Stuffed!

One of Bend's recently opened restaurants, the NW Urban Grill, has closed. We've received confirmation from a reliable source that after just five months of service, the restaurant has sold to the owner of the Brickhouse in Redmond, which will open a steak and seafood joint in the location.

Beer lovers in Central Oregon have it pretty good as of late. First was the Bend Brewfest, then the wood-aged beer festival known as the Little Woody.

If you've driven down Highway 20 towards Sisters in the past few months, you've probably seen the signs for the impending opening of a new Bend Distillery distillery, tasting room and farm. Well, that opening is this weekend.

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.

Typhoon!, the Portland-based family of Thai restaurants with a location in downtown Bend, is currently under investigation due to workers' complaints of discrimination. Among these complaints are that owners Steve and Bo Kline recruited workers from Thailand, paid them at a lower hourly wage, denied raises, provided less vacation time and forced them to work longer hours than other U.S.-hired employees.
We just received a press release from Bureau of Labor and Industries State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, who initiated the investigation. Avakian states in the press release, “The concerns that have been raised to me about working conditions at Typhoon are alarming.” According to the press release, workers alleged that they were threatened with termination if they did not comply with the substandard treatment.

The Klines have vigorously denied the charges. Steve Kline was quoted in a Bend Bulletin article on Wednesday, says he is “furious” and that the allegations were an “astounding litany of lies.”

Sometimes working at the Source has its perks – like today, when Kim, from the new donut company Full Circle Donuts came in with a box of fresh baked goodies. Like the Dough Nut – the Voodoo Doughnut-style baker who, until last week, was baking out of Jackson's Corner – Full Circle Donuts has unique concoctions like a maple bacon doughnut and a peanut and pretzel-covered doughnuts.

I just met with Sydney Leonard, the Community Food Systems Coordinator for Wy'East Resource, Conservation and Development. Leonard is spearheading the September 10th Central Oregon Food Summit and had some very interesting insights into the event.

Summer in Central Oregon is amazing between the weather, outdoor sports, scenery, and produce! During the summer season, pick your own sun-ripened blueberries just outside of Vida, Oregon at McKenzie River Farm is a farm-to-fork (or fingers to mouth) experience not to be missed. My family and I picked 25 pounds of blueberries (@ $2.

It had been quite a while since I’d ventured up to Northwest Crossing looking for something sweet to eat. There was Sage Cafe with pastries galore, fresh baked rice krispie treats and decadent brownies, and then there was Riley’s Market with locally baked cookies and–ooh!–frozen yogurt.

 The author of Tomato Rhapsody, Adam Schell, who happens to also be local and a chef, will be teaching a cooking series beginning July 21 at Allyson’s Kitchen in the Old Mill. In the first of weekly lessons, Adam will teach participants how to make some of the meals/recipes found in his book.