The Music Guide to Your Restaurant Guide

Ya gotta’ have good tunes with good eats, and here are some places to find both

By Doone Lupine Williams

For the long awaited 2023 Source Weekly Restaurant guide we’re here to talk about music. If you’re like me, the music playing when I’m going out to eat makes or breaks my experience. I’m worse than Roger Ebert when it comes to criticizing the vibe anywhere I may wine or dine. Music is a huge part of that. Music and lighting are my big hyper-aware sensory overloads — yes, I am the one who will ask to change tables right after I am seated if I see an open table by a window, or I will be cringing during my entire experience if they’re playing Taylor Swift. Sorry, not sorry. Allow me to break down my experience of the tunes a few of our local food and beverage industry staples are choosing to play while we eat their food and hopefully don’t annoy the hostess about changing seats during a packed house.

The Playlist

#1. The Dogwood Cocktail Cabin

Don’t underestimate “bar food,” my friends. The menus may be small, but it may be the most uniquely satisfying food you would have missed out on by just ordering drinks. Not only does Dogwood have DJs spinning every weekend, the staff pays close attention to their Pandora playlists throughout the week. The food doesn’t mess around, either.

“We got to have something with a beat,” said Dogwood’s longtime bartender Hannah Matraynga. They gear toward a wide variety of beats to please any crowd. Jazz, indie-folk (think Rainbow Kitten Surprise), electronica — like Flume and Glass Animals, ‘80s new wave (The Cure is stealthily on shuffle), hip-hop and a little surfy-psychedelic twang aka “Maria También,” by Khruangbin. They also host an ‘80s night. And I repeat, do not sleep on the New Zealand Drunken Mussels — served with charred bread and the most delicious broth that I almost asked to take in a to-go cup.

#2. Chulitas / Boneyard Pub

The only place you can sit outside and listen to Bad Bunny and eat tacos. Nuff said. Owners Olivia Carrasco and Edgar Tapia mix flavors from Mexico City and Zacatecas and the ambiance is delicious.

#3: The Lemon Tree

You may be intimidated by the constant line out the door and packed outdoor seating near the corner of Franklin and Wall. It radiates the brightest energy. You may think, based off its cottage-core aesthetic meets costal-British tea-shop energy, it would be easy to predict (like classical or French lounge-esque). But they will serve you wrong in style. To my absolute pleasure I felt like I was in London in the ’90s with their tasteful selection of subtle electronic house buzzing through the delightful aroma of fresh juice, coffee and fresh bread. If you like Moloko or Saint Etienne, go order the Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and avocado.

Wild Rose

Voted best Thai food in Bend on multiple accounts. Wild Rose truly sets the bar for aesthetics in dining before Bend’s social media boom. If you catch it when it’s not packed and full of vibrant chatter and silverware clinking, which is rare, they are definitely intentional with their music. During its lunch hour ($8 Tom Kha, anyone?) they keep it fresh, hip and indie — lots of Foster The People. During the evening they tune it down to traditional Thai music to really make you feel like you’re stepping out of the Bendlandia borders.

Bar Fiori

Here I am boasting about my significant other a second time, as he is multi-talented. Besides being a musician, Kelsey Beck Kuther opened up a new spot located inside The Pantry on Newport Avenue. Bar Fiori’s bites and tunes should definitely be on your radar if you love music. Besides hailing as the only natural wine bar in Bend, it’s also the only place you can order tinned fish by Fish Wife. Vinyl is spun on the regular, and the vinyl stash is eclectic to say the least. Expect to hear everything from Sade, Gang of Four, Sam Gendel and ‘90s hip-hop while the display of beautiful wine bottles are sitting proudly next to 45’s and stashes of records.