Two new restaurants are enhancing the smorgasbord of lunch and dinner options in downtown Bend. Wild Rose is a Northern Thai restaurant at 150 NW Oregon Ave., formerly Common Table. Open for lunch and dinner, the menu is a long list of unrecognizable Northern Thai dishes along with curries, soups and chili pastes (no Pad […]
Chow
Posted inFood & Drink
Chocolate Round Up
Willy Wonka would be proud
Last week, we gave ourselves the onerous assignment to sample chocolate around Bend. It is a tough job, but someone needs to do it. Bend d’Vine Chocolate Café & Wine Bar David Kalov is a chocolate chemist. The unassuming Bend d’Vine owner makes all of the shop’s bold chocolates in house—as well as the other […]
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Brought to You by the Letter “B”
Blue Pine’s burger, beer and bourbon steps up the classics
The marketing campaign—as it is—for Blue Pine’s Tuesday night’s special underplays the offering: “Grab a shot of bourbon, a burger AND beer for only $15!,” says the low-key announcement on the restaurant-bar’s website. But when we arrive at the (relatively) newly remodeled Blue Pine—a rough wood and woodsy facelift that has chased away most of […]
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Soups On!
Homemade, hot and ready at Bend Soup Company
There’s no question about it—we’re squarely (and comfortably) plopped into soup season. Morning frosts, clear, cool days and everything pumpkin-spiced reaffirm the notion that soups, stews, bisques and chowders are an entirely appropriate meal choice. Also, the fact that approximately 71 percent of our staff had soup for lunch today—that was another obvious indicator. While […]
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Snails?!
Navin R. Johnson explores Bend dining
The Jerk, considered one of Steve Martin’s funniest films (ranked the 48th greatest comedy film of all time by Total Film Magazine, and No. 20 on Bravo’s list of 100 Funniest Movies), follows the rags-to-riches-and-back-again life of misfit Navin R. Johnson. Raised from infancy by poor African-American sharecroppers, when Navin learns of his (obvious to […]
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Chilly on the outside, warm on the inside
Comfort food roundup
Admit it: Summer is over. Done. Finished. Put away the ice cubes and tall tumblers of ice tea. Walk away. But the end of one season means the beginning of another and this week’s brisk days and chilly evenings had our staff in a comfort food mindset, dishes to stoke the inner furnace. Grilled Cheese […]
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Hostile Takeover
Supervillain Sandwiches delivers downtown with a Bang! Pow! Boom!
We might not live in Gotham City, but Bend’s downtown is now occupied by a slew of Supervillains in the form of sandwiches. Supervillain Sandwiches, a new lunch spot and deli, took over for local favorite big, bready, East-Coast-style New York City Sub Shop last Tuesday, across Bond Street from Deschutes Brewery. The atmosphere is […]
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The Democracy of Smoothies
Sarah’s Raw & Vegan Café has something for everyone
As we sat on a collection of chairs lining the alley running parallel to Colorado Avenue, with moody weather blowing through streets, we witnessed a strange phenomenon: SUV after hulking white suburban pulled into the tight lot behind the row of Craftsman buildings and bulldozed into the few parking spaces there; a middle-aged woman would […]
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Miles from the Ocean
Juno is sushi in the tradition of excellence
Tiny, hard-to-spot restaurants are a long-standing tradition in Japan, and Juno, a new westside sushi bistro, can be tricky to find. It's located in the space formerly occupied by Spice Box and tucked between commercial businesses, and its entry faces another building. My companion and I had to search a few minutes for the location—and […]
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Pod People
New food cart collective and open-air bar? Heck yes!
On Friday, a dozen hungry lunch-goers sat in a new common dining area on Bend’s Westside filling up on vibrant red and green curries from Thailandia, spicy fried chicken dishes served on a bed of bean sprouts and kimchee from Real Food Bistro, and traditional carnitas tacos made with handmade tortillas and slathered with salsa […]
