Just some odds and ends I noticed this week that I hadn't blogged about yet.

Greg's Grill in the Old Mill District is open for business. They'd been "coming soon" for quite awhile now, originally set to open last fall or something. I believe they're a steakhouse; anyone tried it yet?

In the paper today, an article about Pilot Butte Drive-In changing hands. The new owners are longtime residents and have been working closely with the former owners, so everything should stay the same. Maybe they'll bring back dinner, though!

Also in the paper this week, a blurb about Trader Joe's breaking ground in their new location on the north end. I believe they estimated a Spring 2008 opening... only a year to go.

I blogged about the Oxford Hotel coming to town a while ago; the Bulletin had a new article on it this week, with a concept sketch. Construction is about to begin, and should last about 18 months. Should make a right mess of downtown at Minnesota and Lava Road.

Finally, Wildfire Brewing beer is now being served on tap at JC's. Haven't had a chance to try it yet; hope to soon.

Had lunch today at Hola!, the new Mexican-Peruvian restaurant on Bend's east side. They're located in the Forum Shopping Center, in the old Mangia! Pasta! space between Safeway and Barnes and Noble.

Overall, I thought it was pretty good. The space is nice, if a bit tight (we sat at the bar), the service was good and very amiable, and the food was good and prompt. The traditional chips and salsa are served here with a twist: you get bread with it, and instead of a single bowl of salsa, you get a platter with three types of sauces: traditional salsa, a peanut sauce, and a mint pesto-type sauce. They were very good, but the platter was shallow, so we ran out of salsa fairly quickly.

The bar is small, but they have a nice selection of tequila, from what I could see, ranging from the cheap stuff (hey! I've got that at home!) to the top-shelf stuff.

The only complaint we had was that the lunch portions seemed a bit small for the price. Granted, they were only $8 and $9 and we didn't leave hungry; I guess you just get used to some of the other Mexican places in town that serve up a huge amount of food for the same price.

Hola! has the credentials, though: the owner is the former chef from La Rosa (my current favorite). Hopefully the location that killed Mangia! won't be a problem for them.

There's another review of Hola! here, from last week. It's pretty favorable.

Hola!
Forum Shopping Center
2670 NE Highway 20
Bend, OR 97701

A blurb in today's Bulletin (the Business page) prompted me to blog this: the opening of Bend's first men's-only salon, JayT's Hair Parlor for Men. They're located in the Old Mill District, at 530 SW Mill View Way, next to the Bush Animal Clinic. Their number is 306-6912.

Notably (aside from the men's-only status), they serve a complimentary beer or glass of wine during haircuts, like the Bond Street Barber Shop downtown.

They ran a coupon in last week's paper for one free men's haircut during their grand opening; it's good through May 19th. I've been carrying the coupon around with me and I'll try them out in the next couple of weeks.

...and yeah, a "men's-only" salon strikes me as funny (in an inappropriate way); it doesn't help that the Bulletin blurb also mentions they'll "soon add manicures and massages."

Beer and a massage. That's awesome.

The folks over at Thump Coffee submitted this list of events to be posted:

Tuesday, May 1 and Wednesday May 2
ART: Mark Bernahl, 6-8pm
Come watch (and help!) as Mark Bernahl hangs his "Wishes" installation. Based on a Japanese tradition, customers have been writing their heart's fondest desire on pieces of cedar, which will be suspended from the ceiling at Thump throughout May.

Bernahl has been showing his artwork in Oregon and New Mexico for nine years: "I make art out of discarded objects of all sorts. I have created eclectic work from discarded seconds and worn out firsts of milled wood, metal, fabrics and now, books. It really excites me to make something beautiful and interesting out of something someone has thrown away."

First Friday, May 4
MUSIC: Always Hallways, 6-8pm
Sonic acrobats Matt McConnell and Jason Friedman perform an acoustical, eclectic mix of ad lib jazz fusion blues. They said that we could play around with the wording of this description, but we like it just the way it is.

ART: Justyn Livingston & Mark Bernahl
Surround yourself with art this month at Thump. Bend-based mixed media artist Justyn Livingston's organic abstractions grace Thump's walls. Mark Bernahl's "Wishes" kinetic sculpture, created from pieces of wood inscribed with customers' wishes, is suspended from the ceiling.

