I first saw the notice come up on Duncan's blog today; apparently there's a notice in the paper but since it's an "E-edition" online I can't point you to it: Tiger Lily, the downtown boutique store specializing in "eclectic home furnishings", is closing.

I also received an email about it; there's going to be a close-out sale this Saturday, March 1st. Other than that, I'm not sure on the timeline.

An item of interest, though I don't know if it's still applicable. Had dinner at the Pine Tavern Sunday, and on their specials list, they were selling the 22-ounce bottles of Deschutes Brewery's Abyss, for $16.50 each.

Even the restaurants aren't immune! The waitress told me that they had "two of the last cases" of it, hence the reason for selling it at the marked-up price.

(I also know for a fact that the Blacksmith has squirreled away several cases of the Abyss... as well as a keg.)

This came through my email on Friday, but it's worth posting. Several times a year, Knott Landfill has a free collection event for various things; this time it's tires. These events are a good deal; otherwise you can end up with a hefty bill for recycling.

The link to this event is also here.

Residents can dispose of unwanted tires free at a collection event scheduled for Saturday, March 8 at the Knott Landfill Recycling & Transfer Facility. This annual event benefits the community by giving citizens an opportunity to dispose of used tires in a responsible manner.

Citizens are encouraged to take this opportunity to clean up their property as well as neighboring lands, which helps to serve as a deterrent to the West Nile virus.

The recycling event takes place at Knott Landfill, 61050 SE 27th St. in Bend, on Saturday, March 8, from 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Tires both on-and-off the rim can be dropped off, however, no tires over 24.5" (wheel diameter) can be accepted. No farm equipment tires, tires from businesses, fleet tires, or heavy equipment tires will be accepted.

For more information, please contact the Solid Waste Office at 317-3163 or visit the Solid Waste website at www.co.deschutes.or.us/solidwaste.

Well, it's official: two days after I reported that Robby J's is closed, it's hit the Bulletin. I had already received two separate confirmations by email yesterday, too. (Apparently, Chef Jacques Duc is going to be moving back to California.)

By the same vein, Denny's is closing as well, as of March 5th. Duncan actually reported this first, yesterday, and then Lyle confirmed it on his blog yesterday as well.

The owner of Denny's partially blames the parkway for the Denny's closure, but I don't know... there are other restaurants off or inconvenient to the parkway that seem to be doing fine. I'd look more to the "upper-scale-ification" (is that a word?) of the area as a more likely culprit.

Nothing on their website about it yet—or anywhere else that I know of—but I found out last night that Robby J's Bistro is closed! As in, out of business.

Apparently, Chef Jacques was calling folks who had reservations, and telling them personally about the closure.

It's possible that I misunderstood the message, so perhaps this should be treated as a rumor, but I tried calling Robby J's several times today to confirm, and got no answer—no answering machine, nothing. (I called when they normally should have been open, or someone should have been around.) So it's looking accurate.

Anyone have the scoop?

Part of the Film Oregon Alliance Lecture Series, Friday, February 22 at the Tower Theatre

Film Oregon Alliance is kicking off its 2008 Lecture Series featuring Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Jack Green, A.S.C. This lecture, scheduled for Friday, February 22nd at the Tower Theatre from 6:00PM to 9:00PM with a VIP Reception, Interview, Q&A Session and Silent Auction, is sponsored by Bank of the Cascades, Horizon Broadcasting Group, Portello Winecafé, Creative Heart Productions and David Fuller, DMD.

The extraordinary and engaging cinematographer Jack Green, A.S.C. has shot such films as "The 40 Year Old Virgin", "50 First Dates", "Second Hand Lions", "Girl Interrupted", "Bridges of Madison County", "Unforgiven" and dozens of other TV and film projects. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography for his work on "Unforgiven" in 1992. Through the years, he has also shot more than twenty-five of Clint Eastwood's films. Mr. Green will be interviewed by Patricia West-Del Ruth who is Film Oregon Alliance's Director of Cinema Arts Education and a member of its Board of Directors.

