Bend is no stranger to great food and numerous dining options. In recent years, the city has seen the number of restaurants grow and the style and cuisine evolve, adding to Central Oregon's increasingly diverse food scene.
Several new, modern and upscale restaurants that have opened in the area have impressed locals and restaurant owners alike. Many of them are run by successful chefs and restaurateurs who lived elsewhere and chose Bend as a place to bring their elevated dining experiences.
A few new restaurants fueling this movement include the upscale, trendy chef-owned restaurant, Dear Irene, widely loved steakhouse, Rancher Butcher Chef, high quality seafood restaurant, Hook and Plow, and highly anticipated American steakhouse, Hawkeye and Huckleberry.
From Elsewhere to Bend
It's clear that Bend's upscale dining scene has grown significantly in recent years, with big city, new-to-the-area chefs and restaurant owners choosing Bend as their next place to open a restaurant.
Celebrity chef Brian Malarkey is opening a new restaurant in June, Hawkeye and Huckleberry Lounge, in the former Walt Reilly's building in Bend. Malarkey is a renowned chef and restaurateur who has created over 15 restaurant concepts.
Originally from Tumalo, Malarkey noticed other great restaurants popping up in Central Oregon and thought it was finally time to bring his expertise back to the area.
"What opened my eyes was I ate dinner at Rancher Butcher Chef, and I was like, 'Oh my goodness. Bend is ready,'" Malarkey said. He mentioned many other Bend favorites that paved the way for him, and other restaurateurs coming to Bend, such as fine-dining restaurant Ariana and Bosa, among others.
Lauren Copelan, one of the co-owners of Hook and Plow, moved to Bend in 2020 and brought her and her sister's renowned seafood restaurant with them.
"We saw a need for a place like this in Bend, that really focused on fresh seafood," said Copelan.
“We love that there is an ever-evolving food scene and we are of the mindset that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats.’ The more wonderful chefs and restaurants in our area, the better.”
— Ariana Fernandez
Bend had been on Copelan's radar for many years, as her parents bought a home in Bend back in the '80s. "I spent my childhood, teenage years and adult years coming here, and so I've seen firsthand the massive changes that have happened in the community as a whole," she said.
It wasn't until the pandemic that they decided to move here and expand the established Hook and Plow restaurant brand, which has been running for 10 years and has three additional locations in California.
Bend didn't really have a solid seafood restaurant yet, said Lauren. "It's definitely gotten so much better, even in the last year or two."
Copelan wasn't the only one to make the move during the pandemic. Jonny and Irene Becklund, owners of downtown restaurant and bar Dear Irene, saw an opportunity and took it. With the restaurant scene completely shutting down during COVID in San Francisco, where Becklund's previous restaurant was located, and their lease ending, "It was the perfect time to move and do something new. When we came here, everything just checked the boxes. We just kind of knew that opening something here would be exciting for us and would be exciting for the community," Irene Becklund told the Source Weekly during interviews for our annual Restaurant Guide.
Similarly, John and Renee Gorham, who own Rancher Butcher Chef, made the switch around the same time. "It was just time for us to take advantage of a moment, like so many people did during COVID and make a big life change, which was the best thing for our family," said Renee Gorham.
Wanting to stay close to family in Portland, where they previously owned Toro Bravo and other restaurants, they found that Bend would be the perfect place to start fresh.
"I had been paying attention to the Bend food scene for a while. I saw it being very right to be a food city. It reminded me of Portland in 2007, when it just boomed," John Gorham told the Source.
Thor Erickson is a culinary instructor at the Cascade Culinary Institute who has been in the food industry, and in Bend, for over 30 years. He saw the pandemic change a lot about the restaurant industry here in Bend.
"The pandemic unfortunately stopped some great local institutions. We lost some really great restaurants, but it was also the impetus for other chefs who were working at restaurants to open up new places and allowed people to make the choice to move here to open restaurants."
