I’ve lived in Bend for over 13 years, and I’ll admit it – I’ve always regarded Crossings at the Riverhouse as “that place with all the steak.”
Not that there’s anything wrong with steak. In fact, Crossings has been voted Bend’s Best Steak by Gusto Magazine three years in a row.
But there’s more to life than meat that moos, and Crossings has discovered it with their recent menu revamp. The new menus include more pastas, entrée salads, and seafood dishes. Prices are lower. The fare is a little lighter and more varied. There are 26 new items to choose from.
The gorgeous river view from the outdoor patio.
I had my fork in hand before our Operations Manager finished asking, “who wants to go to Crossings for lunch?”
Even if the food were terrible, it would be worth coming here just for the gorgeous riverfront dining on the outdoor patio. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about terrible food. Everything we sampled was absolutely divine, and left me determined to return very soon on my own dime.
We started off with a sampling of heavenly appetizers from the lunch menu. I was skeptical of the Vegitarian Ceviche at first, but found it to be scrumptious with hearts of palm, tomato, lemon, lime, cilantro, avocado, and tortilla chips.
The Dungeness Crab Cakes with saffron aioli, house made cocktail sauce, and stone ground mustard sauce were delicious as an appetizer, or you can opt to do them as an entrée with fries and coleslaw.
Tasty seafood pasta!
And speaking of fries, the sweet potato fries with warm Cajun aioli are TO.DIE.FOR. I’ll return to nibble these for happy hour (which takes place from 4-6 p.m. seven days a week). Though we didn’t opt to pair wine with our lunch, I was impressed to hear Crossings features Bend’s largest selection of wines by the glass, with 26 different choices available.
I’m making it my mission to get through all 26 by summer’s end. It’s good to have goals, right?
I agonized over my lunch entrée decision, but eventually settled on the Seafood Fettuccini with sautéed shrimp, scallops, salmon, garlic white wine cream sauce, roasted red peppers, and asparagus. It was the prefect balance of creamy richness from the sauce and seafood, and light crispness from the veggies.
My second choice entrée would have been the Snug Harbor Crab Sandwhich with Dungeness crab, cheddar cheese, tomatoes on an English muffin topped with hollandaise sauce. The Visit Bend volunteer sitting next to me ordered it, and I spent most of lunch waiting for her to turn her back so I could steal half. While this never happened, I can say it looked delicious and definitely worth ordering.
Don’t forget the divine dessert!
We got to peek at the happy hour and dinner menus as well, and both looked scrumptious. I’ll definitely be returning for happy hour when their fabulous hot wings are just twenty-five cents apiece.
On top of all the great food, there’s also live music nearly every night and special Dine With Wine events each month.
Whether you’re a visitor looking for great food and views, or a local looking to try an old favorite with a new flair, Crossings at the Riverhouse is definitely worth checking out.
And let me know if you want to help me reach my goal on that wine list. We’ll make it a team effort.