Read full press release

The local homebrewing club, Central Oregon Homebrewers Organization (COHO for short), is hosting a spring competition on April 19th:

• Entries will consist of two 12-16oz. bottles. All bottle caps must be blank, or otherwise blacked out. Raised letter bottles from breweries such as Deschutes, Widmer, and New Belgium will be allowed. Swing top "Grolsch style" bottles will not be accepted.
• Entry fees are $5 per entry, with no limit on the number of entries. Please make checks payable to Central Oregon Homebrewers Organization.
• The deadline for entries is Monday, April 14.

The event will be held at the Sons of Norway meeting hall at 59 NW Harmon Blvd. in Bend. Judge registration will begin at 10AM, and will be followed by first round judging at 11AM. Awards and prizes will be issued directly after the Best of Show judging in the afternoon.

It's an officially sanctioned competition (by the American Homebrewers Association) and is open to anyone who brews beer and would like to enter. They'll also be hosting a reception for the awards ceremony that day starting at 4pm for COHO members/guests and competition entrants.

Quick follow-up to my Bo Restobar post the other day: the Grand Opening they're having this Saturday is from 6-10pm. It's in the Franklin Crossing Atrium... so not (necessarily) in the restaurant itself, though that's in the same building.

Jen sent me this pointer to her blog:

Did you know there is an Ice Crit? If you did, then I will see you there because once you have been, you will be back. But for those of you that don't know, here's the scoop. Crit is short for "criterium", which is basically a multi-lap bicycle race on a closed course. So an Ice Crit is - yeup, that's right - carnage in the cold. And I just got word that Bend's 69th Twilight Ice Crit is going to be held this weekend. Come and watch the mayhem, or contribute to it by racing your bike (20 laps) around the Swampy Lakes Sno-Park parking lot - it's fun for all who dare attend.

I'm not sure which is scarier... the wild bike laps in the ice or the fact that it's the 69th one of these! Crazy.

Details at her blog.

Bend Brewing has the most interesting lineup of beers listed that I've seen in a long time: Nitro Coconut Cream Stout, Nitro Amber, Big Eddy Bitter, Imperial Pilsner, and Scotch Ale. In particular, it's the Coconut Cream Stout and the Imperial Pilsner that caught my eye.

My wife heard today that the grand opening for the new Bo Restobar—downtown in the Franklin Crossing building—is this Saturday, February 16th.

Bo Restobar is an Asian cuisine restaurant from the people behind Typhoon... which is also Asian cuisine (Thai) and located in Franklin Crossing. Albeit around the corner.

Open mike night for readings if you're an author. That's kind of cool.

Award winning poet and author and COCC’s 2007/2008 Scholar-in-Residence, Ellen Waterston, invites the community to the next Word Café to be held on Thursday, February 21, 7:00 p.m. at the COCC Barber Library. There is no admission fee and refreshments are served.

This, the thirteenth Word Café, will feature Brad Hills’ Innovation Theatre Works’ performance of “Yellow Cake”, a short story by former Bend resident Josh Beddingfield. Hills will direct the short play, which stars Vicki Pennock and Rod Dahl. The short story performance will be followed by a reading by local author and poet Suzanne Burns, at which point the mic will be turned over to COCC faculty, students and others for an open mic session. Waterston asks open mic participants to limit their reading to three minutes.

Read full press release

(Lifted from the COWPU site, credit Jen for writing it and Shannon for organizing it.)

Feb 21, 5:30ish at the Blacksmith (happy hour, woot!), Downtown Bend
RSVP to Shannon at shanlee at gmail.com

Keep in mind, this is intended for bloggers who wish to meet other bloggers. This will be a nice chance for all of us to gather, and put some faces together with the blogs. If you don't have a blog, then this may not be the get-together for you. So, if you just can't stand not being there and don't already have a blog... what are you waiting for?!

The Bend Chamber’s Young Professionals Network (YPN) is calling on its members and other interested local professionals to support The Humane Society of Central Oregon at its February networking event. This month’s event will be hosted by Deschutes County Title Wednesday, February 20, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 397 SW Terrace Drive in Bend. If you RSVP in advance, the cost is $7 for members and $12 for non-members. The price increases the day of the event. Attendees enjoy beverages, food, door prizes, networking games and more. Registration is available on-line at www.bendchamber.org/ypn or by phone at 382-3221.

