No, not a new blog by me (ha!), but I wanted to point to this new blog: best minimum wage job a middle aged guy ever had. For a couple of reasons. First, I know Duncan, he owns Pegasus Books and he's one of the few Bend long-timers left.

Second, because damn if this isn't going to be a really great read for Bend history and local economics. Required.

And while you're at it, check out the Bend Economy Blog. He's going through another reboot, which is kind of a shame since he had some really good posts up before. But more will come.

I'm prescient. Last week I first blogged about Wildfire Brewing starting up (from the owners of JC's Bar & Grill), and today there's an article on them in the Bulletin.

According to the Bulletin, they're planning on opening in the next two months.

“It’s sort of scary because nobody wants to take on Budweiser and Coors, which everyone drinks at the bar,” Cox said, adding that not all breweries offer lager beer. “We’re trying to tap into the lager market in Bend.”

Lager is one of the two flagship brews that brewer Cook will make at Wildfire’s new 1,600-square-foot facility in north Bend. Cook also will brew a pale ale, he said.

Cook said he’ll start making the beer within the next month and hopes to have beer ready for consumption in two months.

The Wildfire brewery will produce roughly 1,600 to 2,200 barrels of beer per year, Cox said.

Looks like I was right; initially the beer will be sold on tap at JC's. Within six months, they hope to start bottling the beer.

This is pretty cool—I'm looking forward to trying them out. Stay tuned.

Saturday, December 9th is the Bend Christmas Parade! Hard to believe it's that time of year already...

The parade starts at noon, and follows a looping course through downtown and around Drake Park and Mirror Pond; check out the parade map here. It's a fun parade, the kids will love it, but be prepared for cold! Bundle up, it's been really cold each year as long as I can remember.

I'm sure we'll go again this year, and I'll take the camera and post a bunch of pictures.

Update: I forgot that the Newport Bridge is still closed, but this KTVZ article indicates that they might be done next week, in time for the parade. We'll see. I wonder what they'll do if it's closed?

Just a few quick notes following up my Zydeco post from a few days ago. We had dinner there Saturday night and had the prime rib special. In a nutshell? The entire meal was fantastic. It's pretty much cemented in my mind as the best restaurant in Bend right now.

If you can get a special like the prime rib, go for it. Otherwise, I'd recommend either the redfish or the baby back ribs. Get a spinach salad too. And finish with almond wet cake.

Although, the pear cobbler we had the other night was incredible, too. You pretty much can't go wrong.

Don't miss Deschutes Brewery's annual "garage sale" this Saturday, December 2nd. It's taking place at their Mountain Room from 12pm until 4.

We went last year; there will be good deals on pub wear (T-shirts, hats, etc.), drinkware, accessories, and so on. It'll also be busy, so get there early.

Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room
901 SW Simpson Avenue (at the Simpson/Colorado roundabout)

A friend gave me heads-up that the owners of JC's Bar & Grill downtown are starting their own brewery—WildFire Brewing. I found confirmation on JC's MySpace page, where they say:

JC's is soon to be pouring beer from WildFire Brewing Company. This brewery was started by Jeremy and Chris and brewmaster Paul Cook.

This seems like it might coincide with their expansion into the space next door. I imagine they will primarily serve their beer on tap at JC's, but beyond that? No idea. If it were me, I would focus pretty exclusively on the brewpub model and not worry about distributing until firmly established.

It's cool that they're doing this—I'm never one to say that more beer is a bad thing—but with five other breweries in the area, I hope they're not entering into an over-saturated market. Time will tell.

From the Bulletin today is a notice that the Apricot Lane gift store downtown is closing its doors:

Downtown Bend's Apricot Lane will close its doors by the end of the year, the store's owner said Tuesday. The clothing and gift shop has been at 1001 N.W. Wall St. for three years. A Hood River women's clothing store will take over the space. Apricot Lane proprietor Bob McKinley will be retiring, he said, and hitting the ski slopes. Apricot Lane will soon have a monthlong sale of all remaining merchandise until everything is gone.

We were downtown by there today and so we stopped in; right now, everything in the store is on sale for 25% off. (I expect that number to go up as it approaches the end of the year.) It's a cute little boutique store, lots of Christmas-themed items. Worth checking out if you're looking for good deals on tchotchkes and knick-knacks.

In my rant about Outback Steakhouse the other day I suggested going to Zydeco instead, and decided they needed a full post. I wrote about them on chuggnutt almost two years ago now, and if anything, my review is even better now than it was then.

They're not cheap, but they are one of the best places in Bend for dinner right now. I have not had a bad meal—at all—and I can't recommend any one dish over another because they're all good. Seriously. The fish is excellent, the chicken good, the ribs are to die for. And the desserts?

Oh, the desserts... the almond wet cake is simply indescribable. You have to try it.

They are very kid-friendly, too. The tables are covered with paper that the kids (or the adults) can draw on with crayons. The waitstaff are all very attentive and excellent. And you can even take home their homemade dog biscuits at the end of the meal (catering to the fact that Bend is a huge dog-loving town).

