Category: Dine In

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Nonna’s Cucina at General Duffy’s Watering Hole

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!

The Truck

After looking at the menu we instantly keyed in on splitting the Chicken 🐓 Pesto Sandwich 🥪 & fries.

The menu
Chicken 🐓 Pesto Sandwich 🥪

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 🥗.

Chicken 🐓 Pesto Sandwich 🥪 & garlic fries 🧄 🍟

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.

Ninkasi Pilsner

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.

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Village Bar and Grill

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.

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Bangers and Brews Eastside

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.

Menu
Drink list

There is inside seating,

and a split patio seating shared with Hablo Tacos.

The Hablo side

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.

Reuben’s Lager

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.

Weak bread

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.

Elk/Pork Brat

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!

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Ski Inn Taphouse Hotel 2: chips & queso and a brew

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!!!!!!

Gigantic 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.

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El Sancho Burrito Shop (Aka Runaround Sue)

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What can I say about El Sancho, they are a favorite spot here in our family, they have 2 locations (*wink wink*) and a couple food carts scattered around town and serve up some tasty food, and have fun atmosphere’s at their locations.

So when we heard they were opening up a pop up shop close by, I was instructed that we were having some take out from there this weekend. Yes instructed…

Lunch: Well what do you think we got? lol.

Shrimp Fajita Burrito ($15) What can i say, it was so good apparently I couldn’t even get a bite. It also went by so fast, the camera couldn’t catch up with it.

Pork Chili Verde Burrito

Pork Chili Verde Burrito ($14) Well this is what I got, and it was pretty good, the pork wasn’t quite melt in your mouth, and it came with plain white rice, with a side of lettuce, pico, sour cream, and guac on a home made tortilla. I can’t say I was super impressed with it, it was a better value than the Skin Inn Taphouse, but not quite as flavorful. Overall though, it was a tasty burrito.

The pop up also featured a home made salsa bar, most of them were hot or spicy salsa’s, so i opted for the avocado salsa which I thought wouldn’t be on that scale, but was i wrong, it had some heat to it!

I love what El Sancho is doing with this pop up shop, unfortunately we missed the first two, but won’t miss any more going forward. I rexamend you find a location while in town, you won’t be disappointed!

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
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Rideshare Rex

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Elly’s Ice Cream

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Where ice cream meets inspiration

First I want to apologize for the photo of Elly’s Ice Cream, it really doesn’t do them any justice, but from the jump obtaining this ice cream didn’t really go as planned which I’ll address when I do my review of Bontà Natural Artisan Gelato.

So we were unable to eat at Bontà due to them being “closed” at the time, so we decided to go to Ben & Jerry’s… Wait what? Ben and Jerry’s are all over the world? ok cool I guess we’ll go to Baskin and…. wait? They’re not local either? Ok let me find a local place to get some ice cream. Elly’s, ever heard of them? Me neither. let’s go!

Elly’s ended up being on the way West Side located at The Grove which is a “Food Hall” per their website, but really reminds me of a cafeteria style building or a mall food court with penalty of options to eat and drink and sit and enjoy.

Now something you need to know about me, when I dine out, there is a very high probability that they are either a. not going to have an ingredient or dish that we specifically came there to eat, or b. they are going to mess up our dish, or give us something completely different. I think I’m going to come up with a tag for this. How about NWIW NOT WHAT I WANTED. This way, we can really keep track of how absurdly often this happens. I better go back and update some previous posts.

So as it begins, we wanted to try a Gone Glamping, but alas they didn’t have any Marshmallow Crèam which according to our scoopologist “really makes the dish”, so we moved on.

We got a 1 scoop ($3) and a 2 Scoop Waffle Cone ($7.25) of Vanilla and Strawberry and Cream. To be honest I don’t remember what the 1 scoop was as it’s been a few weeks since we’ve been. Sadly to say, it was ice cream, although it was locally sourced and natural ingredients, it really wasn’t that impressive. Maybe if we had stayed and enjoyed it inside, or weren’t already put off from not getting our first choice, but I can attest that there will be higher ice cream on the Great 8 List.

So to recap, if you’re in the area, and want ice cream, it’s there, if you have means to go elsewhere, I’d recommend you check the Great 8 List.

