Stuffed!

RED DRAGON
One of the area's many American-style Chinese food hotspots, Red Dragon serves up enormous portions of favorites like Monoglian Beef and General Tso's chicken. Chef Casey Chan, a native of Hong Kong, prepares dishes with Szechuan, Hunan, Mongolian, Cantonese and American roots. While it's not fine dining by any means, Red Dragon is sure to please when you're craving heaping servings of steaming wok- fried goodness. 61247 S. Highway 97. (541) 389-9888.

Spork, the restaurant with no home but lots of homeys and the coolest graphic design support of any Bend eatery, is back on Century Drive this week serving up its brand of eclectic and savory meals from the Skjersaas parking lot. Catch breakfast lunch or dinner at the Airstream enclosed kitchen between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday this week.
And with more warm weather on tap for the end of the week and weekend, look for some of the other mobile food purveyors, including Soupcon Bend and Sancho at the once again bustling corner of Harriman and Greenwood outside the Blacksmith, to begin ramping up business as Spring Fever takes hold. Or if a frankfurter and Old World recipe handmade kraut is more your speed, you'll likely find the BurlyWurst brothers down at Mirror Pond plaza this week, as well.

After breezing through 10 Barrel Brewing's soft opening last week, Quick Bites got a closer look at the new pub's operation this week. Owners Chris Cox and Garrett Wales said business has been brisk for the newest member of Bend's brewpub family.
We returned this week to look over the pub's menu, which features many of the brewpub industry standards like mac and cheese, burgers and salads. However, the pub is also offering a strong line up of pizzas ranging from a plain mozzarella and herb pie ($12/large) to an elaborate prosciutto pesto chicken pizza ($18/large). Other interesting menu items include tempura-fried steak fingers ($8) and steamed manila clams served in 10 Barrel's American Wheat Ale broth.

Despite a recent run of unseasonably warm weather, it's still officially winter, but that didn't prevent Derek and Gregg Yarrow, a pair of Long Island transplants from staking their culinary claim on Mirror Pond plaza. The brothers recently launched a joint venture that might just be the best rolling sausage fest in downtown Bend, apologies to the Classic Car Cruise…
The Yarrow Brothers opened BurlyWurst, an elaborate hot dog-and-sausage cart that would be the envy of any New York street vendor. Using recipes handed down from their German mother that are informed by younger brother Gregg's NYC culinary background, the Yarrows have elevated the wiener to an art form. Garnished with mom's homemade sauerkraut, the Berlin Brat ($4.50) comes served on a toasted bun and is available with slaw or sautéed onions. Or mix 'em all together. The guys are happy to help you customize your order to taste.

10 Below and the Oxford Hotel are set to officially open this week. Located in the lower lobby of the hotel, 10 Below gets its name from the hotel's street address (10 NW Minnesota). The menu ($8-25), by Chef Sam Reed, formerly of Sunriver Resort and The Biltmore in Arizona, is sure to please. Local Bendite Todd Lambert joins Reed as Sous Chef at what is likely to be a new hotspot in Bend. The bar features a high-end selection of liquors. The décor alone is worth the trip. Shiny, white antler looking light fixtures adorn the ceiling; a colorful wall of woven lights blurs the line between function and art; sculptural tree stumps, saplings, and cross-sections pay tribute to the eco-friendly, environmentally-conscious tagline of the Oxford Hotel.

10 Below and the Oxford Hotel are set to officially open this week. Located in the lower lobby of the hotel, 10 Below gets its name from the hotel's street address (10 NW Minnesota). The menu ($8-25), by Chef Sam Reed, formerly of Sunriver Resort and The Biltmore in Arizona, is sure to please. Local Bendite Todd Lambert joins Reed as Sous Chef at what is likely to be a new hotspot in Bend. The bar features a high-end selection of liquors. The décor alone is worth the trip. Shiny, white antler looking light fixtures adorn the ceiling; a colorful wall of woven lights blurs the line between function and art; sculptural tree stumps, saplings, and cross-sections pay tribute to the eco-friendly, environmentally-conscious tagline of the Oxford Hotel.

