Your key to Central Oregon
Who dis?
I was on a book thrifting adventure today before going to my local disc golf league and decided that I would give Sunriver Brewing Co. a shot since I’ve enjoyed a 6 pack of two of theirs throughout the year.
Walked right in & was greeted and seated promptly, it was busy but manageable & I was excited to peruse their menu which you can find below.
Yeah pretty disappointing menu isn’t it? I’ve noticed a lot of local menu’s lately have been small with strange offering that wouldn’t pair well, & seem to not be have a consistent theme, Sunriver Brewing Co. is just that. and we haven’t even got to the pricing yet.
The decor though is nice & shows off a local flair along with their beer can art as well.
Lunch: Turkey Bacon Pesto Sando
turkey, bacon, pesto, lettuce, tomato, herb aioli, cheddar cheese, on a hoagie choice of fries, fruit, soup, fresh veggies or field of greens and a pickle slice $18
Ok where to start, this isn’t really a hoagie roll, it’s more of French bread as it has a hard exterior, that is tough to bite through & has that texture that would cut the inside of your mouth. There was a good amount of toppings, but they didn’t really mesh well as the ratio of sauce to bun/topping wasn’t enough which makes the sandwich taste dry. The fried were palatable with Portland Ketchup Co Organic Ketchup to pair, it was the best part of the meal.
Let’s talk about the price before we move on, $18 for a small sandwich and fries is really robbery, I can’t believe the prices here. Maybe it’s a ploy to get you to buy more beer. Speaking of Beer…
Rivermark – Bohemian Pilsner 16oz $7
As you can tell, I like a light or dark beer, and on a hot day like today, a Pilsner usually hits the spot. This one is crisp and clean, but $7 for a beer? Yuk 🤢 but I guess tourist will pay anything in Sunriver for a meal and a beer.
Overall the service was adequate, wait time was fine, seating options were good, but the prices and quality of food for that price is downright embarrassing. I’d go up the street to the Village Grill, look forward to a review on them soon.
The return visit to “The food truck that everyone is talking about.” The bold tagline they backed up in the first visit. Unfortunately the sequel didn’t quite live up to the original.
Another day out thrifting for my Amazon Book Store, ResellerRex, and I took @socialmediaridesharerex to BoW ready to knock her socks off with a dish I thought she’d really like, but alas the Crispy Garlic Chicken wasn’t quite to her taste. But for me…
Lunch: pineapple 🍍 shrimp 🍤 fried rice 🍚 – Jasmine rice 🍚 infused with yellow curry flavor stir-fried with Pineapple 🍍 shrimps 🍤, cashew nuts, raisins, and onions 🧅. $12.95
After getting knocked out of my chair in my first visit, this was like going to go see Jaws 2 after seeing Jaws, a complete let down. But hey, I still got one of those fire Thai Iced Teas, so it wasn’t all bad. But for the PFR, it was just bland and oily, there really were 0 spices used, and too much oil in the frying. The only thing that gave it any flavor were the raisins and cashews. Unfortunately a total miss on a spot I really hyped.
Drink: Thai Iced Tea $4 yeah, I could drink a gallon of this.
I’m still interested in going back to BoW to try a few other dishes specifically the Pad Thai, Thai Basil Chicken 🐓 , and Spring Rolls & Crab 🦀 Won Tons.
Italian Comfort Cuisine Foodtruck in Redmond Oregon
Nonna’s Cucina offers authentic Italian food made from scratch that uses as many locally sourced and organic ingredients as possible. We offer both vegan and gluten free menu options. “Many of the recipes are from over three generations of my family; my Italian grandmother taught me our famous meatball recipe”. – Ashley Dolinar – Chef and Owner.
Well here we are out and about thrifting for books again and needing a bite to eat in Redmond, and after a successful trip to That Guy’s Bistro at General Duffy’s Watering Hole, we’re back with a new truck! Nonna’s Cucina!
After looking at the menu we instantly keyed in on splitting the Chicken 🐓 Pesto Sandwich 🥪 & fries.
