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9:17
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Even though they have been open for a week, Deschutes Brewery is having their official grand reopening on Wednesday, Feb 1. Their Pub Pizza is really good! Good luck getting a spot. I heard there was a huge line on Sunday just waiting for them to open. Brother Jon’s Alehouse put up their new signs [...]
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8:41
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Olive Garden Reloaded Much like the 2nd Matrix, Olive Garden is trying to win back fans of the original. Also much like the 2nd Matrix, they will only confuse and frustrate their customer base leaving bland taste bud having Nascar fans not knowing how to get their unlimited pasta bowls or tour’s of Italy. While reading Yahoo [...]
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12:41
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Deschutes Brewery – Bend Oregon In January 2012 Deschutes Brewery in Bend Oregon closed for a few weeks in order to finish their expansion. I was fortunate enough to get in early to see the new digs and try some new menu items. Deschutes was very generous and covered the cost of food for all [...]
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23:48
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Zydeco – Bend Oregon Zydeco is one of the most popular restaurants in Bend. At least it seems to be for me since every single time I try to go, it is completely packed. The Wife and I were able to find a spot in the bar at the long community table. We enjoy sitting [...]
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10:31
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
boken When boken first opened the Wife and I went for dinner, ate some very tasty (and very small) dishes, spent a small fortune, and left hungry. Our dishes were great in quality and presentation, but very small. I need more for my money. While we have not been back for dinner, we both have [...]
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7:58
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Crazy Delicious Food Cart According to Andy Samberg – Mr. Pibb + Redvines = Crazy Delicious. Here in Bend, Chicken + Waffles = Crazy Delicious! Located on NW Galveston in the Mystery Machine looking food cart you can find some of the best food cart food in Bend. It’s also a great spot to go if you [...]
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2:14
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Wendy’s Baconator The Wife grabbed one of the new premium burgers from Wendy’s along with some of the new sea salt fries and has not stopped talking about them. Actually she doesn’t really talk about them that often but if she hears “wendy’s” she goes – “OOOOoooh Wendy’s with the sea salt fries!” And THAT [...]
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0:43
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
joolz Located in Downtown Bend, Oregon is one of the best restaurants that apparently everyone (yet no one) knows about - joolz. I say that because the place is always slammed every time I go there but yet, when I tell someone about joolz, they have not been there or even know it exists. Or [...]
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9:03
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Slick’s Que Co. – Bend Oregon I’ve driven by Slick’s Que Co. on Revere a ton of times but never made it inside. I’ll admit that I’m a Baldy’s BBQ fan and didn’t really feel the need to venture out. But Slick’s Que Co. opened up right at the same time that I was taking [...]
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8:20
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Pho Viet & Cafe I’ve written about Pho Viet & Cafe before and tried to explain to you pale faces that should try pho. Don’t be scared of trying something new, get in there and get a P6 – beef broth noodle soup with lean brisket. I eat it at least once a week. If you [...]
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9:42
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Brickhouse All my Redmondite readers have emailed/facebook/twittered me beggin to get me out to Redmond so I can try their best steak house – Brickhouse. But we have Jackalope and Blacksmith here in Bend. Plus, its tough for me to go out for a steak when can grill a mean steak myself. The owners of [...]
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13:47
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Tetherow Grill When I think of dining at a golf course club I immediately think that its going to hurt my wallet and be boring eating surrounded by some rich, upitty types ala Caddy Shack and I’m Rodney Dangerfield without the loads of cash. But that couldn’t be further from the experience that we had [...]
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15:13
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Deschutes Brewery Hot Wings I loves me some good hot wings and Deschutes Brewery serves up some of the best in Bend. I don’t go for their Thai Wings of Fire, those are for the tourists. I always get the regular Franks Red hot and butter wings and get them extra crispy. Hot, spicy, fried [...]
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15:10
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Rockin Daves Bagel Bistro A friend of mine has been after me to try Rockin Daves Bagel Bistro for a while. I wasn’t really excited to give it another try after my first attempt was disappointing. My first visit I got the turkey club on a tough bagel with some super stale bagel chips and [...]
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11:29
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Old Mill Brew Werks First off I think that any business that says they are in the Old Mill needs to specify Upper Decker or Lower Deck Old Mill. I went to meet some friends at Old Mill Brew Werks and drove around the lower deck lookin and lookin for it. And how come the [...]
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9:48
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Fox’s Billiard Lounge When I think of Fox’s Billiard Lounge I rarely think of it as a place to get a quick bite to eat. But Fox’s is a great option for a quick meal for super cheap. For lunch you get any menu item for $5.75 and most items come with fries. Also, if [...]
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10:15
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Pho Viet On the Sunday before Pho Viet was set to open in Bend, the Wife was driving by and instantly called me to let me know that she was on her way to pick me up. She said they had the open sign and only one person was in there. We have been so [...]
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9:46
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
10 Barrel This weeks edition of Fried Food Friday (the internets sensation sweeping the country that you can also participate in on Twitter of Facebook) brought me to 10 Barrel for some Fish and Chips. I’ll admit, I don’t know enough about the price of fish but I would be willing to wager that 3 [...]
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10:52
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Just a quick post to show you the Brownie a la mode that my boy destroyed at Brother Jon’s. I got a bite and it was sooooo goooood.
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10:56
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
La Rosa Lunch Bowls If you have ever driven by the traffic circle – yes, they are called traffic circles because we are in America and not communist Europe or down under where they might say “Round-a-bout” – at NW Crossing and Mt Washington Drive you must have noticed the yellow signs displaying the $6 [...]
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2:15
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bourbon Street Fried Chicken The newest craze hitting the internets is my creation and mine alone. I call it, Fried Food Friday. I’m very proud of it and my cholesterol loves it too. You can send me your Fried Food Friday pics …
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1:05
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Versante Pizza Lunch Special I’ll start off by saying that Versante Pizza is 0 for 2 with me. My original post was not very good when I tried to get a slice for lunch and was rejected. Their website said …
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3:49
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
McDonald’s Hot n’ Spicy Chicken Sandwich In honor of the new Fried Food Friday that I’m trying to get going via Twitter – here is the McDonald’s Hot n’ Spicy Chicken Sandwich that I ate the other night. It was …
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7:10
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Olde Towne Pizza I think its obvious that I need to update my Best of Bend lists. I’d promise to do it but I’d just let you down. One list in particular my be the Best Pizza in Bend list. …
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14:15
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Brother Jon's - BreakfastBrother Jon's is one of my favorite places to hang out. I've had almost everything on the menu aside from the stupid portobello sandwich. "But it tasted like steak, you'll love it" your vegan ass tries to convince me. Yeah, sure portobello tastes like steak if steak was mushy and tasted like s**t. It's not steak and doesn't taste "beefy". You know what does taste "beefy"?
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14:15
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Brother Jon’s – Breakfast Brother Jon’s is one of my favorite places to hang out. I’ve had almost everything on the menu aside from the stupid portobello sandwich. “But it tasted like steak, you’ll love it” your vegan ass tries …
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8:55
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
JoolzI've written about Joolz before but I'm trying to get back to my roots and simply review the dishes I eat. So when the Wife and I went out for apps and drinks at a few spots on a glorious Saturday evening, we stopped by Joolz for a quick bite.I ordered an Arak (a traditional alcoholic beverage of Lebanon and Syria) as I always do and we decided on the BBQ Pulled Chicken topped with
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8:55
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Joolz I’ve written about Joolz before but I’m trying to get back to my roots and simply review the dishes I eat. So when the Wife and I went out for apps and drinks at a few spots on a …
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9:30
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Thai Thai RestaurantThai Thai Restaurant is the newest restaurant to take over the old 38 Degrees location in NW Crossing. I have eaten there a few times now with mixed results. Below you'll find my comments about the different dishes that we've tried.My first visit was for lunch and I ordered my favorite dish that I get from Toomies in order to compare, the chicken red curry. Lunch specials
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9:30
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Thai Thai Restaurant Thai Thai Restaurant is the newest restaurant to take over the old 38 Degrees location in NW Crossing. I have eaten there a few times now with mixed results. Below you’ll find my comments about the different …
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10:29
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Little Woody Beer ListI know that I'm getting excited about this year's Little Woody. I'm actually more excited about the Bourbon Tasting but these beers do look good. So if you want to join me downtown at the Deschutes Historical Museum this Friday and Saturday, I'll be there looking for a designated driver. I'll be the buzzed guy with a camera.The Little Woody is Central Oregon's Barrel-Aged
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9:19
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Cuppa Yo"Cuppa Yo is excited to be Bend's premier, self-serve frozen yogurt shop!" Let me start off by saying that I have nothing against Cuppa Yo and/or anyone who enjoys self-serve frozen yogurt. More power to the owners and their league of fans. The Wife absolutely loves going to Cuppa Yo and defends it when I go off on one of my Gin induced rants. Speaking of which, here you go:I've said it
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9:54
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Best of Bend Oregon 2010 (Editors note: right off the bat I have to say that I wrote 98% of this about a month before posting it. I was at my favorite watering hole reading the results in The Source Weekly when I realized I never posted mine. I did skim through them and thought that I had to make a note before you read my rant, BLOND BOMB-F**KING-SHELL won Best Locally Brewed Beer!!! Blond
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9:43
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Spice Box The Spice Box, located in Bend's Glorious West Side (the best side), is bringing some much needed Indian food to Bend. The Spice Box took over the old Hurricane's spot next to Bend's Favorite Kid Friendly Mexican Restaurant, Baltazar's. As of writing this post The Spice Box does not have a website but rather a Facebook Page in which they update fans on what's available on a weekly
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8:29
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bourbon Street BendBourbon Street Bend has finally opened its doors to the public this past Friday, July 23rd and the following day had a line out the door. Good thing too cause I was getting tired of hearing from the peanut gallery about how the evil empire of McMicheal and friends some how run Downtown Bend like Master Blaster runs Barter Town.There have been a lot of rumors flying around about
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8:54
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Letzer's DeliA Deli like Letzer's has been needed in Bend ever since my favorite deli, good ol' Speedshop, closed its doors. I see on TV where someone goes into a NY style deli and gets one of those crazy high sandwiches stacked with pastrami or corned beef so tall there's no way in hell you can bite it like a regular sandwich. I've always wanted to get a deli sandwich like that. The one time I
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8:49
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
The Blacksmith Restaurant is offering bags of their spice rubs available at Rays and Newport Market. I was online the other day and just happened upon the Blacksmith's blog and they mentioned that their spices had a $5 gift card included in each bag. That's a great offer so I jumped at the chance. I was scheduled to go to Rays anyhow, needed to refill my Gin supply.I grabbed a couple bags of
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8:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Schlotzsky's DeliSchlotzsky's Deli on the fabulous east side of Bend has the slogan of "funny name, serious sandwich". I'd like to propose they change it to "stupid name that no one can spell, seriously sucky ass sandwiches". Not sure if that would make it past the legal dept though.It was my first time going to Schlotzsky's. I decided to select one of their special sandwiches offered for a short
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11:50
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Put this short video together last night. Send in your questions, I need material. I can't afford to go out to eat so this is all you're going to get.
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8:29
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Versante PizzaVersante Pizza probably has some good pizza. I say this because some other people have told me and HackBend gave them a thumbs up. Personally though, I don't know cause I went for lunch thinking that I'd get a slice of pizza. I looked online at their menu and saw that they have slices available at lunch:The internet lied to me. Really internet? Really? I thought we were friends. I
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9:49
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Apologies for last week's lapse in my new Q and A feature. I'm a busy guy. Keep the questions coming. I love them.Here is this weeks video. It's only 4 minutes this time.
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7:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Pup HutNormally I would start off with some info about the Pup Hut and how awesome their hot dogs are but instead, just look at this:How awesome is that?!?! Look at the grease from the real cheddar, the meaty chili, lack of onions (optional, but only douche bags get onions on a hot dog at lunch), and HUGE WIENER. Oh man, call me whatever you want but there is nothing worse that a little wiener
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10:39
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
New feature, you can either read all the questions and answers or simply watch the movie.I've been having fun with the questions that I've been getting through my Q&A Service. It's a site where anyone can ask me anything and they can be anonymous or leave their name. I added the app to the right side of this blog so you can simply ask me anything you like.I got a nice T&G sitting next to me and
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7:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
El SanchoA lot of people have emailed, twittered, formspringed, and facebooked me and asked if I could review the street vendors downtown. I wasn't really looking forward to it as I'd rather sit at a table in a restaurant vs standing on a street corner like a hobo. Don't get all pissy at me for calling hobos, hobos. They dont have internet access and wont read this.Well on a rare, nice spring day
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8:14
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Last week I posted some questions and answers that I got through my Q&A Service. It's a site where anyone can ask me anything and they can be anonymous or leave their name. I added the app to the right side of this blog so you can simply ask me anything you like.Q: born and raised in Tacompton, WA. whats up with no Teriyaki joints in Bend? do you by any chance know of a good substitute?What up
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7:44
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Olive GardenGood old Olive Garden. I know what I'm going to get before I even sit down...mediocre pseudo Italian American food that is lacking in flavor and originality. Chicken Parmesan, fettuccine alfredo, spaghetti and meatballs, and of course, the best salad and bread sticks in the WORLD!"But BOR, how can you form your opinion about a restaurant that you haven't been to?" asks the East Sider
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14:26
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
A few weeks ago I created an account at Formspring.me. It's a site where anyone can ask me anything and they can be anonymous or leave their name. I added the app to the right side of this blog so you can simply ask me anything you like.I was dorking out on it and blasting answers to my twitter account which then gets posted on my facebook page. It was too much so I stopped posting the answers.
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7:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Szechuan RestaurantOver the last few months I've been hitting up Szechuan Restaurant for lunch around once every two weeks or so. $5.50 you get your main dish with your choice of pork fried rice or white rice, hot n' sour soup or egg flower, egg roll or crab puffs. I'll help your white ass out. Get your broccoli chicken with fried rice, egg roll, and hot and sour soup.The last three choices are a
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8:29
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
900 Wall I've written about 900 Wall before but this time I want to focus on their Happy Hour menu. Bend has some decent happy hours and when you find a great one, you want to hold on to it for dear life. At least for me it's like that. I love a good happy hour since I like to save money and when you go out to eat as often as I do, every little bit helps.When you go to 900 Wall, ask for Ron or
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8:54
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Cafe 3456Cafe 3456, located out at the BEND airport, is well worth the trip out East. If you live on the east side, you have no excuse to not drive over. I want to emphasize that Cafe 3456 is at the BEND airport since every person that I've talked to seems to hear airport and assume Redmond. Even when I say Bend airport, they get Redmond airport stuck in their head.My first trip to Cafe 3456 was
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8:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Trattoria SbandatiOur first trip to Trattoria Sbandati was absolutely fabulous. We've gone for lunch twice and for dinner three more times since then. I feel fortunate in my life that I've been able to go this many times. Lucky for me, a couple of those dinners were paid for by our guests. The best way to dine out is on someone else's dime!I love that we have Trattoria Sbandati in Bend - a great
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9:19
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Deschutes Brewery's 8th Annual CrabfestThe 8th Annual Deschutes Brewery Crabfest sold out so fast this year that they opened up a second day. I was smart and got my reservation in nice and early so we were locked into the traditional Saturday event. When we heard that the second day was on Friday, I was a little worried that we'd get left over crab.Turns out they threw all of the left over crab
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12:29
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Baldy's BBQThis week Baldy's BBQ is celebrating their 5th Anniversary with $5 specials all week long. From what I've heard, they're doing $5 full racks, smothered fries, dozen wings, 2 pulled pork or chicken sandwiches, and more + drink specials.**Update**After lunch at Baldy's today (Monday) I have the $5 specials:- Full Rack of ribs (these are the Danish ribs, little smaller than their normal
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9:19
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Beach Side Beach Side is the new burger joint that took over the old La Costa Azul location near Port of Subs. The menu looks very affordable and they have a happy hour burger for $5 and free buffalo chips.A friend and I sat down for lunch and were presented with a basket of potato chips which appeared to be made on site. They were ok, something to nibble on while we waited for our lunch.I
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11:48
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Ordering Pizza as a group like in an office environment or at a gathering of some sort has got to be one of the worst ideas ever. It used to be that you'd have your mom call up Domino's and order up a bunch of pepperoni pizzas. Then you and your buddies would scarf it down and get back to watching Real Genius and pretend that you too could be a cool nerd like Val instead of just a nerd.Now your
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14:29
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Brother Jon'sI've gushed over Brother Jon's in the past but that was just about their regular menu. Lately I've been all over their specials. I love showing up and seeing whats on the big chalk board for that day. I haven't been disappointed yet. Brother Jon's is my favorite restaurant/hangout in Bend right now. Everything is great and its all priced right. Specials are normally right at $8.50 or
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11:34
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
On Saturday The Athletic Club of Bend and Scanlon’s hosted up to 17 restaurants and chefs who cooked up their best chili concoctions. All proceeds donated to the Education Foundation for the Bend La Pine Schools.Some friends, the Wife, and I made it over to the Athletic Club of Bend for this event and had a great time. After paying the measly $10 per person we were warned to "pace ourselves" but
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8:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Beefy 5 Layer BurritoWell I didn't even make it a full year since my last visit to Taco Bell. But that Beefy 5 Layer Burrito just looked too good to pass up. I know I should never EVER look at fast food or chain restaurant commercials and think "that looks good" because it NEVER looks like it does on TV or on the menu.Seriously, why do restaurants put photos of their dishes on their menu's? The
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9:43
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Flatbread Community OvenI've written about Flatbread Community Oven before but that was for lunch shortly after their opening. We've tried to go a couple of times since but the place was slammed so we ended up going elsewhere.Recently we made it to Flatbread Community Oven for some pizza and had a wonderful experience. Upon arrival there were many tables filled and not much in the way of staff.
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9:34
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
5 SpiceI already wrote about 5 Spice but the Wife and I wanted to go back to check out their $5 Happy Hour Menu. The Wife and I can't get enough sushi or even Asian food. So when you say that you have sushi rolls for $5 and its from a quality restaurant like 5 Spice makes me want to jump at the chance.We surveyed the options and opted out of the ridiculous $5 edamame but went for the Assorted
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11:14
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
McRibYup, I took a bite of one. It wasn't good.I pulled up to the drive thru speaker box at the McDonald's and before any pleasantries were exchanged, the voice immediately asked "Would you like to try our McRib?"Thinking only of you, my loyalest of loyal followers, I responded "Absolutely I would" even though I really didn't. I've never been enticed by the McRib. But since I felt an obligation
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11:42
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Chicago Style Hot Dogs and Italian BeefSince the Hottest Dog up and left me without even a Dear John letter, I've been praying for another hot dog joint to show up. When I heard that Chicago Style Hot Dogs was open in the old Baskin-Robbins spot on 3rd next to the Taco Bell, I got a excited. Then all of the friends that went there told me their opinions and I wasn't so excited.I heard that it was
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7:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
5 SpiceMy Facebook friends have been pestering me to write about 5 Spice. Finally the Wife and I made it over there to test it out. We've heard a couple of opinions from friends that 5 Spice is a bit pricey for what you get. Still, we wanted to see for ourselves.We walk in and it doesn't look too much different than deep (the previous restaurant) looked aside from the lack of water in the
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6:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Summit SaloonNow with The Downtowner MenuOne of my biggest complaints of the Downtowner was always the tiny sitting space with huge tables. I've documented this a couple of times. The Downtowner is no longer in its old breeze-way location with the HUGE tables and customers that don't abide by the commonly known rules of not claiming a table before you ordered your food (rude). Instead, the
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11:14
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I have a few minutes before I have to get started on a project. So while I wait for this email to arrive I thought I'd rant a bit on a non-food related issue. I may have talked about this before or maybe just said something on facebook or twitter about it.In the age of Tivo and DVRs it is very easy to record a sporting event. I like to record sporting events especially when I have a weeknight
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8:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Trattoria SbandatiTrattoria Sbandati, located in the old La Rosa location on College Way, is one of my new favorite restaurants in Bend. If I could, I would eat there once a week for the rest of my days.I tried for weeks to get in...actually I sort of was hoping I'd get asked to come in but since they've been booked solid since they opened, that wasn't going to happen. The Wife and I made it in
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9:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Thank you for your service!A while back the Wife and I were in the process of buying a house here in Bend and I needed my DD214 (a form showing my time in service and status of my discharge) so I could get a VA loan. I called the VA office and was talking to a helpful fellow who was telling me about all the other benefits I could take advantage of.I remember saying "No no, those are for "real"
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12:56
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Little Pizza ParadiseOne day I overheard someone mention that there was a little pizza place on the corner of Butler Market and 27th. I made a special effort to go out that way to check it out. Little Pizza Paradise shares a parking lot with a gas station and a kung fu shop and some other weird/random East Side shops.I jumped in for a lunch time slice. Little Pizza Paradise boasts that they make
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6:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Del TacoA friend of mine was raving over the Del Taco Combo #6. I love cheap tacos. I'm not talking about real tacos with two corn tortillas and some carnitas, onion/cilantro mix and some cojita with a twist of lime. I'm talking about hard shell, ground beef, iceberg lettuce, and shredded cheddar. Quite a few years ago in another state I saw a sign that read "5 tacos for $1". I dropped a five
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6:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
The Source Weekly's Best of Bend 2009I got a text the other night that said "congrats on the mention" and I had no idea what they meant. After a few more texts I was told that this little restaurant blog got an honorable mention in The Source Weekly's Best of Bend 2009 for Best Local Blog. I have to say, I'm very honored by this. I didn't even know the polls were open and didn't try to get votes.
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6:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
River Mill GrillThe River Mill Grill has taken over the old Fireside Red location and I've been excited to get over there to sample the goods. The Wife and I got the opportunity to go on a beautiful day and sitting on that famous deck was the best part of our evening.The deck was just under half full and only one table occupied inside the restaurant. We sat down and only had one set of silverware
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13:19
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
@bendeats Coffee MugThe infamous @Mugmkr has created the best coffee mug of all time. My mug rocks so hard that T-Pain carries my mug on stage. Michael drank what he thought was wine (even though he was told it was blood) out of my mug in Lost Boys. Neo washed down the red pill from the tap water in my mug. My mug is so awesome that it was cup the evil Nazi dude mistakenly drank from at the end
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17:03
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Raz LacticI have an apprentice, or rather a BOR-pprentice as Raz Lactic calls himself. He even started a fan page called The BOR-pprentice which I sent invites to all my Facebook Friends. Raz is starting with the basics while he gets his literary skills fine tuned and is eating his way through his pantry, under his car seats, in old jacket pockets, and writing about it. Funny s**t. You should
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12:24
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I asked on Twitter and Facebook if I should write a food review or if I should just rant. Apparently no one actually cares for my food opinions and would rather have me just talk some s**t about whatever I like or better yet, don't like. Ok.When you sit down at a restaurant, do you pick up your knife and fork and start tapping them on the table and glasses and relive those memories of playing
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14:29
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Oh Deschutes Brewery, how I love thee so. Today I received a Tip List of what's going on with Deschutes Brewery in the next couple of months. I also realized that I never got the photos of the last event that I attended, the Barrel Aged Tasting, posted online. For $40 per person you get to sample (all you can drink - please drink responsibly) a variety of beers that have been soaking in bourbon
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6:59
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Brother Jon's Public House Brother Jon's Public House is open in the old Makhana's coffee shop location on Galveston. Jon and Steve (formerly with the Downtowner) are open for business with a full bar, 5 beers on tap including one of my favorites, Terminal Gravity's IPA, and familiar staff since they've hired all ex Deschutes Pub employees - it feels like I was eating at Deschutes Brewery like 4
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15:06
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
TOP WORLD CHEFS MEET IN BEND, OREGON TO HELP CHILDREN AND FAMILIES The Deschutes Brewery Sagebrush Classic Feast and the Golf Will Be First-Rate and, As Always, It’s the Community That Will Take Home the Biggest PrizeBEND, Ore. – What sort of event is so powerful that it attracts 18 of the world’s most celebrated chefs – all to a summer gathering in Bend, Oregon?It would have to be big on
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16:29
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
JoolzThe Wife and I made it into Joolz for a couple of small plates. I was previously at Deschutes Brewery for a pint (or possibly two) so I sat and drank water for the most part. That was until the people next to me ordered a traditional liquor which was called Raki or Arak (ok, maybe three pints). It is a anise flavored liquor that they mixed with water turning it milky. Sooooo I had to order
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
900 WallI had the pleasure of attending 900 Wall's soft opening. I am going to continue writing but for those of you short on time let me sum up my review...if you liked Merenda, you'll like 900 Wall. Basically 900 Wall could have done a "find and replace" on all marketing materials, name tags, and menu's and just replace Merenda with 900 Wall and there you have it. Actually, not even a find and
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Crooked River Dinner Train Opens May 30Under new management, a Central Oregon icon returns with a fresh approachThe Crooked River Dinner Train and Cougar Canyon BBQ announced that the train will have its first dinner run of the season on Saturday, May 30th. The train is under new management and will run every Saturday, with more dates to be scheduled as the summer progresses. The train will also
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Club SandwichWhat makes a sandwich a Club Sandwich? I ask because many times I see a Club Sandwich on the menu at a restaurant and what arrives on my plate varies. My research (wiki) defines the club as:"A club sandwich is a "double-decker" sandwich with two layers of fillings between 3 slices of bread. It is often cut into quarters and held together by cocktail sticks. The traditional club
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Jake’s Diner’s Third Annual Race Night On Wednesday, May 20th, Jake’s Diner will be holding it’s third annual Race Night BBQ.Dragsters from Madras drags and Circle track cars from Madras Speedway will join with local cruisers for a big car show in Jake’s parking lot. Madras Drags and Madras Speedway officials will be on hand to answer questions regarding their upcoming season.Jake’s will be
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Ocean RollThe last post I wrote was about a tasty sandwich from the Sparrow Bakery. My Facebook friends were commenting away as were my Tweeps (shutter) like @MelindaCampbell who kept telling me that I have to try the Ocean Roll.I'm not a huge fan of sweets but that damn! This thing is crazy good. Its like a cinnamon roll on steroids. I'll call it the Manny Ramirez of Cinnamon Rolls. @thewritegal
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Sparrow BakeryA friend of mine has been dying to try the Sparrow Bakery. He wanted to go so bad he even tried to schedule via outlook. I had a short opportunity to grab a quick bite and we met up over at the bakery. I wasn't going to publish this review until I tried the Ocean Roll that EVERYONE keeps telling me to get. But @cassondra on Twitter said I should go with my rebellious insticts and I
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Wendy'sWendy's has some of the smallest burger's I've seen! The photo below shows a burger off their value meal with fries and a frosty. I put the small frosty spoon next to the burger so you can see how small this sucker is.Now that's tiny. I like Wendy's when it comes to getting a fast food burger. Fast food is rarely on my list of options but every now and then I get the craving for some gut
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
El BurritoMy last visit to El Burrito was ok, not great but just ok. So the Wife and a friend that was with me on the last visit, and I went back to El Burrito to give it another try.The chips and salsa arrive at the table immediately and I was happy as I remembered them being quite good. Normally I don't like to complain about a freebee like chips and salsa but these weren't good. The chips were
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Alpenglow Cafe The Alpenglow Cafe has had a loyal following for a long, long time as do most of the breakfast restaurants in Bend. I have been to Alpenglow a few times. I used to go there back when they had the location next to Deschutes Brewery. I remember that they had great eggs Benedict's. I also remember that they used to be the hippy's #1 choice for breakfast complete with a pack of dogs
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Krispy Kreme DoughnutsKrispy Kreme Doughnuts have been spotted on Century Drive next to Dutch Brothers and in front of the gas station on Butler Market Road. $10 will get you a dozen.I was going to go to Richard's Donuts this morning but it is in the opposite direction than my new office. So when I saw the little girl holding the sign on Butler Market, I had to make a quick U-turn."Here you go
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Deschutes Brewery Sagebrush Classic Announces 2009 Celebrity ChefsBend, Ore. – The yesterday announced its line-up of celebrity chefs who will participate in this summer’s Classic Feast, the highlight of the popular two-day celebration which benefits the Deschutes Children’s Foundation. The Sagebrush Classic, which typically sells out, is a favorite among the star chef crowd, many who return
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I haven't read much of The Source Weekly since Laurie J. Rice stopped writing the food reviews but damn if H. Bruce Miller might get me back. The last two paragraphs of his Westside Is Reeling After Meth Bust article are pure genius."Well, gosh, who wouldn’t be shocked? Swarthy guys with moustaches peddling drugs (and METH, no less – how yucky, how déclassé!) is something that’s simply not
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Finally I have the answer as to why I would get the urge to steal VHS players and pawn them off for cash so I could get more tacos at Rigoberto's
[www.ktvz.com] brothers who own Rigoberto's Taco Shop on Bend's Westside have been arrested on numerous drug charges as their restaurant and homes were raided following months of undercover detective work, the
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Simply join UtterlyBORing's March Madness pool for free and you could possibly win a $25 gift card to Carino's Italian donated by your's truly. There are some great prizes that you could win besides the gift card including:First Place: Meals for two (breakfast, lunch, or dinner, as it's all served all day) from Jake's Diner here in Bend (though, considering the portion sizes at Jake's, you could
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Voodoo DoughnutThe Wife and I watch No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain on the Travel channel. One episode featured the NW and he went to a couple places in Portland. One place was Voodoo Doughnut. We knew about Voodoo Doughnut but the kicker was the Maple-Bacon Doughnut that Tony had. I had to get my hands on one of these bad boys. So simple, just add a slice of bacon to a maple
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
BOR was in his High School's Band, so was the Wife. Band is cool. Support it.MVHS Band Halibut Feed 2009Who: Anyone who likes Halibut or MVHS BandWhat: Halibut Feed at MVHS to benefit Japan Exchange ProgramWhen: Saturday March 14, 2009, 5:00pm to 8:00pmWhere: Mountain View High School Cafeteria/ CommonsWhy: To help students going to Japan pay their wayHow: Cash or check paid to MVHS BandChildren’
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I've been on Twitter for a short while which means I'm a Social Media Expert now. Since I'm the leading expert in Social Media, I thought I'd post some of the rather annoying tweets in an attempt to silence some of the noise.Twitter is a social networking microblog (Bend Oregon Restaurants is a MegaBlog) that you can access from the interweb, on a cellular telephone, or via text message. If you
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Le CakeryLe Cakery on Galveston offers a daily menu of 7 cake flavors and 9 frosting flavors and serves up some of the tastiest Cupcakes (for $2.50 each) and Kidcakes (for $1.50 each) I have ever had. On Valentine's Day I went into Delusso Bakery for a baguette which would be used for the Valentine's Day dinner I'd end up making for the Wife. She saw the small sign for Le Cakery's cupcakes and
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I have been busy lately and haven't taken the time to write up one of my clever, award winning, reviews. So instead of taking time to write something good, I thought I'd just post a comment or two that I found amusing."The best fast Mexican food is, by far, Del Taco. Taco Bell is El Segundo (second). The fact of the matter is I grew up and lived in East LA, and man, you don't have any good
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Rigoberto'sI have a friend who requested a review of Rigoberto's and over beers I agreed to go with him. I agree to a lot of things over beers. Stupid ballet tutu. I selected the Carne Asada Taco, the Carnitas Taco ($2 each), and couldn't resist going for 3 rolled tacos with sour cream for $2.80. TACO TOWWWWN!First I tried the Carne Asada. After a couple of bites I somehow was flooded with
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I'm very disappointed in you who have not tried bistro corlise and helped keep one of the finest restaurants in Bend open. I just received an email from the very talented Jason Logan announcing the upcoming closure.I'm sad. I thought you all loved me. We have a good thing going here. I tell you where the good places are and where to avoid. If I say that somewhere is good, you should believe me
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
ArianaAriana Restaurant has been on my list of dining options for a long time. I am sad that it has taken us this long to make it to Ariana's. When the hostess sat us at our table, the Wife mentioned that the last time she'd been in this house was when it was Cup of Magic. The hostess responded, "Gee, its only been four years." The Wife holds grudges. Cup of Magic was her favorite coffee shop and
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Spaghetti Feed to Fund Bend Heroes MemorialThe Bend Band of Brothers and Jake's Diner are partnering for a spaghetti feed to raise money for the Bend Heroes Memorial to be built at Brooks Park near the west end of Veterans Memorial Bridge on Newport Ave.This event will be held at Jake's Diner on Sunday February 22nd from 4pm - 6pm.The cost of the meal will be $10 per person (cash only). All the
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Over the last couple of weeks I have been attending Dr. Juri Sbandati's Italian Cooking School and I posted Day 1's review a couple weeks ago. Well I never got around to writing about Day 2 so here we go.On Day 2 Juri taught us how to make Pollo alla Cacciatora (chicken cacciatore), Risotto ai Funghi Porcini (Mushroom Risotto), and Stock.First we started with the Cacciatora since it needed to
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I was too busy (read Lazy) to put together a Valentine's Day post. I was also too busy to plan something for the Wife and I to do. Most likely, we will end up getting the Heart Shaped Pizza from Papa Murphy's like we always do.So if anyone has any ideas or wants to host BOR and the Wife, let me know. Comments are welcome. What are your Valentine's Day plans?
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
My Edamame post delivered one of my all time favorite comments - "you arrogant anus." Now, my Bubble Tea post has delivered another favorite. I absolutely love logging into my eMachine and seeing all the comments and emails that I receive (all two of them). The latest and greatest is""i have never read such a close minded review in my life. Although you didnt like it, you could have given a more
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
bistro corliseThe Wife is kicking me, and I'm kicking myself for not trying to get us seats at bistro corlise's Head to Tail Dinner on Feb. 22. The event is already sold out but I still needed to mention it. 15 course dinner of deliciously pork heaven. Chef Logan is working some serious magic with this pork filled menu from Confit of pig heart and sprouted lentils to Pork blood Ravioli with pig
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Taco Bell = Crap - Deliciously Disgusting Crap
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Baldy's Customer Appreciation Week and BaldyFest
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Tony's Deli
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
The Downtowner - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Super Bowl @ Baldy's
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Where to Eat/Order for Superbowl 2009
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Deschutes Brewery 7th Annual Crabfest
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Scanlon's at the Athletic Club of Bend
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Italian Cooking School - Day 1
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Restaurant Closings Update - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Port of Subs - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
La Costa Azul
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Pastini Pastaria - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I'm excited to announce that I will be attending Cooking School with famed Personal Chef, Juri Sbandati. One of the great benefits to the class is that the students get to take the food home. So I might not be going out to eat as much over the next month. That's another plus since I'm broke.I'd love to hear from anyone else that is taking the class. Details below."Learn how to cook the Italian
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I has comentz!!
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I don't know how you volunteers and givers out there do it. I tried to give for a few days and couldn't keep my streak alive. Yesterday I gave to Deschutes Brewery. I gave bartenders Shawn and Allison a nice tip. I gave my belly a couple of pints. I gave Best Buy and Ross some money.I did buy a gift for a giving tree but I'm not going to mention where or for who (or is it whom?). On my way back
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
A Week of Giving - NeighborImpact
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
A Week of Giving
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I was sent the following announcement about a local food drive going on which benefits the Salvation Army. I like the Salvation Army. I bought the refridgerator which I converted into a Keg-o-rator at our local Salvation Army. The weird thing is, that location seems to be some sort of church instead of the thrift store. I don't know what's going on there.A while back I developed this weird phobia
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Restaurant Ramblings
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Papa Johns Pizza - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Longboard Louie's - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Deschutes Brewery
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Szechuan Restaurant - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Reed Market Pub
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Thanksgiving Dinner - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
The Breakfast Club - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Jackson's Corner - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bend Burger Company The Bend Burger Company is NOT THE BBC. The BBC stands for the Bend Brewing Company. If I tell my friends that I'll meet them at the BBC, I better see them at the Bend Brewing Company with a pint of Outback Ale waiting for me.
If I hear you describe the Bend Burger Company to your friends and you refer to them as the BBC, I get to slap you across the back of your neck.
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Quiznos Sammies
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Village Grill $5 Breakfast Buffet
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
La Rosa - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Pisano's Pizza vs Cibelli's New York Pizza
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Pisano's Pizza - Bend Oregon
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Fireside red
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Pita PitI'm not sure if it matters what I say about the Pita Pit or not, that place has customers all the time. I don't care for it but the wife and my friends seem to like the Pita Pit a lot.
To me, there is not a big difference between the Pita Pit and
Subway sandwiches.
Dave enjoys the Pit and does a good job of describing how they make the Pita's:
"They open up the pita pocket (a large one) and split the top half into two flaps. Then they stuff the bottom half with your order, tuck in one flap and fold the other flap over, so it's like a burrito with pita bread instead of tortilla."I found that this process is very smart. Whenever I've had a pita in the past, I've always cut the thing in pita in half and then made two "tacos" out of the halves. How stupid am I?
With the cool wrap technique aside, Pita Pit is a glorified Subway and sub-par
Steak Escape. They take your order and one Pit Person starts stuffing your pita with your Subway style toppings. Pretty much the same exact assortment of ingredients aside from the veggie options like Falafel, Hummus, Babaganoush, and Feta. The veggie options are great if you like that sort of thing, but honestly, go over to
Kebaba for all that jazz.
While the one pit person is stuffing your pita, another is working the grill warming up your meat. All the meat is already cooked, they just warm it up. So the grill seems almost pointless. A microwave could do the same feat in a fraction of the time but I understand that it is more visually appealing. Even if it makes the shop hot as balls. Seriously, hot as balls.
On my first visit I asked for the Club. Ham, chicken, and "real bacon." There was barely any meat at all in that huge ass pita. It was about one deli slice of ham, a few chunks of chicken, and two McDonalds thin slices of "real" bacon. Real thin bacon is more accurate. With all the bread and veggies, I could barely taste the meat.
Second visit I went with a friend's recommendation and ordered the chicken Caesar that also comes with "real bacon." It was a little better but still not really that great.
The price is right and the hours are awesome. I'll go on record and say that the Pita Pit is the Best Restaurant in Bend Opened After 2am. If I'm stumbling around downtown that late, I'll definitely go to the Pita Pit and think that it is the best meal in town. I also think that my microwaved nachos that I make with the late night munchies are the best ever...cause I'm drunk.
For a sober lunch/snack/dinner, the Pita Pit is not for me. Now, if you like a ton of prepacked, prewashed, veggies stuffed into a cleverly wrapped pita, then you're going to be in heaven.
I'd rather go to the
Downtowner or the
Speedshop for a sandwich downtown. That is until I'm trashed and starving, then you rock my world Pita Pit!
Pita Pit
Bend, OR
806 NW Brooks Street
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 389-7482
[www.pitapitusa.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
The
Blacksmith Restaurant has brought back my favorite event in Bend, the Wednesday Beer Tastings. From 4:30-7 you can get tasters of a bunch of different beers that you probably wouldn't normally get or know if you would like. The theme changes weekly and I don't know what this week's theme is nor do I care. Beer is good, I drink it up!
For $10 you get to sample beer selected by my new best friend Robin. Robin pours the samples from beers he's selected for the week and will give you little nuggets of info about the brewery the beer came from, the type of beer it is, and why he likes it. Robin is working his way to become one of only a few official Beer Snobs. I mean, beer Sommelier or something like that.
Robin is actually really cool about his beer knowledge. He doesn't bore you with too much useless information about IBU numbers and s--t. But he can if you want to know. I just want to drink it.
I'll be there tonight with head shots to sign for all my fan.
the Blacksmith restaurant
211 NW Greenwood Ave,
Bend, Oregon 97701
541.318.0588
http://www.theblacksmithrestaurant.com
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Mio SushiMio Sushi is setting a new standard for
Bend Oregon Restaurants. I have not been this excited about a restaurant opening since Don Don took over the spot where
blue fish used to be downtown. We were excited to try a new sushi restaurant as we only have a couple of options here and none are affordable. Japanese restaurants like
deep,
Sumi’s, and
Kanpai need to pay particular attention to the business practices at Mio Sushi. All you stupid commentors that have testified to the reasoning behind the crazy expensive sushi in Central Oregon need to shut the hell up. Mio Sushi has figured out a way to bring quality sushi to Bend without charging a month’s mortgage for it.
The wife and I went out of our way to visit Mio Sushi after I heard that it finally opened. This place is effing awesome and if you like Japanese food or just want to finally eat some affordable Sushi, drop what you’re doing and get over there.
I wouldn’t be BOR if I didn’t call it like I see it so I’ll tell you that they are experiencing some restaurant opening struggles. On our first visit it took forever to get our sushi order filled.
Our appetizers and entrees arrived promptly and were great. While we waited for the sushi we shared some Tonkatsu (pork cutlet that has been breaded and deep fried, served with a house salad, miso, and rice), an order of Shumai/Gyoza, and Agedashi (deep fried tofu). But we waited a solid 15 minutes after we had eaten everything for our sushi to show up. That sucked. Sucked so bad that when we realized that our order had been skipped or not submitted properly, we adjusted our order to just get the rainbow roll and a couple orders of Saba (Mackerel). BUT, when the rainbow roll finally arrive, it was amazing. More on that later.
Agedashi Tofu - Deep fried tofu (the only way to eat tofu) with sweet sauce for $4.25.