It's been what seems like a couple of years since Santiago Casanueva first started pushing yerba maté brews to Bendites and he's won a fair number of converts to his leafy coffee alternative that has long been popular in places like Brazil. Now Casanueva is back in downtown Bend just a few paces from his former digs at St. Clair Place. The Top Leaf Maté bar is now serving at the increasingly hip Tin Pan alley, between Lone Pine Coffee and Thump. It's going to take some sales pitch to get Bendites off coffee as good as Lone Pine and Thump, but if anybody can wean you off the bean, it's Casanueava. Bonus web points to anyone who logs online and checks out Casanueava's DIY “webformercial” that ran under the provocative headline, Bend Oregon What Is Yerba Maté. Extra bonus points and a bag of good old fashioned coffee to anyone who can spot and identify the Source staffer featured in the video. E-mail your best guess to editor@tsweekly.com and put off maté for another week.

My dad, who still doesn't understand why anyone would want to forgo hamburgers, lives by the motto: If it's green, it's trouble; if it's fried, order double. I've been meaning to get his take on items that cross both barriers: like vegetable tempera or the crispy-friend vegetarian spring rolls my husband and I devoured with friends during a trip to Typhoon in downtown Bend.
I've seen vegetarian menus before, but Typhoon is the first establishment to hand me my very own Vegan Menu. I was thrilled at first until I remembered hours later that I'd had my eye on the yellow vegetable curry on the standard menu, a favorite when it comes to Thai, only to be distracted by the laminated vegan insert (which must be requested by the diner).
Sébastien and I decided to share the Lahd Nah ($9.95) and the house salad ($8.95). I asked our waiter if these were good choices: my way of fishing for a food-worshipping waiter to proclaim: “The Death by Asparagus, although green, is to die for.” (According to the menu it was voted first place blue ribbon asparagus entrée by the California Asparagus Commission.) Instead our waiter quickly answered in the affirmative, which was in no way reassuring.
I drink tea from time to time, but never at $9 a pot, like the Imperial Green Oolong our friend Chris ordered. I savored the dollar-sized portion he poured me and have to admit I was considering offering up my Stella in exchange.
Whenever Sébastien likes something I consider it a success, and he was well pleased with our meal's wide-cut rice noodles, vegetables, and mushrooms coated in a thick saucy glaze. Our mixed greens, another concoction created to test my father, was dripping in sweet sesame dressing as thick as caramel syrup, topped off by a liberal sprinkling of pan-fried wontons. When the dessert menu arrived I wanted to say, “Are you kidding me? After that salad? Bring me some broccoli instead; and not the kind deep-fried in batter.”

Editor's note: This is the first in a regular series about vegetarian dining options in Central Oregon from new Source correspondent Nikki Jefford. Look for more features in upcoming issues, including a look at Typhoon's veggie menu.
I suppose vegan sushi is an oxymoron, kinda like when I spread humus and salsa between two tortillas, toast it on the skillet, and call it a quesadilla. “It's called queso,” my husband informs me. “Meaning CHEESE!” Fine, but beanodilla just doesn't have the same ring.
Personally, I prefer the term “vegan sushi” to “rolls” because the latter always conjures up images of doughy balls of dinner bread, not raw slices of cucumber and avocado rolled up in seaweed and rice with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and nearly translucent slivers of ginger.

Beer is the big news this week. (It's recession proof – donchayaknow?) As reported above, a new beer bar is planned for the area around College Way. The Abbey Pub will start serving as soon as Wednesday. But that's not the only westside beer news; it appears that 10 Barrel Brewing has found a home for its lineup of micros at the former Di Lusso digs on Galveston. The local brewery, which is an offshoot of JC's Bar and Grill, has been searching recently for a spot to showcase its beers and briefly considered taking over the Rising Star building, but decided to search for a more modest investment. Operations manager Garrett Wales told The Source recently that the brewery was trying to steer clear of micro-heavy downtown Bend, favoring a westside location. With the deal for the former Di Lusso space it appears that 10 Barrel will have the smaller westside environs that it was searching for. The arrival will also help solidify Galveston as a beer drinkers haven with 10 Barrel joining the recently opened Brother Jon's Public House, a neighborhood bar launched by several Deschutes alums, that features a nice selection of micros and a laid back beer sipping atmosphere, complete with a sneaker summer patio around the back.
Moving from beers to margaritas, Hola! held its grand opening party last Friday in the Old Mill after last minute mechanical issues forced a delay in the launch. The doors were open, the tables were packed and brass trumpet blasts from the mariachi band could be heard across the parking lot.