To demonstrate our infinite love for our favorite food, we would like to start this restaurant review with a haiku:
Cheese, sauce, bread, toppings
The combination can’t fail
Pizza forever
According to the National Association of Pizza Operators there are 3 billion pizzas sold in the United States each year; with good reason. Pizza is a deliciously versatile dish. Whether it’s a dressed down grease bomb with a PBR tallboy or dressed up with gourmet toppings and a glass of merlot, pizza is the pinnacle of food inventions.
Fire in Bend, the new wood-fired pizza joint in the heart of downtown, falls on the fancier end of the wide-ranging pizza spectrum.
A classy-but-casual, sit-down establishment, Fire is not a by-the-slice, grab-and-go joint. It’s got more of a Southern California wine bar feel, with exposed, slightly distressed ceiling beams, black and white photography and simple decor. A glowing fire, both aesthetically pleasing and functional, roared from behind the full bar. Despite feeling a bit sterile, the remodel of the former yogurt shop is nice, and the best feature—the floor to ceiling windows, ideal for downtown people watching—make Fire a desirable place to take a load off for a casual-paced dinner.
But enough about ambiance: Let’s get to what’s really important here. Pizza. The pies, were sized for sharing, around the size of a shoebox lid and served on a cutting board. They were priced moderately enough ($10-$14) to be individual orders—with a little to take home for later. Bonus: You can order whatever you want. None of that half-and-half business.
As pizza purists, we found the shape of the pizzas—oval rather than round with square slices—blasphemous. The shape flies in the face of the sacred geometry of pizza. That said, the smaller-sized slices lend themselves to more graceful eating (great for first dates), no folding or forks required. But beware, the soot-dusted crust bottoms—a natural side effect of wood-fired pizza.
We started our meal with a cold beet salad, overflowing with crisp and slightly spicy mixed greens, large medallions of red and gold beets, goat cheese, hazelnuts and a citrus vinaigrette. Also generously portioned and suitable for sharing, the salad was light and earthy without tasting like dirt (as beets so often do).
We also tried the dough bites—a sort of cross between a breadstick and a donut hole—which were lightly seasoned with a pleasing texture, crispy outside and chewy inside.
When it came to the main event, we had a hard time choosing from a variety of tempting options. The menu includes the basics—pepperoni, cheese, and Margherita—along with some fancier options, Mediterranean, Thai and weirdly, “Funghi,” which is not the word we would have chosen to describe an otherwise delicious sounding mushroom pizza.
We were intrigued by the Yukon Gold Potato, featuring its namesake, chives, parmesan, bacon and mozzarella on a house-made cheese sauce. But ultimately, we went with the Summer Pear, a seasonally appropriate pie with sliced pear, gorgonzola, honey reduction, RPM IPA, mozzarella and extra virgin olive oil.
The sweetness of the honey complemented the slightly crunchy pears, and the gorgonzola and hints of rosemary lent a warm and savory flavor. While we’re often tempted to simply shove slices of pizza into our face hole, Fire in Bend’s complex concoction begged a more relaxed relishing. Overall, the meal was about as light and refreshing as pizza can be.
Fire in Bend
744 NW Bond St.
Open daily 11:30 am-10 pm
This article appears in Sep 3-11, 2014.
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This review sounds like you ate Worthy Brewing’s food, not Fire. Warm beet salad? OR pear pizza? Dough bites? Fishy….
I would like to thank the community of Bend. Our downtown neighbors have been wonderful. I am the owner of Fire in Bend. Todd (the other owner) and I have been working on the recipes for over 6 months. There have been so many hours put into perfecting our pizzas and salads. The reason I wanted to post a comment is to say thank you for such great support from the community. I also am a bit set back with the comment posted by Truthbomb. I think with such an unfair statement I should have an opportunity to respond. It always interests me when people post something offensive but cannot take responsibility for such a “bomb”. I have heard many comments since we opened our doors. Such as: “This is the best pizza in town”, “WoW”, “there is no other pizza like this in town”and “You have the best pizza in Oregon”to name a few. So I am not sure where Truthbomb got his information? I have to say that dough bites are not uncommon so I do not think if by chance Fire In Bend named them dough bites it means that are from Worthy dough bites.I may even consider changing the name if people do not like the name because Worthy used dough bites as well. I was very involved with choosing the salads Fire used so I am ready to say our are as good as you can get in Bend. Fire uses only fresh and quality ingredients. Oregon is the number one producer of beats in the nation. I am a huge beat salad fan. When Fire came up with the one I had a taste in what Fire is using. Come taste for your self. Hmmm? A pear pizza? I am pretty sure you will see many pear pizzas in East Coast Gourmet pizza places. I would love for Truthbomb to come in and start with Fires dough bites or better bet maybe start with the Tyler dough bites that have bacon and cheese. Then he/she could have our beet salad right before he/she has our pear salad. I will give this to Truthbomb complimentary. Truthbomb don’t be shy we welcome you to test your theory on us. I am not offended that someone would compare our pizza to Worthy. Worthy is a wonderful place to eat. I have eaten there four times. I did try the pizza, it was good. The staff were very helpful and friendly. I have to admit when I heard they had a brick oven I was interested in checking it out. If you haven’t visited Worthy you should. The place is very cool and the pizza oven is beautiful. I will return again. I have even compared Worthy as the closest wood fire theme to ours. Their pizza is good but I challenge anyone to come try ours. I think you will see that even though there may be some similarities, Fire In Bend has their very own special recipes we perfected and will continue to find new tastes as we go. Let your tastebuds do the test. Thanks again for such a great response from all of Bend. Come join me for a beat salad and Yukon Gold Pizza (my favorite toped with jalapeño) and complete your experience with cheese cake by Jess. Jesse our desert chef makes the best cheese cake I have ever eaten. We are lucky to get her to share such great deserts and recipes. I think you will find all of these very tasty house made delights from scratch are something that is not like anything you have had before. The pizzas are also just as unique and special. Fire in Bend welcomes everyone to join us. And yes we have gluten free pizza. Thank you and Fire hopes to see Truthbomb and you soon.
