Food & Drink

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.

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.

It’s not take out, it’s delivery.Rose McKenna is a motivated woman. Growing up on Maui with a single
mother on welfare didn’t inhibit her drive to succeed. She knew from a
young age that her life would involve food and went for it with a
passion.
Growing up poor meant no exposure to restaurants. To Rose,
restaurants were magical places where everyone got to order what they
wanted. After listening to a recruiter for the Western Culinary
Institute at a high school job fair, she decided that was the way in.
Rose moved to Portland at 19. Living off student loans, she graduated
with honors and recommendations from the director.

It’s not take out, it’s delivery.Rose McKenna is a motivated woman. Growing up on Maui with a single
mother on welfare didn't inhibit her drive to succeed. She knew from a
young age that her life would involve food and went for it with a
passion.
Growing up poor meant no exposure to restaurants. To Rose,
restaurants were magical places where everyone got to order what they
wanted. After listening to a recruiter for the Western Culinary
Institute at a high school job fair, she decided that was the way in.
Rose moved to Portland at 19. Living off student loans, she graduated
with honors and recommendations from the director.

After a long weekend of revelry, the mantra that goes through many of our heads is some variation on the Replacements lyric “All I want to do is drink beer for breakfast”-plus a little caffeine and a little grease, of course. In polite society the manifestation of this sentiment is brunch.

After a long weekend of revelry, the mantra that goes through many of our heads is some variation on the Replacements lyric "All I want to do is drink beer for breakfast"-plus a little caffeine and a little grease, of course. In polite society the manifestation of this sentiment is brunch.

It’s What’s for DinnerThere’s probably been no clearer example of the changing economics of Bend’s restaurant landscape than the recent closing of fine dining favorite Bluefish Bistro and the subsequent opening of Bend Burger Company on the corner of Wall and Franklin. Goodbye white linens, hello paper napkins.

It’s What’s for DinnerThere's probably been no clearer example of the changing economics of Bend's restaurant landscape than the recent closing of fine dining favorite Bluefish Bistro and the subsequent opening of Bend Burger Company on the corner of Wall and Franklin. Goodbye white linens, hello paper napkins.

“Not bad for out in the sticks.” One of the lines in Bottle Shock – a new movie based on the 1976 blind tasting in which California Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons blew the cap off the notion that all the world’s best wines were French – can also be said of an event held recently in Sisters.