Lunch: Chicken 🐓 Pesto Sandwich 🥪$16-Popular sandwich with chicken 🐓 , house-made pesto, fontina cheese 🧀 , fresh basil 🌿, fresh tomato 🍅 , and balsamic glaze on a Pandura roll 🥖 from the Village Baker. Served with your choice of fries 🍟, garlic fries 🧄 🍟, or a side salad 🥗.
We went with the garlic fries on their recommendation & I have to say, this sandwich was delicious & the fries were crispy & flavorful. The bread, like at Sunriver Brewing Co, was hard, but it worked well with the wet textures of the sandwich and sauce, it had a crunch to it, not chewy like Sunriver Brewing Co.. The cheese melted nicely keeping things mostly intact, and the balsamic glaze was an absolute game changer to my taste buds.
The garlic fries weren’t too over powering and packed with flavor and crisp, a nice side to the soft sandwich filling. You really get a good sized meal to share, as you can see we couldn’t finish, but that’s not a reflection on the quality of food, more so on the amount of coffee & beer we had prior & during. $16 is a little on the steep end for a one person meal, but if everything comes in this size a portion, a split meal comes at a nice price of $8 per person.
We are inside General Duffy’s Watering Hole & grabbed a beverage, I opted for another light Pilsner, the Ninkasi Pilsner. I can’t say this was a good pairing with the sandwich and fries, the tart crispness didn’t pair well, afterthoughts would lead me to go with a dark beer to pair here. You can see my full beer review on Untappd.
So the verdict is, grab a friend, split a meal and get a beer and enjoy another great offering at General Duffy’s Watering Hole, a great place to kill time in a layover at RDM.
Located in the heart of The Village at Sunriver. Village Bar & Grill has been serving great food & drinks for over 40 years!
Vbag as they like to call themselves is a staple eatery in Sunriver that aims to meet your needs with an array of food options, drinks, and indoor/outdoor seating.
We were on our way down to Sunriver again on the hunt to fill up our Amazon Bookstore at ResellerRex, and narrowed our search for chicken tenders or burgers down to two spots, here and Big Belly Burgers & Brew, and we came here for the chicken tenders that actually turns out to be a photo of fish and chips 🤦🏻♂️, but oh well, we’re here let’s see what they got.
Now the menu, like Sunriver Brewing Co. is just a little small for my liking in a place like this, again, no chicken tenders (although looking at the table next to us, it looks like they are on the kids menu), and we were looking for smaller plates, or something to share, as thrifting on a full stomach is not ideal. The menu again does not flow well with options, and is pricier than a local would really like to pay. I settled on the Hazey BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich with a side of fries (other options are coleslaw or cottage cheese). Fresh Haze (Deschutes Brewery IPA) braised pork with our house BBQ sauce, fried onion straws, and pepper jack cheese.
Now I usually don’t do this, but I’m starting with the fries 🍟 . These were the best fries I think I have ever had. They were a great temperature, crispy, seasoned, and flavorful. I had some malt vinegar on them & a side of ranch and that was all I needed. Best fries 🍟 in C.O so far! As for the pulled pork 🐖 sandwich 🥪, I was a little hesitant with the pepper jack combo with the pork, but I’ll tell you that small amount of heat paired with the crispy fried onion straws really elevated this sandwich to another level.
I really like this sandwich at $15 instead of $17, but I guess inflation is something we can’t really get around. On to the beer 🍺.
Beer: Three Creeks Brewing Mexican Lager $x
This thing was clean and crisp with a lime wedge to balance it out. A solid Mexican lager with a kick. Check out my review on Untappd.
Overall the food was good if not a little under seasoned, the deck atmosphere was nice except there was some event going on that day where an annoying noise happened most of our meal, but of no fault of Vbag, but beware The Village is usually packed with people and activities. They were “understaffed” with two servers, but they had 4 different food runners, so I’m not sure why the server thought they were so understaffed, but alas I just review, I don’t manage. I’d rexamend this as a stop if you are in Sunriver for sure.
Gourmet sausages with an Argentinian Flair
After a long day of hunting books and thrifts, we decided to have a nice sit down dinner at Bangers & Brews Eastside. We’ve been wanting to check out one of the sausage places in town & decided a trip to the Eastside location was a great place to start.
You start out at a cafeteria style line ordering first & then choosing a place to sit.
There is inside seating,
and a split patio seating shared with Hablo Tacos.
