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Dave Love, co-founder of Old Mill Brew Werks is finally making the big move from brew purveyor to brew creator. Love recently inked an agreement to take over the old 10 Barrel space in the Brinson business park in northeast Bend where he will begin brewing as Bend Brew Werks.
Kirsten Fletcher and Monte Wornath are geniuses.
Maybe they'd score off the charts on an IQ test, then again maybe not, but the two friends conceived one of the best ideas for a local business that we've heard of. The pair, recognizing that intense hunger always follows winter recreating, got permits for and parked a small trailer at Virginia Meissner Sno-Park to feed and nourish the tired and hungry, or just hungry, who frequent the surrounding trails.
Skinny Skis Café serves up an impressive spread of food and drink with baked treats from Sparrow Bakery (including Ocean Rolls), soups from The Village Baker and coffee and espresso from Strictly Organic. The winter food cart also serves up hot chocolates (the fancy kind, made with Dagoba Organic Chocolate for $2.25 as well as good ole Swiss Miss for you low-brow heathens at $1.50), mochas, chai, tea and bottled water. They have a number of grilled sandos available, ranging from the stoner's delight, a Nutella, peanut butter and banana sandwich ($3.75) to the more traditional and wholesome grilled tuna and Swiss sandwich($6.75). Catering to the swelling number of food sensitivities, Skinny Skis allows diners to opt for soy milk and gluten free bread.
The year was 1983. Michael Jackson Thrilled us, Madonna made her debut, and the only thing bigger than Jennifer Beal's Flashdance hair was the birth of Bend's Biggest Burger. Now a legend unto itself, the Pilot Butte Burger is still an 18-oz. 100 percent certified Angus Beef burger, erupting with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions, slathered with secret sauce and now locavorized with an eight-inch Dilluso-baked bun
The six-ounce version was enough for me when I visited the westside location last week, piled high just like its brother. If they grilled the patty in mustard and upped the onion count, they'd come pretty damn close to an In-and-Out Burger – animal style. Quality meat that is fresh (not frozen), grilled to order patties, freshly baked buns, and real cheese, such standards are rarely replicated. Ever since my first In-and-Out burger, I have been quietly searching out its equal closer to home. I think I finally found it.
I typically avoid beers with names that include fruit products or words like “cornucopia” or “bouquet” that evoke images of bridal showers and wild flowers. I prefer names like Terminator and Abyss, but I made an exception for Deschutes' Menagerie Sour Ale, an off-the-beaten path offering from the newly reopened Bond Street Public House.
Acting on an anonymous tip that the Bond Street location had reopened, MicroCosmos made our way down to the Deschutes for a late lunch this week and discovered a bigger bolder pub in place of our longtime watering hole. The brewery has yet to formally announce its grand reopening, look for that later this week, so the crowd was light, allowing MicroCosmos to survey the new digs and snap a few photos before diving into a Reuben sandwich.
What better place for two native New Yorkers to hold a business meeting than a downtown deli, in this case the relatively newly opened Letzer's. Finding Letzer's deli is a little difficult the first time, but if you ask me, that's part of the charm. Walk down the correct corridor off Franklin Avenue and a crisp, black and white striped awning announces that you've found Letzer's, a popular Jewish-style deli that initially put down stakes on south 3rd Street and quickly gained acclaim for authentic sandwiches and ample portions. The new downtonn satellite location, which quietly opened in the Re/Max building in December, has put Letzer's on the roster of go-to restaurants for downtown diners. The interior design is simple; a tall counter along the right side of the restaurant separates the clientele from the small staff. A long bench lines the entire wall to the left. Tables are set close together, but not too close. The space is brand new and correspondingly neat with an upright glass cooler providing beverage options and tri-fold paper menus.
It's easy to take for granted the number of incredible restaurants we have here in Bend. I always thought I'd have another chance to go to a place like Yoko's or Grover's (or Colors, which I still miss constantly), but then once I craved them, they were no longer there. I went to Joolz when they first opened and had a very romantic evening with my wife, filled with an eclectic blend of Middle Eastern, Lebanese and Mediterranean food with drinks that enhanced every flavor. It was a wonderful night, but we never went back because we tried new places and then just eventually forgot it was there. Recently, several people have told me that Joolz has one of the best happy hours in town and, if I weren't a stupid idiot (I don't have nice friends), I'd get over there and get my meze on.
There are a few highly regarded restaurants in Bend that are often considered destinations due to their reputation for upscale dining and upscale prices. Among these restaurants, loyal followers book reservations in advance to save themselves a seat for an experience worth a little extra. One such restaurant is Baltazar's, which I visited for the first time just a few weeks ago.
We weren't celebrating a special occasion, but the atmosphere transformed our ordinary night into a festive evening. The warm, rich colors of the dining room complemented by bright fiesta ware and colorful margarita glasses begged for celebration. There's a certain authenticity about the space itself that took me back to my years living in the barrio presidio neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, flanked by generations-old Mexican restaurants. And yet there we were, surrounded by a bike shop, smoothie shop, a coffee hut and the cyclopub amid authenticity right here in Bend, against all odds. Baltazar, the owner, greeted us warmly as we walked through the door. We were impressed by the high ceilings and the rich smells coming from the kitchen.
Bacon is the new black.
These days, it seems like you can find bacon on most everything. And for good reason. The underbelly of swine imparts an almost unmatched textural and flavorful punch to whatever it's paired with, whether that something is a cheeseburger or a doughnut.
Which is exactly why Kirk Heppler, owner of The Dough Nut, puts a hearty slice of crisp bacon on his fresh and fluffy maple bars, one of his favorite yeast-raised doughnuts and one of his most popular.
The gourmet and exotic offerings of Voodoo Doughnut in Portland helped pave the way for a new breed of this treat; one that is made fresh daily and sports nontraditional toppings and combinations, such as Fruity Pebbles, marshmallows and peanut butter, for instance. Heppler was not hip to Voodoo when he started making doughnuts in 2005, surprising, given that he graduated from the Portland Culinary Institute and has been working in the restaurant business for the last 12 years.
There's a calming sense of symmetry when doing everything in threes and last Tuesday marked my third year of marriage to my lovely wife, Gwendolyn. To celebrate our anniversary, we decided that instead of going out for a nice meal, we would go out to three: One place for appetizers, one for the main course and another for dessert. Our evening went like this:
Appetizer and drinks at Pine Tavern
Gwendolyn and I honeymooned in Seaside, Ore., and probably ate 50 pounds of steamer clams while we were there. It was the dead of winter and the town was deserted, except for us, as we walked from our resort to a different restaurant every night through the light rain and mist. We sampled the clams wherever we went and tried to decide who did them the best (my vote went to Pudgy's). We left Seaside after a week with a deep love of steamers smothered in lemon and butter sauce.
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