Food & Drink

Last Thursday evening, I walked down the frosted sidewalk of Bond Street. The day’s rain had made the air bone-chillingly cold and if it had been any other night, I would have probably stayed in with a cup of tea and a Mad Men marathon. But for this night, I would have trekked three miles in the snow uphill both ways, because it was the first night of the iconic food cart Spork’s pop-up restaurant, the “Spork Supper Club.”

The location of Scanlon's is perhaps an apt metaphor for a restaurant that's trying to play a lot of seemingly contradictory roles. It's fine dining, but it shares a building with the Athletic Club of Bend. It's a place where “fancy” dishes like rack of lamb with a side of ratatouille rub shoulders with Nikes, gym bags and nachos.

This past week was one of the most eventful restaurant weeks in recent history. Multiple restaurants closed, sold and changed hands.

In October, three Central Oregonians hopped a flight to Torino, Italy. But this wasn't a vacation or a trip to the 2006 Olympics site. Instead, they met up with like-minded people from over 150 countries for Slow Food International's bi-annual conference called Terra Madre.
Started in 1989 as a response to the trend of fast food and unsustainable large-scale farming, Slow Food has become an international movement to inform local farmers, chefs and educators on how to nurture local, sustainable agriculture and retain local food traditions. Six years ago, Terra Madre began bringing delegates from around the world together to share farming practices and attend lectures on incorporating Slow Food practices into their everyday lives.