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Aug 31, 2023

Restaurant Report: Spork in Bend, Ore.

Advertisement Supported by Bites By Carly Berwick Spork, a Bend, Ore., restaurant that began as a food truck, is a precocious lovechild of sesame and pork. Jeff Hunt, an owner and the executive chef,

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By Carly Berwick

Spork, a Bend, Ore., restaurant that began as a food truck, is a precocious lovechild of sesame and pork. Jeff Hunt, an owner and the executive chef, developed the menu based on expeditions to places like Bangkok and the Yucatán; the result is dishes like spicy fried chicken with kimchi and fried catfish tacos with chile mayo.

Prayer flags made by Allison Murphy, a local designer, flutter above the open kitchen, where bearded young chefs make culinary magic. “Coming from the food cart, I like being able to interact with guests,” said Mr. Hunt, who still puts in a few weekly grill shifts.

Mr. Hunt moved to Bend for the snowboarding and stayed for the food scene, working his way through various kitchens. For four years, Spork — the name is a mash-up of the beloved utensil and one of Mr. Hunt’s favorite ingredients, pork — functioned out of a 1962 Tradewind Airstream in a lot behind an organic veggie stand on the town’s west side.

In June, Mr. Hunt and his business partner, Erica Reilly, moved to an unassuming spot in a mini-mall, sandwiched between a frozen yogurt shop and a self-serve dog wash. The cafe décor is West Coast hippie-chic, with reclaimed-wood tables where guests can dine family style.

On the menu, the spicy chicken has emerged as a star; it began as an homage to some wings Mr. Hunt ate at a dive in Los Angeles’s Koreatown but morphed into “a good riff on Chinese fried chicken.” The thighs gain their crunch from frying in rice flour and rice bran oil and their spice from sambal chile sauce.

The menu is highly seasonal and local (nearby Portland supplies much of the regionally butchered meat and Asian dry grocery goods). During a meal this summer stir-fried shishito peppers cut through the fattiness of locally sourced bacon chunks. Summer took center stage in a Mexican classic: grilled corn, drenched in lime butter and sprinkled with paprika, cilantro and cotija cheese.

A somewhat more creative approach to Mexican cuisine was found in a simple salad: toasted pumpkin seeds with queso-fresco-bedecked romaine hearts that were lightly grilled and topped with a strawberry-cumin dressing and a poblano chile garnish. It was a paean to the improvisatory chemistry ignited by the tight space of food carts.

Spork, 937 Northwest Newport Avenue; 541-390-0946; sporkbend.com. An average meal for two, without drinks or tip, is about $30.

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