Food & Drink

Seeing the forest for the trees. In Bend’s increasingly volatile dining scene, Pine Tavern is a
stalwart. Established in 1936, it has perfected the recipe for success
in the restaurant business: a warm and comfortable atmosphere,
impeccable service, and, of course, great food. The oft-mentioned lore
of the place is certainly a draw, notably the 250-year-old live
ponderosa pine tree growing through the middle of the main dining room.
Others come for the setting. You’ll find some of Bend’s most
sought-after tables on the patio overlooking the Deschutes during the
summer and, when the nights get cold, some of the coziest in the dimly
lit lounge. Some patrons wait for the special menus that are offered
periodically. In fact, I returned last week to check out the featured
“Taste the Pastabilities” menu.

Alert: Fresh Hops Ahead!If you've never been to the Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room, an event space with a stunning view of the Cascades on the top floor of the brewing facility, it's worth a visit.
Several times a year, the Brewery puts on dinners that are open to the public, often high-end, sit-down meals including beer pairings with a steep price tag to match the fare.

Alert: Fresh Hops Ahead!If you’ve never been to the Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room, an event space with a stunning view of the Cascades on the top floor of the brewing facility, it’s worth a visit.
Several times a year, the Brewery puts on dinners that are open to the public, often high-end, sit-down meals including beer pairings with a steep price tag to match the fare.

Nice Buns, Hon. My boyfriend is a hunter, so we have a freezer full of ground venison. Our favorite quick-and-easy dinner is a grilled venison burger with melted Oregon blue cheese and caramelized onions. I season the burger just right to bring out its flavor, and he grills them to a point in between medium and medium-rare that meets my fancy every time. But finding a good bun to cushion this carnivorous creation has been quite an undertaking.
Forget looking in the bread section of the grocery store. Even at the most illustrious of grocers in Bend, the search for a bag of buns is disappointing at best. Whether white, sesame or whole wheat, every bag I pick up has the same insurmountable problem: the list of ingredients includes high fructose corn syrup.

Nice Buns, Hon. My boyfriend is a hunter, so we have a freezer full of ground venison. Our favorite quick-and-easy dinner is a grilled venison burger with melted Oregon blue cheese and caramelized onions. I season the burger just right to bring out its flavor, and he grills them to a point in between medium and medium-rare that meets my fancy every time. But finding a good bun to cushion this carnivorous creation has been quite an undertaking.
Forget looking in the bread section of the grocery store. Even at the most illustrious of grocers in Bend, the search for a bag of buns is disappointing at best. Whether white, sesame or whole wheat, every bag I pick up has the same insurmountable problem: the list of ingredients includes high fructose corn syrup.

Between the “Make Local Habit” bumper stickers and the new personal I.D.

Between the "Make Local Habit" bumper stickers and the new personal I.D.

Double the BunThere’s nothing like a good Italian delicatessen. With an array of products from the old country and a deli case stuffed with cheese wheels and lengths of salamis of every size, delis serve up atmosphere, neighborhood camaraderie and customer service that’s as alluring as the food.
Rick Adamo and Tom Coleman felt there was a void in Bend’s dining options, specifically a lack of a good Italian delicatessen. Being motivated entrepreneurs, they jumped on the opportunity and Tony’s Delicatessen was born.
Prior to starting Tony’s, Adamo and Coleman shared an office at the Bend Athletic Club and a dream: they wanted to own a restaurant of their own. Adamo was the club’s food and beverage director and Coleman was director of the managerial staff. They calculated that they had 55-plus years of restaurant business experience between them and both grew up in the food industry.
Since opening three months ago, Tony’s grinders have earned a well-deserved reputation as big, messy and delicious. The “Mario’s Meatballs” is a crusty bun loaded with juicy meatballs and Tony’s soon-to-be-famous marinara sauce. “Tony’s Cheese Steak” is a drippy delight of thin strips of lean choice steak grilled with sweet bell peppers and onions stuffed into a hoagie roll and topped with melted provolone. These are the kind of sandwiches that require three or four napkins and are worth every goopy stain.

Double the BunThere's nothing like a good Italian delicatessen. With an array of products from the old country and a deli case stuffed with cheese wheels and lengths of salamis of every size, delis serve up atmosphere, neighborhood camaraderie and customer service that's as alluring as the food.
Rick Adamo and Tom Coleman felt there was a void in Bend's dining options, specifically a lack of a good Italian delicatessen. Being motivated entrepreneurs, they jumped on the opportunity and Tony's Delicatessen was born.
Prior to starting Tony's, Adamo and Coleman shared an office at the Bend Athletic Club and a dream: they wanted to own a restaurant of their own. Adamo was the club's food and beverage director and Coleman was director of the managerial staff. They calculated that they had 55-plus years of restaurant business experience between them and both grew up in the food industry.
Since opening three months ago, Tony's grinders have earned a well-deserved reputation as big, messy and delicious. The "Mario's Meatballs" is a crusty bun loaded with juicy meatballs and Tony's soon-to-be-famous marinara sauce. "Tony's Cheese Steak" is a drippy delight of thin strips of lean choice steak grilled with sweet bell peppers and onions stuffed into a hoagie roll and topped with melted provolone. These are the kind of sandwiches that require three or four napkins and are worth every goopy stain.

Enter the Bamboo Room and you’d never know that you were in a bar at the back of a Chinese restaurant-and you probably wouldn’t guess that you were in the year 2008-but you know immediately that you’re somewhere that is authentically, well, itself. There are some hints at the East, including plastic bamboo branches and unfurled oriental fans mounted on the wall, but it’s otherwise a classic ’70s, dimly lit, smoky room with video lottery machines, dark red pleather booths, and a crowd of locals talking shop around the bar.