Bend-based Livingston describes her process: "Most often I approach a blank panel without any particular imagery in mind. However, there is a particular emotion or impulse upon beginning, which may or may not be carried forward. Through the movement and layering of colors, the painting 'comes to' on its own (if I can keep myself from attaching to an outcome). There is an underlying meditative quality; an unfettered focus I experience in this process. It is this unexpected and cathartic exploration which motivates me to paint."
http://www.justynlivingstondesign.com

Sunday, May 13
CUPPING: Mother's Day, 1:30-3:00pm
Learn how to taste coffee like a pro at this special Mother's Day cupping of Stumptown Coffees from around the world. This is a fun way to better appreciate all the hard work that goes into growing, harvesting, processing, roasting and preparing the perfect cup. Slurp away!

Saturday, May 19
POLE PEDAL PADDLE: Team Thumpista (shop will be closed)
Come cheer for Team Thumpista at the Pole Pedal Paddle. The entire Thump staff will be competing together as a team. Fueled by Thump Coffee, of course.
http://www.mbsef.org/events/ppp/index.cfm?page=about_the_race

FEATURED COFFEE: Ethiopia Misty Valley Idido - Organic
Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and if you saw the documentary movie "Black Gold," you'll truly appreciate this farm-direct organic. Roaster Stumptown Coffee describes this as "a very unique dry-processed coffee from Yirgacheffe, with flavors of strawberry, lemon, starburst, black licorice, and a thick syrupy mouthfeel. We almost thought we were playing Candyland at the cupping table."
http://stumptowncoffee.com/
http://blackgoldmovie.com/

Mark your calendars: Thursday, May 17th, local indie/alt band KouseFly is playing at Volcano Vineyards downtown, from 7 to 9pm. There's no cover charge to get in—but enjoy a glass of wine while you're there.

Also, you might want to get there early... Volcano's space is limited.

See also KouseFly on Myspace.

I've been played with the new "My Maps" feature on Google Maps and it's pretty slick; you can add your own markers to the map, annotate them with text, links, images, etc., and pick one of the preset custom markers. To that end, I thought it would be cool to plot out items I've blogged about here.

Check it out: Hack Bend Locations on Google Maps.

The Bulletin today has an article about the "cave house" for sale in southeast Bend. I'd heard about this before; KTVZ did a story on it some time back, too. Basically, the house was built over a lava tube cave, and has a door that allows access into the cave itself.

Passing through the cave doorway and down a steep set of wooden stairs, [owner Jeanne] Hampton points out the duct work that imports cool air from the cave during the summer. The home's builder in the early 1980s had the foresight to realize the cave's temperature stays 55 degrees year-round and installed a fan system to pumps cool air into the house.

"It's an automatic, natural air-conditioning system, and because it comes from the cave air, it doesn't cost you hardly anything," said Hampton, who has lived in the house for seven years but just discovered the fan system last summer. "All you have to do is flip a switch in the house, and this is all hooked up to the central electric system. I can't believe I didn't know about this sooner."

At the bottom of the staircase, Hampton points out that there are actually two caves, or lava tubes. One is 850 feet long and the other is 350 feet long.

I believe the cave is also partially wired with electric lighting. I have to say, I think having private access to a cave like this inside your home would be the coolest thing ever. The real estate agent representing the home thinks it would be an ideal wine cellar.

The house is for sale for $495,000, and they've listed it on Craigslist; the listing is here. According to DIAL records, it's located at 20975 Via Bonita, just off Ferguson Road. There's also an MLS listing here.

It's Friday the 13th, so that means Newport Market is having their 13% off sale. That means for today only, all day, almost everything in the store is discounted 13%. And they have some sort of special on English long-stemmed artichokes or something, too.

Over on my other blog I posted about the Rajneesh, the cult group that moved into Eastern Oregon near Antelope in the mid-80s. Interesting and unusual bit of history for this area; there was some downright kooky things going on there.

What's cool though is that Elise from Live on the Fly Studio posted more details in the comments, shedding some more light on the topic.

Odd Central Oregon history. Someday I'll tell the story of how the senior class at Redmond High School made national news when the boys wore miniskirts to school as a form of protest (and no, I wasn't a senior at the time).

I'm a bit surprised by the article about China Hat Road and the surrounding area in today's Bulletin; I mean, growing up in this area, sure, you'd expect that type of area to have the usual motorized vehicle, shooting, and dumping problems, but this makes it sound like something out of the Sopranos:

"It's a hot spot law enforcement-wise, probably the hottest spot in the district," Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District Recreation Forester Marv Lang said. "There's all kinds of stuff that goes on, from shooting to dumping to murders and everything else in between."