Winter set up with heaters, and open air flow in the summer.
You can order the traditional 1X2X1 or off the specials menu, and lastly have sides.
After ordering we took our beverages out to the patio and found a table, and old whisky barrel with a new top & high bar stools and we were set.
I opted to get the Reuben’s Lager which was a solid lager option from a Seattle brewery. Besides on tap, there was a cooler as well stocked with alternative drinks & fountain sodas as well.
We opened up with the 12” Pretzel and cheese for an appetizer, but before we received that we were brought out some warm bread and chimichurri. honestly the bread fell apart easily, and was not easy to dip in the sauce. And this will be the last complaint you’ll hear from me.
A warm buttery pretzel with a nice hot creamy cheese sauce with a good salt to pretzel ratio. A good opening once we got passed the bread fiasco.
I went with a (1) Elk/Pork Brat (2) Caramelized Onions & Sauerkraut (1) and Chimichurri. There is also an option to go bundles which I did choosing to have mine on a bed of mashed potatoes.
The chimichurri is nice with a cilantro kick, gravy is semi sweet & pairs well with the slightly gamey sausage, carmelized onions are a little under cooked and gives a nice texture difference to the sausage and potatoes. The sauerkraut portion is a little lacking but flavorful & melds well with the rest of the components.
Overall I’m impressed with both the price point & amount of food provided in the portion. I think this place is great (I ended up taking my dad to the Westside location a few weeks later. Smaller venue, longer wait times, go to the Eastside.) and am excited to try out some other combos & sausages. 💯 Rexamend this as a go to while in town!
Wood fired pizza is what caught our noses today in Tumalo at The Bite. We are on our way to Sisters to go Thrifting and needed a little bite and a beer to hold us over on the drive so we hit up the Bite.
After scanning the menu here on a 91 degree day the Pear & Prosciutto pizza stood out as something light & right for this afternoon.
The crust was A light, buttery, and crisp crust topped with thinly sliced prosciutto, pear chunks which were solid and sweet. The basil compliments on the back end nicely and it’s topped with a sweet balsamic glaze that really rounds out a nice pie.
For our beverages I went with the Van Henion Kolsch which I had a taster glass at Bend Brewfest and was excited to have a nice cold pint. It compliments well as it’s nice and light with a full malty flavor, perfect for a hot summer day and a pizza pie for lunch.
@socialmediaridesharerex opted for a cider.
What can I say, this was a successful adventure on our way thrifting, and I know I haven’t posted as much as I once was, but with Fjord being wrecked, Mitsu in the shop for repairs, I’ve been focusing a lot on my book selling business, where I’ve had a chance to visit many Thrift Stores in the area & will start posting them soon!
So after my first foray into thrifting in Sisters, I had to come back the very next day and finish what I started as they closed the store on us yesterday before we even got 25% through their inventory. I knew I had to get there with enough time, and after filling up my box with books & having 30% of the store left to source, sweating on a 92 degree day, I knew I needed to seek shelter, AC, and provisions.
My familiarity with Ski Inn from our last trip
& the 2 blocks walking distance made this an easy although unsettling choice. As I had driven by a few hours prior & the place was absolutely jammed packed, and as I walked up I could tell by the fact that every table sat un-bussed and empty, they were short handed and in need of a reprise. There were only 2 other people there post lunch rush, and so I made it easy on them with just an appetizer and a brew.
Chili con Queso -Fresh fried chips, and our house. chili con queso $8
OMG! Look at the size of those chips!!!!!!
The queso was spicy, but not a tongue burner, just enough heat to pair nicely with a few brews, obviously filling with the chips the size of your hands, I thought I’d run out of dip before finishing the chips, but paced myself nicely at the end and had just enough to finish.
Beer: I believe this was a Chapman Brown Ale, besides that the waitress didn’t know which Chapman Brewery it was (There’s 2) not it’s actual name. After doing some research on Untappd after the fact I believe it to be Still the One Chapman Crafted Beer (Orange County, Ca). Anyway, it was delicious, crushable, and thirst quenching malt light for a brown ale.
All in all nice friendly fast service, good food, and cold beer, worth a stop in Sisters when passing through.
Rideshare Rex 