Bend's restaurant scene, particularly downtown, has seen more than it's fair share of turnover in the past few years. Thankfully where restaurants have disappeared others have been quick to take their places - at least in most instances. That appears to the be the case, or something like it at least, with the latest spin of the culinary carousel, which reportedly has the owners of the well established Marz handing control of the restaurant to Gavin McMichael of The Blacksmith.
Rumor has it that McMichael, who earlier this summer acquired Staccato at the Firehall and re-opened it as the New Orleans-themed Bourbon Street, recently finalized the purchase of Marz, which will close temporarily at the end of this week for a makeover and reopen later this month. For those who have never made it to Marz, you've missed out on a downtown gem that was among the first to push the envelope of fine dining in Bend, foregoing the steak and chops model for a more inspired and eclectic approach to its dishes, which were served in the hip and cozy environs on Minnesota.
More recently, Marz has been known as much for its out of the box radio spots, which played cleverly (at least usually) on the double meaning of Mars/Marz. Hopefully, McMichael and Co. will retain Marz endearing funkiness as well as its creative cuisine.
