On April 26, we participated in the Bend Foodie Crawl 2026. At this event, you walk around to different locations in downtown Bend, Oregon and get small food and beverage samples. The number of participants is limited to help prevent overcrowding. The map for this year’s event is at the end of this post. Since not every place has a downtown location, samples are also offered at The Commons and at US Bank.
The Bend Foodie Crawl 2026 took place from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. The after party at McMenamins restaurant went from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. It featured, desserts, drinks, raffles, and other entertainment.
Favorites at Bend Foodie Crawl 2026 food & drinks
I’ll start out this post with my favorites. Yoli serves modern and traditional Korean cuisine. They featured a Bulgogi Ssam with kimchi and banchan paired with a soju. This beautifully presented dish had great flavor. It was one of the spicier options of the day.
I’ve eaten at Yoli before and described a 5-course meal we had there in a previous post. It was delicious!
One of my other favorites was from Five Fusion | Sushi Bar. They served spicy hamachi with citrus and olive oil in a cute square cup. They called their drink a Good Neighbor. It included roku gin, blackberry infused St-Germain, blackberry gomme, blueberry, and lemon. It was flavorful and paired well with the hamachi.
Though I focused on the food, I liked checking out the interiors of some of our local restaurants while on the crawl. I liked the symmetry and colors of Five Fusion’s bar.
I also liked the food at El Sancho. They served beef barbacoa and pork carnitas tacos. The warm tortillas were filled with meat and garnished with cilantro, diced onions, salsa verde, and lime. They served a refreshing Sunriver Brewery beer with the tacos.
One of El Sancho’s restaurants burned down a couple of years ago but they rebuilt it. It’s a local favorite so we are glad to see its return.
Wonderland Chicken served a sample of their Nashville chicken with a side of pickle coleslaw. They let us know the chicken was level “0” on the hotness scale, with 7 as the hottest. I was glad about that because we ate there before and level 2 was too hot for me even though I like spicy food. I liked the tasty, crisp chicken and the extra pickle flavor in the slaw.
Roam is a Modern American restaurant in the Oxford Hotel, one of the more upscale hotels downtown. They served a mini elk sausage corndog with a mustard relish aioli. I was a little hesitant because elk can taste gamey, but this was good. The drink I had was a smoked honey bourbon sour.
Mother Shuckers served Willapa Bay oyster shooters with cocktail sauce, horseradish, and a wedge of lemon. The sample include a single fire cracker and a glass of Willamette Valley white wine. I admit, I prefer my oysters cooked, but I braved my aversion to the slightly slimy texture and ate the raw oysters. I still prefer them cooked. 😉
Mother Shuckers is one of my favorite Bend food trucks and I love their fish sandwiches. I usually include their lime cilantro slaw with my order.
Okay offerings
J Dub is an American restaurant and bar downtown. They served a chicken lettuce wrap with diced chicken and garlic, peppers and onions garnished with an Asian peanut glaze. It was paired with Stafford bourbon. The wrap was fine, but I preferred the more flavorful one offered by Yoli.
Cascade Culinary students served a savory green garlic brisee tartlet paired with a sweet pistachio French macaron and a sparkling strawberry sangria. It was nice to see the tasty tartlets assembled right before your eyes. The macaron was flavored perfectly, but the sangria didn’t have much taste.
It was wonderful to see students from our local culinary program enthusiastically participating in this event.
Zydeco served Boudin balls paired with a Hurricane cocktail. The Boudin balls were okay. The drink was one of my favorites.
We go to Zydeco for special occasions and ate there last night in celebration of my sister’s birthday. Maybe I’ll write a post about their food in the near future.
Not my favorites
The local Head Start Food Service also served food at this event. This organization serves food to our children in need. The grilled chicken was mixed with ancient grains, carrots and other veggies, and topped with a cherry. I thought they were trying to sneak in a lot of healthy food into this dish. I liked the unexpected inclusion of a cherry on top. They served a lemon spritzer with this dish.
Blissful Spoon is a gluten-free restaurant downtown. They served pita chips with a selection of dips including Moroccan hummus, zaalouk, and muhammara. It was paired with Monkey Bay sauvignon blanc. I thought this dish was just okay. Maybe it was partly due to the almost monochromatic presentation. I expect food to be a feast for the eyes and the palate at events like this.
I liked some of the bakery items I’ve tasted here in the past and also like their well-laid out interior design.
Bend Foodie Crawl 2026 desserts
We went to the after party to check out some of the desserts. McMenamins, Bonta Gelato, Mom’s Kitchen, and Eberhard’s Dairy Products provided the food. Desserts included gelato, cheesecake, pecan bars, lemon bars, brownies, and ice cream. By the time we got there, I think my taste buds were dead but I liked the wide variety of sweet treats.
Here’s the map for the Bend Foodie Crawl 2026. I look forward to going to this event next year.
The money raised during the Foodie Crawl benefits NeighborImpact, a local nonprofit. This organization provides resources for finding food, housing, and paying bills. They also provide services for Head Start and Early Head Start for Central Oregon families. I give them a generous donation every year. Please consider donating to them here.
In case you want to see more, here’s my post about the Bend Foodie Crawl in 2025.
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