Melanie C.
Yelp
Located on Lava Street in downtown Bend, around the corner from the Oxford Hotel and across from the DoubleTree. White table cloth dining with New American cuisine of steaks, elk, bison, fresh seafood. The entrance was unique and seemed to take you into an adventure. Inside it was a dark, serene, nicely decorated dining room filled with diners. Dined in with a party of five.
Hostess and waitress were nice and accommodating with requests. Ordered:
Appetizers to share:
* Roasted marrow bone w/Bacon and caramelized onion jam, garlic confit, and toasted crostini - very good!
* Baked Brie w/local Honey, dates, apricots, dried cranberries, and toasted almonds & grilled crostini. Who doesn't like Brie!
Salad:
* Caesar salad - Romaine, parmesan, and garlic croutons, with a Lemon-Anchovy and Egg Dressing, topped w/shaved Parmesan Cheese. It was plain but I liked it.
Entrees ordered in the group:
* Vegetarian pasta - Brown butter sage pappardelle, with a miso truffle and white wine sauce, sweet peas, asparagus, and Shiitake mushroom topped with toasted walnuts and parmesan breadcrumbs.
* Seared duck breast - with a balsamic and black cherry sauce, Arugula, creamy Goat cheese polenta, with a bacon and green bean sauté.
* Pan-roasted elk - creamy mascarpone Polenta, crispy Pancetta Brussel sprouts, & sweet garlic. Topped with a Blackberry and Pomegranate Bordelaise sauce. Not my entree but tried a bite and it was really good.
* Filet mignon - Pan-seared prime cut Filet Mignon, Topped with French Compound Butter, Malibu Carrots, and Yukon gold garlic & parmesan smash.
* NY Bison - Local sourced Bison from Pine Mountain Ranch Bend, Oregon. Soaked in duck fat for four days, grilled and served with garlic cream parmesan potatoes, cipollini onions, sautéed asparagus, with a roasted shallot and thyme sauce.
We all liked our entrees and thought all was flavorful and tasty. I can only speak specifically for my bison entree which was tender, flavorful w/nice accompaniments. One star off for a mistake in one of the entrees (they apologized and prepared the desired entree) and though the food was great we didn't realize until the end of dinner that most of our entrees were lukewarm (except the corrected entree). We were all having a good time! I've seen more than one review here about lukewarm entrees. If food can be this good then it would only be better if they can improve on this point.
I would definitely return to try the other entrees like Halibut cheek, King salmon, or any of their pastas. And house-made desserts like flourless chocolate cake, apple Tarte Tatin, pots de crème.