Food & Drink

They've tempted us with tapas before. But even the most memorable attempts by Bend restaurants like Fireside Red and Barcelona were sadly short-lived.
Luckily, the Spanish-inspired tradition of tapas is back in town – redefined and gaining momentum thanks to Barrio, the new Spanish kitchen on Minnesota Avenue in downtown Bend.
Tapas are plates of small bites meant to be shared. They're a tradition rooted in Spanish customs – more of a way of living than simply a way of eating.

If you haven't been to the Common Table lately, it's worth a visit.
The nonprofit cafe that's dedicated to providing meals for everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, recruited a new chef in November and has made some significant changes.
Matt Matheny, a 27-year-old whose previous experience includes Pronghorn's Chanterelle and the now defunct Tart Bistro, has been slowly retooling the back of the house, and debuted a spring menu the first week of April.
The menu is New American fare with a nod to southern comfort food and, with Matheny at the helm, has taken a turn for the fresher. Many of the items on the menu are now made in-house from start to finish.

Here's the thing about the Ale Café at Broken Top Bottle Shop. Even though it just opened in February, it feels like a place that's always existed here but we're just now discovering it.
The ambiance of the restaurant and pub, located on Pence Lane at the base of College Way, is a cross between eclectic and classic pub. Light maroon and yellow curtains are draped around the large windows, offsetting the feel that the place is inside a retail building, next door to a yoga studio and children's clothing store. The pub vibe is heightened by dark cherry paneling framing rows of gleaming pint glasses backed by black beadboard.

Garlic was my first love of the kitchen, and totally changed the way I looked at food forever after. I was 12 years old, and my mom's friend was cooking dinner. He was a “real Italian, from New York,” and on the menu that night was linguini and clams, with garlic bread. As he went about the kitchen, creating magic, my task was peeling and chopping the garlic. I was instantly hooked. Thirty years later, with over half of those years spent in kitchens all over the country, I am still hooked.