As with most of the dishes, presentation does not seem to be the focus. Instead we got to eat great food at a very fair price. The Agedashi is great when you want a filler for cheap. My dad told me a story about a roommate of his from college. He made this huge kid eat a loaf of bread before they ate their dinner. If he didn't, his roommate would eat too much too fast and my dad wouldn't get his fair share. I use that same technique when dining with a group at sushi restaurants by ordering a couple orders of Agedashi Tofu. That way all the chumps fill up on tofu and I get to pick off all the left overs of unagi and ebi as everyone will be stuffed. I'm cheap and selfish that way, get over it.
Shumai and Gyoza for $4.50 (4 pieces of each)

The wife mentioned that she's never seen Shumai (a traditional Chinese dumpling) deep fried. I'm not sure if this was a mistake or not but normally they are steamed. I didn't care, I like anything deep fried. Throw some bacon on that mug and I'm dying happy.
One of my favorite dishes is Katsu, especially Tonkatsu - breaded pork cutlet fried and served with a thick Tonkatsu sauce for $9.95.

I was surprised at the portion. I expected one cutlet over rice but got like 2.5 to 3 cutlets with miso and rice for only ten bucks. Great portions, great price and prepared perfectly. The Tonkatsu Sauce is a thick, sweet (mostly sugar and corn syrup) sauce that looks like reduced balsamic vinegar but tastes great with fried anything. Our brand that we keep in the fridge is Bull-Dog. The wife grew up on this stuff. She even has a song from her poor ass childhood.
Imagine a chain gang smashing rocks like in Oh Brother Where Art Thou:
Bull-Doggin on the lows of high
Bull-Doggin on the highs of low
(and repeat over and over again)
I love her ghetto ass. I get treated to this song every time the Bull-Dog comes out of the fridge.
We ate these dishes and sipped on our miso while we waited and waited for our sushi to arrive. Sadly they had not received their liquor license so no booze for BOR....sounds like a great charity event - Booze for BOR, let me know if you want to contribute. Don't worry, they have their liquor license now and you can get all sorts of alcohol. But if I see you at the sushi bar with a sake, I'll drink it up.
BOR - "Here, if you have a hot sake, and I have a hot sake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching? And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your hot sake... I... drink... your... hot sake!"
[sucking sound]
BOR screams in your face - "I drink it up!!!!"
Now, the rainbow roll and saba (mackerel) finally arrived. The Rainbow Roll is a California Roll that has slices of nigiri rolled on the outside of the roll. There is taco (octopus), sake (salmon), ebi (shrimp), maguro (tuna), white fish, and avocado for only $8.95.

HUGE roll and great quality. I didn't care for the sauce that was drizzled around and under it but I was still happy with the portions that the wife let me have. The Saba was just insane! Very good cuts and one of the only places in Bend to get mackerel.
We went back to Mio Sushi the next day and had a new server who was not on top of her game....again, working out the kinks. But this time they had their liquor license so I got some hot sake and the wife got some fruity sparkling sake thingy. I also got the Bento Combination #1, my favorite and my recommendation if you go for lunch or dinner.
Chicken Teriyaki, Vegi-Gyoza, and assorted Tempura for $11.95 (dinner, lunch is only $7.95) and you get miso, house salad, and rice. Of course I forgot to get a photo. But I did get a photo of the Spider Maki (soft shelled crab that has been fried to a crisp). I have never seen a soft shelled crab this big used in a sushi roll before.

The end piece with the crab legs sticking out, I was able to take this part and actually break off a leg and the body section, there was actually crab meat in it. That's just redonkulous!! Normally the crab is so tiny that you never get any meat out of those suckers.
I feel like I've been writing for days on this review of Mio Sushi. But before I wrap up I have to even mention that they have THE BEST kid's meal on any menu in Bend. For $6.95 ($5.95 at lunch) kids get Teriyaki chicken, miso, edamame, rice, and their choice between a full 6 piece California roll, gyoza, or assorted tempura. That's the best deal in town, I wish I was under 12.
Mio Sushi
63455 N. Highway 97, #35
Bend, OR 97701
[www.miosushi.com]
PS, Get the Green Tea, best I've ever had.
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bo RestobarBo Restobar was our third and final stop on our world tour of downtown Bend on a magical night. We'd already visited
bistro corlise and
deep. French to Japanese to Thai(ish). Now we're pretty tossed and feeling great. So more drinks are in order and my friend and I select the Bourbon Flight ($25). The wife gets the Sake flight ($8).

Why spend your money on one bourbon when you can try four different types of bourbon? Great pours of liquor and great quality all around. I love me some Basil Hadens. The wife enjoyed the Pearl Sake from Sake One the best from her sake flight.
For snacks we shared the Sticky-Finger Ribs ($10) (when I say share I mean the wife let me get one). We also tried the Thai Nachos ($9).


