Cover Story
Meet the Winners! Best of Central Oregon 2025
“The King of all Wild Things” Mischievous Max on his wild adventure has landed on the island of winners for this year’s Best of Central Oregon. The Wild Things led him to the kings and queens of food, drinks, services, people, places, shopping and nonprofit events in Bend, Redmond, Sisters and Sunriver. “He sailed back…
Best Tattoo Artist
Chase Tafoya lived all over California before making Bend his home in 2012. He’d visited his parents, who’d just moved here, loved it and relocated three weeks later. “Bend is such an artist town,” Tafoya says. “From the arts and entertainment, the entrepreneurial spirit, to the recreational sports; the people who live here are all…
Best Medical/Cosmetic Enhancement Services
Loyal voters have chosen EsthetixMD the “Best” in the realm of medical and cosmetic enhancement services for 10 years running. The Practice Manager Emily Talbot attributes that longtime win to loyalty and experience among the staff. “We have a great, tenured, experienced team that — from our patient care coordinators up to our providers —…
Best Influencer/Best Indoor Plant Store
Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Or, in this case, many, many crowns, as John Kish has now won six consecutive Best Indoor Plant Store awards for Somewhere That’s Green. (The shop is also the venue space for The Greenhouse Cabaret, which hosts theatric performances.) Additionally, this year, Kish has earned another accolade…
Best Place to Work (Under 50 Employees)
Tumalo Animal Hospital has been around since the 1970s, located in a former house and barn. The workspace is tight, which is fine when you have happy employees who just won Best Place to Work (under 50 employees). When asked what makes the clinic the “Best Place to Work,” Practice Manager Amie Aleshire says, “I…
Best Nonprofit Serving Education, Families and Children
What happens when homework help meets basketball courts, art supplies meet leadership training, and caring mentors meet kids who are ready to explore? You get the Boys & Girls Club of Bend. This year, that winning combination earned it the Best Nonprofit award for its outstanding work with children and families. “It’s super exciting to…
Best Japanese
The team behind Yokocho Izakaya had a clear vision when they opened their spot on Northeast Division in November last year. “We wanted to build the food scene in Bend,” said Kwan Singhakham, co-owner of Yokocho Izakaya. “Most people, if they think about Japanese food, they’re gonna think about a sushi place. But actually, I…
Best Breakfast in Redmond
When they were traveling across the nation as a military family, Kristy Cross, her husband and her four kids always found themselves at cozy, homey, eclectic diners. Inspired and imaginative, they would sketch on paper napkins what their own cafe could look like. Seventeen short years ago, when Cross’s husband began building homes in Redmond…
Best Gluten-Free Menu
Blissful Spoon’s owners Miki and Kamal Bekkari are excited about their win for “Best Gluten-Free Menu” this year. “We’d like to thank our community from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to vote for us as the best gluten-free menu in Central Oregon,” the couple said. Located in downtown Bend, Blissful Spoon…
Best Boutique in Redmond
Diana Pierce has owned Willow Wild on Southwest Sixth Street in downtown Redmond for the past three years. Before that, she was an employee. The women’s boutique has been voted the Best in Redmond for the past two years. Pierce believes one of the reasons is that they try to cater to every woman. “We…
Best Bloody Mary
John Nolan loves to entertain. That much was clear when the Victorian Café owner/executive chef, took part in our photo shoot for Best Bloody Mary — an award that Nolan’s brunch destination has won, what, nearly 20 times in a row? Chatting with Source reporters, Nolan insisted that no conversation about Bloody Marys was appropriate…
Best Pizza in Redmond
Grace and Hammer’s pizza menu offers a variety of divine names, including, “Belltower,” “Integrity,” “Purist” and “Benevolent Bird.” The meaning behind the holy motif? The pizzeria is in a declared historic church site. Adam Valentine, the “preacher of pizza,” spoke with the Source during the eve of Grace and Hammer’s sixth anniversary. Valentine told the…
