Barrio

Yaaaaaaay! Barrio is opeeeeen-ah!

As soon as I heard food cart masters Soupcon and El Sancho were opening up a tapas place in the old Mars Bistro location, I was in. I was getting ready for this to be my new favorite go-to happy hour spot. With a cozy atmosphere, delicious fruity sangria and $4 tapas. These past 2 weeks I have daydreamed daily (hourly?) about my trip to Spain last year, reliving the happy wine-filled times, the amazing food and the late night dinner/party/bigcity/smalltown goodtimes I had there. I was ready to pretend I was back in Spain, yet with the bonus convenience of a 5 minute drive downtown. Done, done and done.

Well, it was good, but not great. And I feel a little guilty saying that, but no one reads this blog anyway so I don't think these few sentences will do Barrio any harm while they perfect this vision we share of a tapa utopia -- food cart dreamers and Spain groupie.

$5 Sangria? Great! But the serving size was small. Ok ok, if you make it with a little liquor in it then a 6 ounce serving in a wine glass will pack a punch, but come on, it was so delicious! Just fill the glass a little more than halfway so it actually looks like I'm getting a drink and not stealing a leftover beverage off the table next to me that just got vacated. (And now I feel like a cheap alcoholic). It had a slight spice to it but not too sweet and only had 1 perfect little 1/4-moon orange slice in it, which was also just right because while I do love fruit the other diners don't need to see me deep tonging my glass trying to fish it out.


Atmosphere? Great! I love the higher tables, although you'll never catch Americans standing in a tapas bar, it reminded me that not all people are lazy fuckers and some will actually stand at their table while they down a drink and a quick tapa. Actually, now that I think of it, not many Spaniards stood and ate, but some did -- the ones who were too cool to spend all their time at one place so they were always just passing through on their way to the next awesome little hole in the wall. Big mirrors on one wall, bar seating facing the street, nice big windows for good lighting, zesty music and way over-staffed with cute bohemian hipster chicks. All good things.

Food. Presentation was excellent. Cute little dishes and cute little servings with nice bright colors. Flavors? Getting there. The food seemed a little amateurish in its complexity, like the sound of it on the menu was better than what I actually got in my mouth. It seemed one-dimensional and a little bland but too strong on the garlic and onions.

Couple things of promise to note: a few good veggie options including $4 Patatas Bravas (which were ok, but nothing like the creamy-crispy-hot heaven on a toothpick I'd had in Spain). Some kind of fava plantain sandwich (which was $7 so I skipped it, but it sounded good). $4 Hummus. Now, this one sounded good, "preserved lemon hummus", but it was just hummus and a few crusty pieces of grilled bread and I have that exact meal in my fridge right now at home... cute serving dish but nothing special as far as the flavors went. Charcoal grilled bread was a nice touch I suppose but I am so SICK of ordering unispired hummus apps because that's the only veggie option on the menu...


$4 Calamari with bacon and peas. That was almost yummy except the bacon seemed to enhance the fishiness of the seafood and I just wasn't a huge fan.
$4 tamarind brisket on knoedel. That was pretty good and was a pretty good sized portion to share.
$11 Veggie Paella with a small green salad. Cute serving, pretty tasty and like a mini version of the $50 monstrosity they called a 2-person serving in Spain. I really really appreciated them having a veggie option, but I really missed the seafood.

Now that I've seen it during their first week open, I can't wait to see what else they'll do with the place! Pinchos? Happy Hour? more Sangria? seasonal tapas? Pinchos? It didn't live up to my hopes and dreams but I'm going to have to say Spain set the bar pretty damn high. So, next time expectations will be at a reasonable level and I will probably love it. Can't wait to try it again.
I'm just stoked to see some of my favorite food cart dudes trying their skills in a new realm, I hope they're having a ton of fun.

Broken Top Bottle Shop & Ale Cafe

It's about freakin' time that the veg-heads get a good dinning option in Bend, because let me tell you, I was getting tired of the Mushroom Ravioli at Deschutes.

New in town, and now having been open for 1 month, (congrats guys!) the Broken Top Bottle Shop is a win win WIN in my book.

After enjoying the Roasted Beet Salad (which I remember more clearly as being a grapefruit salad) there a couple weeks ago with a friend who had the Taco Special, I saw they had a Veggie Reuben on the menu and knew I'd be back soon. With the hubby.

Hubster has made it his life's mission to appreciate the Reuben in every way shape and form. He's broken his vegetarian vows many a time for a cow Reuben. I don't blame him for breaking down at Katz's deli in New York, playing the travel card, but it was a particularly low moment when he spent a week slowly breaking down his defenses and finally giving in to eat one at Arby's "because the guys on the Reuben forum on the interwebs said it was good!" It wasn't that good. We make grilled cheese veggie Reubens in the casa - fried in mayonnaise - and wish that there was a place in town that could do it better. Not sure about better, but definitely worth the $10 price tag, BTBS did it up right with smoked tempeh this time.

It had all the good stuff on it like smoked tempeh (in house - right on) Kraut, 1000 island, cheese and all on a really nice looking marbled rye bread that they said was local (right on) forgot to ask where it was from, damn.

I had the veggie Philly Cheese Melt WITH au jus on the side. Dee-lish. It had even more good stuff on it like smoked portobellos, cheese, garlic mayo on a panini grilled brioche bun. Yes. So rich I couldn't finish it, when was the last time I said that about a veggie sandwich.

Both sammies came with nice house side salads - and I mean nice - with greens, cucumbers (with the seeds scooped out all fancy style) housemade croutons, pickled onions and blue cheese dressing (which I think cam out of a bottle but was still tasty). And both also came with 3 precious bread and butter pickle slices on the side, some of the best I've had ever, they had to be house pickles, but forgot to ask again... Damn.

