Bouncing around Portland for Music Fest NW, we took a break from the cosmically awesome collection of bands that had descended on the city to sip some brews at Amnesia Brewing, an excellently rustic beer-hall style brewery and pub at the north end of the city. With temperatures tickling the three-digit mark, a cold beer sounded swell, but an overly hoppy one, well, sounded like a punishment to our dehydrated palates.
Food & Drink
Posted inFood & Drink
Little Bites: Quick Bites: Letzers Deli Coming Downtown
Keeping with this page's sandwich theme, we've got some news about Letzer's Deli, the much-loved sandwich shop best known for its enormously humongous sandwiches. After a first year in business during which the family owned Jewish-style deli has gained a loyal fan base and some rave reviews, including one in this paper, Letzer's is looking to expand their presence in Central Oregon. Soon, the deli, operated by the father-and-son team of Sheridan and Gabriel Letzer, in addition to a friendly staff, is opening up a second location in a vacant space in the Remax building on Franklin Avenue in downtown Bend.
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Filling a Void: Planker Sandwiches puts a distinctive twist on the traditional sandwich shop
Plankers gives downtown Bend a quick and affordable option.
Joe Devenchenzi had a simple idea. After years in the restaurant business he wanted to make and serve fresh products while avoiding the late hours.
After visiting Bend for most of his life and owning a home in town for the past eight years, the Grants Pass native decided to open up a place of his own. And where better to open a local food joint then downtown Bend? Although to the dismay of many thin-pancake-loving locals, Devenchenzi entered the former Crepe Place location and opened Planker Sandwiches. Named for the term snowboarders use to describe skiers, Planker has become a local favorite despite the slight change in menu offerings from the previous occupant.
“People have been pretty supportive,” said Devenchenzi, “We still offer crepes. We just went from a build-your-own-crepe menu to a set menu. But anything you want inside we can still do our best to accommodate.”
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A Well-Hidden Gem: Pono Farms & Fine Meats is a cut above the rest
Pono Farms & Fine Meats serves fresh cut meat sandwiches with a choice of sides and satisfies the palate and the wallet.
The restaurant world preaches location, but what's often forgotten is equally important – execution, variety and customer service. Pono Farms & Fine Meats is a butcher shop/deli offering fresh cuts and preparations of ranch raised beef and pork direct from their Central Oregon farm. This is farm-to-fork like you've never seen. Fresh ground beef, shaved meats, sausages and Wagyu beef to take home or enjoy on site. The Hunnell Road location was devised to serve the public directly, adding lunch and dinner plates to the meat counter and charcuterie options.
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Little Bites: The Pod: A cluster of food carts for your convenience, with more to come
The Pod allows everyone to get the food they are craving and new additions to the land will allow more carts and more seating.
It's time to eat and you're craving some freshly beer-battered salmon and sweet potato fries from So Wild Fish and Chips, but your lady friend is insisting on rice and veggies. At best, such a situation means one of y'all is going to need to compromise on your dinner plans. At worst, you're going to need to find a new girlfriend.
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We Can Eat Fries, Right?: Inspecting the “all vegetarians are healthy” myth
Vegetarians can as healthy and as unhealthy as the average meat eater.
I have a good friend named Melissa. Like me, she is a vegetarian. Unlike me, she is a very thin person, a trait that is often attributed to the fact that she enjoys the meatless way of life. Every time I hear someone say, “Oh, she’s a vegetarian, that’s why she’s so skinny,” I laugh to myself.
And here’s why: If one were to put together a short list of the primary components of Melissa’s diet it would include french fries, Doritos, bean and cheese burritos from Taco Bell, more Doritos, fettuccini Alfredo, more Doritos and an occasional Orange Julius thrown in the mix, although I’m pretty sure she only drinks those to avoid getting scurvy.
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Meet Your Farmer: The Common Table brings you face to face with your food's producer
Fields Farm serves up their fresh goods at the Common Table’s Meet Your Farmer Dinner.
As dusk approached on the day that the front page of The Bulletin featured an article about the financial woes of the Common Table, a line of people formed out the door of the downtown nonprofit restaurant. The room was full, booming with conversation, exclamations, and introductions.
“Apparently people in this town actually read the newspaper,” commented one volunteer.
While the urgency of the article might have played a role, the crowd that Friday evening was lured in by the monthly Meet Your Farmer Dinner, an event that has become increasingly popular since its inception almost a year ago. The event is a dinning and educational experience; a four course meal prepared by Common Table chef Bethlynn Rider using products from one local farm, the farmers of which give a presentation after the meal. The farm featured this month is Bend's landmark organic produce grower Fields Farm, located just two miles east of downtown.
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Working Out, Eating Out: Scalon's offers a fitting new menu at the Athletic Club of Bend
Scanlon’s at the Athletic club of Bend revamps its menu with calorie counts and more.
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The last time I dined at Scanlon's, the Athletic Club of Bend's fine dining venue, I left feeling the paradox many of us feel when we dine out. One side left me feeling rich with big flavors, heavy sauces and decadent desserts while certainly lightening my wallet more than I hoped or expected. But following a brief closure of the restaurant, Scanlon's made some other fundamental changes in the kitchen and across the entire menu. Now, Scanlon's is no longer that paradox, but a promise of light, health-conscious, flavorful food at fair prices.
“We just realized that most of our customers are members of the club and want healthier choices,” our server explained as we discussed the recent change in direction with the menu. With a menu “designed to fit a healthy lifestyle,” the menu offers calories, fat, fiber, carbs and protein counts for every dish. While this reminded me of the episode of Seinfeld in which the cast gets fat from “nonfat yogurt,” I immediately got wrapped up in learning the exact calorie counts of every item on the menu. As we scanned the menu, I was impressed by the variety of healthy options with nods to Mediterranean and Asian fare. Locally sourced pears, greens and meats made up for the absence of avocado on the menu.
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Little Bites: Brew in Review: The best of the Bend Brewfest
Some hits from the Bend Brewfest, including beers from Ninkasi, Bayern and 21st Amendment.
They came. They drank. They agreed that the beer was delicious.
That, in short, is what happened over the weekend at the bigger, bolder Bend Brewfest, which ramped up its number of participating breweries this year, and, in turn, had a huge turnout. I made my way down to the fest for a few hours of tasting and, of course, conversation with the throngs who'd come out from in town, as well as far away, including one Midwestern couple who'd traveled to Bend for their honeymoon expressly because of the Brewfest.
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Little Bites: Thai Made Easy: Daughter of local Thai purveyors goes mobile with the Thai on the Fly cart
Thai on the Fly serves huge helpings that can be shared on a small budget.
Maam is always smiling. Maybe that's because she knows her Thai food, dished up from a small mobile food cart called Thai on the Fly and usually found beside the Aspect board shop on Galveston Avenue is some of the best in town.
Maam (she only offers her first name) is the daughter of one of Bend's happiest and hardest working couples, the owners of the original Taste of Thai “Thai on the Fly,” who fill you with samples and a hearty serving of smiles before you make you order.