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Posted inFood & Drink

The Interloper: Cia Mambo holds up surprisingly well

Musseling in on downtown. With so many restaurants biting the dust (Ernesto’s, Kayo’s, etc.) you might think the dining scene here is tanking, but there
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Musseling in on downtown. With so many restaurants biting the dust (Ernesto's, Kayo's, etc.) you might think the dining scene here is tanking, but there are several stepping in for the casualties. Gone but not forgotten is Hans, the downtown pastry-shop-turned-fine-dining restaurant. In its place is Ciao Mambo, a fast-paced, lively pasta and pizza eatery.

The Bend Ciao Mambo is the fourth in installment in the growing franchise offered by the Whitefish, Mont. company CM Brands. The other locations are in Whitefish and Missoula, Mont. and Hayden, Idaho.
Ciao Mambo is one of the only downtown franchises, this isn't to say we don't have our fair share of chains and franchises. Just take a trip down Third Street; it looks like any other American city with its fast food drive thrus, Applebee's and Outback Steak Houses. But downtown has been the territory of local restaurateurs and diners who usually eschew the consistent, but mass-produced meals, that most chains or franchises offer. Now, these local spots will have to compete directly with a franchise's deep pockets and proven model.

Posted inNews

Living Art: On the street with Bend’s best unsung artist

We met at the Westside Tavern last December, a stool between us and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on the TV. Pointing to the screen he
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We met at the Westside Tavern last December, a stool between us and Ferris Bueller's Day Off on the TV. Pointing to the screen he sighed, "The downturn of society…" I, however, considered John Travolta a sign of the Apocalypse, underscored by his contribution to Hairspray. Two beers and all of Francisco's money later, now seated side by side, we both agreed that the tipping point of America was Ronald Reagan.

Francisco Christich: the name of a friar or cult leader. Or an artist, nine-ball guru, father and friend. Francisco, the most modest human being I met in my nine months in Central Oregon. A song; the antidote to gloating galleries and braggart collectors, trust-fund artist managers - We both knew we'd spend much time together after that night at the Westside. Yet neither could have guessed how rotten it would end.
His entry to Bend was apt. It was a choice between here or Sante Fe;
"When the car broke down that kind of made the solution clear." That
was 30 years ago. Francisco will be 62 in September and shows every
second on this Earth. A scar under his gray hay hair from a car crash
20 years since (of windshields he offers, "They're hard - they win, you
lose."), ashy marks like cuffs around his wrists ("Some pigmentosis…"
he explains, then jokes, "Actually I got those storming the cliffs of
Normandy.") and a silky white beard Santa would wear if evicted from
the North Pole. An American mutt, Francisco's father was Mexican and
Slavic while his mother was Native American and French, "As far as I
know." Raised in East LA, it was his mother who sat him down at an
easel when he was four and told him to paint.

Posted inOpinion

Sheriff Blanton’s Secret List

Doesn’t share, gets booted. There could be as many as 6,671 Deschutes County citizens walking around legally with concealed handguns. Or maybe there are only
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Doesn’t share, gets booted. There could be as many as 6,671 Deschutes County citizens walking around legally with concealed handguns. Or maybe there are only 6,156. We have no way of knowing, because the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office gave us the first number and the Oregon State Police gave the second.

We also have no way of knowing who those 6,671, or 6,156, people are because Sheriff Larry Blanton won't release the county's list of holders of concealed-carry permits, even though that information is a public record.

Newspapers in other parts of the state, including The Oregonian, have gotten such lists from other sheriffs. But when we asked Blanton for the Deschutes County list he politely but firmly told us no, claiming such information is exempt from disclosure under the state's public records law.

Why do we want to know? Well, in the first place, that question is beside the point - the point is that we have a right to know, which is clearly spelled out in the law. And that right belongs not just to reporters, but to everybody. As the law states: "Every person has a right to inspect any public record of a public body in this state, except as otherwise expressly provided" under the statute.

Posted inOpinion

Reuse, Recycle, Rebrand: A proud tradition of reinvention, pot shortages and more

Name changes have a long and storied history in this country of great re-inventors. Take Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr. who became Snoop Dogg or John
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Name changes have a long and storied history in this country of great re-inventors. Take Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr. who became Snoop Dogg or John Osbourne who morphed into Ozzy Osbourne thanks to heavy metal and heavy sedatives. Then there's the transformation of Marion Morrison to film icon John Wayne. And don't forget another film legend who was born Jennifer Massoli but is known to the world as Jenna Jameson.
Institutions aren't immune to the image reinvention either. Before Nissan built the Titan it was good ol Datsun maker of cars with names that had funny numbers and Z's. Before the world got Googled it almost got BackRub'ed. (Co-founders Larry Brin and Serge Page changed the name in 1998 - two years after founding the Internet startup.)
So we probably shouldn't be surprised when a local company announces it's going to change its name. (Who's up for a corporate rebranding retreat?) But Upfront was surprised to see several of them in our Inbox this past week. Maybe it's the recession or that we're slipping into the Dog Days of summer, but nobody seems satisfied with their name. Getting things started was Ochoco Health Systems, a network that includes Prineville's community clinic as well as the community clinics in Bend and Madras. It jumped into the rebranding Black Box and emerged stealthily as Mosaic Medical.

Posted inOpinion

His Cold Dead Hands

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I recently read your article on your opposition to the Second Amendment and wanting to have all those who have concealed permits disclosed and published.

Several years ago one of my family members was assaulted while attending an event out in rural Deschutes County.

Posted inOpinion

Better Lights are the Answer

I want to divorce my car. Really! I’m getting so tired of the traffic in Bend! You know what I mean - horn honking, bumper
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I want to divorce my car. Really! I'm getting so tired of the traffic in Bend! You know what I mean - horn honking, bumper riding, finger flicking – basically city people who have moved here from wherever and taught their rude ways to their children.

Posted inOpinion

UGB expansion must include plans for infrastructure

The most foolish move Bend could make, being $20 million in debt, would be to rush the addition of 20 years of build-able residential land
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The most foolish move Bend could make, being $20 million in debt, would be to rush the addition of 20 years of build-able residential land to the urban growth boundary (UGB) with no planning for infrastructure.
Infrastructure was completely ignored when the last addition was made to the UGB in the 1990s.

Posted inOpinion

Hardly A Neighborhood At All

I go through (Northwest Crossing) twice a day and also walk it at least twice a day since I work near the high school. To
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I go through (Northwest Crossing) twice a day and also walk it at least twice a day since I work near the high school. To call it a "Cottage Neighborhood" goes way outside the imagination.

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