Friday night and New Year’s Day, Anna Witham stood in the kitchen of Palate, a coffee bar, and served up her gourmet bowl of ramen. The pop-up ramen shop ran for the weekend, opening up at 6 pm and running until 9 pm or until sold out. Already at 6 pm the coffee house was […]
Chow
Posted inFood & Drink
Grandma’s Recipe
The Porch serves classics with a modern flair
Located in downtown Sisters, The Porch presents the image of a country cottage with a quaint and rustic motif. The property itself is open and inviting, with a well-groomed floral arrangement, and an actual front porch with a seating area. That cozy countenance turns out to be fair advertising for what’s inside—a homey, warm, and […]
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One Year of InBev-Barrel
10 Barrel announces aggressive expansion plans
It’s a little hard to believe, considering all the news from 10 Barrel Brewing Company over the past year, that they’re still only going to produce about 25,000 barrels of beer in 2015—a tiny percentage of Deschutes Brewery’s output. If current trends continue, though, those numbers might rapidly approach each other soon. At a press […]
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Spirit of Craft
Oregon Spirit Distillers steals the scene with Barrel Thief
Bend may be known as a beer town, but the spirits scene is picking up speed. With the recent emergence of popular cocktail bars like Dogwood Cocktail Cabin and Stihl Whiskey Bar, it’s clear that Bendites have a taste for the hard stuff. So it's only natural that Bend’s oldest distillery would follow in the […]
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Out With the Old, In With the Hoppy
Distributor churn leads to more competition
Beer, by its nature, is seasonal—not just in terms of seasonal releases, but in the natural churn of brands available across Bend’s shiny beer-shop coolers. Take Orlison Brewing, for example. Remember them? The lager-only brewery, based near Spokane, descended onto the Central Oregon scene in late 2013, offering innovative takes on the classic genre including […]
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Special Delivery
The Soup Cycle serves sustainability
Seven years ago, Soup Cycle was a bite-sized idea with a big dream. What started in 2008 as an informal network of friends sharing soup via bicycle in Portland has expanded to bring fresh, local food to people in Corvallis, Eugene, and—in the last month—Bend. That’s right. In your time of need, be it the […]
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The Other Beer City USA
In Fort Collins, craft grows in Bendian proportions
The northern Colorado town of Fort Collins (population: 155,000) is one of several medium-sized cities around the United States to earn the name Beer City USA from bloggers and travel magazine articles. In the past, that was almost wholly driven by two large outfits: New Belgium, they of Fat Tire and the Lips of Faith […]
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The Tyranny of Good Taste
5 Fusion spoils diners, supports students with James Beard dinner
If you still haven’t gone to a food tasting, don’t believe the skeptics. Vanity Fair called food tastings “tyrannical,” and the New York Times likened the pre-scripted dining experiences to being “a cog in an invisible machine.” Critic Peter Wells wrote, “The night is exhausting, the food is cold, the interruptions are frequent. The courses […]
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Familiar Faces
Sargent’s offers a classic diner experience
Walking into Sargent’s Café is like stepping into a scene from “That ’70s Show.” Wood paneling, amber glass dividers, and burnt orange pleather booths lend a warm but retro feeling. The walls are speckled with photos of wildlife and western scenes on shiny lacquered wood, including a copy of the “Indian Ten Commandments.” Attentive wait […]
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Dairy, Fruit, and Spices; So Nice
Just in time for summer, Bonta Gelato opens a downtown storefront
A year ago, Jeff Labhart dropped by our offices at the Source, and dropped off four pints of gelato. It was a great surprise on an early summer day. Labhart, originally from Oregon’s dairy territory of Tillamook, and his wife Juli, originally from a berry growing community in northwestern Washington, seemed to be an ideal […]