The only criticism I would level at Zydeco is their location and small parking lot. They're found on south Third Street, near the Reed Market intersection and next door to Carrera Motors. The parking lot is tight and access in and out is inconvenient.

I'd recommend getting reservations if you go for dinner.

Zydeco Kitchen & Cocktails
1085 SE 3rd Street
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 312-2899

Saturday night we attended the final bout (for this year) of roller derby, featuring the local Renegade Rollergirls. Interesting experience; the crowd was bigger and louder than I would have imagined. It was at the Indoor Sports Center, but apparently they had to turn something like 300 people away at the door, so next February when it starts up again they'll be holding bouts at the Deschutes Expo Center (that's the rumor, at least).

I'm finally clear on exactly what these roller derbies are about, and how they're played and scored. The pack skates around the court, doing laps, led by the pivot from each team. (Two teams are on the court at the same time.) The pivot sets the pace for the pack. The pack is made up of six blockers, three from each team. Behind them all are the two jammers (again, one from each team); their role is that of the actual point scorers. In order to score points, they have to out-skate the pack and lap them; when they successfully pass the pack (break through or around), that team gets a point.

The gimmick, of course, is that the blockers have to try to stop the jammers from getting through... and, it seems, anything goes in doing this. Grab the jammer and pull her down, trip her, grab feet, throw an elbow, or whatever. There's a lot of falls, crashes, and fights being started, although the coach and the refs are quick to break up the fights. Each match is ten or 15 minutes long.

It was a lot more fun than I expected it to be, quite frankly, although we had VIP tickets and were able to avoid the general admission crush. VIP is the way to go; you get reserved seating in the best area, and two drink tickets. Beer and wine is served, although when I went back for our second drinks, they had completely sold out of wine (this by 8:30, doors were open by 7pm). If you don't drink beer, then you're out of luck when this happens.

Food was pretty reasonable, too; $2 for a hot dog, $3 for nachos, $1 for cookies, chips, and candy. Bottled water and pop was available, too.

Overall, the general atmosphere of the audience and everything once the matches started reminded me, of all things, of professional wrestling—there was that much intensity and mania from the audience. People would be cheering and yelling and just go nuts when a fight broke out or skaters went down. No serious injuries, though, much to the crowd's disappointment.

It looked like a lot of fun, though there's a lot of practice hours on skates to get as good as some of these girls; those jammers in particular are fast (they have to be). It's definitely a fast-paced sport once they get a match going. And confusing—I was wondering sometimes how they can keep track to keep score accurately.

And we were finally able to see Shannon in action and mixing it up. She's been bugging us for ages to come to one of these bouts and I told her when we finally did she had to kick some ass. She had a few sketchy moments but I'd say she pulled through. :)

We hadn't eaten at our local Outback Steakhouse in a couple of years, at least, so tonight we decided to try it for dinner. It's definitely not something we'll be doing again anytime soon—they've really gone downhill.

I'll start right off by saying the only truly good part of the evening was our waitress, who was great. The rest of the experience can only be described as mediocre at best, and there was some seriously shoddy service going on.

To start with, while waiting for a table, and watching the crowd grow behind us, I counted at least two tables that went unbussed the whole time we were in the lobby. One was a big six-person booth, another a four-person. They even tried to seat four people at that one, who had to stand and wait a couple of extra minutes for someone to clear the table. I'm sure there were more, too. How can you let a crowd build up and not clear tables? How can you just leave tables unbussed in general?

And when I did see someone cleaning tables, they were really slow. They could have been moving people in much quicker.

Once we got our table, the waiting went on. Waiting on drinks, waiting on food. The table didn't have silverware or napkins. So yes, while the waitress was otherwise great, there was a lot of waiting on her, and/or the food.

And, the food... prepared technically well enough, but the quality of food in general was really poor. The prime rib I ordered was literally—literally—one quarter to one third fat, all in one greasy lobe. And it was the thinnest cut of prime rib I've ever had, anywhere. Used to be the cut was a good one and a half, two inches thick. Tonight? Three-quarters, tops. My wife's filet looked more like a tougher sirloin, and it was a bit overcooked.

What's really disappointing is that Outback's steaks used to be some of the best in town.

So overall, we spent way too much time there, ate sub-par food, and walked out talking about what a poor experience we had. Even better—I overheard the two guys behind us saying, "Well that was a fiasco!" or something similar.

Avoid Outback Steakhouse. If you're in that area of town for dinner, go to Zydeco instead.

There's an article here that details plans for the new Oxford Hotel that's going to be built downtown, next to the parking garage and across the street from the Fire Hall. There's also a Bulletin blurb here that I missed last week. Long story short, the hotel will have 56 rooms, be seven stories high and will open in fall 2008.

The longer article is a bit of a puff piece, highlighting how The Oxford will be set apart from current Bend hotels:

"The Oxford Hotel will reflect, and we think enhance, the existing downtown environment." Designed by Bend's GGL Architecture, The Oxford Hotel will distinguish itself from existing Central Oregon lodging properties with larger than average rooms, luxurious finishes reflecting the region, and personal services including a complimentary full breakfast service. And then there's the location. "The Oxford Hotel will be in the middle of everything," Baney said. "Restaurants, live music, the Tower Theater - you name it, you can walk to it."

