F
lutter your eyes a few times and you'll be in the place where the Dogwood Cocktail Cabin is the hot spot downtown, the Brown Owl is the go-to in the Box Factory and the Wall Street Bar & Grill is still taking up space in Brooks Alley. But in a proverbial blink, that all changed. New restaurateurs have set up shop in Bend in recent years, replacing less-new with even newer, shinier versions. The Wall Street Bar is now Dear Irene (which the Source Weekly named Rookie of the Year in our 2024 Restaurant Guide). In the Box Factory, The Brown Owl abruptly closed this spring; another bar, called WildWood, opening right behind it.And this past weekend, two new spots opened around Bend, signaling the celebrity status that Bend is beginning to garner on its food scene. A recap of some of the biggest changes this summer thus far in Bend food and drink:
Bar RBC opens its doors
When we chatted with Renee and John Gorham this spring for our annual Restaurant Guide (who'd won our nod for Restaurant of the Year for the steakhouse Rancher Butcher Chef), they told the Source Weekly that when their new bar concept was ready, they'd simply, quietly open the doors and begin serving guests. That's exactly what they did over the weekend, soft-opening the doors of Bar RBC in the former Dogwood along Minnesota Avenue in downtown Bend.
Patrons of the Dogwood will recognize the contours of the place as mostly the same, though the interior has gotten a glow-up as Bar RBC, with mixed metals and a clean, elegant look. Fans of the former Toro Bravo will take note that not only does the host stand double as a bookshelf for Toro Bravo cookbooks, but the menu has a few nods to the longtime Portland mainstay. The menu is heavy on the small plates — a nod to the Spanish tapas Toro Bravo was so known for.
"We really want to stay in the RBC lane but create a place that's casual and fun, a Spanish-tapas-inspired grownup bar," Gorham told the Source back in October.
Look for Toro Bravo's Patatas Bravas, with the optional addition of making them spicy, as one glance at the former Toro Bravo menu. With an inventive cocktail menu, a great wine list and a focus on spirits like sherry and vermouth, it's a grownup bar with a grownup vibe, to be sure. Bar RBC is open now at 147 NW Minnesota Avenue in Bend.
Hawkeye and Huckleberry Lounge opens
Celebrity Chef Brian Malarkey's presence has been anything but subtle since he purchased the former Walt Reilly's building and began to dream up his "cowboy steakhouse" concept. I toured the place right after the Food Network star bought it as an empty husk of a failed sports bar, his buoyant energy making it clear he's an expert in combining fun with business. With so much square footage to fill in a space that used to house putt-putt golf and other sports, it may have seemed like an impossible task to make the space feel cozy and inviting and also cowboy-hip, but somehow, he's pulled it off. The spaces inside are broken up into fun private and public areas, including a row of camp tents housing private dining rooms, a stage that houses a life-size horse and a camp trailer, named Shirley Rae, that serves as a pass-through to the private bar where Malarkey already has line dancing on the regular rotation. Oh, and did we mention an onsite butcher shop?
Malarkey and his brother James, who grew up in Central Oregon, opened Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge over the weekend with a massive grand opening party June 15. The name is in homage to the line, "I'm your huckleberry," uttered by Doc Holiday, Val Kilmer's character in the movie "Tombstone."
With the modern cowboy steakhouse theme, steaks play heavy on the menu, featuring beef from the Malarkey's Tumalo ranch. Other menu items, beyond a robust "meat market" of steaks cooked over Oregon hardwood, include whole-pan rockfish, wood-fired half chicken and pizzas. Hawkeye & Huckleberry kicks off each day with a happy hour from 4 to 5pm. It's located at 225 SW Century Drive in Bend.
