Fireside red

Fireside red was absolutely slammed on the night that we visited. We had to wait a few minutes just to get a seat at the bar. Looking out the window at the large deck seating, not a table was empty. This was my first visit to Fireside red and I was excited to sample a couple of dishes.

We weren't very hungry though and so we shared some small items and had a couple of drinks. Fireside's menu looks good and I want to go back again to try some of the other dishes.

Bacon Wrapped Dates are a must try. Fill in the blank:

Spinach is to Popeye as _____ is to BOR.

Normally restaurants will stuff their dates with cheese or like at 28, more pork. But these were drizzled with a balsamic reduction and cooked perfectly. 4 for $5 isn't really my idea of a good deal but I heard that at happy hour you get twice as many or something like that. For not being stuffed with anything, these were grubbin.

We also had the Mussels that were pretty good. I wanted more but for only $7.50 I thought it was an ample portion. I thought the mussels themselves were small but the broth was good. The wife thought the addition of sun dried tomatoes was a great idea. The only thing that I didn't like was the flat bread that came out with the mussels. It was really floury and blah. I know it sounds weird but I'm a weird guy.


The wife was able to talk me out of one of the pizza's and get the Mediterranean Spinach Salad with pickled onions, feta, cucumber, olives, pine nuts, and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. What do you want me to say? It's a flippin salad. I wanted pizza. Still, it was pretty good....for a salad.


Fireside red served up some good food at a rather fair price although the drinks are spendy. Drinks are spendy everywhere though so that's not really a big knock against them.

On our next visit the deck was filled but the inside of the restaurant was empty so we were able to get a table right away, although we really wanted to sit outside. Seems that Fireside red's deck is an awfully popular spot.

This time we tried the calamari, pita garlic bread (only $2.50), fried brie, and couldn't pass up on the mussels and Mediterranean Spinach Salad again. The mussels and salad were the same as described above but I thought the calamari was bland. All rings and no tentacles makes BOR a dull boy.

The pita garlic bread was better with the mussels than the pita slices that came with it so I was happy I got that side dish.

The fried brie was pretty good for being fried cheese. How can I resist? It went well with the mango chutney that came with it. I don't think I'd get it again though. It was basically just like a fried mozzarella stick.

I like Fireside red. I found the staff is friendly and attentive on my visits. Even got a good laugh out of a fellow patron who's chair got bumped by the hostess as she carried a high chair to another table. It wasn't funny until the customer looked all annoyed even after the hostess apologized nicely. This lady sort of huffed and grunted. Get over it. It was an accident and the hostess graciously apologized. People crack me up.

Anyway, back to Fireside red. I like the tapas style, small plates that you can share and the pricing is quite reasonable (for food). It is perfect for us as we like to try a variety of dishes instead of just one large plate.

Fireside red
803 SW Industrial Way, Suite 202
Bend OR 97702
(541) 306-3121
http://www.firesidered.com/

Pita Pit - Bend Oregon

Pita Pit

I'm not sure if it matters what I say about the Pita Pit or not, that place has customers all the time. I don't care for it but the wife and my friends seem to like the Pita Pit a lot.

To me, there is not a big difference between the Pita Pit and Subway sandwiches. Dave enjoys the Pit and does a good job of describing how they make the Pita's:

"They open up the pita pocket (a large one) and split the top half into two flaps. Then they stuff the bottom half with your order, tuck in one flap and fold the other flap over, so it's like a burrito with pita bread instead of tortilla."

I found that this process is very smart. Whenever I've had a pita in the past, I've always cut the thing in pita in half and then made two "tacos" out of the halves. How stupid am I?

With the cool wrap technique aside, Pita Pit is a glorified Subway and sub-par Steak Escape. They take your order and one Pit Person starts stuffing your pita with your Subway style toppings. Pretty much the same exact assortment of ingredients aside from the veggie options like Falafel, Hummus, Babaganoush, and Feta. The veggie options are great if you like that sort of thing, but honestly, go over to Kebaba for all that jazz.

While the one pit person is stuffing your pita, another is working the grill warming up your meat. All the meat is already cooked, they just warm it up. So the grill seems almost pointless. A microwave could do the same feat in a fraction of the time but I understand that it is more visually appealing. Even if it makes the shop hot as balls. Seriously, hot as balls.

On my first visit I asked for the Club. Ham, chicken, and "real bacon." There was barely any meat at all in that huge ass pita. It was about one deli slice of ham, a few chunks of chicken, and two McDonalds thin slices of "real" bacon. Real thin bacon is more accurate. With all the bread and veggies, I could barely taste the meat.

Second visit I went with a friend's recommendation and ordered the chicken Caesar that also comes with "real bacon." It was a little better but still not really that great.

The price is right and the hours are awesome. I'll go on record and say that the Pita Pit is the Best Restaurant in Bend Opened After 2am. If I'm stumbling around downtown that late, I'll definitely go to the Pita Pit and think that it is the best meal in town. I also think that my microwaved nachos that I make with the late night munchies are the best ever...cause I'm drunk.

For a sober lunch/snack/dinner, the Pita Pit is not for me. Now, if you like a ton of prepacked, prewashed, veggies stuffed into a cleverly wrapped pita, then you're going to be in heaven.

I'd rather go to the Downtowner or the Speedshop for a sandwich downtown. That is until I'm trashed and starving, then you rock my world Pita Pit!

Pita Pit
Bend, OR
806 NW Brooks Street
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 389-7482
http://www.pitapitusa.com/

Blacksmith Beer Tasting

The Blacksmith Restaurant has brought back my favorite event in Bend, the Wednesday Beer Tastings. From 4:30-7 you can get tasters of a bunch of different beers that you probably wouldn't normally get or know if you would like. The theme changes weekly and I don't know what this week's theme is nor do I care. Beer is good, I drink it up!

For $10 you get to sample beer selected by my new best friend Robin. Robin pours the samples from beers he's selected for the week and will give you little nuggets of info about the brewery the beer came from, the type of beer it is, and why he likes it. Robin is working his way to become one of only a few official Beer Snobs. I mean, beer Sommelier or something like that.

Robin is actually really cool about his beer knowledge. He doesn't bore you with too much useless information about IBU numbers and shit. But he can if you want to know. I just want to drink it.

I'll be there tonight with head shots to sign for all my fan.

the Blacksmith restaurant
211 NW Greenwood Ave,
Bend, Oregon 97701
541.318.0588
http://www.theblacksmithrestaurant.com