Best Light Beer
The secret behind an award-winning beverage? Simple: “We make the kind of beer we like to drink,” says Dana Henion, co-founder and brewer at Van Henion Brewing. Indeed, Van Henion’s golden Helles Lager is crisp, drinkable and — as the votes will attest — very tasty. Helles translates to “bright” or “light” in German, and…
Best Breakfast Burrito in Redmond
An Americana diner on wheels, Jonny’s Joint serves what Redmond locals voted the Best Breakfast Burrito, as well as being runner up for Best Burger and Best Food Truck. Co-owned by mother-son duo LoriAnn and Jonny Kuhn, the bright red food truck parked on First Street is a family affair, involving three of the four…
Best Mocktail & Best Happy Hour
Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge is self-described as a modern cowboy steakhouse. The “modern” part just might be the Cool Hand mocktail — if you can imagine a cowboy under the stars next to a campfire sipping a cucumber-mint beverage. Chef Carlos Anthony Ochoa says the drink, chosen by the public as the Best Mocktail in…
Best Barber in Redmond
Amber Webb started cutting her cousins and three brothers’ hair as a joke at the age of 12. At 15, she decided it was her career path. “Everyone’s like, chicks aren’t barbers, right? Chicks do chick things, and guys do guy things.” Webb said. That is where Aziz Crew started — at least the namesake.…
Best Brewer
It’s not hyperbole that winning the “Best Brewer” category — in beer-crazed Bend — might be one of the most illustrious “Best Of” categories there is. But tell that to now-five-time-winner Nate Doss, the co-owner and head brewer at Bevel Craft Brewing, and, humble guy he is, he’ll turn the conversation right back to the…
Best Nonprofit Event in Sisters
While the sun is still burning hot these days, there will come a time not so long from now when the scene looks more like this: a late September weekend in Sisters, evening settling in with a sharp autumn bite. The streets are filled with music, merriment and warm layers as people wander in and…
Best Boba
Good grades, graduations and winning home games are reasons Loana Perez, owner of Teacupfuls, has received an abundance of business from the Bend community. Restless after Perez sold her cleaning business in 2017 and inspired by her kids’ love for boba, the wild Teacupfuls was born. Perez opened the boba business with the intention to…
Best Food Cart in Sunriver
The history of Wonderland Chicken Co. begins with a love story. In 2019 the owners, husband-wife team Jonathan Gooden and Autumn Eberlei, happened to order a Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich at a brewery in Portland. They loved it so much, they obsessed over how to replicate it. Their experiments turned into a recipe for the…
Best Furniture Consignment
Just like Bend’s famous roundabouts keep traffic moving smoothly through the city, Roundabouts Home Consignments keeps quality furniture flowing through the community — and thankfully, out of our landfills. Its combination of quality, community focus and environmental consciousness makes Roundabouts Home Consignments a well-deserved winner of Best Furniture Consignment 2025. Husband and wife team Gavin…
Best Vintage Clothing
Stepping into Revival Vintage feels like entering a cocktail party attended by disembodied — if gloriously outfitted — party guests, transported from any number of the 20th Century’s fashion eras. Hovering near the entrance, black leather bombers and blazers rub elbows with ‘60s denim chore coats and nylon athletic team jackets. Western pearl-snap shirts cluster…
Best Beauty Boutique
The owner of Wren & Wild Clean Beauty on Minnesota Avenue. is very clear about the intent of her business. With more than 88 brands, Mandy Butera frequently adds new ones, but only if they meet strict criteria. “Clean ingredients,” she says. “We look for specific things that they don’t carry like parabens or phthalates…
Best Local Farm
While the “Best Local Farm” category may be new, David and Megan Kellner-Rode’s Boundless Farmstead is going strong in its eighth season of growing food. After about a half-decade of learning the ropes on their 20-acre mixed vegetable farm just north of the Badlands, the Kellner-Rodes seem to be hitting their stride. With more than…