Excellent! I liked my rib, their sauce is soooo good. The nachos were good as well but the ribs are just insane. I like Bo Restobar a lot. I especially like their late night happy hour. It's a great deal if you're out and about after 9pm.
Bo Restobar
550 NW Franklin Ave
Suite 118
Bend Oregon 97702
[www.borestobar.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
deepThe last time we visited deep it was for my wife's friend's birthday. I tried the tempura bacon and it was everything that I had hoped it was. After we ate our French appetizers at
bistro corlise, we stood on the sidewalk trying to think of where to go next. We considered Goombas, Cork, and Marz and then my friend said deep, and off we went.
deep is expensive but fun. We sat at the bar and put together a plan of attack. We settled on The Nine Bites, Saba, Crab BLT, and a Tempura roll.
I absolutely love doing things like the Nine Bites - The Chef’s Daily Selection of
Nine Different Hot and Cold Tastes of Deep for (ugh) $16. It is such a cool way of getting little tastes of all sorts of goodies. We had kobe beef, avocado and bacon tempura, scallop, rib, salmon, tuna, squid, tofu, and beets. I claimed the beef immediately but paid the price as I got stuck with the effing beets. I also got the fatty tuna and enjoyed all three bites. The wife got the rib, squid, and tofu. All was great and I was jealous that I didn't get the deep fried bacon.

And now, my fellow OmniBORes, I present to you one of the coolest sushi rolls I've ever had....the Crab BLT:

Crab roll with watercress, bacon, and tomatoes. Crab + Bacon = Smiley Face BOR. This roll was great BUT it was also $14....ouch!! The tempura shrimp roll was $12 and the Saba was $6. Deep is very expensive all around but it is quite good.
On Monday, look for my review of Mio Sushi ... great sushi, not expensive.
deep
821 n.w. wall street, suite 100
bend, oregon 97701
telephone: 541.323.9841
hours of operation:
open 5 p.m. daily
[www.deepbend.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
bistro corlisebistro corlise has a happy hour menu with $5 appetizers and $5 glasses of wine. We've visited
bistro corlise before and had a great dinner. Since our last visit they have made some nice changes to the atmosphere. If you haven't been to bistro corlise yet, go for some happy hour items to get a feel for the place and you'll probably end up staying for dinner.
We sat at the bar and asked about the happy hour items and our waitress/bartender explained that they had a red and white wine. I totally forgot what the actual types or names of either were but I selected the red and the wife took the white. Both were very good and heavily poured. We were happy for only $10.
On our visit, they had three appetizers that were only $5 each.
sanglier - boar rillettes, crustini, dijon mustard. The photo for the boar rillettes was a little blury but that's ok since it's not much to look at. Two scoops of boar patte with some little crustinis and a dollop of mustard. It was my second favorite of the three appetizers. I spread a good portion on the crustini and then added the mustard. Creamy boar goodness.
terrine du style de la campagne - country style pork terrine, vegetable accompaniment, whole grain mustard. I'm not a fan of terrrines. It was good for what it is but I wouldn't get it again. But, for only $5, it was a great experiment. The wife liked the green beans.

porc - chilled pork, smoked air dried ham, oil cured olives, red peppers, zucchini mousse. YES! This was my favorite. The wife really liked the chutney of peppers and it went great with the pork. I'd gladly get this and the Boar dish anytime.

I'm pleased to see that bistro corlise is still around in this time of
restaurant closings and still sitting over there next to
Merenda's and I'd recommend that you get in there. If not for a full meal, go try one of the appetizers and let me know what you think.
bistro corlise
916 NW Wall St.
Bend OR 97701
[www.bistrocorlise.com] After bistro corlise we continued our World Tour of Bend. Stay tuned...
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Ciao MamboCiao Mambo is a great place for fast, family friendly, and affordable dinner in downtown Bend. The Americanized version of Italian cuisine can be found in the old Han's location. Ciao Mambo is not the
best Italian food I've ever had (of course that has been well documented) but it was a nice meal with good service at a fair price.
We got a table outside on the back side where we could people watch. The back side outdoor seating is much better than the front sidewalk in my opinion. We ordered drinks while looking over the menu and settled on some safe dishes. I was a little bit scared to try the seafood unlike LJR's review at
The Source. Normally I don't read any other reviews before writing my own but I was looking for some information on Ciao and her review was ranking in the top results (was in the top, until this gets published). Laurie's review of Ciao Mambo is great, you should read it.
Finding a dinner downtown without breaking your wallet is a difficult task. The following items that we sampled came to a total of $40 not counting drinks.
The wife selected the Pasta Ravenna - Bowtie pasta, grilled chicken, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and mushrooms in a roasted garlic cream sauce. This was our favorite of all the dishes. It was prepared nicely, seasoned well, pasta cooked perfectly, and a huge portion. The photo doesn't do it justice, that bowl is quite deep. She ended up taking enough home that served as her lunch the next day.

Our guests decided to split a large pizza. Abby's Favorite - Fresh mozzarella, pepperoni and roasted garlic marinara. Nice thin and crispy crust (baked in their brick oven) with a tasty sauce. I felt it was too salty but not to the point that I wouldn't eat it.

I selected the Manicotti Ripieni - Pasta stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. For only $10 I felt it was a great deal although it was pretty bland. A couple pinches of salt and some pepper and it was just fine.

Now, there are some haters out there that are talking about how it sucks that we have a "chain" restaurant downtown. I think that's just silly. No one said anything about that when
Typhoon! came to town. In fact, everyone seemed really excited about it. Plus this chain is only 4 restaurants big so far. Ease up off Ciao Mambo. Shoot,
El Caporal's family has like 183 restaurants in Bend. No big deal.
I've also heard that Ciao Mambo is the Hooter's of Italian restaurants. Meaning that the waitresses could be part time models and are well endowed. I didn't witness anything to give me that impression. Although when our waitress poured my beer while standing on a bar stool, hula hooping, and singing, I thought it was rather familiar. I wish Hooter's comes to Bend.
Ciao Mambo
915 NW Wall Street
Bend, OR 97701
Phone: 541-382-3000
Hours:
Every day 5pm-close
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Krista's at Widgi CreekKrista's at Widgi Creek serves up the best Club Sandwich that I've had to date in Bend, Oregon. The latest trip out to Krista's for this club sandwich was my second visit. I don't know what happened to the photos after the first time we went and then I forgot about writing the review. So some friends and I made the drive out to Widgi Creek specifically for the club of all clubs.
The club served at Krista's is on three slices of buttered toast with smoked chicken, ham, American and Gruyère (Groo-Yair (yeah like that helps pronounce it any easier)) cheese, red onion, tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, mayo, and of course bacon.

If it didn't cost me $8 in gas to make it out there to Widgi Creek, this club sandwich for $9.25 would be an amazing deal. Both times the sandwich and fries were awesome. After chowing on this sandwich, watching the Senior Women's Golf Club run the waitresses ragged, and drinking a pint, I was ready for a nap. I don't have a clever name for it like the
Mexicoma but I was tired.
This is a true club and one well worth filling up the gas tank and making the trip up Century Drive....
unlike this one.
Krista's at Widgi Creek Golf Club
18707 Century Drive
Bend, Oregon 97702
(541) 382-4449
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Tony’s DelicatessenTony’s Delicatessen located by Safeway, Starbucks, and Taco Del Mar on the west side serves up Italian deli meats, sandwiches, and salads. There are also pre-made take home items like Calzones or Lasagna that you can warm up back at the house. The owner's name is not Tony. From what I've heard, no one involved is named Tony. But it is a good name for an Italian deli. I mean, is there a more Italian/American name than Tony? When I think of Tony, I immediately think of Tony Micelli from Who's the Boss. Sadly, no Alyssa Milano behind the counter, even though she could probably use the work.
I selected "The Adamonator"

Pepperoni, Capicola, Mortadella and Mozzarella topped with a balsamic vinaigrette. The flavors were good and the meat quality was great. For $9.25 it was a decent sandwich. There was a disproportionate amount of stuffing to bread. Before my first bite I ripped off a good chunk of bread so I could get to the meat. After inspecting the other half of the sandwich I made an executive decision and transported the meat from one half to the other and ditched the remaining bread.
A friend of mine decided to go with the meatball sub. She said she liked it but her meatballs are better.

Overall the staff was really friendly and helpful. The food was pretty good but overkill on the bread. I looked around and only one person at our table didn't have at least 3" of bread that they tore off or had left over when finished. She was the only person that ordered an Americano style sandwich so she didn't have the same sub style bread that we did.
I do want to go back for one of those Calzones but I doubt I'd get the Adamonater again. Maybe I'd try a different sandwich but we'll see.
Tony’s Delicatessen
320 S.W. Century Dr., Suite 410
Bend, Oregon
647-1653
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
We went to see the Bend Elks play the night that the famous San Diego Chicken was visiting. We drank Cascade's Golden Glove Ale and ate peanuts for the first couple of innings and laughed as the SD Chicken played first base coach, heckling the opposing pitcher, and argued calls with the umpire.

On a poorly called strike, the Chicken went nuts on the Ump and pulled out a visual acuity test (the eye exam chart thingy). He had quite a few tricks and gags which were very entertaining in between innings.
We enjoyed the Chicken so much that it made it difficult to find a break to go get more ball park food. But the wife made her move and was able to score some goodies from the concession stand. She brought back one of my all time favorites. The nasty-ass Nachos.

When I was kid, my mom would send me up to 7-11 for Nacho cheese. I'd play a game of Shinobi and then get ready to scam the store out of gallons of cheese. See, you could get a plate of nachos for like $1.19 from 7-11. But my mom figured that its silly to put the nacho cheese on top of the chips, which wastes precious space in the container that can be filled with cheese AND it makes the chips soggy.
So I was instructed to pay for the nachos and ask for a bag to carry them in. I was to dump the chips into the bag and then go over to the push pump Nacho cheese dispenser and fill up the nacho bowl. Now, if you've seen the nacho cheese plate at 7-11, they give you a shallow plate for your chips and cheese and then a big dome like lid to cover them up. I was to turn this upside down and use the lid to fill up with liquid gold and place the plate on top to act like the lid. So instead of just a couple of pumps of cheese, I would be there for a good 15 minutes violating the hand pump to get a good 40 ounces of cheese. Pour a little out for the dead hommies and I was on my way back home to feast on Nacho Cheese for a week.
This worked for about a year. Then one day while attempting to take full advantage of my mom's ghettofabulous ways, I noticed that they put holes in the plastic lid! You won this round 7-11. So after that failed, I was sent to KFC for a quart of gravy. That's all, just a quart of gravy. I'll explain that one another time.
Anyway, I can't look at Nacho Cheese without remembering the good old days of trying to get extra cheese and playing Shinobi. I owned the bonus level. It's sort of amazing that Nacho Cheese has not changed in 2,000 years (yeah, if you look closely, you can see that there was a cup of nacho cheese at the Last Supper). It is just as you remember it, (like Lucky Charms) they're disgustingly delicious.
When telling a couple friends about the game and the nachos, my friend "eBay K" wanted to know what nacho cheese actually is. Well, I can't say for sure what was used to make the nacho's at the ball park but I found the ingredients to Frito Lay's Nacho Cheese
here.
The SD Chicken stole the show in my opinion. The game started at 7 and for a Wednesday night, my belly stuffed with fake cheese, beer, and peanuts, it was time for bed right around the 7th inning stretch. After watching a gang of kids swarm the chicken while singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Then half the stadium joined us as we left. The Elks lost 8-2.
Here's a recipe for Nacho Cheese Sauce just for you eBay K:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
7 slices processed American cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Kona Mix PlateKona Mix Plate delivers in quality, value, service, and now, delivers right to your door. When you're at the house or work and laziness kicks in, who you gonna call? Sometimes I'm too lazy to go out to get some food and when I look in the fridge, nothing looks good so I start thinking about who delivers in Bend. Pizza is an obvious choice but gets tiring. Maybe some Chinese or Thai....eh.
Lately, my favorite delivery has come from the Big Island. Kona Mix Plate delivers and delivers well. I normally order some Bulgogi, Kalua Pork, and Teriyaki Chicken with an order or spring rolls and I select the rice and potato/mac as my sides.

About 30 minutes after placing the call the doorbell rings and dinner is served in the comfort of my our own house. I get to chow down on some tasty treats while watching I Survived a Japanese Game Show or So You Think You Can Dance....Twitch, you're awesome but
Katee is by far my favorite!
The above photo was taken after I dished myself up. I prefer to eat off of a plate instead of out the togo containers. I'm silly like that. I had enough to fill up my plate and my belly with plenty left over for lunch the next day.
Everything is great. I can't complain about one item. The meat is always tender and juicy. The Kalua Pork had a good smoke with it and the Bulgogi's marinade of garlic/teriyaki are a great combination that makes my mouth water as I write this. I just love food and Kona does it right. If you have a craving for some great food delivered right to your door while working today or getting ready to watch whatever reality show you watch tonight, I recommend that you give Kona a call and see for yourself.
I have to mention our most recent visit for lunch. We were out shopping some sidewalk sales on a Saturday afternoon and ended up over by Kona. The friendly staff/owners offered the usual courtesy and help as we look over the menu. While we were making our selections, we noticed a new edition to the menu - sushi. So we thought we'd give it a go. The rainbow roll for $9.50. (photo via cell phone)

Absolutely brilliant. Probably the best sushi deal in Bend. While most places are cutting smaller and smaller rolls, Kona is serving up great quality, proper portions, and at the right price. You can't get a roll this size and with these cuts of nigiri anywhere in Bend for $9.50.
Kona Mix Plate
Call for Pick up/Delivery - 633-737861470 S. Highway 97, Bend, Oregon
Open Monday - Saturday 11am - 8:30pm, Closed Sundays.
[www.konamixplate.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Volo RestaurantVolo is awesome and if you have the opportunity to enjoy a meal of small and large plates at Volo, I highly recommend it. I've been to Volo a few times. Once just for drinks when they first opened, once with visiting family where we sampled almost all of the small plates and a variety of specialty drinks, and most recently, for dinner with the wife.
I would have posted about my earlier visits but for some reason, without the photos, I don't think the review is worthwhile. I made sure to bring the camera to dinner. It was a busy Saturday night and we didn't have a reservation. We settled on eating at the bar which is rather comfortable. Just after our drinks arrived, the hostess said that they could seat us at a table if we like. We got the corner table in the back room with a full view of the entire restaurant.
Our waitress, Erin (who was also our waitress on the visit with family), went over the menu changes and gave us her recommendations as well as answered any and all questions that we had.
We started off with a couple plates of the baby greens. The wife chose the lemon vinaigrette and I took the balsamic. We both agreed that we picked correctly. For a $4 salad, it was quite large and was very good. But since it was just a salad, I didn't take the camera out.
When we eat at the fine dining restaurants which obviously are the more expensive restaurants in Bend, we tend to map out a plan for dinner. Like, if I get this, you get that, and we'll swap plates half way through. On this visit, we decided on three small plates and then one large plate and we'd just eat whatever. We selected the Sweetbreads, scallops, and crab cake as our starters and the Organzola Filet as our main dish.


MMMM mmmm, Sweetbreads!! Probably my favorite dish at Volo. Who are the ad wizards that came up with this one? Taking the thymus gland out of the neck of a cow, pig, or lamb, bread it and fry it up like a piece of chicken and then call it Sweetbreads! That's just brilliant. Sort of like calling boiled (or steamed) soy beans something sexy like
edamame.
All that aside, the thymus gland at Volo is awesome. Light and crispy breading that is seasoned nicely and served over a bed of Spaetzle (like a mini dumpling) and bacon. The beef Sweetbreads sort of taste like fried chicken if you stretch it.

The scallops were prepared with a port reduction and served with peaches (stone fruit on the menu). Erin recommended this one and we went back and forth throughout dinner about the idea of seafood and fruit. On the first taste I didn't really care for scallop and peach. I liked the port reduction just fine but as I tried the peach with the scallop, it didn't get better. Beautifully presented, scallops cooked perfectly, the port reduction was a great addition and made for a savory dipping sauce, but I'd rather have a slab of pork belly instead of those peaches.

The crab cake is also one of my favorites. The actual crab cake is chuck full of crab instead of a jambalaya of veggies. The veggies were outside, where they belong, and actually quite nice. The combo of Jicama, English Cucumber, and mango (again seafood and fruit = weird) were actually quite refreshing. So the scallops matched with peaches didn't take but this small amount of mango with the Jicama actually went well together.

Finally we enjoyed the Oregonzola crusted Filet served with a potato puree, spinach and a Fig Balsamic Jus. At first I thought the entire filet was crusted but was pleased to find out that only the Gorgonzola was crusted. The filet was perfectly prepared medium rare and melted in my mouth. We grubbed up the steak and enjoyed every bite. The only knock on this dish was the spinach. It was basically steamed spinach...without any seasoning. I think it's funny that the only bad things I have to say about Volo comes with the veggies and fruit. Everything else was insane!
The service was amazing. Erin rocked. Andy, the GM helped us pick some wines that went perfectly with dinner, and the (I don't want to offend but don't know what else to call him) bus boy was on top of things with clearing our plates, restocking the silverware, and refilling the water. My water glass NEVER made it passed half filled (as opposed to half empty).
Brilliant dinner, excellent service, great food, all in all, a phenomenal experience. I can't leave you without mentioning the price. Dinner for two can easily take you over $100. Our dinner was $110 not counting the tip. But for a nice night out, it's well worth it.
Volo
www.volobend.com
919 NW Bond St
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 728-0580
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bend Oregon Restaurant ClosingsRestaurants in Bend Oregon are closing, most blame economy, I blame bad food and service. There are too many restaurants in Bend serving up shiite. Is a little thinning of the herd what the restaurant industry in Bend needs? There are great restaurants in Bend and I feel bad that most are struggling but is the economy the only thing to blame? How about the fact that we have/had about 290 restaurants in Bend and only about 100 of them are any good? I mean the Source did their restaurant guide of the top 100 restaurants and it seemed like a stretch to get to 100.
How about restaurants serve up great food and separate themselves from the heard? We don't need another Mexican restaurant, we're good on fast food, we don't need another brew/pub/sports/bar. What we need is for the food and service at our current restaurants to be amazing. Can't restaurants focus on their strengths, adapt, improve their weaknesses, and overcome? I've thinned my list of restaurants I rotate through, cutting out the restaurants that haven't changed, that have poor service, that are overpriced for what you get. I want the best meal for my money.
All of the reports I've heard about the restaurant closings mention the poor economy. When was the economy really that good? The job market in Bend sucked 3 years ago and it still sucks today. That didn't stop new restaurants from opening. I mean the real estate market in Bend obviously blew up and then blew out but was that the only thing that was keeping these restaurants open? Was it all the successful realtors, mortgage brokers, and builders keeping the restaurants afloat? I don't have any of the answers. I just know that there are restaurants in Bend that have gotten away with poor quality and service for a long time and am shocked that some are still open.
Pepe's was a loss but there are plenty of Mexican restaurants to choose from. The others, I'm not so sure are going to be missed. Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for the owners and the employees that are losing their business and jobs. That sucks ass. I feel bad for anyone that owns a restaurant right now. I'm just saying that I don't think it's JUST the economy to blame.
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In an exception to the above comments,
38 Degrees appears to be closed. I can't seem to get the official word but I've driven by a couple of times when they should have been open and they were not. That's sad, I really liked the sangria flights. Their tuna was always great and I loved their clams and chorizo (when the chorizo was not dried out). Instead of just blaming the economy on this one, it could be that 38 Degrees really didn't have the best location. Could be a combo of things but their food and service were good.

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Kayo's Roadhouse in Bend and Redmond has closed. A reliable source shot me an email and was able to find the
Z21 news story to confirm that in fact Kayo's is done. The news article mentions that Kayo's is probably best known for the buckets of peanuts and the shells on the floor. I never got around to writing my review of the one trip I made it over to the East side for dinner at Kayo's, but it would have focused on the same point.
The food was bland. We tried the appetizer sampler which was a cut bomb of overcooked chicken wings, huge potato skins covered in cheddar, mozzarella sticks, and spring rolls. We totally should have waited to order our dinners until after the appetizer. After sampling the appetizers, we weren't really hungry.
I had the bacon burger which was overcooked and the Kraft singles slice of American was tough to wash down even with my huge beer. The wife got the ribs which were some of the worst we've tried. We ended up taking a bunch of left overs but ended up throwing them out as they stayed in the fridge way too long.
I never got to the Kayo's review as all of the photos came out way too dark. I couldn't get a good photo but trust me, there wasn't a way to get a "good" photo out of what was on our plates. Great peanuts and really cold beer are the best parts of Kayo's.
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Ernesto's closed their doors. I didn't post my review of Ernesto's before I heard of their closing. I had visited for lunch as a dare about a week before the news of their closing was announced.
A friend and I went to Ernesto's for lunch. After reviewing the menu we both decided on getting the buffet which consisted of soup and salad bar, pasta with a choice of three sauces, pizza, some sort of chicken dish, and then the special of the day. I think it was a Wednesday and prime rib was the special.
I decided to try all three pasta sauces, tomato, pesto, and Alfredo. In order from left to right, or right to left, or mix matched (doesn't matter really) they were blah, blehk, and boring. I also tried a slice of the pizza which looked really dried out but tasted ok. Old pork is still good pork in my mind. I just call it aged and be done with it...until I'm running to the restroom in the middle of the night. Damn you aged pizza!
The prime rib was a waste of time. I got a couple of good bites out of it. My favorite parts of the meal was the salad, bread, and water. Actually, the soup was pretty good. They had the normal minestrone soup out front but the waitress told me about the specialty soup of the day in the back, chicken pesto. It was rather good.

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Pepe's Restaurant moved back to Madras. "I'm going back to Madras, to Madras, to Madras, I'm going back to Madras, no, I don't think so." Could you imagine if LL Cool J lived in Central Oregon? No, I don't think so.
I wrote up my review of
Pepe's Restaurant and am actually sad about this restaurant leaving. I really liked going to Pepe's. I went up to Portland for the International Beer Fest and saw that Pepe's has a restaurant right on the main strip in Madras.
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Flatbread Community OvenFlatbread Community Oven Pizza and Wine Bar located in the Old Mill is the second installation of this new restaurant chain. A couple of friends and I went to visit the new pizza place for lunch.
When we arrived in the old mill, parking was easy to find and we were able to get a table outside right away. As with most new restaurants in Bend, Flatbread Community Oven appeared to be benefiting from some early success. Their take on pizza is that they are VPN certified which means that apparently, they are approved by the Vatican to make pizza in America. The waitress explained it a little better and their menu's as well as their
site is pretty big on this certification. But none of that really matters to me. I just want a good pizza at a fair price. Seriously, does it matter if your pizza has a certificate of authenticity? As long as it's good, eat it.
For lunch we chose from the Lunch Menu (available from 11-4) where you get to pick any two items from the Pizzetta menu, half sandwich, half salad, mac & cheese or soup. I decided on the Capicola, Sausage, and Salami pizza with the mac & cheese.

