Tag: Books

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Sunriver Brewing Co. @ The Village at Sunriver

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.

Seating

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.

SRP-8.16.22-w-kids.pdfDownload

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.

Local Artwork
Beer Can Art

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

Turkey Bacon Pesto Sando

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

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.

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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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Pine Marten Pizza at The Bite Tumalo

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!

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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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Been awhile but I’m still here!

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve made a regular old blog post, but I’ve been busy. We got a replacement vehicle for Fjord, we now have Duke in our line up. I’ve been out sourcing books for our FBA business which we now have over 1500 books in our store. Since it’s the slow season for Turo, I’ve picked back up driving for Lyft throughout the day (guess where I am right now lol… ✈️) and we’ve just generally been busy preparing for Winter & wrapping up Summer.

Thanks for stopping by, and look forward to weekly food reviews which I have scheduled to come out weekly on Thursdays (love technology & the ability to schedule posts) and look forward to some more consistent communication going forward.