If you’ve lived in Bend long enough, I hope you were lucky enough to know Kebaba, a Mediterranean restaurant that was once on Newport Avenue, like I did. With the camel on the kids menu, creaky floors and quirky art, Kebaba felt like someone’s home. However, due to staffing issues, they shut down in October 2021 and not to be dramatic, but I’m still grieving the loss. 

Bronx Born Pizza, a New York Style Pizza place, was more than just “good for Bend.” Quality ingredients, good dough and seeds and seasoning lining the crust cemented this place as one of my family’s favorites. When they announced they were closing, I found a juvenile drawing in rainbow crayons of a stick figure crying on the restaurant’s window, begging the pizza place not to close, proving that some five year old was just as sad as I was. Their operation time was short lived and the restaurant shut down in January 2020, citing financial issues. 

Although as a child, my palette was not yet developed, I’m told the Eggs Benedict of Birdie’s Cafe was a cultural gem. Accompanied by a multitude of ceramic salt and pepper shakers, this cozy cafe was reliably fresh and a hot spot for perfect pancakes. The brunch spot closed in August 2021.

900 Wall. Longboard Louie’s. Flatbread. Barrio. Joolz. Nome Italiano. Boss Rambler Beer Club. Cafe Del Sol. Devore’s. Foxtail Bakeshop. Soba. Pilot Butte Drive In. Neighborhood Rotisserie. Primal Cuts. Cascade Lakes Brewery. Dakine Grindz. Dump City Dumplings. Sunny’s Carrello. Ida’s Cupcakes Westside. El Sancho’s Westside. 

Heartbreak after heartbreak. Too many restaurants taken too soon. 

“I think some of our best restaurants have been closing over the last two couple years,” said junior Delilah Powderly. “It’s been sad to see.”

Due to increased rent, lack of staff and the endlessly lingering effects of the pandemic, where people don’t go out to eat as frequently, Bend has lost so many local restaurants that meant so much to our community. 

Longboard Louie’s, Mexican restaurant and local favorite that always had a vintage surf film playing, shut down in July 2025 after 25 years when owner Jeff Parshall retired and potential buyers fell through. 

“The state of the industry seems to me, a little in turmoil,” said Parshall in an interview with Central Oregon Daily News.

In May 2025, 900 Wall, a beloved restaurant and happy hour hub, shut down out of nowhere, even informing their employees of the closure the same day.

“I think [their closure] was [due to] some inside drama mixed with losing money over time,” said Powderly, who once worked at the downtown restaurant. “They just didn’t have the funds to keep going anymore.”

The local’s places in this growing town are disappearing, with many transitioning into chain restaurants or uppity tourist attractions.

As much as Bend’s long term residents are in denial, Bend’s economy is built on tourism, a factor that has significant impacts on our food industry.

I have heard lots of buzz about new places coming to Bend such as Ken’s Artisan Pizza or the upcoming opening of Bamboo Sushi and while these new restaurants are exciting, they are increasing the already insurmountable pressure that is crushing our local restaurants. This increase in pressure from corporations with more pocket money forces longtime local gems to raise their prices to remain profitable.

“I think it did get more expensive and less of a family feel and more of a ‘hoity toity’ [vibe] if you can say that,” said Kristy Knoll, one of Summit’s vice principals. “Now everybody was coming to be a foodie instead of just, like ‘this is really good food and I get to be here with my community.’”

Tourists are unlikely to eat at the same place more than once or twice during their stay and as a result, some restaurants have gotten away with reducing their quality of food with the expectation that many of their customers are leaving immediately.

“I guess I feel like I don’t really go downtown anymore to eat anyway because it seems like there’s too many tourists,” said Knoll. “So now we’re like ‘where do the locals go?’”

Where indeed. Bend’s best is still here; you just may have to look.

For a great vegan option, look no further than A Broken Angel, located on 1125 NE 2nd St. This is not the kind of vegan place that makes you question what is actually in vegan cheese but the kind of vegan place that forces you to take a look at yourself and all the vegan slander you may have contributed to and feel deeply sorry because this food truck is that good. Once featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” A Broken Angel elevates vegans’ frequent use of tofu and mushrooms to a new level. My personal recommendation: the breakfast tostada.

Hola! means hello and this place certainly means hello flavor. After a recent visit for the first time in years, I learned that this place not only offers killer Mexican food but outstanding Peruvian food as well. As a sucker for any tamale I can find, I stumbled upon the Tamales Puercos on the Peruvian side of the menu. They were tangy and sweet and spicy and delicious and I would recommend this restaurant to anyone wanting Spork level flavor without the line. They have locations in Downtown Bend, the Old Mill, Sunriver and more.

These sourdough square pizzas that Kitchen Window Pizza has to offer just might be a window into a whole new world. Located at 1227 NW Galveston Ave, this hole in the wall spot boasts thick and crispy crusts loaded with quality ingredients and flavor. Still not sold? They also offer brioche doughnut holes made to order.

With their standard “OG” burger at just $8, Americana is “on a mission to make burgers more affordable.” Having developed a cult following over their double patty smash burgers, this popular Podski food truck opened a location downtown in May 2025.

While I still am grieving the loss of many of Bend’s local gems, these restaurants help to ease the sting.