For the price, I found the lunch to be a pretty good deal. For around $9 you get a good set of options and I found the mini pizza and salad or mac & cheese to be the better value. I enjoyed my three meat mini pizza. The salty pork products blended well with the FCO Formaggio. FCO Formaggio is a type of cheese that I have never heard of before. I think they made it up. Sounds too much like
fromundercheese.
I used all of the crust as bread sticks and dipped them into my left over cheese sauce from my Mac & Cheese. It was a rather heavy lunch but I enjoyed my meal.
A side note. I have written an
Outdoor Dining Guide but I should have written some rules about outdoor dining etiquette. Actually I can't imagine there being that many rules but one stands out as I was eating at the Flatbread Community Oven ... KEEP YOUR DAMN SHIRT ON. This rule is actually meant for the fellas only. I mean, ladies, by all means. But if you're a dude, I don't give a damn if it's 110 degrees outside, you're at a restaurant and we're all eating. Unless your shirt is on fire, please keep your shirt on. No shirt, no shoes ... IT'S THE FIRST ONE!
While we were sitting at our outdoor table, half of us enjoying the mountain views, this tool and his family roll up on their bikes and sit down a nearby table. After ordering, all of the sudden, dad goes shirtless. Nice. It's great that we live in a small town were you can take advantage of a beautiful Central Oregon day and ride your bike around town with your family, getting all sweaty, thirsty, maybe a little hungry, and are able to stop by a restaurant for some refreshments and a nibble. I'm glad that I get to share in your successful workout regiment over the years as you work on your tan and continue to sweat two tables away from my Pope blessed pizza. Thank you sir, thanks for sharing. Tool.
I wish that the staff would have asked this jacknut to put his shirt back on. It's inappropriate.
Flatbread Community Oven
375 Powerhouse Dr, Bend, Oregon
541-728-0600
[www.flatbreadpizza.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Baldy's BBQ
Just when I think
Baldy's can't get any better, I get hit with the Beef, Chicken, and Pork combo platter at lunch for $10. I'm really loving these three meat combo's lately. At Baldy's the combo is pulled pork, BBQ chicken, and beef brisket plus a gigantic salad (your choice of house or Caesar).

After stuffing my face with fork full after fork full of deliciously smoked animal flesh, I realized I need something else. I ordered some garlic toast which really helped out. You have to have garlic toast with BBQ, it's only natural. For $10, this combo is definitely my favorite of the three meat platters that I've tried so far. Absolutely worth it.
Go Baldy GO!
Baldy's Barbecue
235 SW Century Dr
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 385-7427
385-Ribs
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Aloha Cafe
Aloha Cafe is the second Hawaiian Grill in Bend. Located on the east side near Kayo's Roadhouse and next to
Celina's Latin Bistro, the Aloha Cafe offers the east siders an alternative to
Kona Mix Plate.
There are some similar items on the menu and the side dishes are the same on paper. For $12 the wife and I split the sampler which contained all the meat options and all four side dishes.

For $12, I don't think there is a better deal in Bend. We tasted the ribs, terriaki chicken, BBQ chicken, Kalua pork, basically every meat item they have to offer. All of the meats were very good. We GRUBBED!! Everything was juicy and tender, well seasoned and the sauces were great with their sweet and savoriness. Very Hawaiian and very good.
For side dishes there were the yakisoba noodles, white rice, pineapple slaw, and potato mac. The best side dish was the white rice. I mean the slaw was ok but the only thing that made it different from the regular old mayo tossed slaw were the very few pieces of pineapple. The pineapple did not make the slaw any better, in fact made it worse. The potato mac didn't hold a candle to Kona's salad. So the meats were great but the sides were a disappointment.
That little promenade over there has quite a few tasty dining options. For the money, Aloha Cafe is a good addition and great change from taco bell and burger king both within a stones throw away. For our $12 we had too much food for both of us to finish and ended up taking a doggy bag home. The side dishes aside, it was still well worth it just for the meat.
Aloha Cafe
NE Bellevue Ave
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 382-5662
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Deschutes Barrel Tasting 2008
I had the opportunity to hit up this years Barrel Tasting at the Deschutes Mountain room. This has been one of those events that I try to make it to year after year. This year the beer was flowing in great quantities, a variety of flavors, and served with some tasty treats.
For $35 a person you get to drink 8 different beers that have been brewed by Deschutes and then aged in a variety of different wine and liquor barrels. You can read all about the beers and opinions on each from my buddy
the Brewerman. I agree with him for the most part. When he says that the Anniversary Ale was on the sweeter side, I found it undrinkable. The wife loved it but she also drinks Beringers white zin. The flat Oud Bruin was another one I found to be undrinkable. My favorite quote from the Brewerman is about the Abyss:
"Drink this beer whenever a glass of it is in front of you. If you say, “I don’t like dark beer”, you should get slapped … hard … immediately. Don’t be that guy. Drink it I say, and be set free!"For the other 6, I couldn't get enough. I felt like Augustus Gloop
diving into Wonka's chocolate river. I was swimming in a sea of Abyss and couldn't care less. I love beer but I also love food. I'm glad to see that Deschutes is providing better appetizers to snack on in between sloshing down a few beers in comparison to years past.
When we arrived a couple of friends were already out on the balcony so I grabbed a couple beers and we headed out to say high. Lucky enough there was a grill filled with mini lamb chops served with mint infused oil. I ate my weight in these.


Prosciutto Wrapped Fresh Mozzarella Balls with Sweet Wort Drizzle and Smoked Albacore Spread on Sesame Crackers

Fennel Apple Goat Cheese Flatbread

Chocolate Cake Bites with Macadamia Coconut Caramel

Not pictured - Quajillo Braised Pork on House-Made Tortilla Chips
The lamb was my favorite dish. Cooked medium rare unless you asked specifically for a piece to be cooked a little longer, eaten right off the grill in the view of the mountains while sipping on one of the great beers is how I want to spend every Saturday night.
The braised pork on the chips were also very good. One of my friends grabbed a couple of those and drizzled some of the roasted red pepper spread on them from a different table, that made them even better!
The Prosciutto and mozz balls are a staple but I didn't get enough wort drizzle on mine. They were pretty plane, the cheese was very very mild and lacked any flavor. We ate the Prosciutto with the other cheeses instead. The smoked tuna spread started off really good but left a weird after taste. Could have been that they were sitting out a while since the first one I tried didn't seem to have that fishy after taste.
The Fennel, Apple, Goat Cheese flat bread were very good and went quickly. That was one of the stations that was constently being refilled. Very clean and crisp, it was a great mix of flavors that went really good with the Cascade Ale.
The chocolate cake bites were out of this world.
I loved it all, a great evening. My favorite part is that they served the beer in half pints instead of the little shot glasses.
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
The
Blacksmith Restaurant has been a favorite restaurant destination for me especially between 4:30 - 6pm for happy hour. Sporting the Best
Happy Hour in Bend, the owners are continuing their quest to dominate my beer consumption with their Wednesday Beer tastings and the upcoming Beer dinner.
Beer Tastings - For $10 you get to sample beer and snack on unique appetizers from the kitchen. Robin pours you samples and will give you little nuggets of info about the brewery the beer came from, the type of beer it is and why he likes it. Robin is working his way to become one of only a few official Beer Snobs. I mean, beer Sommelier. He has a different name for it but after sampling the 6 beers this week, I couldn't remember.
Robin is actually really cool about his beer knowledge. He doesn't bore you with too much useless information about IBU numbers and s--t. But he can if you want to know. I just want to drink it. If it tastes good to me, then that's all that really matters.
The kitchen brought out potato skins that were fried up as chips, sprinkled with crack, and melted cheese. You can't eat just one. First bowl is free, after that you'll be hanging out in the ally turning tricks just for a taste.
They also served up some Cod Balls. MMMMmmm Cod Balls are like the rocky mountain oysters of the sea. Actually they are merely deep fried cod mixed with mayo and other goodies served with tarter sauce. Very good and went very fast.
I really didn't want to write about the beer tastings at Blacksmith as I want to be selfish and not have to wait in line for my next sample. I also want to see how many cod balls I can stuff in my mouth at the same time. But, you really should give it a try.
Beer Dinner - Blacksmith and Deschutes Brewery team up on Tuesday, June 24 to create a five-course meal paired with five Deschutes brews. Mix and mingle starting at 6:00 p.m., then sit down to a gourmet meal at 6:30 with a Deschutes Brewer. $75 per person. RSVP: 541-318-0588
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bite of Bend 2008I was able to attend the Bite of Bend 2008 for a little bit before the rains came on Saturday and I made it back on Sunday for a few hours. I was impressed with the improvement from this year's layout compared to last year. I was also pleased to see more restaurants dishing out their goods as well as offering a few tasters for only a buck.
There are still some improvements that I'd like to see implemented. While the list of restaurants is increasing, I really would like to see more restaurants and maybe some rules around what they offer. I talked to a couple restaurant owners and apparently for most restaurants, it's not profitable. Why wouldn't Lay it Out Inc (the company that runs the Bite) let restaurants come in for free. The main focus of the Bite should be food from restaurants. Make the catering companies and taco trucks pay extra for entrance into the fair.
All the restaurants should offer tasters for a minimum fee and should not have an item/dish over $5. This way we can afford to get a bite from a variety of restaurants that we normally would not visit or have not had a chance to visit. I tried a bunch of different items from the places that offered $1 tasters. But
Taste of Thailand (or Thai on the Fly) was serving up HUGE portions starting at $7. If you got one of those, you wouldn't be tasting anything else for the rest of the day.
Chicken tamale and the chili verde from
El Burrito - FANTASTIC!

I recommended to my friends that I bumped into that they go give the chili verde a try.
Crab cakes from the
Blue Olive and right next to them was a Chef's Association tent (I forget the actual name) and they were dishing out shrimp cocktail for a buck. The crab cakes were soggy due to all the salsa on top which you can see from the one on the right. The wife liked the crab cakes but I didn't care for them. The shrimp in the shrimp cocktail was still frozen making them taste like one of the worst icicles ever.

Lobster chimichanga and the portobello chimichanga from
Hola - AMAZING!
If I only had $3.50 to spend, I would spend it on the Lobster and Prawn chimichanga from Hola.

One of the only downtown restaurants to have a booth was
Typhoon offering phad thai and chicken satay. For $1 you get one skewer and for $2 you get 3. The chicken satay and peanut sauce were really good but small.

The army of Stilt walkers were out if full force as usual but I sort of missed the poodles like last year.
The Iron Chef Competition still needs improvement but the new MC did a very good job keeping the audience captive even though no one could see anything. I liked that they brought one of the dishes into the crowd so everyone could see what the judges got to taste. Please, will someone hook up a couple of monitors so the audience can see what the chefs are doing?
Dave has a pretty good idea of taking the stage down and having bleachers so the audience can view what the chefs are preparing. I still want to see tv screens next year.
And where are the results? Who won? I have heard that the
Fireside Red has claimed this years Iron Chef competition but no one has the results posted yet. Congrats to Fireside Red.
I'll partially retract my earlier comments of the upcoming disappointment. While there is room for improvement, this was by far the best Bite of Bend so far.
Early Comments:
The Bite of Bend 2008 is set for Saturday and Sunday June 21st and 22nd in Downtown Bend. There is info about the Iron Chef Competition posted online by
AdHoc and
HackBend. The Source has published the official EVENT guide to the Bite (though it is only available in this week's insert instead of online) and of course the official Bite of Bend
website is available.
What sucks for me is that NO ONE has a list of the actual food that will be present at the Bite of Bend. I mean, isn't that what the Bite is supposed to be about? I would LOVE to see all the restaurants have a booth with samples of their trademark dishes. Might as well let the neighborhood kids set up a lemonade stand and sell homemade cookies. I'm half expecting to see a Girl Scouts booth. Mmmm thin mints!
Last year I expected to see more restaurants but when I arrived, the food was not the top priority. Instead there were mostly caterers and taco trailers. Pretty much the same participants as munch and music/movies. I guess it makes sense to have these people show up as they are already prepared to serve food on the go with their trailers and portable BBQ grills and all. But I would really like to see more restaurants this year.
Just call this the Iron Chef of Bend instead of the Bite and I'll be happy. The Iron Chef competition was a disaster for me as a attendee. I couldn't see anything, didn't get to sample anything, and the MC annoyed the piss out of me. This year it appears that they have swapped out the MC and have actual foodies on the Judges panel.
Look for my review/rant/disappointment next week.
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Toomies Thai RestaurantI've written about Toomies quite a few times but this will be the first time with a good photo served on a plate vs a cell phone camera or a to-go order. I absolutely love Toomies for lunch. I've voted Toomies to be the
Best Lunch in Bend Oregon and as long as they are the only meal in Downtown Bend for $5.95 I'll keep on voting them the best lunch.
I wanted to mention Toomies again since it is getting difficult to get a sit down lunch for under $6 in Downtown Bend and wanted to give them some props (urban slang for respect, whitey). With a few exceptions, most of the other restaurants downtown are fine dining and don't offer lunch. Sure you might be able to get something cheaper from one of the downtown street corner vendors serving up their rat burgers all
Demolition Man style but even the gerbil wraps are over $8.
(Note - I have no idea what the street vendors are serving and I doubt I'll ever find out)Sure at
Super Burrito you can get a burrito for under $6 but does it compare to the meal you get at Toomies? Thai salad, phad thai, rice, your selected dish, and normally an orange wedge even though I didn't get one this time, or a $5 burrito? The choice is obviously yours but for me, I'll take...

Here is my favorite quote from my past reviews:
"The best part of Bend, or Deschutes County for that matter, is that while restaurants offer the organic ingredients, their to go containers are (or can be) Styrofoam. Good thing you carry a nalgene to reduce waste but you look silly walking to your Hummer carrying your Toomies lunch meal deal in a Styrofoam box. Good going."
Toomies Thai Restaurant
119 NW Minnesota
Bend, OR 97701
541-388-5590
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bella CucinaBella Cucina received a favorable review recently from
Hack Bend for their breakfast burrito/wrap. A couple of friends of mine went there for a late lunch not too long ago and had a good time, thought the service was good and the price was great.
So on those recommendations I thought I'd give Bella Cucina a shot. I met a friend for lunch and we sat outside enjoying one of the only warm sunny days in Bend so far this year. After looking over the menu and waiting 5 minutes for water, and another 8 for the waitress to come back I ordered The Italian - "Served hot on our fresh baked focaccia bread with salami, pepperoni & prosciutto, melted mozzeralla cheese" for $9.

Well, for being on ciabatta bread instead of "fresh baked focaccia", half the sandwich was cooooold instead of "served hot", and for being light on the meat, it was ok. Now I think I've been spoiled by the
BORwich over at the Speedshop deli (my personal creation of course) which is only $9.50 and comes with a great Asian style coleslaw.
This sandwich from Bella Cucina was served with bland, oily chips. The service was bad but I'll blame just our server. She couldn't care less about us or the speed in which she did anything. Could have been a "red" week or some other personal issues going on. I don't really care.
We had to wait forever to get our bill and for her to come back and collect the bill. We waited so long that we got up and started walking inside to pay. She came out and met us half way. I paid in cash and she took another 5 minutes to bring my change.
For lunch, I was not impressed at all by Bella Cucina's and if I decide to go back for breakfast or dinner (unlikely), I'll make sure to request any section other than the old ass biker chick with the raspy smoker's voice which you can barely understand's section.
Bella Cucina Italian Cafe
450 SW Powerhouse Drive
Old Mill District
Bend, Oregon
385-7774
[www.bellacucinacafe.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Sonic - Bend OregonSonic, the fast food burger chain that calls itself America's Drive In, recently opened up in Bend Oregon. The Bulletin announced it's opening but didn't mention much other than the fact that Sonic has in fact opened. I tried to go and check it out a couple of times but I'll be damned if I'm going to wait in line out on the street while my car burns gas (at $4.17 a gallon as of this posting) just for some fast food burgers and a shake.
The lines have been nuts every time I drove by. I'm not that dedicated to getting the photo and review to waste my time waiting for a Super Sonic Burger and a Sonic Slushy. It just isn't worth it yet the two times that I went which were off hours, the place was packed and the line of cars extended into the street. So I pulled a u-turn and headed somewhere else. Finally, the wife and I made it into Sonic for a late dinner the other night.
Sonic Menu for anyone that cares:

Just for kicks I wanted to see what the Sonic Jr. Burger for $0.99 would get you. Meat, Mustard, Ketchup & Dill Pickle. It was pretty dry, I didn't finish it as I had my own burger to get to:

I also got the Sonic Bacon Cheeseburger for $3.79. It was a decent size but also pretty dry. For the money, I was not that impressed. I'd rather wait at Dandy's for a much better burger.

The wife selected the Sonic Toaster Sandwich and I was jealous. Her burger was stacked with Bacon, Dill Pickle, Onion, Lettuce, Tomato (they forgot the tomoto), Cheese, an Onion Ring & Hickory BBQ sauce. It was a much better deal for only $4.29.

And finally, we got ourselves some Sonic Blasts. She ordered the Butterfingers while I got the Oreo. Mine was better.

So we went to dinner pretty late and didn't have to wait long at all. We were able to drive right up to one of the Carhop service stations and took our time looking over the menu before pushing the button for service. Once we pushed the button the gal inside was immediate to answer and we ordered and paid easily.
About five minutes later, a wobbly kneed carhop stumbled her way to our car and delivered the goods. Fast and friendly service to say the least. However, my friends at Eat Salem have a horrid tale to tell and in it they mention that someone comes around with sauces. For the tots and fries that we ordered, we didn't get any ketchup or mustard offered or delivered. I'm sure we could have pressed the button again and requested, though I was sort of hoping to see the Sonic Sauce Server.
If there is any wait time, I don't think it's worth it. I will go to Sonic for fast food over McDonalds. Everyone I talk to says the same thing - "the burgers aren't that great but they have the best shakes and slushies." Whatever, it is NOT better than Goodies, Dandy's, Pilot Butte, or even worth the wait for a slushy compared to the 8 gallons of slush you can get at 7-11 for only five cents more. Come on, it's only five cents more.
Sonic - America's Drive In for Slushies and Shakes.
SONIC Drive-In
63076 NORTH HIGHWAY 97
BEND, OR 97701
(541) 306-4153
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Speedshop Deli
The Speedshop Deli is definitely my favorite sandwich shop in Bend Oregon. I have gone there on an average of once every 2 weeks since the first time I visited. 6th gear every time. I chat with the owners every chance I get but lately they have been slammed with business. I'll take partial credit for getting asses in the seats but Keith (one of the owners of the Speedshop deli) is definitely doing a great job and getting them to return for seconds.
I've been working at getting my own sangwich on the menu. I have tested all sorts of sandwiches off of the 'build your own' menu and I finally found my sandwich. I start off with the Italian roll and select the roast turkey and spicy Capicola (or Gabagool as Tony Saprano would say). This sets the foundation of a turkey and bacon sandwich. To which I add Havarti, lettuce, and nuke sauce. For all this the total comes to $9.50. Now, that's quite a bite for a sandwich but it is well worth the price in comparison to the other sandwich shops downtown. You can't match the quality of products or the quantity.
Some Bendites are die hard NY Sub Shop lovers. But I just can't take the loaf of bread with a dash of meat for the $11 it costs get a foot long. I'd rather have top shelf meat and not as much bread. Seriously, why is the NY Sub Shop so damn expensive?
Some Bendites are di hard Downtowner fans. I can only get a spot in there during off hours as the tables ar HUGE in such a tiny place. So there is never a place to sit and eat.
Back to the BORwich. I forgot to mention that I add the Olive Tapenade to the beast which is still covered under the $9.50 price. So right now I have one of the best turkey and ham(ish) sandwiches topped with olives, special nuke sauce, mild cheese, and lettuce that I've ever had. I go the extra mile though and add on a nuke pickle and the 6th Gear Nuke Paste.

The full on 6th gear's worth of nuke paste will set you back another $1.75 but for me, it aint a sangwich without the "WICH" as in, "which gear are you going to get, pussy?"
HAHAHA yeah that's right, if you're only on the first gear or none at all, might as well try on some of the skirts available downstairs before heading over to Blockbuster to reserve your copy of Atonement. I'm talking to you Lucas.
Speedshop Deli
805 NW Wall Street
Bend, Oregon 97701
728-0303
M-F 10am-8pm
S-S 10am-5pm
http://www.bendspeedshop.com/
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Pilot Butte Drive InPilot Butte Drive In has been voted
Best Burger in Bend Oregon by all the magazines and newspapers for many years. I've had Pilot Butte burgers before and good luck finding a parking spot on Sunday. I like PB but my favorite burger is served up over at Dandy's. I recently realized that I've never written about Pilot Butte Drive In so the other day we swung by for some burgers.
The wife went all basic and got herself just a cheeseburger, tater tots, and a Pineapple Malt....weirdo. I don't even know where to begin on the pineapple malt. That's just wrong. She always gets tater tots when sh can. Tater tots are lame. I know that many of you are fans of the Tot buy I am not. I gave up tots when I graduated elementary school. French fries are better. Just accept it as I am always right.

I went for the Tavern - Grilled ham, bacon, swiss, cheddar cheese, and, "to raise your cholesterol", a fried egg with sauce, mayo, lettuce, tomato and pickles. For $9.50 (comes with an order of fries), it is a damn fine burger. I like the ham and bacon with egg. Lately I have been loving combo dishes with multiple animals. Flesh is just soooo good.

I enjoyed the burger very much. It was one of the better burgers that I've had and it makes sense that Pilot Butte continues to be named best burger in Bend. I'm not converting away from my Dandy's burger just yet though.
For being only a 6 ounce patty, this is a huge meal. The burger was so big that they couldn't even close the top of the box it came in. I was hurting after and feeling guilty for finishing the whole thing. Makes me wonder if I should even attempt the 18 ounce Pilot Butte Burger for $15. It's only $5 more. I smell a challenge!
Pilot Butte Drive-In Restaurant
917 N.E. Greenwood Ave.
Bend, Oregon 97701
541-382-2972
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Decoy - Bend OregonUpon my first visit to the
Decoy Bar and Grill I was not that impressed with the "club" sandwich that I was served. But I wanted to go back and sample something else on the menu. There have been a couple favorable reviews from trusted sources but I have received some mixed responses via email and amongst friends.
Recently, the wife and I made it downtown for some lunch at Decoy. She was excited since it was going to be her first time eating there. After reading through the lunch menu we thought we'd start off with the wings. For $9.95 we received some tasty wings in a mild sweet chili sauce. All 6 of them. 6 drumettes for $10. That's $1.66 a wing. They were pretty good but not anywhere near $10 for 6 wings good.

