Chow

Ten years ago, the closest Central Oregonians could get to buying local organic food in the winter was to drive three hours to greenhouses in the valley. Even just a year ago, locavores who lived for their summertime weekly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) bounties were stuck buying veggies and meats from aisles under fluorescent lights.

It's tough not to have high expectations for a venture that combines an old favorite – in this case, Marz Bistro – with a prominent chef and restaurateur, Gavin McMichael of The Blacksmith and Bourbon Street. Marz, the 2008 Source Weekly Restaurant of the Year, recently sold to McMichael and re-opened under the same name.

With winter arriving this month, or maybe this week, but ski season still a few weeks away, you finally have an excuse not to do anything outside on your Sunday mornings. Rather, you have all the reason in the world to spend the day watching football. But we all know that football at home is about one-eighth as exciting as viewing games in the company of other fans, some of whom wear jerseys from far off locales and cheer loudly for teams like the Detroit Lions. Several bars and restaurants around town open up early on Sundays, offering you special menus and discounted drinks as they screen every NFL game on the schedule. Here's a sampling of some that are little off the beaten pigskin path where you can get flapjacks and bacon with your first downs.

The first thing you notice when walking into Common Table is the 20-foot-long black walnut table, which runs the length of the new non-profit café on Oregon Avenue. The restaurant, which occupies the former Cork location, has been open for just over a month. Yet, with minimal promotion, save a few articles (we wrote about the enterprise back in August) and some Facebook activity, the café has been packed for both lunch and dinner nearly every day of the week.

With winter arriving this month, or maybe this week, but ski season still a few weeks away, you finally have an excuse not to do anything outside on your Sunday mornings. Rather, you have all the reason in the world to spend the day watching football. But we all know that football at home is about one-eighth as exciting as viewing games in the company of other fans, some of whom wear jerseys from far off locales and cheer loudly for teams like the Detroit Lions. Several bars and restaurants around town open up early on Sundays, offering you special menus and discounted drinks as they screen every NFL game on the schedule. Here's a sampling of some that are little off the beaten pigskin path where you can get flapjacks and bacon with your first downs.