7
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Fire in Bend
744 NW Bond st Downtown
phone (541) 408-9028
http://www.fireinbend.com
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I would like to thank the community of Bend. Our downtown neighbors have been wonderful. I am the owner of Fire in Bend. Todd (the other owner) and I have been working on the recipes for over 6 months. There have been so many hours put into perfecting our pizzas and salads. The reason I wanted to post a comment is to say thank you for such great support from the community. I also am a bit set back with the comment posted by Truthbomb. I think with such an unfair statement I should have an opportunity to respond. It always interests me when people post something offensive but cannot take responsibility for such a “bomb”. I have heard many comments since we opened our doors. Such as: “This is the best pizza in town”, “WoW”, “there is no other pizza like this in town”and “You have the best pizza in Oregon”to name a few. So I am not sure where Truthbomb got his information? I have to say that dough bites are not uncommon so I do not think if by chance Fire In Bend named them dough bites it means that are from Worthy dough bites.I may even consider changing the name if people do not like the name because Worthy used dough bites as well. I was very involved with choosing the salads Fire used so I am ready to say our are as good as you can get in Bend. Fire uses only fresh and quality ingredients. Oregon is the number one producer of beats in the nation. I am a huge beat salad fan. When Fire came up with the one I had a taste in what Fire is using. Come taste for your self. Hmmm? A pear pizza? I am pretty sure you will see many pear pizzas in East Coast Gourmet pizza places. I would love for Truthbomb to come in and start with Fires dough bites or better bet maybe start with the Tyler dough bites that have bacon and cheese. Then he/she could have our beet salad right before he/she has our pear salad. I will give this to Truthbomb complimentary. Truthbomb don’t be shy we welcome you to test your theory on us. I am not offended that someone would compare our pizza to Worthy. Worthy is a wonderful place to eat. I have eaten there four times. I did try the pizza, it was good. The staff were very helpful and friendly. I have to admit when I heard they had a brick oven I was interested in checking it out. If you haven’t visited Worthy you should. The place is very cool and the pizza oven is beautiful. I will return again. I have even compared Worthy as the closest wood fire theme to ours. Their pizza is good but I challenge anyone to come try ours. I think you will see that even though there may be some similarities, Fire In Bend has their very own special recipes we perfected and will continue to find new tastes as we go. Let your tastebuds do the test. Thanks again for such a great response from all of Bend. Come join me for a beat salad and Yukon Gold Pizza (my favorite toped with jalapeño) and complete your experience with cheese cake by Jess. Jesse our desert chef makes the best cheese cake I have ever eaten. We are lucky to get her to share such great deserts and recipes. I think you will find all of these very tasty house made delights from scratch are something that is not like anything you have had before. The pizzas are also just as unique and special. Fire in Bend welcomes everyone to join us. And yes we have gluten free pizza. Thank you and Fire hopes to see Truthbomb and you soon.
report 1 like, 0 dislikes like dislike
Posted by David Mitchell on 09/05/2014 at 6:26 AM
This review sounds like you ate Worthy Brewing’s food, not Fire. Warm beet salad? OR pear pizza? Dough bites? Fishy….
report 0 likes, 4 dislikes like dislike
Posted by Truthbomb on 09/04/2014 at 7:23 AM
Truthbomb needs to check his sources. It’s not a Warm beet salad, and it’s not an Or pear pizza. You need to go try it and you with taste the difference.
I took my family into Fire for lunch today& I gotta say it’s some of the best pizza I’ve had in a Central Oregon & the best wood fire pizza all together . I would recommend any Pizza lovers to try some of Fires pizza .
Clauson Family !