The wife decided on the Ruben and potato salad. Her sandwich was piled high with corned beef and sauerkraut. The sandwich was big and falling off the plate. She also got a healthy scoop of potato salad that was very good. It was also $10.
How can 6 drumettes sauced with the same sweet chili sauce I have in my fridge cost the same as a Ruben and salad? What am I missing here?
Good ol'
Hack Bend has his favorable review of Decoy on his site and based off his recommendation, I decided to try the burger.
Hand pressed patty on two thick slices of sour dough with the traditional fixins and accompanied with fries for $12. The burger was juicy and messy. I was actually quite pleased with it and the fries. The fries were pretty good unlike the first go around.
My photos did not turn out very well so I'll not post them. All in all I enjoyed the meal but found the prices to be off.
Decoy Bar and Grill
1051 Bond Street, Suite 100
Bend, Oregon 97701
(541) 318-4833
[decoybarandgrill.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Kebaba - Bend OregonFirst trip to Kebaba was not that great but there were a couple of good points. My recent trip to Kebaba was a treat. I really enjoyed the food, the service, and found the prices to be very fair.
We started off with a Mini Mezza from the specials menu, for $4 we got a little bit of this sour cheese stuff. It was similar to sour cream but saltier. Spreading the cheese on the pita and eating with the olives and pickled onions made for a great start to dinner.

The wife selected the Moroccan Steak for $14.95. Harissa rubbed sirloin steak topped with sweet and sour red onions. Served with rice pilaf and Kebaba salad. Everything was great. The steak was cooked and seasoned perfectly.

I went for the Sultan's Feast which isn't even on Kebaba's online menu. I'm the Sultan of Critiques. The Sultan of the Snark. The Sultan of BOR. I like to think that I'm something like a Sultan and I like to feast. I got to choose two kebabs, the type of Schwarma (special hummous, topped with roasted, spiced chicken or lamb), and comes with pilaf, veggies, and salad. I called it my new Tres Caballos out of respect to one of my favorite dishes at El Caporal consisting of bacon wrapped prawns, chicken, and steak. I'm just doing my part to keep those pesky animals in check. So with the Sultan's Feast, I devoured some lamb and steak kebabs and some Chicken Schwarma.

That will do it. For only $16 it was a feast fit for BOR and the price to match. I was stuffed. Washed it down with a couple of Stella Artois and went home happy, ready to rule whoever it is that a Sultan rules.
Kebaba
1004 NW Newport Ave
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 318-6224
[www.kebaba.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Jackalope GrillI love the Jackalope Grill. On my birthday I had some
Nancy P's for breakfast, tried the
Country Catering Company for lunch, and when it came to my birthday dinner, I decided on the Jackalope Grill. I've already discussed the layout of the
Jackalope Grill and its odd location in the strip mall on my first post so I'll hold off on that this time around.
A new email buddy said that they wished the Jackalope Grill would take over the old Robby J's location and I couldn't agree more. That would be a great spot and if anyone could do well there, it would be them.
Of all my "reviews", non have the amount of positive comments that the Jackalope Grill has received. Nothing but glowing comments about this "hidden treasure" as one commentor put it.
Of course we started off with the clams and they were soooooo good. The sand quantity has been fixed or at least it was on this occasion. We soaked up the gravy with our bread again and enjoyed every bite.

The wife went for the Soup du Jour. She asked "What's the Soup du Jour?" and the waitress said "Its the soup of the day." The wife responded with "Mmm, sounds yummy. I'll have that."
I had the field greens salad. I know I know. Yes I do eat vegetables from time to time.

For my entree I decided on the Filet Mignon. The filet could not have been cooked any better. It was absolutely perfect. After a couple Sapphire Martini's I don't think I noticed that the filet was covered in the classic brandy sauce. Normally I want my steak to be seasoned with salt and pepper, then throw a pat of butter on it as it comes off the grill and call it a day. I am now a fan of the brandy and peppercorn sauce. It was very good and I may even get it again.

Awesome dinner! If you have not been to the Jackalope Grill yet, then you're stupid.
Jackalope Grill
1245 SE Third St.
Bend, OR 97702
[www.thejackalopegrill.com] 541-318-8435
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Celina's Latin BistroWith Celina's Latin Bistro recently opening up on the East side of Bend this month, I've decided that I'm going to look into getting a condo out there or something to use as a vacation home. I could put together a 5 day 6 night vacation package with recommendations of where to eat every meal...well a few meals. With gas prices at $3.69 for unleaded, its cheaper to just get a place out there. Maybe I can do some HomeSwapping with those East Side bloggers.
My experience at Celina's was amazing. There is a familiarity to the drink menu with the Perfecta Margarita being available. Makes sense because the same owners of El Caporal and their many restaurants also own Celina's Gourmet Latin Bistro. I didn't actually get to see a menu as they haven't printed one off yet, but the waitress was happy to recite the options.
Celina's lunch and dinner menu's don't look a whole lot different aside from a couple dishes. You can get sandwiches on lunch, but you can't get any at dinner. My friend and I decided to split the Chorizo and cheese appetizer since we were just discussing the same dish at Baltazar's.

The sausage and cheese was good as only sausage and cheese can be but I'd rather have had chips or tortillas instead of the pitas. The dish is already filling enough, the pitas were rather thick. It was a meal in itself.
I had already ordered the Mole Poblano or else I probably would have been fine with the appetizer for my lunch. I was taking a little bit of a risk getting some chicken breast completely smothered in Mole as I have not been a fan of any Mole in any restaurant in Bend yet. Our waitress said that they make the Mole from scratch unlike restaurants that simply use the canned sauce.
The chicken breast was cooked perfectly, the home made mashed potatoes were seasoned perfectly and had that "home made" consistency, and the fried plantains added a nice fruity/sweetness to the dish.

Oh man, the mole sauce made the dish. It was so good. Not too sweet but just sweet enough with chocolate. I can't believe how good it was. I can't wait to hit the lottery so I can afford the gas to make it out East again for some Celina's.
Celina's chips and salsa was even impressive with it's presentation as well as the flavors. Reminded me of the three sauces that Hola started out service, just without the peanut butter one.

What a great lunch, I am really looking forward to my next east side adventure so I can try to hit up Celina's again.
Celina's Latin Bistro
547 N.E. Bellevue Drive (off 27th Street), Suite 109
Bend, Oregon
318-7567
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Outdoor Dining GuideDining outside during the warm summer months in Bend Oregon is a great way to pass the time, relax, and enjoy some good food and drinks. I am very picky when it comes to outdoor dining. Most people are pleased as punch to be out in the sun as they eat. They like to be seen or to just soak up some rays or whatever. I don't like eating outside when there are cars puttering by or civilians walking too close to my table. I don't like people all up on my table with their kids coughing or their dogs doing their dog business peeing on a pole or plant within smelling distance. I don't like sitting outside while the bible thumper exercises his right to free speech so he belts out how I'm going to hell as I try to enjoy my happy hour peel and eat prawns and draft beers.
SO, just because you put some tables and chairs outside doesn't mean that you should offer outdoor dining. Here are the restaurants that claim to offer outdoor seating. Below is my guide to dining outside in Bend Oregon.
Outdoor Dining Guide as told by the Bend Oregon Restaurants Blogger:
Bend Brewing Company1019 N.W. Brooks St.
Bend, Oregon
383-1599
Outdoor seating review - By far my favorite outdoor dining in all of Bend, Oregon. View of the river, no foot traffic, no vehicle smell all work in your favor while scarfing down some buffalo wings and downing some Outback Ale.
McKay Cottage62910 O.B. Riley Road
Bend, Oregon
383-2697
Outdoor seating review - The outdoor seating at McKay Cottage is awesome, if it wasn't located on OB Riley Rd. Under that big ass tree, the scene is actually really nice. People seem to like it alot.
38 Degrees Mediterranean Bistro745 N.W. Mt. Washington Drive (Northwest Crossing)
Bend, Oregon
318-8161
Outdoor seating review - Located on Mt. Washington Drive, you're going to hear some traffic fo sho, but the views of the Mountains are amazing. After some sangria, you wont care about the traffic at all.
Anthony's Homeport475 Powerhouse Drive
Bend, Oregon
541-389-8998
Outdoor seating review - Beautifully located along the Deschutes river, Anthony's and Greg's Grill are equally great dining options. Big plus for being able to eat and drink while listening to whomever is playing at the amphitheater. Negative points for having outdoor seating with public access. I don't like being on display while eating.
Greg's Grill395 S.W. Powerhouse Drive, The Shops at The Old Mill District
Bend, Oregon
382-2200
Outdoor seating review - Beautifully located along the Deschutes river, Anthony's and Greg's Grill are equally great dining options. Big plus for being able to eat and drink while listening to whoever is playing at the amphitheater. Negative points for having outdoor seating with public access. I don't like being on display while eating.
Baldy's Barbeque235 S.W. Century Drive
Bend, Oregon
385-7427 (385-RIBS)
Outdoor seating review - For being located near a busy traffic circle at 14th and Simpson, Baldy has created a total backyard BBQ vibe...if we were in Beaverton. HAHA well he's done the best for what he's been dealt. Its actually quite nice with a separate bar, heating lamps and whatnot.
Baltazar's1465 SW Knoll Ave (just off of 14th)
Bend, Oregon
382-6622
Outdoor seating review - Very similar to Baldy's, a nice little spot just off of 14th.
Bend Fish Company212 NE Revere Ave.
Bend, Oregon
330-6131
Outdoor seating review - Not bad for being on the corner of busy and busier street with zero view. I'm not really a fan.
Downtowner852 NW Brooks St
Bend, Oregon
388-2467
Outdoor seating review - Apparently the Downtowner has worked out something to expand the seating area just outside the breezeway. Seems like a decent spot, not a whole lot of traffic but you do get to observe, or deal with, the transients that hang out and the foot traffic. Not to mention the occasional street performance or art display or what not. All good for anyone that likes that crap.
El Burrito335 N.E. DeKalb Ave.
Bend, Oregon
382-2177
Outdoor seating review - Nice deck but the location is not optimal for outdoor dining. I mean you might have a nice view of a mountain or the parking lot of starz. You might get a chance to see someone stealing your hub caps as you eat some Al Pastor burrito but that doesn't make for the best scenery.
Jake's Diner2210 N.E. U.S. Highway 20
Bend, Oregon
382-0118
Outdoor seating review - Jake's has a nice deck for you to eat your over sized pancakes on. The view is of Pilot Butte. There is not any foot or motorized traffic or anything like that. Great place to watch the fireworks on the 4th.
Kanpai Sushi and Sake Bar990 N.W. Newport Ave.
Bend, Oregon
388-4636
Outdoor seating review - Located right on Newport, eating sushi on a hot day with traffic passing by at 25 mph doesn't getting any better.
Kebaba1004 N.W. Newport Ave.
Bend, Oregon
318-6224
Outdoor seating review - Located right on Newport, eating a falafel sandwich a hot day with traffic passing by at 25 mph doesn't getting any better.
CHOW1110 NW Newport Ave
Bend, Oregon 97701
541-728-0256
Outdoor seating review - Located right on Newport, eating a delicious but small portion of breakfast, lunch, or dinner on a hot day with traffic passing by at 25 mph doesn't getting any better.
La Rosa Authentic Mexican Kitchen1444 College Way, #104
Bend, Oregon
318-7210
Outdoor seating review - The tiny outdoor seating on College Way and Newport right next to the new Chevron gas station doesn't offer the best views. Of course, since the Source says that La Rosa has already relocated to Northwest Crossing, the views from this location are probably awesome, and doesn't smell like gasoline.
Longboard Louie's1254 NW Galveston Ave.,
Bend, Oregon
383-2449
Outdoor seating review - Right off of Galveston, the outdoor seating is actually really nice for what it is. Plenty of shade to keep you cool while eating your MBC burritos.
McMenamins700 N.W. Bond St.
Bend, Oregon
382-5174
Outdoor seating review - With your 189 options for dining outside of McMenamins, how can you go wrong? For downtown outdoor dining options, this is probably second place in my opinion...if only it were not for the horrible service, s--tty food, and subpar beer. Other than that, its quite nice.
Merenda Restaurant and Wine Bar900 N.W. Wall St.
Bend, Oregon
330-2304
Outdoor seating review - See the entry paragraph above. The wife reviewed this guide and thought that I should just lump all of the sidewalk dining restaurants together. Merenda, JC's, Decoy, Pizza Mondo, El Jimador, Soba, Marz, Toomies, and whoever else that put tables and chairs out on the sidewalk and call it good don't really count.
Parrilla Grill635 N.W. 14th St.
Bend, Oregon
617-9600
Outdoor seating review - The only good thing about the outdoor seating here is when a band is playing...if they are good. Other than that I wouldn't eat outside.
Pizza Mondo811 N.W. Wall St.
Bend, Oregon
330-9093
Outdoor seating review - Love the pizza, outdoor seating consists of two tables next to a bike rack which usually has a big ass dog tied up to it. I wouldn't sit there.
Soba Asian Bistro945 NW Bond Street
Bend, Oregon
318-1535
Outdoor seating review - For being on the street in downtown Bend, at least the seats are set in to the building vs taking up valuable sidewalk space. So the civilians are not all up in your spicy shrimp noodle soup.
Super Burrito1133 NW Wall St, Ste 101,
Bend Oregon
Outdoor seating review - Lots of space to enjoy your burrito's outside but you are right up on Greenwood/Newport/Hwy 20 and have a view of the Boondock's parking lot. I liked sitting out there while I waited 30 minutes for my panini from the previous occupants.
El Caporal West744 NW Bond Street
Bend, Oregon
541-322-8916
Outdoor seating review - Decent spot to watch the criterium in the summer. I don't really like eating outside there as you're basically in the parking lot but on hot days it seems to be packed.
Staccato's at the Firehall5 N.W. Minnesota Ave.
Bend, Oregon
312-3100
Outdoor seating review - Not bad seating normally, but for this summer you can expect plenty of construction to accompany your poor service and overpriced wannabe Italian cuisine.
Toomie's Thai Cuisine119 NW Minnesota Ave.
Bend, Oregon
388-5590
Outdoor seating review - Same as Marz, sure you're outside but you're spitting distance from the street, and pedestrians are all up in your chicken red curry.
Victorian Cafe1404 N.W. Galveston Ave.
Bend, Oregon
382-6411
Outdoor seating review - Best as it gets on a busy intersection. With the wait for a table getting over an hour on a regular basis, be happy with any spot you can get.
The Decoy Bar and Grill1051 Bond Street, Suite 100
Bend, Oregon
318-4833
Outdoor seating review - Tables and chairs are outside, that's about it. Busy intersection with a view of the courthouse. Great.
Cascade Lakes Lodge1441 SW Chandler Avenue
Bend, Oregon
388-4998
Outdoor seating review - Outside sipping on nasty beers next to a busy traffic circle. Nice location for those heading out Century Drive. When I drive by, I CRANK up my car stereo with some gangster rap. Its funny.
Alpenglow Cafe
1133 N.W. Wall St., Suite 100
Bend, Oregon
383-7676
Outdoor seating review - There is ample room to enjoy the sun but the views and traffic are lacking. Most of the time there is construction close by or the smell of vomit from last night's Joker's patrons trying to make it out the door. Kidding...Joker's aint even there anymore.
Bella Cucina Italian Cafe - Old Mill District
450 SW Powerhouse Drive
Old Mill District (across from Anthony's)
Bend, Oregon
385-7774
Outdoor seating review - Like Greg's Grill and Anthony's but with way more traffic (both foot and motorized), tons less space, and no view.
Fireside Red
803 SW Industrial Way
Bend, Oregon
306-3121
Outdoor seating review - Can't complain about the view much at all, mountains, river, Colorado Ave. Especially with all the floaters on the river having to get out to cross over the damn right there. You get the full view...of things. I can hear the owner's now - "Old Man BOR is here again requesting patio seating." I can't wait.
Marz Bistro
163 N.W. Minnesota Ave.
Bend, Oregon
389-2025
Outdoor seating review - Outdoor dingin in Downtown Bend is hard to come by. Marz throws some tables outside but every time I walk by them, I sort of laugh at the outdoor patrons. I like to pretend cough and pass gas just to help with the ambiance. Kidding of course, but I wont dine outdoors at most downtown restaurants for this reason.
Pine Tavern
967 NW Brooks St.
Bend, Oregon
382-5581
Outdoor seating review - Glorious spot, probably the best outdoor seating in all of downtown Bend, if only the food was good. The food was great in 1930, and the patrons that had it back then are still loving it today.
Pizzicato
1288 SW Simpson Ave.
Bend, Oregon
382-1228
Outdoor seating review - I'm sort of getting tired of writing these now...you get to sit outside and watch the cars go in and out of the Safeway parking long on Simpson Ave. The pizza is overpriced.
Scanlon's Athletic Club of Bend
61615 Ahtletic Club Drive
Bend, Oregon
385-3062
Outdoor seating review - GREAT views of the pool. You'd think that at an athletic club you'd see some hard bodies but unfortunately, it is not that great.
If I've missed a restaurant in this category. Please
submit a restaurant via email.
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7:10
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Dining Guide - the Source WeeklyLast week the Source Weekly published their Dining Guide for 2008 complete with their restaurant of the year and their favorite 100 restaurants in Central Oregon that provide dinnertime table service. Sounds good...is there a restaurant in Bend that provides dinnertime table service that is NOT in the list?
Not counting the chain restaurants like
Applebees or
Outback...I can only think of La Costa Azul as not making the list but I don't know if they're even open anymore. So if basically every restaurant is in this list, why are they referring to the Dining Guide as "100 of Our Favorite Dining Spots?" I mean, that's all there is.
Before I get too far into my rant on the Dining Guide, let me say that I like the Source Weekly. I like that it is free in print and ONLINE (Bulletin). I like the editors that I've met and or emailed with. I think all in all, they do a good job for being advertiser funded. I am going to complain about the Dining Guide for a few issues but all in all, I think it is a good list of restaurants that serve dinner, offer tables and chairs, and employ waitresses.
So hopefully anything I complain about will be viewed as constructive criticism.
#1 - The restaurant of the year - I don't get it. What is the criteria for this sort of honor. Marz will have the plaque in the window for the next few years but what does it mean? Why or how did they beat out the rest of the competition? Because they "broke the steak and potatoes mold 10 years ago" tells me that they should have won restaurant of the year ten years ago. This isn't the hall of fame where your name comes up for eligibility years after retirement.
#2 - Why bother with Standouts and Regrets. We all know that the paper is advertiser funded and 90% of the ads in the Dining Guide are restaurants. So why have a Regrets line if all you're going to say is "can be a bit noisy", "can be a bit rowdy", "a bit inconsistent", "it's hard to extract yourself from those comfy chairs"....OOOO you sure taught them a lesson with that one. Every regret is a bit this or a bit that or could be this or maybe a little more that. Man up and just say it. "It's flippin noisy as hell in there. Makes my ears bleed." Or you could say "Sure they make their own beer but the food is served in plastic baskets, why are they on this list?"
#3 - Celina's Latin Bistro opened on Friday...two days AFTER the Dining Guide was published. Shouldn't a restaurant open before it gets a good review. I mean sure, the "regret" listed is "untested menu" but if it is untested, then why is it even listed in the Dining Guide? Who wrote the description?
#4 - La Rosa hasn't moved to Northwest Crossing yet.
#5 - Jake's Diner doesn't offer the Elvis Cinnamon Roll anymore.
#6 - "the most comprehensive and honest assessment of the Central Oregon dining scene you'll find anywhere around - guaranteed." See #3. I love coming across guarantees like this. Reminds me of Tommy Boy - "...I can take a s--t in a box, and slap a guarantee on it, ...but all you're getting is a guaranteed piece of s--t."
#7 - Prineville only has two restaurants listed. I mean come on! Oh wait, no, that's actually accurate. The Prineville Princess says that Barney Prine's is great but Club Pioneer is "glorified Sizzler." Isn't there a Chuck E Cheese in Prineville? There should be.
You can read the online version of the Dining Guide at:
[www.tsweekly.com] Currently it is the 2007 version online but hopefully that will be updated soon.The Source Weekly
[www.tsweekly.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Victorian CafeThe Victorian Cafe or
The Vic as the locals call it is a favorite of the Bendites. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I drive to the Victorian Cafe and upon hitting the traffic circle at 14th and Galveston and seeing the huge crowd waiting outside and all the cars lining the street, I'll continue to drive around and around the traffic circle while making my decision of going to
Makahna's Cafe,
Longboard Louies for a breakfast burrito,
Original Pancake House,
Nancy P's, or
Westside Bakery. I'll just go round and round. I can't stand waiting an hour for breakfast, I don't care if the eggs are seasoned with stone ground diamonds.
"Look kids, there's Big Ben, there's Parliament" -
MeThe wife and I decided to swing by The Victorian Cafe for lunch and sure enough there were a couple of open parking spots so we figured there wouldn't be a wait. When we walked in we got a great spot with a window immediately.
I browsed the menu of speciality drinks and contemplated the Man-Mosa - champagne and OJ in a flippin pint glass. Good lord, I wouldn't have been functional for the rest of the day. I had to pass. You won this round oh Pint Glass of Love, but I we will meet again.
After the comments and emails I've received about the eggs benedict being the best in town, I had to give em a shot. Looking over all the options for the eggs bene's, I decided on the Cali Benedicts which consist of your classic poached eggs, english muffins, and covered in hollandaise. But instead of ham or salmon you get turkey (hormone free for you hippies that give a crap about that sort of thing), spinach, bacon, and avocado slices. And I was pleased as punch to see actual avocado slices on top instead of guacamole like at
McMenamins.

I can't praise this dish enough. I absolutely loved every bite and I ate it up. I made little stacks on my fork with a little of everything so each bite had all the ingredients. I even managed to make a couple mini-Bene stacks for the wife. She was quite jealous of my meal and even said "Next time I come back, I'm getting that."
Normally she's the one that gets something different that I normally wouldn't order and then that dish becomes my favorite. But how can you go wrong with eggs, bacon, turkey, and cover it with hollandaise? I mean that's a perfect storm in my gullet. These were the BEST eggs benedicts that I've had in Bend.
The wife went for the 18 Wheeler.

She was sort of happy with it but the biscuits were really thick and heavy. We like fluffy biscuits that soak up the gravy easily. I tried them and they seemed awfully dry even covered with gravy. So she sort of scraped all the gravy off and was still satisfied.
Victorian Cafe
1404 NW Galveston Ave.
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 382-6411
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8:10
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Nancy P's Baking CoNancy P's Baking Co sits to the left of the Newport Market. Not behind Newport Market or across the street like everyone kept telling me. Well technically it is across the street but when you say that, everyone is going to assume you mean across the street in front of the market. Am I wrong? When someone says across the street do you ever think that they mean across the street to the left or right? Or behind? Come on people, work with me.
I finally found this little bakery and when I visited at around 9am on a week day I found the place packed. In the small dining area there was not an empty seat. Sort of freaked me out. Don't you all have jobs?

There were all sorts of baked goods to browse though and we made a few selections The brownie was sooo sweet and rich that I couldn't finish it. That's not a knock on the brownie, it was very good but I can't take that much chocolate or sugar.

I was able to wrestle a couple of bites of the cinnamon roll away from the wife and considered fighting for more. But again, the sugar is a killer to my thunder thighs.

