for dinner…