"From the minute a guest steps out of their car, they'll know that they're going to have a different kind of experience at The Oxford."

The unique experience continues inside the hotel with full bell service, another Bend hotel first. And when guests enter their rooms, they'll notice a luxurious feeling of space. The Oxford Hotel's guest rooms average about 500 square feet, more than a third larger than standard hotel rooms, and rooms on the upper floors will also have private decks. Guest rooms are not only larger, they are also more richly appointed than those in most of the region's other hotels.

Plus, there will be two 2000 square foot lease spaces that they plan to fill "with restaurant and retail operations that compliment the aesthetic of the hotel."

What I find most interesting, however, is that there's absolutely no mention of the parking garage that the hotel will be sharing a wall with. What this means is that there won't be any rooms with views—every room will have to face Minnesota street and the Fire Hall. I mean, have you seen how narrow that lot is? Reality check!

By and large, I think this will be a good thing for downtown; the only other large-scale options are the Phoenix Inn (right across the street, ironically) and McMenamins. It'll be interesting to watch how this develops.

The radio station 92.7 FM that I blogged about is live and playing some decent music. They're still in survey mode and link to a massive 1000-song questionnaire for people to fill out.

My previous post is also generating a bunch of comments; amusingly, a bunch of those people seem to think that I'm somehow affiliated with the radio station. Sorry, folks, no such luck. Here's the comment I posted in response:

While I like getting lots of comments here for this, I'd like to remind everybody that this site (Hack Bend) is just a blog and the ACTUAL radio station site is linked in the post: http://www.927fmradio.com/

I don't actually have anything to do with the station, nor do I influence what music they play. ;)

I listened to a bit of the new station today in the car and so far I like what I hear. My wife, also. What does everybody else think?

Somewhat recently I heard a rumor (on the radio, maybe) that the Newport Avenue bridge would be finished and open again by Thanksgiving. Since Thanksgiving is now barely a week and half away, does anyone know if this is true or not? Sure would be nice...

Update: Oh for god's sake... I should read local news before I post something. KTVZ has a short article about it:

The project, begun last spring, was supposed to be completed a week ago, but a number of issues have delayed the project - and any more snow, like that seen Sunday, could bring more delays....

If all goes smoothly from here on, the new span over the Deschutes River should be completed by Thanksgiving, or soon thereafter, to the relief of Westside motorists and merchants, both of whom have been struggling with detours for months.

Looking for something to do tonight? The Renegade Rollergirls have a family-friendly carnival/skate party going on at the Indoor Sports Center. Technically, they're calling it "A Bad Ass Carnival" (see the poster image below), but I have it on good authority (from Shannon herself) that it'll be good for kids.

The best part is that it's free (though to skate it'll cost you $5, and $1 for skate rental). It's also a food drive, so bring canned food if you can. The time is from 6 until 10pm. Food and drink vendors will be there too.

Click to view full size

Picked up our tickets today for the November 18th (Saturday) Renegade Rollergirls match. Yep, it's that time again! Located at the Indoor Sports Center, doors open at 7pm and the action starts at 8.

I'll be there for sure this time. The VIP tickets are only $12, but they go quick, I think—get 'em while they're hot!

From the comments: Devin Barber writes:

Ty Barnett will be performing Nov. 8th at Jokers Bar & Grill. He was on Last Comic Standing and Jay Leno invited him to sit on the couch when he did the Tonight Show. I know this because I'll be opening for him that night. Be there, it will be a gut busting night.

That's next Wednesday; sorry, no mention of cost or times, though. If I find out, I'll post them.

From the comments: Joshua posted on my "Haunted Bend" entry about the new Central Oregon Paranormal Society:

Hey everyone! Thought I'd throw in my two cents since I've just opened Central Oregon's first (that I know of) paranormal research society. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of haunting activity around these parts.

If anyone knows anything about a really active haunting, please let me know! :-)

I thought it would be an interesting link. Currently they are taking applications for membership and looking for hauntings to investigate.

Coming up this Sunday and Monday, November 5th and 6th, is the Cascade Winds Symphonic Band free Fall Concerts. They're being held at the Tower Theatre, at 2pm on Sunday and at 7:30pm on Monday. And did I mention they are free? The details are here.

All concerts will be at the Tower Theatre in Bend, Oregon. As the Cascade Winds and the Tower Theatre support a FOODRAISER for NeighborImpact (formerly COCAAN) you are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item.

FREE Tickets available from any Cascade Winds member, the Tower Theatre Box Office, or call Yoleen: 389-2035

Printable Flyers: We've made a couple easy-to-print flyers for you if you'd like to hang them on your fridge or place of business (both files require the Acrobat Reader):

• Simple Black and White PDF Flyer (small and quick download)
  
• Fancy, Full-color, Larger Download Flyer (3 MB Download)

Jake is a member of the band, too, and always has a good time playing, and makes it sound like a blast. Get your tickets quick, because they filled up fast last time.

Via Utterly Boring (Jake).