The downtown restaurant formerly known as Barrio is now a cocktail and tapas bar named Bar Rio. Owners Steven and Amy Draheim, who also operate the Barrio and Shimshon food trucks and the Shimshon restaurant in The Grove, revamped the space on Wall Street and reopened it under its new name early this month.
“We put our heads together and realized that a cocktail and tapas bar made a lot more sense than a full-service restaurant,” Amy Draheim told the Source Weekly. Barrio, which opened in 2012, initially opened as a 49-seat full-service restaurant. After 10 years, the space needed a refresh, she said. “With this new model, the kitchen is our commissary for the food trucks by day, and services the bar at night with a pared-down menu of tapas and paella. At Bar Rio, the cocktail list takes center stage, with our Bar Manager, Randy Fitch, able to do a lot of playful, worldly cocktails, paying homage to the same places we’ve celebrated with Barrio and Shimshon—Mexico, Israel, Spain, South America, the Mediterranean. It feels like a natural evolution. A grown up, glowed-up version of Barrio.”
Soon, the space on Bond will also be home to Bodega — another name for an urban convenience store — that will offer grab-and-go food as well as sundries and toiletries – items that have been in short supply in downtown Bend since the Bond Street Market closed in 2018.
“At Bodega, we intend to be a great, go-to convenience shop for people who work downtown, with grab-and-go lunch options and provisions market,” Amy Draheim told the Source. “Beer, wine, non-alcoholic beverages, toiletries, sundries, starters for home chefs to make paella, charcuterie, mezze plates at home, and culinary gifts from around the world.”
Bar Rio opened on Aug. 4, with a refreshed interior featuring Alhambra-inspired tiles and Mediterranean blue colors. Bodega is expected to open later this summer, according to a press release.
This article appears in Source Weekly August 10, 2023.
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