Ariana was in an older Craftsman bungalow and run by Chefs Andres and Ariana Fernandez.   Their regionally inspired cuisine was offered as a seasonal chef 6-course tasting that changes weekly as well as an a la carte menu on Wed through Sat evenings.  In 2004 Ariana’s Italian parents were excited about the culinary marriage she had with Colombia native Andres and offered the start up money for a restaurant of their own.  It turned out that they both attended the Cascade Culinary Institute and her father had experience in the wine industry so he started as their beverage manager.  With Ariana’s mother helping work the front of the house, the family restaurant was born.   I’d call it medium sized with some seating available on the porch area and a couple seats in front of the bar.  The main room had lots of windows, bench seating along one wall, lowered lighting, art on the walls and a unused fireplace.   It is the “special occasion” restaurant in Bend.  Both of the Fernandez still cook but she will also work any position in the front of the house, even tend bar, when needed.   We went with their tasting to get the best representation of their cooking but in retrospect I’d suggest ordering a la carte.  It was a good place but the tasting went downward toward the end.

Set-up

 

Food

An amuse bouche was Radis Au Beurre or radish with butter and salt.  It was a quarter of the radish bulb with the young greens attached.  It was garnished with a bit of garlic salt.  It was fresh and lovely.  Along with the radish came a plate of housemade focaccia bread and whipped butter.  The bread was tasty and didn’t really need the butter.

 

Hamachi crudo with mandarin ponzu and jalapeño was the first course of the tasting.  The fish was in a fairly small dice with wonderful seasonings.  The bit of pepper did add a nice spiciness to the dish.  It was delicious.

 

A salad was made with  Rooper Ranch kale, sliced Hakurei turnips, Cypress Grove chevre and Naked Goat (whey protein powder).  The creamy goat cheese dressing was on the bottom and the top sprinkled with grated goat cheese. The kale made for a chewy salad and the goat cheese almost made it too salty but it would still rate as very good.

 

A jumbo scallop was in a cauliflower bisque alongside Kaluga caviar mixed with creme fraiche.  The scallop had been grilled with a nice sear on two sides yet still barely cooked in the center.  The rich, thick bisque added at the table was warm and flecked with black pepper.  The scallop was also warm and nicely contrasted with the cool creme fraiche.  It was quite good.

 

Wild ramp dungeness crab risotto was accented with a parmesan crisp.  The crab was shreds in the creamy risotto for another nice dish.

 

Tenderloin of beef was with English pea purée and morel mushrooms.  We requested the beef be rare and it was fairly so but still a very dull meat.  It needed a richer sauce to make up for its lack of flavor.   The jus it was on was well flavored but it was not enough for all the meat and covered with redundent pea sprouts that topped the one morel.  The pea purée was very minty and it overwhelmed any pea flavor.  This was not good, only acceptable.

 

Gianduja cake was made with hazelnut genoise and Nutella ganache beside chantilly.  The hazelnuts were from Oregon which was nice and along with the chocolate were tasty but the genoise was tough.  This was not fork tender – you needed a knife which you did not have.  The chantilly cream was plenty sweet but somehow this one didn’t gel.