((L-R) Pork chop and chocolate cake | Photos by Linden Gross) South Bend Bistro may have changed hands in December 2024, but you would never know it. The tiny restaurant’s interior, which seats a maximum of 83 people, still delivers a sophisticated yet cozy, welcoming atmosphere, accentuated by the friendly and attentive staff. The menu…
((L-R) Sweet Potatoes, Meat Board) Did Bend really need another high-end steakhouse? I have to admit that when Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge opened last June, I didn’t think so. Of course, the ginormous space — with its dark walls, dramatic pendant lighting, and a twinkle-star ceiling — is beautiful, and the slightly rowdy cowboy atmosphere…
(Photos courtesy of One Stop Writing Shop) For years, The Jackalope Grill was my favorite restaurant in town, but consistency slipped after its move to its current downtown location. When Laura Bliss bought it in 2022, I had high hopes since she had done such a terrific job at her other restaurant, South Bend Bistro…
(Photos by Rebecca Zook) If you hunger for top-notch Mexican food, the Oxford Hotel’s Roam has you covered this Cinco de Mayo. From Friday, May 3 through Sunday, May 5, once the restaurant’s daily brunch is over at 2pm, the fiesta is on. Two friends and I got to sample the elevated Mexican food and…
(Linden Gross) My new book, Busting the Brass Ceiling: How One Heroic Female Cop Changed the Face of Policing, isn’t just the story of how my co-author Fanchon Blake wound up having to sue the LAPD for sex discrimination after serving there as an officer for more than 20 years. And it isn’t just the story…
(The Last Jews in Berlin Just Released as an Audiobook) If you haven’t yet read my father Leonard Gross’s riveting The Last Jews in Berlin, you can now listen to the just-published audio version. This critically acclaimed account of twelve Jews who went underground in Nazi Berlin—and survived—became a New York Times bestseller when it was first published and was called “consummately suspenseful”…
Most artists see the world a little differently than the rest of us. With Bend surrealist painter Carol Connett, that’s an understatement of massive proportion. In Carol’s work, a waterfall flows from a tiger’s mouth, a buck sports an evergreen rack (think branches) and a desert-scape body, while a human melds into a tree trunk,…
Do the angels sing when great wines meet a chef’s undeniable talent? I know I do. And I was sure singing at Currents’ Chateau Ste. Michelle wine dinner, during which some of Washington’s tastiest vintages were brilliantly paired with some of Bend’s best cuisine. The evening, which took place in the private dining room, started…
(Photos courtesy of WAVEJourney.com) Want a change of pace? Just head over to Trattoria Sbandati and let the server know you want to dine family style. With co-owner and chef Juri Sbandati sending out dishes that only a native Florentine could produce from the semi-open kitchen just a few paces away, you’ll swear you’re in…
(Photo courtesy of WAVEJourney.com) Got a hankering for fresh fish or seafood? Baltazar’s, an upscale Mexican restaurant on Bend’s Westside, might not be the first thought that comes to mind, but it should be. Just one caveat: Come hungry. Baltazar’s pitcher of Cadillac margaritasand his shrimp cocktail reveal a lot about owner Baltazar’s philosophy. I’ll…
