Restaurant of the Year: Rancher Butcher Chef

Rancher Butcher Chef opened its doors in August 2022, and suffice to say it quickly secured its place among the growing excellence of the Bend food scene. With a culinary powerhouse at the helm, and its own “home ranch” that supplies meat for RBC’s butcher counter as well as its dining room, RBC swiftly garnered a reputation for craft and service.

Those familiar with the Portland dining scene will undoubtedly know of John Gorham and his wife Renee, who operated Toro Bravo and Tasty N Alder, among other ventures in the Rose City until 2020. After selling their six restaurants amid the pandemic and personal challenges, the Gorhams began to eye Bend.


“It was time for us to take advantage, like so many people did during covid, and make a big life change, which was the best thing for our family,” Renee Gorham told the Source Weekly. “And the sun was really appealing!”

“I saw it [Bend] being very ripe to be a food city. It reminded me of Portland in 2007 when it just boomed,” John Gorham said.


“We knew we wanted to do something Spanish here — we didn’t want that to be our first project here. We’d always wanted to do a full-fledged steakhouse, and then I met Will Von Schlegell and John Von Schlegell,” the owners of 7-Mile Creek Ranch in Fort Klamath, Oregon. The three hit it off, and Will Von Schlegell became a business partner in RBC, where 7-Mile beef is on the menu.

“We’re big lovers of old-school steakhouses. We find them wherever we go — El Gaucho and Ringside [Steakhouse] were our date nights. I love institution restaurants, and there’s something very familiar about a steakhouse,” Renee Gorham said. “We can still do our style of service and the vibe that we create, but creating that RBC brand for this community was very intentional.”


In addition to its wide-ranging steak menu featuring novel cuts as well as old favorites, the small plates and sides at RBC are a delight. Diners today come as much for the Creamed Cabbage or Potatoes Bravas — a nod to the Toro Bravo days — as they do for the main courses. And try not to be impressed with the cocktail menu as well, curated by Garrett Peck, formerly the co-owner and general manager of the vaunted Paley Hospitality in Portland, who’s brought together some of his popular Portland-era cocktail mainstays, but tweaked them for Central Oregon. The region is indeed benefiting from all this culinary relocation; not only is RBC the Source Weekly’s Restaurant of the Year in this year’s Restaurant Guide, but soon, diners downtown will also get to enjoy their new venture in the former Dogwood Cocktail Cabin space, called BAR RBC, which the Gorhams describe as “if RBC and Toro Bravo had a baby,” very soon.


As for RBC, its casual elegance, excellent food, amazing service and Northwest Crossing locale will very likely make it a hot spot for Bend diners for years to come. “I want everyone to feel comfortable,” Renee Gorham said. “It’s familiar enough but exciting enough that you can come in in flip flops or ski pants and feel good.”