Dear Irene is the creation of Chef Jonny Becklund and his wife Irene.  Opening in July 2023, Jonny moved to Bend from San Francisco where he owned a 12 seat tasting menu restaurant.   He likes to change the menu here as he did there based on what he can find at the market.  Their wine list was not particularly great but they do have a huge selection of bourbons.  It was a long space with brick walls, tile floor, a high wood ceiling, music in the background and draping on the lights over the long bar.  There was a second dining area through a window which was about a third of the length and then the kitchen.  Art was on the walls and there was lots of color in the decorating scheme.  Small tables were along the walls with one side utilizing bench seating.  The place could have noise issues but the food was good enough to put up with it.

Set-up

 

Food

Oregon dungeness crab arancini contained hand-picked dungeness crab and arborio rice on a Calabrian chili lemon aioli with parmesan chives.   There were 3 to an order and came out hot and crispy.  The sauce had a good kick of spiciness and inside there was a ton of crabmeat.  These were very good.

 

Seared foie gras came on Sparrow brioche pain perdu on an apple and quince purée topped with five spice, pistachio and wild blueberry.  The small foie gras was perfectly cooked and was wonderful with the tasty bread preparation.  Crunchy pistachios provided a good textural contrast.  The tiny wild blueberries were a real treat. With another good sauce this was a winner too.

 

Roasted asparagus topped with burrata was new on the menu.  It was seasoned with bottarga, castelvetrano and kalamata olive tapenade, preserved lemon. agrumato oil, aleppo pepper and basil.  You could smell the wonderfully roasted small asparagus from Washington as soon as they got to the table.  The seasonings perfectly accented the tasty vegetables.  A great seasonal offering.

 

Seared diver scallops were with carrot coriander puree, sugar snap peas, roasted sunchokes, Iberico chorizo and vinaigrette.  They came 3 to an order and were fairly large.  The creamy carrot puree was nice as were the crisp sugar snap peas.  Everything blended nicely here.

 

Short ribs were with roasted bone marrow, rainbow marble potatoes, Swiss chard, baby carrots, green peppercorn sauce.  The meat seemed more like a pot roast cut than true short rib meat but it was tender.  The wonderful pile of perfectly cooked vegetables and the very savory sauce made this one good too.  My one complaint would be that there was no marrow spoon so you had to used your knife to cut it out.

 

Sticky date cake was topped with bourbon caramel and pistachios alongside cardamom whipped cream.  The cake was very moist and it tasted like some roasted hazelnuts were mixed with the pistachios – to a good end.  The dense cake was great with the sauce and the crunch of the nuts.  A very fine dessert.

 

Burnt caramel truffles were specialty truffles by Recchiuti Confections, a San Francisco friend of the chef.  The candies were stuffed with tasty chocolate but I didn’t get any caramel flavor.  They were fine but not worth $5 each and each was big enough to split one.