Sumi’s – Bend Oregon

2007/10/08

Sumi’s Japanese Restaurant

The wife and I have been dying to get over to Sumi’s Japanese Restaurant which is located in the old Zucca / Mercury Diner building. Sumi used to own Kushinbo Kitchen downtown and has now opened up a more formal restaurant with metal utensils. We love Japanese food and were excited to see that there will finally be something good in that building.

We made it for lunch a couple weeks ago and got a chance to talk to Sumi about the big change from downtown to College Way. She talked about the soft opening and the pains of getting everything up and running. So if you visited early on and thought the service was lacking, give em another chance as they have been working hard to work out the kinks.

The menu items at Sumi’s are pretty much the same as they were at Kushinbo’s but twice as expensive. Plus now there is a make your own sushi rolls menu, sides, and appetizers. We tried the edemame (or boiled soy beans), oshitashi (spinach salad), and the agedofu (fried tofu). The appetizers were fairly small but were delicious (aside from the boiled soy beans which are never good).

We also decided on a sushi roll. You get to choose the ingredients you want from the menu. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Maybe its a good idea but I’d also prefer to have some recommended rolls on the menu that have all the tried and tested combinations. We went with some Unagi (eel) and avocado and some other stuff I can’t remember.


It was good but damn if $9.50 ain’t insanely expensive for six pieces, four of which were paper thin.

The wife got the Tonkatsu Donburi which was amazingly good. The Yakisoba was excellent but again, I have to mention the price. What I used to pay $7 for is now $12.95. Of course now I get to sit in a nice restaurant with great service, and drink liquor! Sumi’s does have a full bar which is a huge improvement. I went for my beverage of choice for Japanese Cuisine, the Hot Sake.

Sumi’s is good and as they get more and more help, its just going to get better. All in all, its great food and I will definitely go back…or at least I’ll get some dishes to go.

Neat little tidbit about the new logo for Sumi’s, the Hiragana reads Kushinbo…at least according to the wife…she thinks she’s soooo cool.

Sumi’s Japanese Restaurant
1444 NW College Way, Suite 1
Bend Oregon
http://www.sumisrestaurant.com/

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Kasey’s BBQ – Bend Oregon

2007/10/01

Kasey’s BBQ

Kasey’s Texas Style BBQ has been promoting itself on the radio a lot over the last few months. I saw their booth at the Bend Oregon Beer Fest and had to ask them why. They said that there are new owners and they have some big plans.

I convinced my BBQ loving friend from Texas to go back to Kasey’s BBQ with me again. The first time we went, I ended up buying his meal since I was embarrased that I recommended trying it. This time he was on his own.

Still, I would have paid for his meal if we didn’t have to pay up front…it has not improved much. Two things that have improved greatly are:

– the silver dollar potatoes which were crispy on the outside and not crispy on the inside

– the BBQ sauce. Kasey’s BBQ Sauce is delicious. Both their mild and the spicy were amazingly good and I’d buy a bottle of it if I could.

Now for the bad news, I would not recommend Kasey’s BBQ to anyone looking for good BBQ. If you prefer dried out meat, beef ribs that are so tough you can’t rip the meat from the bone, then Kasey’s is for you.


I chose the sampler platter so I could try everything they have to offer. Beef brisket, beef ribs, pork ribs, pork loin, turkey, chicken, and two sides. I selected the baked beans and mashed potatoes wif gravy. No mashers available for lunch so I ended up with the silver dollar potatoes which I was very pleased with.

While I was waiting for my meal I noticed one of the workers go to the back to retrieve my beef rib, throw it on the grill and resauce it. Didn’t seem like it was right out of the smoker but oh well. When I bit into it, I tasted fat, then tough, tough meat that I could barely rip free. Then I chewed on it for a while like it was a piece of Taco (octopus) from a cheap sushi bar.

Next I tried the brisket which was sliced so thin, no way it would be tough. And it wasn’t, but it was dried out. The smokiness was lacking on all of the meat I sampled and the brisket was no different. I enjoyed dipping the brisket into the spicy BBQ sauce though. Made it much better.

The pork loin and the turkey were almost too similar aside that there was slightly more mosture in the turkey meat than the pork loin. Other than that, they were both unimpressive.

The pork ribs were horrid just like the beef ribs. Tough and dry don’t fly.

And finally I tried the chicken breast. I tore it open to get into the flesh without the fatty, grey skin and bit into the breast…dry, flavorless meat. I didn’t take a second bite.

Well, I left confused as to why Kasey’s BBQ could even get honorable mention in the Source’s Best Of 2007 but I’m often confused about many things. I will not be heading back to Kasey’s anytime soon, but feel free to give it a go and let me know what you think.

Kasey’s Texas Style Bar-B-Q
304 SE 3rd St
Bend, OR 97702
541-389-0830
http://kaseysbbq.com/

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