Magenta marked 10 years in high style with party

“There were beverages laid out for the party/ There were candy and spices and tricolored pastas/ The meat carved was drawn from succulent juices/ Served on platters of the purest gold.”

— Ween, “Your Party”

That song, like an incantation to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, ritual madness and ecstasy, looped through the red velvet-wallpapered corridors of my mind all night.

We were celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Magenta, but if not for the very real fruit juice and liquor pulsing through my veins, I never would have believed it. It simply couldn’t have been a decade since I’d first perched on the vintage sofa at the back of the campus locale, now home to highly regarded Asian food purveyors Southeast.

Last year, Magenta moved to a location with as much night life history as any in downtown Corvallis. Just during my lifetime, it’s hosted the laid-back sports bars that were Old Museum and Museum II, the corporate Celtic confines of Kell’s and the rowdy local favorites A.J.’s and The Union.

When Magenta took over, however, nearly all traces of those previous lives were erased. Beer banners came down and lustrous wood work and banzai plants went up. Bar stools were replaced by mostly functional works of modern art, and the bathrooms were turned into miniature spas.

If you’ve ever met owner Kimber Hoang, you know that she’s a stylish woman. Even more, she loves to create a festive atmosphere with her food, drinks and general ambience. Sipping on a Marion, her berry-laden cocktail, I watched as she bounced around the room, making sure her guests had everything they might need.

The spread included whiskey-marinated beef, chicken satay and raspberry-and pepper-infused cheese spread. There was some kind of sweet vegetable rolled up in spicy pepper salami and a range of chocolates and fruit, not to mention wine, beer and champagne.

When the good hostess finally stopped to talk, she told me how glad she was to be back in the kitchen. After the move to downtown, she had turned over some of the day-to-day duties to another chef, and eventually complaints got back to her about the diminished quality of the food.

I told her of my experience coming in to have dinner with a friend and being asked if I was ordering off the bar menu or the dinner menu. It would, I was told, affect where I was seated.

Still, on the night of her party, Kimber assured me that she was back in the kitchen seven days a week, and that the food was as good as it had ever been. The tool that had snubbed me before was nowhere to be seen, and the spiky-haired bartender on duty was cool as a Sonic Youth photo shoot.

Magenta was one of the first restaurants to bring true fusion cuisine to the Willamette Valley, mixing as it does classical European concepts with Asian flavors and modern design sensibilities. When you consider that 10 years later, it’s still going strong and has only suffered a few real complaints, that’s a mighty amazing feat.

In her quest to bring greater variety to local dining, Hoang has also opened Baguette, the Vietnamese sub shop on the riverfront, and Southeast, bringing her aesthetic to a variety of tastes and price ranges.

Yet, Magenta remains the core of her endeavor, a tasty tribute to the melting pot of American cuisine. As more and more chic eateries open their doors about town — Aqua, Le Bistro, Strega, Cloud 9, FireWorks, etc. — it’s easy to see that a great party is contagious. May all of them celebrate a decade in similar style someday.

“Later on when we were under the covers/ I closed my eyes, then I drifted to sleep/ I dreamt about me maybe throwing a party/ And just how great that would be.”

Jake TenPas can be reached at jake.tenpas@lee.net or 758-9514.