Instead I got this ham and cheese turn over thingy. I forgot what it was actually called. I didn't really care, I was just trying to decide between the ham and cheese or the one with bacon.
The wrap type thingy was good, the bread was soft and had some nice salty seasonings on it. I found that there was not enough ham and cheese and way too much bread. There was a stone ground mustard inside but it was not spread evenly. So when I ate this thing I had about half of it left and it was all mustard which wasn't on the first half....with the ham and cheese. Other than that it was good.
Nancy P's seems to have a loyal following. I get a couple emails here an there asking if I'd been there or when am I going to write about it. Well here you go, now you can shut it.
I have one small complaint. I would have liked to have seen prices on the items in the case while I was browsing. The wife paid so I have no idea how much our breakfast snacks cost. The wife has one complaint, why is the Nancy P's part of the sign out front sooooo tiny and the BAKING CO is sooo big? People should start referring to this place as the Baking Company instead of Nancy P's so we can find it.
Nancy P's Baking Co
1054 NW Milwaukee Ave
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 322-8778
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8:16
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Breakfast, Bend Oregon
Breakfast in Bend Oregon - Judging from the comments and emails I get everytime I review a Breakfast restaurant in Bend, you all love your breakfast joints.
Below are the Breakfast restaurants that I've reviewed:
McKay Cottage62910 O B Riley Rd
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 383-2697
[www.themckaycottage.com]
Victorian Cafe1404 NW Galveston Ave
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 382-6411
Jake's Diner2210 NE Highway 20 (Behind the A&W)
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 382-0118
[jakesdiner.blogspot.com] Makahna's Cafe1227 Northwest Galveston Avenue
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 678-5750
Westside Bakery1005 NW Galveston Ave
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 382-3426
Cafe Sintra1024 NW Bond St
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 382-8004
Original Pancake House1025 SW Donovan Ave
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 317-0380
[www.originalpancakehouse.com] CHOW1110 NW Newport Ave
Bend, Oregon 97701
541-728-0256
[www.chowbend.com] Bend Oregon Breakfast restaurants that I have NOT reviewed:
Alpenglow Cafe
1133 NW Wall St
Bend, OR 97701
541-383-7676
Batter & Beans
824 NW Wall St
Bend, OR 97701
541-317-5717
D & D Bar & Grill
927 NW Bond St
Bend, OR 97701
541-382-4592
Mother's Juice Cafe
1255 NW Galveston
Bend, OR 97701
541-318-0989
Nanette's Cinnamon Roll & Coffee Co
62090 Dean Swift Rd
Bend, OR 97701
541-385-6216
If I've missed a restaurant in this category. Please
submit a restaurant via email.
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8:15
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Steak House, Bend Oregon
Steak House in Bend Oregon - I love a good steak. Below you will find all of the restaurants in Bend where you can get a good steak.
Below are the Steak Houses that I've reviewed:
Jackalope Grill1245 SE Third St.
Bend, OR 97702
[www.thejackalopegrill.com] 541-318-8435
Blacksmith restaurant211 NW Greenwood Ave,
Bend, Oregon 97701
541.318.0588
[www.bendblacksmith.com] Zydeco Kitchen and Cocktails1085 SE 3rd st
Bend, OR
541-312-2899
[www.zydecokitchen.com]
Greg's Grill395 SW Powerhouse Dr
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 382-2200
Outback Steakhouse269 SE Reed Market Rd
Bend, OR
(541) 383-8104
[www.outback.com] Bend Oregon Steak Houses that I have NOT reviewed:
Tumalo Feed Co
64619 Highway 20
Bend, OR
(541) 382-2202
If I've missed a restaurant in this category. Please
submit a restaurant via email.
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8:14
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Asian Restaurants, Bend Oregon
Asian Restaurants in Bend Oregon - I wish we had enough restaurants from the Pacific Rim in Bend to not just lump all of Asia into one group. You know, China and Japan are two different countries.
Below are the Asian Restaurants in Bend Oregon that I've reviewed:
SOBA Asian Bistro945 NW Bond Street
Bend, OR 97701
Ph: 541-318-1535
[www.eatsoba.com]
Angel Thai Cuisine1900 NE Division St., Bend
541-388-5177
Kanpai Sushi & Sake Bar990 NW Newport Ave
Bend, OR 97701
541-388-4636
Double Happiness2115 NE Hwy 20
Bend, OR 97701
Toomie's Thai Cuisine119 NW Minnesota
Bend, OR 97701
541-388-5590
Deep821 n.w. wall street, suite 100
bend, oregon 97701
telephone: 541.323.9841
Ode to Deep by MC ArlHong Kong Restaurant530 Se 3rd St
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 389-8880
Chan's Chinese Restaurant1005 SE 3rd Street
Bend Oregon 97702
541-389-1725
Sumi's Japanese Restaurant1444 NW College Way, Suite 1
Bend Oregon
A Taste of Thailand696 NE Greenwood
Bend, OR 97701
541-815-0180
Typhoon!Franklin Crossing Building
550 NW Franklin Ave., Suite 148,
Bend, OR 97701
541-385-8885
Mongolian BBQ61535 S Hwy 97
Bend, OR 97701
541-318-8500
Shoji's62929 N. Hwy 97
Bend, OR
(541) 389-0701
Szechuan1600 NE 3rd
Bend, OR 97701
541-383-9033
Bend Oregon Asian Restaurants that I have NOT reviewed:
China Sun Buffet
Bend River Mall
Bend, ST 97701
541-382-1122
Red Dragon
61247 S HWY 97
Bend, OR 97702
541-389-9888
Royal Thai Cafe
2210 NE Hwy 20
Bend, OR 97701
541-312-2240
Yoko's Japanese Restaurant
2670 NE Hwy 20
Bend, OR 97701
541-382-3300
If I've missed a restaurant in this category. Please
submit a restaurant via email.
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8:13
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Italian Restaurants, Bend Oregon
Italian Restaurants in Bend Oregon - I'm not sure why I really have this category. The only good Italian meal I've had in Bend is courtesy of Dr. Juri Spandati from Spandati Personal Chef Services. The second best Italian meal I've had in Bend is courtesy of American pizza.
Below are the Italian Restaurants in Bend Oregon that I've reviewed:
Sbandati Personal Chef Services1466 Ne Revere Ave
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 610-6278
[www.sbandatipersonalchef.com]
Johnny Carino's Italian Restaurant63455 North Highway 97
Suite 118
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 318-6300 Phone
(541) 318-6300 Curbside
Staccato at the Firehall5 NW MINNESOTA Suite 101
BEND, OR 97701
Phone: 541.312.3100
Bend Oregon Italian Restaurants that I have NOT reviewed:
Bella Cucina
450 Powerhouse Dr
Bend, OR 97702
541-385-7774
Ernesto's Italian
1203 NE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97701
541-389-7274
Giuseppe's Italian Restaurant
932 NW Bond St
Bend, OR 97701
541-389-8899
If I've missed a restaurant in this category. Please
submit a restaurant via email.
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8:12
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Pizza, Bend Oregon
Pizza in Bend Oregon - Below you will find all of the pizza places in Bend Oregon that I have reviewed.
My personal favorite right now is the Run Little Piggy pizza from
Pizza Mondo. For a quick slice my favorite is
Cibelli's New York Pizza on the west side.
Bend Oregon Pizza
Pizza Mondo811 NW Wall St
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 330-9093
[www.pizzamondobend.com]
Olde Towne Pizza Company118 NW Greenwood Ave
Bend Oregon 97701
541-318-9018
Cibelli's New York Pizza318-2800 Westside
385-8646 Eastside
330-8646 Tumalo
Papa Murphy's Take n Bake Pizza
NE:
(541) 389-7272
211 Ne Revere Ave, Bend, OR
South:
(541) 382-6767
61160 S Highway 97 Ste E, Bend, OR
Bend Oregon Pizza restaurants not yet reviewed by me:
Abby's Pizza
1115 NE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97701
541-382-7372
Domino's Pizza
210 SE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97701
541-388-4681
Grover's Pub & Pizza
939 SE 2nd St
Bend, OR 97701
541-982-3754
Izzy's Pizza
2940 N Hwy 97
Bend, OR 97701
541-382-2135
Little Caesar's
1120 SE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97702
541-312-3377
Little Pizza Paradise
2625 NE Butler Mkt
Bend, OR 97701
541-312-2577
Papa John's
755 NE Greenwood
Bend, OR 97702
541-385-7272
Papa's Pizza Parlor
Bend, OR 97701
541-317-9095
Pizza Hut
2139 NW 3rd
Bend, OR 97701
541-389-5991
Pizzicato Gourmet Pizza
1288 SW Simpson
Bend, OR 97702
541-382-1228
Round Table Pizza
1552 NE 3rd
Bend, OR 97701
541-389-2963
If I've missed a restaurant in this category. Please
submit a restaurant via email.
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8:11
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Mexican Restaurants, Bend Oregon
Mexican, Bend Oregon - Mexican food is probably my favorite. I could eat Mexican food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My personal favorite is El Caporal for a variety of reasons. I love the service and they have the best chips and salsa in Bend.
Below is a list of the Mexican restaurants in Bend Oregon that I have reviewed.
El Caporal744 NW Bond
Bend, OR 97701
541-322-8916
Baltazar’s Seafood & Spirits1465 SW Knoll Ave
Bend, OR 97702
541-382-6622
La Rosa1444 NW College Wy
Bend, OR 97701
541-318-7210
Hola!2670 NE Highway 20
Bend, OR 97701
541 389 4652
http://www.holabend.com/
Taco Stand221 NW Hill St
Bend, OR 97701
541-382-0494
Pepe's Mexican Restaurant2650 NE Division
Bend, Oregon 97701
Phone 541-330-2652
http://www.mypepes.com/
Longboard Louie's West
1254 NW Galveston
Bend, OR 97701
541-383-2449
Parrilla Grill635 NW 14th
Bend, OR 97701
541-617-9600
Tortillaria Reyes1155 SE Division St
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 383-2025
Super BurritoNew address info soon to come.
El Burrito335 NE Dekalb
Bend, OR 97701
541-382-2177
Los Jalapenos601 NE Greenwood Ave
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 383-1402
http://www.losjalapenos.biz/
El Rancho Grande63455 N Hwy 97
541.312.2002
Taco Del Mar63455 N. Hwy 97 Suite 41
Bend, OR 97701
541-317-1112
www.tacodelmar.com
Baja Fresh916 NE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97702
541-617-8781
Bend Oregon Mexican Restaurants that I have not reviewed:
Del Taco
612 SE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97702
541-322-8702
El Jimador
801 NW Wall St
Bend, OR 97701
541-318-1333
El Rodeo
785 SE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97701
541-617-5952
La Cabaña
1939 NE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97701
541-312-9462
Las Cazuelas
547 NE Bellevue Dr
Bend, OR 97701
541-318-7567
Longboard Louie's East
62080 Dean Swift Rd
Bend, OR 97701
541-383-5889
Puerto Alegre
547 NE Bellevue Dr
Bend, OR 97701
541-318-7567
Ranchero Mexican Restaurant
150 Bend River Plaza
Bend, OR 97701
541-330-0685
Rico's Tacos Restaurant
1326 NE 3rd St-
Bend, OR 97701
541-382-4022
Rigoberto's (South)
1913 NE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97701
541-388-6783
Rigoberto's (West)
1365 NW Galveston
Bend, OR 97701
541-389-6751
If I've missed a restaurant in this category. Please
submit a restaurant via email.
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8:10
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bend Oregon Brew Pubs
Bend Oregon Brew Pubs - Some of my favorite restaurants in Bend are the Brew Pubs. What's better than some local beers with your burger or hot wings while watching the game?
Below are the Bend Oregon Brew Pubs that I've reviewed:
Bend Brewing Company1019 NW Brooks St.
Bend, OR, 97701
(541)383-1599
Deschutes Beer Pub1044 NW Bond Street, between Franklin and Greenwood
Bend, OR 97701
541-382-9242
Cascade Lakes Lodge1441 SW Chandler Avenue
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 388-4998
McMenamins - Old St. Francis School700 NW Bond Street
Bend, OR 97701
541-382-5174
Bend Oregon Brew Pubs that I have NOT reviewed:
Silver Moon Brewing
24 NW Greenwood Ave.
Bend, OR 97701
541-388-8331
If I've missed a restaurant in this category. Please
submit a restaurant via email.
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Jake's DinerJake's Diner recently went through a make over in the main dining room. While the dining room has a new look and feel, the food has not changed....thank goodness!

I was able to cash in some savings bonds that my Grandparents gave me when I was a kid so I could fill up the gas tank for yet another trip to the East side of Bend. This time I was actually in search of the Aloha Cafe but forgot to look up the addy before heading East. When we finally found the cafe, we were already in the turning lane to head back to the West side and figure out where else to eat. My friend is a big fan of Jake's so we decided that we'll check out the new dining room and hit up Aloha some other time, when gas prices drop.
When gas prices drop! haha that's the new "When Hell freezes over" or "when pigs fly". I challenge you to use "When gas prices drop" today in conversation. When the kids get home from school and want to play video games tell them "sure, when gas prices drop."
"Hey, we should go try out the new Vola" - your spouse
"Sure thing babe, just as soon as gas prices drop....OOOoo IN yur FACE!!" - you
Try it and give me credit since I just made that up.
Jake's Diner serves up some great portions for low prices and everything can be covered in gravy and/or syrup. I've had the biscuits and gravy, a burger, the pancakes, and hash browns. I browsed the menu and decided on the Monte Cristo. Ever since having the Monte Cristo at
McKay Cottage, I have been wanting one every time I see it on the menu.

Oh momma, french toast, turkey, ham, and slices of kraft singles type cheddar and Swiss in between creating this melty, fake cheesy goodness. What a great lunch for $7.95.
My favorite part of the redesign is that they have taken all the celebrity photos and articles, framed them, and placed them on the walls in various spots. Even BOR made it on the wall...

Immortalized.
Jake's Diner
2210 NE Highway 20 (Behind the A&W and the East side Liquor Store)
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 382-0118
[jakesdiner.blogspot.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Country Catering - Bend OregonCountry Catering, located WAAYYYY over there on the East side of Bend, has been on my list to visit for a long time. I heard about their tri-tip sandwich and breakfast burritos. It sounded good to me so I was really looking forward to it.
It was my BORthday so I wanted to try something new and I knew I could leverage that it was my special day/week/month/year to get my friends to go anywhere I wanted. So on a beautifully freezing day in Bend Oregon, we filled out gas tanks and headed east across the railroad tracks to seek out some tri-tip. Country Catering is not that far on the east side, I just like to make fun.
We walk in and start looking through the menu trying to figure out what to order while we waited in the short line. When it was our turn, everyone in my group was getting the sandwich deal which comes with your choice of salad and a drink for $6.50. We order but with each one of our orders the guy behind the counter asks us what salad we wanted. We look in the case and feel the pressure as the line is forming behind us. We scramble to make our picks as the cashier was not too happy with us holding things up. He seemed to be feeling the pressure of the line forming as well.
I ordered the spicy tri-tip with the cole slaw and took my seat in what appeared to be the only waiting area in Bend that is actually colder than it has been outside. It was sooo cold in there that no one in our group took their coats off and we contemplated eating outside. Seriously.

The sandwich tasted good although I had to add some hot sauce since it wasn't even close to being anything remotely spicy. The flavors of the sandwich and slaw were pretty good and for $6.50, it was a pretty good deal.
I did not care for the Laker's jersey hanging on the wall though. I guess it's fitting with all the Cali's coming to town that they bring some "fans" with them.
If I find myself on that side of the tracks again, I will give Country Catering another try. That is assuming that they are willing to turn on the damn heat. Their menu looks plenty big so there is plenty to try. I also noticed that the deli case has premade breakfast burritos at great prices for a quick grab.
Country Catering & Deli Co
[www.bendcatering.com] 900 SE Wilson Ave
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 383-5014
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Baltazar's - Bend OregonBlah blah blah Baltazar's Blah No kids Blah...yeah I've heard the
news. But I loooove the chorizo and cheese that you can grab off of the appetizers menu. If you get the chorizo and cheese, some guac, and some tortillas, you don't have to get dinner. With a cast iron skillet filled with chorizo and bubblin hot cheese, I'm a happy BOR!

What I love about this dish is the simplicity but full of salty, greasy, cheesy, porky goodness. They use ground chorizo instead of being slices of sausage in it's casing. Oh it is soooo good.
Blah blah Don't go there, Blah. I'm sorry, I've gone there and I'll go there again (insert the two snaps and a twist like from In Living Color's "Men on Film"). You can't tell me what to do.
The fish tacos for lunch are also really good. I like how light everything is. Nothing heavy or greasy that makes you want to pass out when you get back from lunch. I call that feeling of wanting to crash after a heavy Mexican meal the
Mexicoma.

Baltazar's
1465 SW Knoll Ave (just off of 14th)
541-382-6622
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
CO Blogger Meet Up 2008 part B
[www.cowpu.com] "Wednesday, April 30, 5:30ish at the Summit, Downtown Bend
To RSVP visit this event's page on Upcoming and click "I'm Going!", leave a comment, or email me at jenblackledge at gmail.com
The first blogger meetup was a big success! Since then there's been a lot of growth and new folks have popped up in our local "blogosphere". Meetups like this are a nice chance for all of us to gather, unwind, and put some faces together with the blogs.
This event is primarily intended for bloggers who wish to meet other bloggers. If you don't have a blog, then this may not be the get-together for you. So, if you just can't stand not being there and don't already have a blog... what are you waiting for?!"
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
"The Prineville Princess", my friend who for some reason lives in Prineville, informed me that today is the Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's. I guess that's big news in Prineville. Since the closest Ben & Jerry's to Prineville is Bend, I'd recommend avoiding South 97 if at all possible today.
I can totally see 1000's of RVs, trackers, and horse trailers making the drive from Prineville and Redmond today to hit up our Ben and Jerry's. Then on the way home they'll stop in that Mega Walmart Stadium Campus to stock up on recently dropped prices of lawn ornaments and water toys.

Get your Free On!!
Ben & Jerry's Bend
Old Mill District at Riverbend
Bend, OR 97702
541-312-8115
[www.benjerry.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Super BurritoMy friend went to the new Super Burrito before I got the opportunity and he said "I don't think they're going to make it there. How can they keep that location busy?" Well, when I went for lunch late last week and there was a line out the door and every table was filled. What do you have to say now Lucas?
I visited the old location a couple of times and had mixed results. The new location appears to be much cleaner and the food seemed to taste better. I had the carnitas burrito and some taquitos. But since photos of burritos never work out for me, I took a pic of my friend's carnitas tacos.


I was truly amazed by all the customers and loyal followers that Super Burrito has and had on the day that I visited. The CarniBORes LOVE Super Burrito. Even with as busy as it was, my food only took a few minutes to get there. Plus it was 50% off day which I didn't know about. I spent $5 on my burrito, taquitos, and a soda. What a great deal!
The burrito was packed with meat, beans, cheese, and a medley of onions and tomatoes. On every other bite I squeezed on a little of their hot sauce into the mix. I love their hot sauce. I'll be back fo sho!
Super Burrito
1133 NW Wall St, Ste 101,
Bend Oregon, 97701
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
I received the following comment on my eloquent review of
deep, the modern Japanese style restaurant in downtown Bend Oregon. Please read and take notes, your comments on this comment are welcome.
"deep is quite overpriced, if you ask me. Check out some of the better sushi places in Seattle, and you can feed 4 people for around $100 there, or you can spend $200 at deep. The fish isn't as fresh, either, as it spends an extra 12-24 hours to get down here, instead of being fresh off the plane from Japan. Also, anything labeled "Kobe beef" probably isn't (having been to Kobe and had real Kobe beef, which starts at $50-90 per pound, I haven't had anything here that would remotely compare, or that is legitimately Kobe beef). I recommend Kisaku for great sushi in Seattle. I guess deep is trendy for non-traveled locals who don't know any better, but deep is a poor imitation of real sushi (we go to Japan once a year, and the $1 per plate conveyor belt sushi place over there is better than deep. The "good" sushi places are unreal: some of the fish is still swimming in a tank when you order it, or at worst, was caught that afternoon). Save your $ and plan a trip to Japan for real fish" This is some of the best commentary and advice I have ever received. Starting off complaining about how over priced Deep is but your advice is to either drive 14 hours round trip to Seattle or fly to Japan. When you add in the cost of gas or flights, hotel stay, and taking time off of work, is Deep really that overpriced?
If you haven't noticed, Bend is in CENTRAL OREGON. We are not near a Salmon filled river or next to the ocean for some fresh Tuna. Should the Bend Oregon sushi restaurants serve up Nigiri Trout or Bass Hand Rolls in order to keep the non-traveling locals happy with fresh fish?
One of my favorite lines from your comment is "The fish isn't as fresh, either, as it spends an extra 12-24 hours to get down here, instead of being fresh off the plane from Japan." HAHAHA fresh off the plane from Japan!!! All that fish in the Pike's Place FISH MARKETs where the guys throw them back and forth are all fresh off that plane from Japan? You know Seattle has a port, where boats bring in fish right from the Pacific ocean. I mean did the Pacific run out of fish? The Ocean called, they're running out of shrimp.
Fresh fish from a plane....wow. Are there fish tanks on this fish packin plane? What if there was turbulence? Sounds like a Tyler Perry movie in the making. Big Momma's Fish on a Mother Effin Plane. Sammy Jackson could just combo up his roll when the shark bit his head off and Snakes on a Plane.
Look Sporty Spice, this is the
Bend Oregon Restaurants Blog, not the "Sushi fresh off the Japanese Airlines in Seattle WA Restaurants" blog.
"we go to Japan once a year, and the $1 per plate conveyor belt sushi place over there is better than deep."
I've had Conveyor Belt Sushi before, tasted like rubber and was very tough.
So basically your whole comment is summed up with "for good sushi, go to Seattle or Japan." I guess I can agree with that. I mean I've been complaining that the hot dogs in Bend are overpriced. The wife and I fly to Germany every other weekend and the brats for $1 are amazing and still on the pig or at least cut that day.
Buffalo wings are not even fresh here. I mean there's no way that the chickens can be fresh after coming all the way from Buffalo, NY. Save your $7.95 for a trip to NY.
When
Brewerman and I were cracking up over your comment, he came up with "If you want good coffee, Thump is OK, but the beans aren't fresh. Portland has some decent places, but better yet, go to Columbia. We go every year and our beans are picked by Juan Valdez himself. He even lets the kids ride the burro!"
If you want pizza,
Pizza Mondo is decent but overpriced. You should try the places in Denver, the higher elevation makes for even thinner crust. Or better yet, go to NY for a real pie or even Italy where they don't make it American style...who the hell do they think they are? Now THAT's pizza, we go 3 times a year.
Don't eat the food that you like within walking/driving distance from your house...no no, instead, save your money by not going to the overpriced meals in CO so you can fly to an overpriced Japan for cheap, fresh sushi. Makes perfect sense to me.
To all my loyal CarniBORes, please feel free to post your comments. I'll even take comments from you HerbiBORes. You know you're a tool when a hippy makes fun of you. That's like getting a Canadian to cuss you ooot.
And since you asked, I think Kobe beef from Kobe, Japan is overpriced. Try Redmond, Oregon:
[www.kobe-beef.com] .
You've been BORed!
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bend Oregon Food Related News - April 25, 2008
Well the most important news was that I celebrated my BORthday this week. Birthday's during the week are sort of lame. I try to celebrate the whole week but that didn't work out. So I started my day with a couple treats from Nancy P's. Had lunch at Country Catering. Then played video games in my new video gaming chair until dinner at The Jackalope Grill.
Reviews will be coming out next week.
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Jake's Diner's Grand OpeningLyle must be swamped over there at Jake's Diner with the
Let's Make a Space redesign since he hasn't posted an update since Day 1 of the redesign. Tomorrow, April 26th, is the big day where they unveal the new digs. All proceeds for from the day long celebration will go to the new kitchen at the Bend Community Center. All profits for the day will be turned over to the Center with Andy and the LMAS crew matching their give. Other businesses chipping in to assist include Wood Awakening, Hardwood Industries, Steve Newman Custom Wood Furnishings, and Franz Bakery.
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Art walk is next Friday so I'm sure I'll get my normal announcement for Thump and bistro corlise by Friday. But for now all I received was the announcment from The Speedshop Deli:
In the upcoming Art Walk in Downtown on May 2nd, one of Bend's newest businesses will be featuring a local preschool's Art on Canvas.
Bend Montessori School's 3 thru 6 year old students have been working hard at putting their imagination on to canvas and they will be ready to be showcased at
The Speedshop on May 2nd. "They are coming together beautifully" says the students teacher, Ms. Robin. The colors are vibrant and the innocence of these preschoolers is showing through!
The Speedshop is a moto inspired store with clothing downstairs and a gourmet Deli in the upstairs loft. A welcome change and fun combination to hit downtown. The Speedshop is located at 805 NW Wall St. Come in to see the work of these artists of our future!!
www.bendspeedshop.com ------------
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
It is my Birthday today and I'm not sure what's in store for me culinarily speaking. I've given advice to a few people on what I'd recommend for a birthday dinner based on the little information given and what not.
However, going out to eat as much as I do, I tend to not know what I'm in the mood for when trying to decide on which restaurant to visit. If you have any advice or recommendations for lunch or dinner, please feel free to let me know.
I just got back from Nancy P's so my day has started out nicely.
Your Starving Moderator,
-BOR
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Richards Donuts & PastriesOn my nominations for
Gusto's "Best of" list, Jake disagreed with my Best Donut suggestion. He said "Doughnuts:
Sweethearts has NOTHING on Richard's Doughnuts. Those things are like crack."
Righard's Donuts are like crack! Not that I've had much crack lately...I'm more of a Black Tar kind of guy. I went out of my way Sunday morning to find Richard's on Hwy 97. I selected a mixed dozen as well as a dozen donut holes.