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Rating: 2 out of 5.
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Rideshare Rex

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The Hideaway Bend

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When you have an almost 3 year old, sometimes alcohol and bar food calls your soul. How do I know this? Experience lol. So we decided to check out the local dive down at the Hideout Bend. First impressions is that they have done a good job with the name, if you didn’t know this place was here, it’s cause it’s hidden well. Second is I pick up and take patrons here often, so this fall I can attest to the work they’ve done upgrading their parking lot and outdoor space. But hey, let’s get to the food.

Beer: I went with a S1nist0r Black Ale from 10 Barrel Brewing Co. (5.7% ABV 28 IBU Schwarzbier $4.75). Now normally I wouldn’t be doing a beer review on an Anheuser-Busch beer, so how did I end up here? Well it was probably the most local beer I could find that was a dark beer, so options were limited. It was a good beer though, dark and malty, just how I like em’. Find my review on Untappd here!

S1nist0r Black Ale from 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

Dinner: You’re going to find your run of the mill bar food with appetizers, salads, burgers, and pizza.

I opted for the Nachos Carnitas ($16) House braised pork, refried beans and housemade queso over a plate of warm corn chips. Topped with chipotle sauce, sour cream, four cheese blend, fresh cilantro, pickled jalapeños and salsa.

It was pretty much what I expected it to be except for two things, the meat was cold, like it was supposed to be warm, but wasn’t, second, the chipotle sauce was excellent, but there wasn’t enough of it.

Nachos Carnitas

We also had the Buffalo Mac & Cheese ($15) Five cheese, grilled chicken and our Buffalo hot sauce. Topped with crisp panko flakes, bleu crumbles and green onion.

I’m not a big Buffalo sauce fan, but I’ll tell you that this thing was spicy but I heard no complaints from the other side of the table, so I’ll take it that it was better than the nachos lol.

The Hideaway in Bend was pretty much what I thought it was going to be, a locals type of place with a decent amount of taps, friendly faces behind the pours, and a nice atmosphere to just hand out (they had a TV wall with couches). I believe this is the spot to watch NFL Patriots games in town as well.

All in all, if you are on the South East Side, this would be an option for you as they do most things well, but nothing quite better than other sports bars in the area.

Click below to check out their social accounts, and as always if you visit tell them Rideshare Rex sent you!

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Rating: 3 out of 5.
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Rideshare Rex

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Ski Inn Taphouse Hotel

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Sunset View

We decided to take a day trip to McDowell Creek Falls on my day off for a little hike (I’ll save you a review on that as it’s not in Central Oregon) but on our way there we decided that we had to try the new Ski Inn Taphouse in Sisters, Oregon. We drive to the valley via Hwy 20 & 22 many times as I grew up in the valley and my mom still lives there, and we’ve watched as they have transformed this spot into the Taphouse.

As you know, I’m a big beer fan, and we were met with an online menu system via a QR Code to get started. I settled on a nice dark beer that unfortunately was on a tap that blew earlier that day. There wasn’t much on the menu local that I hadn’t tried already, so I settled in on a Cider.

Cider: English Pub 7.5% from Portland Cider Co ($6). A nice pint of tart crisp cider was just what I needed after a nice hike at the falls. Check out my full review on Untapped. Check out their full drink menu here.

Dinner: We decided to split dinner with two entrees Pulled Pork Sando ($17) & Chili Verde Burrito ($18).

Pulled Pork Sando ($17)

The Pulled Pork Sando came with a side of fries or coleslaw, I was pretty disappointed that the sandwich didn’t come with anything besides pork and the bun, having the coleslaw on the burger in addition to the fries would have gave it a nice contrast to the softness of the sandwich.The bbq sauce was enjoyable and the bread roll was well put together. The fries were cooked perfectly crispy and were seasoned well, i enjoyed them.

Chili Verde Burrito ($18).

The Chili Verde Burrito came with a side salad which was nicely sized with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. The burrito itself we asked for pico on the side (cilantro soap genes) and received the sour cream and guac on the side as well and it came topped with sliced jalapeños. The Verde sauce was very mild, and the pork was beyond fork tender. This was the favorite dish of the two in my opinion, but I’d say that neither were $17-18 dollar dishes and were priced a little high for the quality.

For a Taphouse I’d have to say that their food and drink menu were a little lackluster from expectations, but their outdoor seating and environment will keep people coming through the doors.

Click below to check out their social accounts, and as always if you visit tell them Rideshare Rex sent you!

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Rating: 3 out of 5.
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Rideshare Rex