The Visit Bend crew enjoys a meal (and a beer or twelve) at Broken Top Bottle Shop.
Bend has so many incredible restaurants and brew pubs that it’s silly to hit the same place twice in four days.
Well, unless you’re talking about Broken Top Bottle Shop.
Broken Top Bottle Shop is one of those awesome spots you could hit every day of the week and not only find a new array of delicious food specials, but a brand new tap list brimming with selections you won’t find anywhere else in town.
I dropped by on a Friday night for a beer and some live music, and returned Tuesday with the Visit Bend crew for a full dinner and beer sampling. The tap lists were so different (not to mention so tempting on both occasions) that I was lured by the sampler tray both times. For $10, you get five 5-ounce tasters from the ever-changing tap list that usually includes 12-15 selections.
Oh, and get this—you can scope out their daily tap list on their website beforehand so you can see what’s new every day of the week.
The fabulous beer coolers at Broken Top Bottle Shop.
That’s obviously a plethora of great beer, but it doesn’t stop there. Their huge wall of beer coolers offers roughly 300 varieties of canned and bottled beer ranging from international selections to rare oddities from around the country. Pick a bottle to enjoy at the restaurant, or grab something to go and take 10-percent off.
Not a beer fan? Hey, they still have you covered with a great wine list, plenty of soda, and usually a hard cider selection on the tap list.
One thing that sets Broken Top Bottle Shop apart from a lot of other pubs is the focus on healthy fare. Smoked meats, Panini sandwiches, appetizers, soups, salads, and a huge array of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are whipped up daily by Chef Bethlyn Rider. Even the dessert and kids menus offer an abundance of gluten-free options.
I’m normally a huge fan of their rotating menu of sliders and tacos, and that’s what I get when I’m there on my own. When I dined with Visit Bend, I opted to try a few menu items I hadn’t sampled before.
Scrumptious nachos!
We started with a heaping pile of nachos so delicious I eventually moved them to the other end of the table for fear I’d devour the entire thing and leave none for my fellow diners. They feature corn tortilla chips topped with gluten-free, vegetarian chili, cheddar cheese, green onions, black olives, O’Hana salsa, sour cream, and edamame guacamole. It’s $6 for a small, $10 for a large, and an extra $4 to add roasted chicken or pulled pork.
Another great appetizer is the applewood smoked chicken wings. You can pick from a variety of sauces, and I highly recommend their house-made mango rum barbecue sauce. They come with a side of bleu cheese or garlic tahini dipping sauce and a generous pile of carrot and celery sticks. It’s $5.50 for six or $11 for a dozen. You’ll want a dozen, trust me.
Lemon pistachio seared king salmon salad….say that five times fast! (Or, yanno, just eat it).
On previous visits, I’d become smitten with the scrumptious roasted beet salad with its tasty candied walnuts, so I decided to branch out in my salad selection. I picked the lemon pistachio seared king salmon salad, which featured arugula tossed in an avocado lime dressing, topped with creamy basil red pepper coulis drizzle, dusted with pistachios and house-made bacon. I opted for the large at $15 so I’d have some for lunch the next day, though the $9 small is a great option for someone less piggy than me. The whole thing was so scrumptious that I barely had anything left for lunch.
Other entrees I coveted at our table included the tamale pie with blue corn tamales layered with roasted corn, peppers, house-made veggie black bean chili, and grilled zucchini, topped with house-made red chili mole enchilada sauce, cheddar cheese, and cilantro. It’s $11 for all that, or add roasted chicken, pulled pork, or smoked tempeh for another $4.
Mmmm…bananas foster!
I’m normally not a huge fan of dessert, but couldn’t resist the bananas foster with Bonta natural artisan gelato, candied walnuts, and whipped cream.
All in all, Broken Top Bottle Shop is a terrific option for vegans, vegetarians, gluten-free diners, carnivores, healthy foodies, unhealthy non-foodies, beer fans, non-beer fans, and pretty much anyone walking upright. Or in a wheelchair. Or crawling.
Just check it out, OK? It’s that good.