The donut holes are a steal at $1.75 for a dozen. You can polish off a dozen of these bad boys over a cup of joe. These little nuggets of pure heaven are the closest thing to a Krispy Kreme donut that I've ever come across. They just melted in my mouth.
The rest of the donuts were very good. The dough was light and the frostings were perfectly sweetened. Yummy all around. I will agree with Jake, Richard's has some killer donuts. However, I did pay about twice as much as I did at Sweethearts.
Now that I've tried Richard's, I'll have to give Sweethearts another go in order to compare more accurately.
Richard's Donuts & Pastries
61419 S. Hwy 97 Suite T
Bend Oregon 97702
541-385-3310
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Bubble TeaBubble Tea ... sigh. Another fad that I can not endorse, but the wife loves it.
"I took the large straw out of its sheath and plunged it into my blueberry and lavender bubble tea breaking through the thin plastic wrap lid. Placing the straw to my lips I sucked the large Pearl Tapioca balls into my mouth. The squishy balls rolling around in my mouth was an awkward sensation at first but then as my tongue worked them over, the feeling began to grow on me."
That snippet was taken from my new book on
Bend Oregon Restaurants. Its a romantic story of one guys journey from Milan to Minsk that will be on the shelves in the check out line next to the books with the hunky Fabio looking dude on the cover. Reserve your copies today at
Amazon.
Bubble Tea is one of the stupidest things you can buy and drink/eat that I have ever heard of. Almost as stupid at
edamame. I mean I experimented a little back in college but now that I'm a grown man, I'm done with squishy balls of tapioca in my mouth. That stuff has the consistency of pre-chew bubble gum. I did not like it.
Bubble Tea, Pearl Tea, Boba Tea, whatever. Silly I tells ya. You kids these days with your Bubbles in the Teas. You have green, black, white teas, you have loose leaf, bags, hot, iced and so on. In my day, we had one kind of tea...TEA. It was hot and you drank it. Helped fight off scurvy. You said "I'll have some tea please" and they brought you some hot water with a tea bag. You didn't know what it was, you didn't want to know what it was.
I guess you can say that I'm not a fan. I don't really care for iced tea unless it has a few shots of Maker's Mark in it. Seriously, during the Summer there is nothing better than a pint glass filled with ice, then mix half and half of Lipton's Sweetened Iced Tea and Maker's Mark bourbon. I call it the Mark Lipton. Sooooo good!!
If you don't care what I think and still want some Bubble Tea in Bend Oregon you have two options. Townshends by Great Harvest or
Balay by Pine Tavern.

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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Food News - April 18, 2008
BOR BASH Vol 1 was a success in my mind but I'm on the fence about doing it again. I write honest reviews of the meal that I pay for at a restaurant and don't ask for anything in return aside for supporting my sponsors so I can donate the revenue to charity. I take on quite a few insults from people that disagree with my opinion. I can only take so much before my fingers turn into 10 individual incredible Hulks and release the rage.
Speaking of NeighborImpact, I have finally received payment after quite a bit back and forth with AdWords so I'll be able to send that money to them asap.
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Visitor counts to the
Bend Oregon Restaurants site jumped this week as Google ranked my
edamame post fourth in the search results when searching for "edamame". This is hilarious to me since that post is very anti edamame. Take that you boiled soy bean lovers.
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Jake’s Diner and
Let’s Make A Space will be partnering with
Bend Community Center to raise money for the center.
On Monday, April 21st, Jake’s Diner will be turning over it’s main dining area to the Let’s Make A Space crew for a complete room makeover.
After 5 days, on Saturday, April 26th, the new dining area will be revealed and a day long celebration will commence to raise money for the new kitchen at the Bend Community Center. All profits for the day will be turned over to the Center with Andy and the LMAS crew matching their give. Other businesses chipping in to assist include Wood Awakening, Hardwood Industries, Steve Newman Custom Wood Furnishings, and Franz Bakery.
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Big Island Kona Mix Plate has a newish website. After an short email exchange I learned that they will be getting rid of the Styrofoam containers for reusable flat wear. That is great news.
Aloha Web--------------
Gusto Magazine is accepting your votes for
Bend's Best of 2008.
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Jenna Bush had some new ranch cuisine at the Blacksmith while visiting Bend on a book tour.
Click here for more Bush"According to Chef Gavin McMichael, he and Bush chatted briefly about their shared connection to the Lone Star State and mutual affection for Austin."
I LOVE 6th Street!
The Blacksmith is also doing another wine tasting next Wednesday:
Next week, The Blacksmith's Wednesday after-work Wine Tasting features wines from Woodward Canyon, a Washington winery located in the Columbia Valley. A representative from Woodward Canyon will be on site to pour and discuss Woodward Canyon wines. The winery is known for Cabernet Sauvignon.
Background:
The Blacksmith Restaurant has started Wednesday Tastings after work, and each month spotlights a different beverage. During April, Kevin Gilman, the Blacksmith's sommelier, will host Wednesday Wine Tastings. Cost is $10 to taste approximately eight wines, and every week will feature different vineyards, varietals, vertical tastings and other fun ways to experience the beauty of the bottle.
Kevin Gilman is general manager at The Blacksmith Restaurant and a certified second-level sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers. The Blacksmith Restaurant is nationally know for Chef Gavin McMichael's New Ranch Cuisine. A recent renovation includes a new lounge and full bar, designed in backlit alabaster. The Blacksmith is located in downtown Bend in the historic Pearson Blacksmith Building, 211 NW Greenwood Avenue. For reservations and info, visit www.bendblacksmith.com or call 541.318.0588.
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Another food review by the Minkz in a new segment called Foodies Four. Get some photos going grl!
Foodies Four ----------
Speedshop Deli's Friday Special:
A Fresh Baby Spinach Salad
tossed in a creamy Gorgonzola Cheese Dressing with Roasted Turkey Breast, sprinkled with Dried Cranberries and Toasted Almond Slivers
Today's Soup is:
New England Clam Chowder
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Gusto Magazine's Best of Bend 2008 Ballot
Gusto is asking for people to fill out their Awards ballot. I have never been shy about saying that I think these types of polls are silly especially this early in the year but what do I know. The form that Gusto has online seems easily manipulated since you don't have to login or create a profile or anything. Any restaurant can get their psycho fan base (who goes off on you if you say their portion size is small even though you said the quality of food is great) to submit their restaurant over and over. I could fill this form out as many times as I like. But they don't want you to.
The survey questions at the top of the page include a question:
"Where do you go first to get your dining info?"
The
Bend Oregon Restaurants Blog is not listed as an option. You KNOW I should be listed in there. I emailed them and it was explained that the options are print publications. I'll accept that. I know I'm dominating the interwebs anyhow.
Anyway, at the bottom of this post I'm providing the link to visit Gusto and fill out the form. But first I want to force you to read my suggestions. This way you can simply copy and paste my answers since I am right. I'm always right. Accept it.
Please Indicate Your Favorites in the Following Categories:
Asian - Bruce Lee. Favorite Asian is a broad category but I'd go with
deep,
Kanpai, or the newcomer
Bo Restobar (yes, over
Typhoon).
Bar - I'm going assume this mean that hard alcohol is served instead of just beers. There are plenty of options but currently, my favorite bar is the
Blacksmith.
Bar Food -
Blacksmith HANDS DOWN. That Bar menu is insane and all top shelf ingredients. They need to update their online menu cause they've added quite a few more dishes to their bar menu.
BBQ - I can't believe that this is still a category. I bet
Kasey's BBQ still gets honorable mention. Even when they aren't being robbed at gun point, they still couldn't smoke flesh worth a damn.
Baldy's BBQ is the ONLY BBQ in town. Sure there are catering companies that will tow their smoker around and provide pulled pork for your shotgun wedding but if you want BBQ any day of the week, its Baldy's and everyone knows it.
Best Sports Bar/Restaurants -
Village Grill is pretty sweet even though they didn't buy the NCAA sports package. TVs every where and they are willing to switch channels if you ask. Plus they are smoke free which is great.
Best Sub Sandwich - I do like the
Downtowner which will most likely win with
NY Sub Shop coming in second BUT you are all fools if you don't go to the
Speedshop Deli which is literally sandwiched between
Pizza Mondo and El Jimador. I'm still perfecting my "sangwich" which is a work in progress. Turkey, gabagool, pepper jack, olive tapenade, lettuce, nuke pickles, nuke sauce, and 6th gear of nuke past on an Italian roll. More on that later next week.
Breakfast -
Jake's DinerBrunch - I've never been to a brunch in Bend.
Burger -
Dandy's, just had one today and they're still grubbin.
Catering - How many catering companies dose the average Bendite have the experience with? Are we qualified to vote on this? I hear that
Han's is now a catering company. Does that count?
Chef - Dr. Juri Spandati from
Spandati Personal Chef Services. Sure there are great chefs in town but how do you pick one? Does that chef get credit for dishes that he/she created yet didn't personally make while you were visiting? I guess so. But I like Dr. Juri because he personally made everything that I had on that glorious evening and I watched it happen. How cool is that?
Cocktails - Well, since Best Bar went to the Blacksmith, how can I select somewhere else for best cocktail? That's part of being best Bar.
Coffee House - Starbucks. I mean, they've done so well for so long...all other coffee houses strive to be bought be Starbucks. Trust me, they do. Honestly, I like the one with free wifi.
Culinary Event - The beer dinners at
Deschutes Mountain room.
Cup of Coffee - More coffee? If you like coffee this much, it might be time to cut back. It's a drug maaaaaan, get off the bean!
Deli - The Speedshop Deli is a deli. Not rocket surgery here.
Dessert - Hurricane's. I said it before, it really is great for dessert after a nice dinner at Baldy's or
Baltazar's.
Doughnuts -
Sweetheart Donuts.
Drive Thru Coffee Location - Oh man, if you want to say "best drive up coffee hut" than just say it, otherwise the winner is clearly Starbucks by Safeway on the west side. Just give in, Starbucks is it baby.
Espresso - OMG WTF DSE (double shot espresso) More coffee? There isn't a difference. It all tastes bad. Just get yourself some Coffee Mate's French Vanilla creamer and a tall drip and drink it. It is NOT that serious. But if you like it, you like it.
Family Dining -
El Caporal pleases everyone.
Fine Dining - The Jackalope Grill, The Blacksmith, Zydeco. Can't go wrong. bistro corlise is in the running as well but so new.
Food Presentation -
The Jackalope Grill, The Blacksmith,
Zydeco. Can't go wrong.
bistro corlise is in the running as well but so new.
Hola has some nice presentations as well, they could easily win this one.
Grocery Store/Market - The one with the best products at the lowest prices.
Happy Hour -
Blacksmith, hands down!
Italian - Spandati Personal Chef Services. Until you try it, be quiet and trust me. I swear, the next person that says
Staccato is Italian is getting slapped across the back of their neck. It aint.
Late Night Dining - I eat the early bird special and am in bed by 8pm normally. I don't really know this one. I don't even know how late anything is open in Bend. I know when I moved here, wasn't crap open past 10pm. I think I got used to that.
Local Brewery - Durrrr. OK tourists and new residents, if you haven't given
BBC a try, then I suggest cutting the tourist umbilical cord and give it a go. You've been here for 2 years now, time to branch out there SoCal.
Lunch -
Toomies. For $5.95 (and that's not counting the lunch special for $4.50) you get salad, rice, phad thai, and your main dish.
Margaritas - Hola,
La Rosa, El Caporal...doesn't matter, they're all the same.
Mexican - Hola, La Rosa, El Caporal...doesn't matter, they're all the same.
Milkshake -
Dandy's until they close and then Goodies.
Most Dependable/Consistent - I don't like this category. All the places that I go regularly are consistent, that's why I go back. I'm sure you're the same with all the places you go. If you like it, it's good.
NW Cuisine - Seafood, yeah its
Anthony's. I was not pleased with
Bend Fish Company lately but I know you'll all vote for them and
High Tides. The latter is actually pretty good but I've only had their deep fried fish so I can't say just yet.
Pancakes - Jake's.
Pastries - How's that different than donuts or desserts? I don't know,
Village Baker,
Westside Bakery, Hurricane's?
Pizza - Pizza Mondo - Run lil Piggy RUNNNN
Place to Buy Meat/Butcher - Speedshop = Meat.
Place to Buy Wine - Costco
Prineville Family Dining - Do they have a Chuck E Cheese? If not, then don't they have that Super Walmart?
Prineville Fine Dining - HAHAHAHAHA seriously?!?!?!
Redmond Family Dining - Do they have a Chuck E Cheese? If not, then don't they have that Super Walmart?
Redmond Fine Dining - HAHAHAHAHA seriously?!?!?! (showing these lines to the wife while laughing so hard I'm crying she says in a serious voice "That's not nice, they have a nice place don't they?" HAHAHAHAHA I love it)
Restaurant for Kids - See "Family Dining"
Seafood - See NW Cuisine
Service - hmmmm do we just give it to
McKay Cottage like last year? I still say Les Schwab has the best service and they count with their free beef and popcorn.
Sisters Family Dining - El Caporal
Sisters Fine Dining -
Jen's GardenSoups - Downtowner
Steak - The Jackalope Grill or Blacksmith...take your pick.
Sunriver Family Dining - No idea
Sunriver Fine Dining - No idea
Sushi -
Kanpai Happy Hour. Bend has not had good sushi at a fair price since Don Don bailed on us. So I go to Kanpai for happy hour. You can afford it and it is very good.
Thai -
Angel Thai Cuisine.
Value - Everyone has their own price. I like...surprise....El Caporal.
Wine List - Jackalope Grill, Blacksmith, bistro corlise are all places that I've seen the wine list...are they good? I guess. I vote for Costco!!!
Vote Here
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Riley's Market - Bend OregonRecently I grabbed a breakfast burrito from Riley's Market over in the NW Crossing Town Center. My friend always wants to stop there for these pita chips that are dusted with Cinnamon and sugar. Another friend swears by their cuts of steak.
I stopped in to pick up a copy of the new parenting magazine - True North Parenting and try a breakfast burrito.

The magazine made for great reading material while eating my burrito. Riley's Market makes their burritos the night before using a tortilla type wrap made by the folks at Kebaba. They steam up the burritos and send you one your way for $5.50.