Beer menu was good, and I think maybe it was different than when I was there before but couldn't' quite remember. Anyways had the El Torero IPA from some Portland brewery. Good but not particularly memorable.

Ambiance was nice, good Grateful Dead music just a little louder than the background noise, nice warm, cozy (yellow as you can see from the photos) lighting, and good service in that really-happy-you're-there-new-business kind of way which is really truly endearing and I hope it lasts for a while before they start to get bitter and over it.

$10 veggie sammies seem pricey, but they really were delicious and quite inspired. If only they had some kind of nice Happy Hour deals...

All in all, I loved it, can't wait to go back, and I know H-band is down because on the car ride home he said, "man, I can't wait to taste my way through that menu..."

900 Wall

Hiatus is over. It's been 3 years, is that all? I swear it had been at least 5, but then time slows down when you're busy living life -- or the perception of it does when you pack it full of good livin' and have the photos and the journals to back it up.

What have I been up to? Lot's of working, a few good eats and a little travel. Maybe I'll share it with you someday, maybe not, life happens after all and eventually we have to move on.

And that's what I'm doing now, moving on and getting the blog back on line.

I have to say, I've been inspired by BOR to get some good content out there for people to read who like to eat. In the past I laughed out loud and subjected The Hubby to my outloud reading of good lines of the this blog. I have to say BOR, you are a very funny guy and H-band still thinks he knows you and your intials are Kevin Donnelly, I'm not sure, I see the resemblance, but I think you're actually different people who have the same taste in food and same sense of humor, actually I think Kevin has way better taste in food (and is way funnier). But anyways, I read the most recent posts and I have to say, they were almost good, but not nearly as good as they used to be. Short, boring and not detailed enough. Maybe BOR is bored? Whatever, the Bend food scene is still sweet sauce in my book and is only getting better with all the renewed vitality and creativity the Food Cart revolution / real estate bust has infused.

So since I'm inspired to write, that's what I'm doing. Move over BOR, or thanks for the room, or whatever... anyways, I'm here, not sure how long I'll be here, but I'll see what I can do. No promises.

So, tonight I met a friend at 900 Wall for Happy Hour.

How long has this place been open after Merenda s*** the bed? A while. And this was the first meal I've had. What can I say, living on 1 paycheck makes for lots of homemade yum bowls.

I effing loved the meal.

Was I just easily pleased after so long out of the dining scene? Maybe... but I am a mighty good cook myself and I'll be the first to say (privately to H-man) that I am a damn good cook and if I'm paying for a meal out it better be awesome.

First of all, the Happy Hour deals were great. And the staff seemed stoked to go out of their way to give us way more than we were paying for. Yes, we were 2 hot women (1 prego) but still... I think they really were pumped to give us great food, lots of it, for a great value, and with excellent, attentive service.

Happy Hour at 900 Wall 3-6 pm, nightly. A nice big window since most of us poor suckers work for the man until 5.

I had a $5 glass of house red, some cab/shiraz blend from Penfolds that pregnant lady drooled over and said she could smell from across the table, yes, it was fruity and delicious. And now that I try to find it online I see it for $7, I should buy a bottle of this for home use.

I also had 1 raw oyster for $1.5o. I am easily seduced by oysters and like to pretend that they are more bug than animal and therefore I am still a vegetarian while consuming them. What can I say, there's somthing forbidden and naughty about eating raw flesh, especially raw flesh that feels so velvety and slippery. It was from Fanny Bay, WA (nice, again, naughty), and it was fresh, delicious and super oceany in a refreshing seabreeze kind of way. The squeeze of my lemon wedge made the little guy contract (not very vegetable-like) and the mignonette (think vinaigrette) was a nice touch to dip it in that didn't overpower its subtle flavor with oniony-shallot.

We shared the $5 Caesar Salad (which they split onto 2 plates, thanks guys, above and beyond) and the $6 Portobello Sandwich with Fries (which they also split on 2 plates, at no charge, yes, they are awesome).

Caesar was excellent with a huge thin toast-crisp crouton thing, fine micro-planed grated parm, and some salty roasted things that looked like peppercorns but were more like tiny freeze-dried peas. The lettuce was mostly whole leaves, and the dressing was strong and anchovy-flavored with enough lemon to pass my Caesar test. Win.

Still reading even though I said "Portobello" earlier? Good. The Portobello sandwich is the nemesis of all vegetarians, viewed as the ultimate uninspired cop-out of menu offerings, it is the ususally the last thing I'll order. I'd rather get a side of mashed potatoes and a salad. But this one, this one had onion jam, Gorgonzola, a slice of eggplant, some kind of green (probably arugula) and all on a buttered brioche bun. It was a whole new breed. The onion jam and the Gorgonzola made it, sweet and caramelized with that pungent creaminess.... oh man. And the mushroom was cooked to the perfect medium-rare (meat eaters, STFU, it takes skills to do this right). Served with salt and pepper fries, that were good when hot and fresh but started to harden up and dry out as they cooled. Not the best fries, but delicious dipped in the little blue dish of ketchup - so fancy.

The total for 2 full bellies, was $20. With a generous tip as a thank you for the really nice plate ups, I definitely got my dollar's worth. If I bring hubby next time we'd probably have to spend $30 to get him full, but still, for fancy food, this would be well worth it.

I think I put off going to 900 Wall for so long because I really didn't think it could stand up to my memory of Merenda. But, I'm happy to say it was really delicious, and they'll always have that great big wall of windows offering the scenic view of the peasants scurrying by on the street.