Murders? Have I been missing something?

Of course, there's no follow-up to the murder comment anywhere else in the article...

Bottom line, if you want to go rural or back to nature on China Hat—or anywhere else in Central Oregon for that matter—use common sense and be alert for potentially dangerous situations like shooting. Even though Bend is growing and becoming more urbanized and such, there's still a lot of wild country out there and people acting like idiots (or worse) on it.

A number of restaurants are holding fundraisers over the next few weeks for injured snowboarder Tyler Eklund; the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation site lists those and more.

Fundraiser at McDonalds (SE Bend)

• Wednesday, April 11, 4:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
• 100% of the proceeds during those 3 hours will go to the Eklund family to help pay for the medical bills.

Eat @ Zydeco, 28, or MateAgos

• On Thursday April 12, 100% of the proceeds from these restaurants will go to the Tyler Eklund fund.
• Zydeco is open for dinner at 4:30pm. For reservations call 541-312-2899.
• Both 28 & MateAgos are located in St. Clair Place. Reservations are not required.

Hucklebeary’s in Sisters

• All day on Saturday, April 14th at Hucklebeary’s in Sisters 100% of the proceeds will go to the Tyler Eklund fund.
• For more information call 541-549-0955.

Merenda Restaurant Fundraiser

• Merenda is hosting a Five Course Wine Dinner on Wednesday, April 25th, at 6:30. The cost is $100 per person with 100% of the proceeds going to Tyler's Fund at U.S. Bank.
• Please email Debbie or call 541-330-2304 to reserve your seat for this very special event.

What's cool about these is that (except for Merenda) they're just the daily proceeds from the restaurant—you don't have to sign up for a special event or anything, if you want to help out, you can just show up on the respective day and enjoy a meal. (And I don't mean to be knocking Merenda here either—but seating will be limited there, and certainly not all of us can afford a $100 dinner.)

Dave has a nice little writeup of last night's Art Hop downtown, with pictures. Last night's was the stepped-up version, with live music all over the place, and the Fireflyte fundraiser show too. I didn't make it (though my wife did), so it's cool to see a bit of what was happening.

Bend Living magazine has a "Best of Bend" survey up on their site for people to fill out. It's for their annual Best of Bend issue that comes out in the summer (I think), which is fluff but fun to read.

You have until May 7th to complete the survey, but why wait? Go on over and submit your entries on such things as Best Budget Breakfast, Best Place to Buy Bling, and Best 19th Hole (no, that's not a typo).

But what, no Best Blog? There's a Best Bend Craigslist Post, but not one for blogs. How can you not have a blog category? The shame, the shame.

There's an alliteral tongue-twister for you. As it says, the local firedancing troupe Fireflyte is having a fundraiser this Friday, April 6th—which is the First Friday Art Walk downtown. Here are the details of the event:

Fyreflyte will be performing at the Mirror Pond Plaza again on the 6th of April at 8:00 PM. Yes, it's first friday April!

This show is a BIG one, for several reasons; We are trying to raise a good amount of money for a benefit for Tricia Roth. Tricia, the sister of our own family member Rebecca, was in a serious accident in September last year and since then has been needing a high level of care and support as she learns to adjust to life on four wheels. Rebecca, a charter member of Fyreflyte and local acupuncturist has been travelling regularly to the Bay Area to provide that care and support for her sister for the last six months.

We want to help! With the love and support of the performing arts community here in Bend we are putting together a performance unequalled by anything Fyreflyte has done previously. We have involved all the members of the fire dance community and the musicians with the groups Coyo and Ubuntu have joined the cause to provide us the music to move to. The goal is to raise money to help with the long term care but also to show a distant family member that we love and care about her through our support and energy.

This show will be a musical and visual treat! Please come support us in this endeavor. Whether a donation, purchasing one of many great items at our silent auction or just coming to show your support for our family... Thank you, and we hope to see you there.

I've seen their show a couple of times, and it's pretty cool. It would definitely be worth your time to check it out. (And drop a donation.)

Via Simone (photography as well).

Ah, the hiatus is over, it was a good vacation. Back to the world.

I've a few things to post about, but for tonight it's the news that according to JC's MySpace bulletin (you get it if you're a friend), Wildfire Brewing—their in-house operation—is now brewing beer. They have photos up on their page, too.

Cool! That means they should have their first beer(s) on tap in a few weeks. Maybe longer, if they're brewing and aging lagers, but still—soon!