The burrito was pretty good. The addition of the country potatoes was a nice touch and made the burrito quite filling. The thicker wrap from Kebaba was a nice touch. However, for the same money, I think I'd rather get a burrito at
Longboard Louie's thats made fresh and you can order whatever you like on it or spend the extra buck fifty for that delicious croissant from
Makahna's Cafe.
I can see that Riley's has potential especially during the warmer months when people can sit outside and eat their breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Being right there in NW Crossing can't hurt much either. For those that live in that neighborhood, they have a nice little market to pick up whatever instead of having to drive down to Newport, Rays, or Safeway.
Riley's Market
2755 Crossing Drive
Bend Oregon 97701
[www.rileysmarket.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
BOR BASH Vol 1 Episode 1
Last night I received the following Anonymous comment on my bistro corlise review and it gave me an idea. Since people are stupid enough to post the most ridiculous drivel even though I moderate my comments, I figure its about time for me to do what I do best, make fun of these dips--ts.
Now it may be stupid of me to open myself up for even more of these BOR Bashings but what do I care? I write for fun and making fun of morons is rather enjoyable. So instead of bashing this jacknut on the bistro corlise post which will take away from the stellar review that I wrote, I'll keep it separate in my new segment called BOR BASH.
Anyway, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with my
bistro corlise post before reading the following Anonymous rant. I'll comment after the idiocracy.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "
bistro corlise - Bend Oregon":
Hmmm,
Well the picture may not be good because you're too busy trying to be discreet about taking it! Your palate is like, um the bottom of a shoe with yesterdays gum stuck on it or better yet, a pattie left by a cow.
Lets see, main course, a silver grey for the lady, not sure what kind of fish that was, but hey, you must have been busy looking in the idiots guide to eating.
I am looking at your review of Bistro Colise and tally $50 without the silver grey at market price and I see wine too?! How do you get at your pricepoint of $73? HMMMMM. Are you comp worthy?
Your take on food is humorous at best and I cant believe you are taken as seriously as you are.
You are a self described non foody who loves wine from Costco, probably their own label because they actually have very good prices for the wines they carry, but so would any company that has sales revenue in the millions.
I'm "Bored" with BOR.
Your recent critiques of many restaurants leaves me to wonder, who are you? No, you are not a "comp' worthy guest at any restaurant except Mcdonalds, which by the way will "supersize' any selection that you want. Or Burger King, remember "Have it your way, Have it your way" was their theme back in the day.
Enough of my rant. If you choose to listen to this person instead of judging for yourself at any of the places that this faceless person has presented him/herself, then your palate is the same, tasteless.
Oh, yeah by the way, do you still need your one way ticket South!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for writing up a well thought out and constructed comment that has nothing to do with bistro corlise at all. I also appreciate the way in which you attempt to mimic my writing style...that part about Burger King really had me rolling. You're a riot! How do you do it..."have it your way" is pure gold!
In the post I explained that the photo wasn't very good because the colors were not vibrant, not that the photo itself was bad. I gave up being discreet with my photos a while ago. Once the food is in front of me, there isn't much the kitchen can do to make it better so I don't care if they see me taking the photos at all. Explain what this has to do with my palate.
I like my palate. I'm confused about this comment and your entire rant for that matter, the bistro corlise review was a favorable one. Why so angry? So you're bashing me on my palate which means you didn't like bistro corlise? I'm not sure I follow.
Idiots guide to eating!!! HAHAHA oh man you're a clever one. Did you get that out of your Idiots guide to blogging? All this negativity yet you don't bring any value to the post. Explain why my palate sucks. Other than your misunderstanding of simple addition, what don't you like about my reviews? I think you're just pissy because your co-workers at Walmart read my reviews on the Packard Bell P120 display model and laugh hysterically while you have to clean up aisle 4.
The pricepoint bit. I came up with $73 because that's how much the food cost you dips--t. Yes there is wine in the photo because I felt it made for a better photo. But since I didn't discuss the wines I didn't add them to the price of the dinner. And what is with the comp worthy crap? Did you comp me for this meal? No, then shut the hell up.
The comment about liking wines from Costco - I'm not sure how to take this. Are you insulting me? Should I feel bad that Costco's sales revenue is in the millions? Its like you're insulting me using the Metric System. I don't quite get it. Is 4 degrees Celsius hot or cold? Is it the temperature of the sun or do I need to put on a sweater? Oooooo Costco makes money and has wine - in your face dummy!
Another random comment about my palet. Let me get this straight, you're saying that if people listen to me, that their palate is the same as mine...tasteless? I'm not sure you know what a palate is. You can't catch a palate by listening to some one's opinion. I can hear you yelling out the broken screen door of your double wide to your shoeless kids playing with their favorite stick "Git in here and warsh your hands before dinner, we can afford you catching the palates again."
I love that you call me faceless while commenting Anonymously. That is always one of my favorites. And I love that you still haven't figured out that my post about moving south was an April Fools joke. Put your smock back on and get back to aisle 4.
"I'm "bored" with BOR" - That's right you are, cause you've just been BORed!! In "bor" FACE!
Your starving moderator,
Senior BORbash III
PS - I'm taken so seriously because you touch yourself.
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I thought that went well but I received another Anonymous comment today and this person is claiming to be the original Anonymous commentor. I'm half thinking that this is a different person because this comment is a slightly clever while the original was ass. He must have been drinking the big barrels of wine from Costco last night while crafting the first comment.
I thought I had knocked him out in round one but he keeps coming back for more. So here we go with round two.
Since I've wasted enough time with this schmo, I'm going to just throw my comments in
Italics throughout his comment instead of writing a whole new bit.
-BOR
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "BOR BASH Vol 1 Episode 1":
BOR Bash Vol 1 Episode 2
Amuse: I just finished my smoke break and my smock is back on. After my double shift at "Walmart" I was laughing so hard at your retort that I had to change my underwear. Lets clarify a couple of things.
First Course: Bistro Corlise is a wonderful place to eat, many of the places you comment on are worthy of trying for oneself. My rant is more towards your self proclamation of not being a foodie, so how can you make such comments about food and dining that are worth anything?
BOR SAYS - That's what bloggers do dummy. We're all self appointed experts in whatever we want to be. I say I'm a non-foodie because saying you're a foodie is stupid. What is a foodie? M-W says "a person having an avid interest in the latest food fads." That's exactly what I don't want to be, up on the latest food fads. I like what I like. NOT what you and you're foodie friends like. I represent a big majority of diners that like to go out and have a nice meal without all the stupid hype. I want a great meal at a great price.
I can make comments on anything I damn well want and it doesn't have to be worth anything to anybody. I'm not writing this for you. I don't get paid to do this, I donate the ad revenue to charity. So I get the liberty to write whatever I want and you can like it or not, I don't care.Yeah you are right, I am not a blogger,
(BOR interrupts - I never said you were) I do enjoy reading your depictions and critques and laugh myself silly as I touch myself (yeah right) I don't need to go to Makhanas cafe for titilating stimulation before going home and jumping on the wife and fantasizing about the hottie who served me. Oh, by the way, do you need your Viagra refilled? Since I work at Walmart I can get your perscription refilled.
BOR Says - You obviously haven't been to Makahna's. Viagra jokes? Don't get me started, don't EVEN get me started.Main Course: Well, I just finished fixin the back porch screen so back to my story. Opinions are like a-holes, everybody has one and they all stink. I find it humorous to read your opinion of my opinion of you. Kind of looking in the mirror right? The wine comment was your self proclaimed wine cellar stocked with Costco wines. Am I insulting you? HMMMMMMMMMMM, I will leave that one for you to determine.
BOR Says - How is a wine cellar "self proclaimed?" Why even write the above paragraph? Nothing of value. You use my joke making fun of yourself and don't use it very well...plus you're not telling a story. Then you take an OLD ASS saying which basically is labeling your opinion as stinky too. Then you say that my opinion of your opinion of me is like looking in a mirror. No, it's more like reading lame comments and then making fun of the tool that wrote them. Your mirror sucks if that's what it looks like to you.
Finally, you don't even answer my damn question. Your original paragraph about Costco made no sense and this one doesn't either. Yes I buy wine from Costco. Get up off me.The metric comment? let me review, ah yes, that must come from your comments on your experience at another relative new comer to Bend. Chow and your conjure about an open faced sandwich.
(BOR's Confused here - "your conjure about" I don't think that's right) When I look at the pic, I see three halfs of bread which equates to almost two full pieces of bread.
(BOR's Half Empty - Or it equates to almost one full piece of bread) It looks to me that they have chosen to present the dish a little different than other open faced sandwiches.
(BOR Interrupts - THEN CALL IT SOMETHING ELSE. Call it an open faced half sandwich and I wouldn't have said a thing, I wouldn't have ordered it either but at least we'd all be happy) I cant attest to the portion size of the meal because I havent eaten there, you know workin here at the "Mart", I guess I can "supersize my big Mac right?
BOR Says - Thanks for taking the virtual time to review, ah yes, I did mention the metric system in my CHOW post but somehow I was able to expand on it, make it a little different, and it is still funny. Your math skills are improving, you can count three halves of bread (which according to you is almost two full slices - again thanks) on the plate in my CHOW review.
A sandwich normally contains two slices of bread with edible goodness between them. So if you have an open faced sandwich, that would be one slice of bread with food on top of it. CHOW had one half of a slice of bread with food on it and then another half of a slice of bread laid sort of on sort of off the food. THEN there was another slice of bread that came with the meal. So Watson, what can you deduce from that?
Since you haven't eaten there, why are you even saying anything? You don't know me but yet you felt the need to bash me and my palate, say I'm not "comp" worthy, bust on my photos cause I'm busy reading the "idiots guide to eating" all cause you are offended that a self proclaimed NON FOODIE has an opinion about food. I'll use a generic saying to help you understand, "Everyone has to eat." I have an opinion of the food that I eat and pay for, and I write about it. I write about my experience, not make s--tty comments about you and your experiences on your blog.Dessert: Yeah, I got it April fools joke, too bad, I was ready to give from my tax refund to help you leave our community, but oh, I forgot, I need to go git shoes for my chitlins sorry I cant throw you a party, but hey Costco even makes cakes so when you buy your next scuba tank of wine to go with your first course of spam, followed by an open faced sloppy joe and finished with a can of woop ass, take it from me, you can have your blog page, have your tasteless opinions of the community restaurants, enjoy your next sausage party at Deschutes and remember what Forest says, stupid is what stupid does
BOR Says - Really? One sentence?
Forrest (two Rs) quotes his mom twice in the movie using "Stupid is AS stupid does" but the original line was when talking to Jenny on the school bus and said "Momma says 'Stupid is as stupid do-es." ------------
You've been BORed again! Now I'm getting BORed with you. This case is closed.
-BOR
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Upcoming Food Events and News in Bend Oregon - April 11, 2008
Today marks the second Friday in a row that I'm posting some food events and news that were sent to me via email. I don't always have all of the information. If you know of an event or are hosting an event that you'd like to announce,
shoot me an email with the details. You can let me know about a new restaurant fixin to open, a charitable event hosted by a restaurant and what not and I'll post it on the following Friday.
You can even let me know about any specials going on. Like
Taco Del Mar's double stamp Mondays or
38 Degrees Tapas Tuesdays. I know that my favorite sandwich shop,
Speedshop Deli has a Hot Pastrami sangwich that they are pushing every Wednesday.
It would be cool to have a compilation of daily specials that I can maintain here. Help me help you!
Here's the scoop on local happenings that I know of:
My boy HOC has a great post up about some wine samplings going on at
The Jackalope Grill and
The Blacksmith.
Check it and get your wine on!----------------
Jake's Diner getting it's remodel on
The owner, Lyle (not Jake but he'll answer to Jake), has all the details listed on the
Jake's Diner blog. Lyle is such a cool cat. Its amazing how much he gives back to the community.
"The diner will not be closed down during the five day makeover event. We will serve out of our back room and weather permitting, deck. On Saturday, April 26th, there will be a Revealing party and the main room will be reopened to the public. All profits for that day will be handed over to the Bend Community Kitchen and Let’s make a Space will be matching Jake’s give. It even looks like Kristi Miller might be on hand to pour some coffee and talk to the crowd. It should be a huge day."
I'm going to try my best to get out there for this one.
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The Source Weekly published a Dine on a Dime section in this week's paper but I can't find it online yet. I was going to provide some commentary on a separate post with my opinions but I may not get around to it. Grab up a copy anyhow and give it a read...Hey, it's FREE!
[www.tsweekly.com] --------------
Bistro Corlise Presents A Five-Course Journey Through German Border Country
(BEND, OR) Bistro Corlise’s Chef Jason Logan presents an evening of culinary delights from the Alsace region of France on Tuesday, April 22. Seating is limited to 16 for this special five-course meal paired with regional wines. Cost is $125 per person (gratuity included). For full menu and reservations, visit www.bistrocorlise.com or call 385-6979. Bistro Corlise is located downtown Bend at 916 NW Wall Street.
Full Press Release via -HOC
Dude, ad hoc is killin the restaurant PR on my blog. If you're a restaurant and you don't have someone handling your PR then you're just stupid. That's right, dumb.
Check out a couple of the folks that are smart enough to send me info (which is PR 101):
Harold Olaf Cecil
[wordsideas.com] Renee Davidson
[www.grassrootspr.com] -------------
I have some competition! Another Restaurant Review blog has popped up in Bend Oregon. So for all you punks that send me your nasty comments and emails (which I crack up at every time, keep em coming) now have someone else to annoy.
Bend's Underground Food Beat
"A wannabe food critic's ponderings about restaurant experiences in Bend, Oregon."
[bendfoodbeat.blogspot.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Makahna's CafeOn the west side of Bend there are a s--t load of breakfast joints and coffee houses. Driving down Galveston recently I noticed a sign for Makahna's Cafe and Coffee house. It got me thinking of the last time that I went to a place called
Makahna's (Trattoria) where Super Burrito is currently (or very soon to be) occupying. The service was hella slow and the food wasn't worth the money at all.
On this visit for a quick breakfast, my friend and I were greeted by a cutie behind the counter who discussed the menu and gave us the scoop on the place. Seriously, what's with the restaurants on Galveston? They only hire hotties. If you're a single fella or a hottie looking for work, I think Galveston is the place to be.
Anyhoo, I ordered a regular old breakfast sandwich for $6.95. A croissant with scrambled eggs, basil, cheese (I forgot what kind), and bacon with some Makahna's sauce that was like a ranch and honey mustard dressing combo.
Effing heaven -

Service was good, didn't take too long to get our breakfast and the scenery was nice. Seriously, good looking ladies like Makahna's cafe. There were women every where. I swear I'm going to be pissed if the next time I go in there its a sausagefest just like Monday nights at Deschutes pub.
For being the same owners of the old Makahna's, they've done very well with the new menu and location...and clientele if you know what I mean.
"Why do you always want to go get breakfast at Makahna's?" - The wife asks. BOR turns and winks to an imaginary camera off to the side.
"Loser" - she sighs.
Sucks that I don't have an address. I know they're on Galveston. I guess I'll have to go back for a business card. 'BOR turns and flashes a big thumbs up again the imaginary camera'
Makahna's Cafe
1227 Northwest Galveston Avenue
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 678-5750
Thanks for the addy Dave!
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
bistro corliseThe wife and I went to bistro corlise for dinner and with the help of our awesome waitress, thoroughly enjoyed our entire evening. We sat down and viewed the small
menu of starters, salads, and entrees to map out our plan for dinner. The wife and I like to make sure we get items that we can share. That way we can swap if something doesn't agree with one of us.
Then, she decided on the onion flan.
In my mind, I started thinking that she's mad at me or that I did something wrong. I can't think of something more unappetizing as an onion flan. But, since I can't tell her what to do:

tartre des allymes
onion flan, belgian endive 9.
We ate the whole thing...she ate most of it and really, really liked it. I had a few bites and liked it as well. It wasn't all oniony like I thought it would have been. You know what I mean. We think of a flan as what you get at Mexican restaurants for dessert, that runny, jiggly snot lookin thing. This was not like those at all.
Our waitress explained that this dish was more like a quiche than a flan so she decided to give it a try. We both agreed that this should be called a quiche instead of a flan. The wife says she'd go back just for that if it was a lunch item.
I only had a few bites since I was busy with my Wild Boar appetizer. Wild BOR appetizer. I'm a BOR you're a BOR wouldn't you like to be a BOR too? I'm a carniBORe.
sanglier braise
basque braised wild boar,
le puy lentils, celeriac 8.

Yup, that will work even though I have no idea what a sanlier braise is. I know the photo is not that great and the colors do not shine but for me, this is just want I want, meat and beans! Chef Logan is a fan of salt which agrees with me. I like my dishes heavily seasoned and bistro corlise does not hold back. My boar (or BOR) was very tender, it had the same texture as stew meat, and the lentils were grubbin. I enjoyed every bite.
After these two starters we wanted something on the lite side so we opted for the watercress salad.
la salade
watercress, goat cheese, golden beets, radish
champagne vinaigrette 7.
Unfortunately the photo did not come out but it was very good for a salad. The yellow beats were a great mix and the wife, who does not like beats at all, enjoyed them. She actually snagged the last couple before I could. Ok, that's way too much info on a flippin salad. On to the next course!
The wife had a tough time deciding between the duck breast and the fish special of the day. She finally settled on the fish. A silver grey fillet served over a bed of asparagus with a prosciutto reduction (the pork reduction means more salt).
poisson du jour
seasonal fish, daily preparation market price.
.JPG)
The skin was crispy and the meat was similar to a fatty tuna instead of being flaky like halibut. The jus was salty and delicious.
Now for my entree. I swear this menu item was right up my ally. Before looking at the bistro corlise website, I talked to my hippy friend who said "ask for the meat, meat, with a side of meat dish....they have it." I would not think that this French bistro would be catered to a meat lover like myself but sure enough, there was a entree just for me.
le veau goute
veal new york, veal sausage, veal sweetbread
potato dumpling, carrot 26.
.JPG)
I'm in heaven with my all meat entree. The medium rare veal went well with the potato dumplings. The best part was taking a little slice of all three veals for each bite. Yummy. There was not a scrap left on any of our plates especially this one.
The wife and I had a good chuckle over the name before I ordered it. With the combo of the all meat entree and Chef Logan's love of salt, le veau goute was quickly turned into le veau gout. My father in law has many gold sayings like "I'm gonna slosh this down real quick" in reference to his can of BER (cheap beer, so cheap they don't waste the extra ink on a second E) and my favorite via text message at inappropriate hours of the evening while he's kickin it at his local bar ... "my gout's acting up...too many hot dogs and pretzels today." I have very little understanding of the gout but I think it has something to do with too much meat, salt, beer, and lack of movement. I'm days away from calling the MD.
All in all, the dinner was insanely good and I will be going back to try the duck. I have some constructive criticism for Chef Logan that I hope this is taken as constructive.
First, I'd love to hear some French music or something to make the restaurant a little warmer. The restaurant is nice, I just think the ambiance could be upgraded a bit.
Second, I would like the idiot's guide to the menu. I've said it time and time again that I'm just your regular guy. So when faced with this French menu, it can be a little intimidating. We had to ask quite a few questions so we knew what exactly we were ordering and what to expect. Our waitress was so helpful and polite. She gladly answered our questions and gave her recommendations. We felt very comfortable asking about anything. At one point I asked "What about frogs"...do you know what she answered? (total Portland joke from back in the day)
Finally, I would like a wine pairing or recommendation for each entree. I didn't recognize many of the wines on the menu but I'm not really a wine guy. The wine shelf/cellar in my house contains mostly Costco red wines. They're my favorite. So when presented with the wine list I'm out of my element. I'd love to see a recommendation on a wine that will go well with each entree especially from a certified Sommelier by the International Sommelier Guild as Chef Logan is.
Obviously the wines that Chef Logan is stocking his shelves with are good, he knows what he's talking about. So all I need is for him to tell me which wine to sip on while I shovel fork full after fork full of food into my gullet.
For all of the above we only spent $73. That's a great deal for a great dinner out at a fine dining establishment in downtown Bend Oregon. When you get two starters, a salad and two entrees with this quality and for this price, you're doing alright. For the money I felt the portions were spot on and I'd gladly revisit bistro corlise.
On top of all that, you get to dine in Central Oregon at a fine dining restaurant rubbing elbows with locals wearing cowboy boots...seriously, that happened. Cowboy boots + fine dining French bistro = True Bend Oregon Dining.
bistro corlise
916 NW Wall St.
Bend OR 97701
[www.bistrocorlise.com]
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Upcoming Food Events - April 4, 2008
I hope this will be a pattern that I can post any upcoming food related events on every Friday. Unfortunately, I don't always have all of the information. If you know of an event or are hosting an event that you'd like to announce,
shoot me an email with the details.
First up is my
April Fools Joke. I know internet April Fools jokes are tired but I have to admit, I really enjoyed all the comments and the emails wishing me well. Turns out that there are a few people that actually read this silly blog.
I got quite a few of you, I was cracking up all day. We've been in Bend for quite a while now and we don't have any plans on leaving anytime soon.
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Jackalope Grill & Bend WineStyles Women’s Wine Dinner Menu Finalized
EVENT DATE: Monday, April 7, 5:30 pm
(BEND, OR) Chef Timothy Garling of the Jackalope Grill has finalized his special four-course wine dinner menu:
Women’s Wine Dinner Menu
Shrimp Cocktail
Oregon jumbo salad shrimp and Jackalope cocktail sauce, paired with Amaboka Chenin Blanc.
Artisan Pheasant Sausage
House-made pheasant and wild mushroom sausage served with a duck confit and barley risotto, paired with Mio Valpolicella.
Medallions of Pork Tenderloin
Dried plum and zinfandel sauce, poached dried plums, potato puree and haricots vertes. paired with Sandholt Zinfandel.
Orange Mousse
Chocolate-orange sauce and cookies, paired with Fiororange
Carol DelMonico, a certified life coach, and writer Linden Gross will speak briefly on how to slow down and take time for yourself. Cost is $60 per person. For reservations, please call WineStyles at 389-8889.
Seating is limited.
For more, visit
[www.jackalopegrill.com] or call 318-8435. The Jackalope Grill is located just off Reed Market road in the Scandia Plaza, 1245 SE Third St. (S. Hwy. 97) in Bend.
:: ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Carol Delmonico is a Certified Life Coach and RN. She has studied Nonviolent Communication for four years and facilitates workshops and classes based on this model. She runs a successful coaching businesswhere she specializes in working with individuals who are ready to commit to living in balance with their personal values. Carol can be reached at 541-389-0831 or visit her website
[www.intobalancecoaching.com] .
Linden Gross is a national magazine journalist, bestselling writer and writing coach, who draws on her editing and writing background - as well as her experience with and love for teaching - when working with others. She specializes in helping people to express their truth and their story, and in the process to extend their writing abilities. She believes that we all have the ability to find the writer within.
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Art Hop: James Simmons’ Solo Acoustic Guitar - Open Late and Pouring Wine
April New Exhibit: Robert Johans’ Avis Lofts
Continuing in April: Artists Local 101 group show, Mark Bernahl's new "Wishes"
Thump Coffee welcomes spring with an exhibit of Avis Lofts. Tumalo-based artist and custom furniture designer Robert Johans elevates the humble, utilitarian birdhouse into the fine art realm. His designs are so sleek, modern and cool it makes one wish for wings simply to be able to live in his Avis Lofts.
“Modern homes for modern birds,” is how Johans describes his creations. “Avis Lofts are meticulously handcrafted birdhouses that render a whimsical nod to the classic design elements of modern architecture,” he says. “These boxes are ornithologically functional, and feature found, recycled, or sustainable materials and natural, non-toxic finishes. They’re just as beautiful on display indoors as in the backyard.”
For Art Hop on Friday, April 4 Thump Coffee will stay open until 9:00 pm, pouring complimentary wine and showcasing the guitar talents of Thump barista James Simmons. Though Simmons took up the instrument himself only a decade ago while in his 20s, music runs deep in his blood. His father Larry played for the Grand Ole Opry and toured with top country musicians, and grandfather Buddy, uncle Don and cousin Dean
are all professional musicians.
Simmons endlessly explores the possibilities of the guitar fretboard. When asked to describe his music, Simmons simply shrugs. “My friends describe my music as an eclectic mix of finger-style progressions interspersed with bluegrass-style flat picking.” His guitar heroes include father Larry Simmons, and such pioneers as Michael Hedges, Pierre Bensusan, Mike Marshall, Tony Rice, and Scott Huckabay.
Continuing in April will be a group exhibit by Artist Local 101, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting contemporary and outsider art. For many years the group has provided local artists who work “outside the box” with a vehicle for exhibiting their art, as well as a place to network with other artists. The show at Thump Coffee runs March through April and features a diverse representation of many artists affiliated with the organization, from the well established to newcomers. Artist Local 101 welcomes new members, and membership forms will be available at Thump.
Mark Bernhahl’s popular “Wishes” installation is hanging again, and customers are encouraged to continue creating wish planks to be rotated into the installation throughout the year.
Thump Coffee is located in downtown Bend at 25 NW Minnesota Ave. For details, visit
[www.thumpcoffee.com] or call 388-0226.
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Bistro Corlise Spring Art Hop Open House
Friday, April 4, 5-7pm
Complimentary wine and hors d'oevres.
Dinner reservations available after 7pm.
For reservations and info, visit
[www.bistrocorlise.com] or call 385-6979.
Bistro Corlise is located downtown Bend at 916 NW Wall St.
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
Allyson's Kitchen DeliI heard about a new deli in the Old Mill shopping center that had some amazing soup and wanted to go check it out. In the back of Allyson's Kitchen there is a small deli providing sandwiches and a couple soups as well as a nice dessert case.
All of the sandwiches sounded very nice and contained great ingredients like the roast beef with fresh mozzerella. I ordered the Turkey sandwich on sourdough with smoked guoda and a cup of their chicken noodle soup to go. The Turkey sandwich is my benchmark sandwich for any new place.
I was pretty pleased to see the little extras when I opened the bag. A nice pickle, a couple olives, and some bread for my soup. But that's about where my pleasure ended. While the soup tasted good, it was only 8 ounces and cost me $3.50. The sandwich was $6.95 and I would have much rather just bought a pound of turkey and made my own sandwich.

The turkey was of the same quality that you can buy in any prepackaged Hormel type sandwich meat in any deli case and the bread, regular, thin sourdough that was quite dry. I was not impressed with the sandwich or the soup for $10.45. Maybe I'm spoiled by the Boars Head meats piled high with some nuke paste/sauce at the
Speedshop which I'm a big fan of.
Now this is not a knock on Allyson's Kitchen as a whole. I rather liked the store and will definitely go back to shop but I'll look elsewhere for a quick bite. I hear there is a working kitchen upstairs that will host cooking classes and what not. I want to check those out as well.
Allyson's Kitchen Deli
375 SW Powerhouse Dr
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 749-9979
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Bend Oregon Restaurant
CHOW - Bend OregonMy first trip to
CHOW was for lunch. My second visit to
CHOW was for dinner. Everyone kept telling me that I have to go to CHOW for breakfast so I finally did. Recently I received a comment saying that CHOW can hang with McKay's Cottage and the
Victorian Cafe for breakfast any day.
While I'm not going to go that far, I think CHOW is a nice, quaint, dining option on the west side of Bend. I'm definitely not as in love with CHOW as some commentors or those that write for
the Source. The food is good but I'm still having quantity issues. I want more food for my money.
For breakfast I decided on the open faced sandwich. Basically it was Salmon Benedict's on sour dough instead of English muffins.

The Salmon and hollandaise were very good. The bread used for my open faced sandwich was very, very tough. I couldn't cut through most of the bread with my fork. Only the very center of the bread was soft enough to cut and eat with a bite of egg and salmon.
I had an issue with the portion size at
CHOW for lunch in the past. This time I thought I'd be safe with and ordered the open faced sandwich, not the open faced HALF sandwich. Look at the photo, my sandwich is one slice of bread cut in half. That is half of a half of an open faced sandwich. That's a fourth of a sandwich, 25%. For you on the metric system, that is aboot a small bite of a royal with cheese.
Think about it, an open faced sandwich usually is one full slice of bread on a plate piled high with tuna fish or sloppy joe or chili cheeseburger or whatever comes "open faced." I don't care what you say, the portions are small.
The potatoes were good and I always like the little extras like the pineapple and pear skewer. So for $10, my breakfast was good in quality but I still feel it is over priced for the quantity that I received. I know there is a fan base already for CHOW and I'm going to get a bunch of comments supporting CHOW. If you like it, then its good. So enjoy it if you want to.
CHOW
1110 NW Newport Ave
Bend, Oregon 97701
541-728-0256
[www.chowbend.com] Hours
Open 7 days
Breakfast and Lunch 7am to 2pm
Dinner 5pm to Close