Read full press release

Received this in email the other day, for the John Craig Memorial Wilderness Ski & Tour:

Oregon Nordic Club chapters end of the season celebration!
Sign up by Feb 29, 08 for the 30K Wilderness ski & tour - since 1934

Event Date: March 15, 08 McKenzie Pass near Sisters, OR.
Come ski the Pacific Northwest's most scenic and historic Nordic event sponsored by the Oregon Nordic Club.

The course traverses the beautiful Cascade Mountains just west of Sisters, Oregon-offering views of the Three Sisters, wide open lava fields covered in snow, and in the distance glimpses of Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Washington-along the McKenzie Highway. For the Mail Carry, skiers take the bus shuttle to the east side, so that upon completing this 23 mile event, your car will be at the finish line, waiting for your drive to the dinner provided for all participants. For a shorter tour, skiers can go out and back on the east side, turning around at the Dee Wright Observatory, which offers beautiful views of the mountains mentioned above. The distance to the Observatory is 6.3 miles, but you can decide how far to ski.

Any way you look at it, this is a rare event to ski the McKenzie Pass in winter with full support from aid stations, and grand views of the Three Sisters, and a challenge to see how far you can really ski.

Cost of the event is $50 for the full 30K trip. The shorter tours cost $10. You can fill out the registration form found on the link above (it's a PDF).

You can also check out the main Nordic Club site or the local chapter site for more information.

Holy smokes! I just called and confirmed what my wife thought she saw on their sign: Bend's best burger joint, the Pilot Butte Drive-In, will be staying open until 6pm starting this Monday, the 11th!

It was back in July of 2004 that they announced they were cutting their dinner shift; they cut their closing time back from (if I remember correctly) 9pm to 3pm. A lot of us were really disappointed.

The new hours will be 6:30am to 6pm; not quite a dinner shift, but a huge improvement. Awesome!

Related: the Bulletin's recent restaurant review.

A year ago, in February 2007:

• The announcement that flights to Las Vegas would start later in the year for only $59;
• Italian restaurant Mangia Pasta closed;
• I found that the Redmond Spokesman has a blog;
• The Mercury Diner also closed (actually changed);
• I discovered that Eagle Crest was hosting a brewfest (are they this year? I haven't seen it yet if so);
• Trader Joe's officially announced their new store.

Kind of an interesting retrospective.

There's a tentative opening date for Trader Joe's up on the north side of town: March 28. They've had "Bend, OR" on their Coming Soon page for awhile now, and the exterior of the building looks finished. When open, it will be the eighth Trader Joe's in Oregon.

Tomorrow being Mardi Gras, I ran into the same problem I found last year while updating the events calendar: nothing Mardi Gras-related going on locally that I can find.

Okay, that's not entirely true; apparently both Joker's and 541 Lounge had Mardi Gras parties on Saturday, the 2nd. That doesn't help now, of course. Go figure.

Update already: JC's. Of course.

I first posted a review on La Costa Azul back in May of last year; it's the Mexican restaurant up on Bend's north side, on the corner of Empire Boulevard and Layton Avenue. We've been there a few times since then, most recently last night for dinner; here are some notes.

• They finally got their liquor license, after who-knows-how-long. Finally! My wife and I both had Perfect Margaritas for $7.50 each; I'm not a margarita aficionado but I thought it was pretty decent.
• Kids meals are a pretty good deal: $4 and a good portion of food.
• They have a new sign hanging outside: "Now under new management." ??
• I thought the food was good, with a "but": for the prices per entrée that they charge, I think they need to increase the portions. Other Mexican places in town set the standard here.
• Service was friendly, and quick. There was also more business in last night that we've seen in the past.

La Costa Azul
63055 Layton Avenue
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 322-3986

PU.Camp is Coming: announced on the Central Oregon Web Professionals Usergroup (COWPU).

PU.Camp will be a gathering for people to share and learn in an open environment. It will be an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants. The format and name are inspired by BarCamp (which was inspired as a complement to FooCamp). Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. When you come, be prepared to share with PU.Campers. When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.

Interested participants are invited to submit their idea for a 15-30 minute presentation on any topic. Several "signature" presentations and discussions will be scheduled and announced in advance. Other slots will be filled based on attendee interest at the event (yes... you will get to vote!). This will be an exciting and dynamic event for all!

The exact date is still up in the air, but it's tentatively either February 29th or March 1st. This sounds promising, though I'm not sure of the logistics of it yet.