The More the Merrier
As more restaurants come to the area, some new and established restaurants are increasingly optimistic about the changes. Some of the restaurant owners we talked to aren't seeing these new restaurants as competition, but instead, as another great restaurant contributing to the growing food scene. "The way I look at the restaurant business, any competition is healthy competition," said Erickson.
Copelan, who opened Hook and Plow in 2023, has been super excited to see an elevated food scene, noting an increase in fine dining, upscale dining options and cocktail lounges.
“What opened my eyes was I ate dinner at Rancher Butcher Chef, and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness. Bend is ready,’”
— Brian Malarkey
"We've got RBC, Dear Irene, BOSA is one of my favorite places, and we've got Hawkeye and Huckleberry going in. I truly believe that good business brings good business," she said.
The way she sees it, the more high-quality restaurants in town, the more the community benefits as a whole. "Bringing in good restaurants brings in new flavors and new people, and new people want to go out and try new things," she said.
Many owners and chefs feel lucky to be a part of this scene and are hopeful for the new experiences and diversity that they will bring.
"I think it's great to see even more and more folks with an eye for culinary creativity and experience-driven restaurants have come to the area," said James Meskill, one of the partners of Six Top Restaurant Group, which owns local restaurants including Bos Taurus and Nome, to name a few.
Erickson, with the Culinary Institute, sees this growth as not only great for the city and its residents, but an opportunity for chefs in the area as well. "I think it's a healthy evolution," he said. "Whether a person is a chef, server, bartender, pastry chef, line cook, etc., having new people from which to learn about new techniques, ingredients or a higher level of service allows us to tell new stories through food and hospitality," said Erickson.
New types of dining, however, bring a different culture. While thrilled about the growing food scene, Erickson hopes to see changes in Bend when it comes to how people experience fine dining.
"Culture-wise, in terms of fine dining specifically, I think that we can learn to be better patrons," said Erickson. "I respect it because I'm in the industry. I dress up, I wear nice clothes when I go out to eat," Erickson said, noting the casual environment, and dress code, that many locals tend to follow no matter where they are dining.
"You go into Ariana and people are wearing pajamas and it's like, 'really?' These are special occasions that we should really relish and have a great amount of respect for not only the staff, but everyone else who's there," he said.
An Ever-Evolving Scene
Whether they've come to Bend from a big city or are returning to Central Oregon, locals in the industry, both new and established, feel validated that the ever-evolving food scene is one that continues to attract people and restaurateurs.
According to Erickson, there's always been a draw to Bend. "It's not a new thing, we just see a surge," said Erickson. The style and evolving cuisine, however, is based on growth, he said. "It's based on people moving here from other places who have a desire to eat in a different way, not just the status quo that was here a number of years before they came."
Lauren Copelan at Hook and Plow has witnessed the changes over the years and sees this trend continuing. "We do have a lot of people moving to the area and diversifying the types of food that we have in Bend. I think we'll keep on that trajectory as more people come to the area and want different types of food and different styles of food," she said.
“There's always been great restaurants and I think it's fun to see the pioneers, if you will, get validation for what they've done for so many years. We're just happy and lucky to be a part of it ourselves.”
— James Meskill
Ariana Restaurant, a local fine-dining favorite, has been around long enough to witness Bend's food culture explode. Owners Ariana and Andres Fernandez, who have been working in the industry since 2000 and 2001, respectively, opened Ariana in 2004 and will be celebrating the 20th anniversary this December. "We have definitely seen the food scene evolve in Bend," said Ariana Fernandez.
"We are so fortunate to live in this beautiful special place and it draws people from all over the world to live and work here. We love that there is an ever-evolving food scene and we are of the mindset that 'a rising tide lifts all boats.' The more wonderful chefs and restaurants in our area, the better."
In a fast-growing city like Bend, change is inevitable. Meskill credits those who paved the way for this current trajectory.
"There's always been great restaurants and I think it's fun to see the pioneers, if you will, get validation for what they've done for so many years," said Meskill. "We're just happy and lucky to be a part of it ourselves."
