Rockin' Dave's Bistro

When visiting Bend, Oregon, on business, my friend Jeff recommended I come to Rockin' Dave's to try their Royal Reuben. On the day we were there, they happened to be out of rye bread, so we were given the choice of having the Reuben on Sourdough or Wheat. I went with the Sourdough.

The restaurant features bagels prominently in its lineup, and has a few tables in the main seating area and an open area behind the ordering counter where you can watch the employees go back and forth. The display case under the cash register was full of various bagel varieties.

I feel that the bread on the Reuben sandwich that day didn't really make a huge difference, because what I fell in love with was the corned beef. Apparently the beef is "house braised" and they prepare it themselves on-site. The corned beef was mouthwateringly delicious and I could have just eaten a plate full of it, if given the opportunity.

The remaining ingredients on the sandwich were reasonably tasty, but they were definitely outperformed by the corned beef. I found it quite an expensive sandwich for its size, but it was worth it.

As a side item, they included two thinly sliced portions of bagel that had been toasted and had some seasoning added. They also included a pickle spear that was something different from the normal dill pickle. Their menu mentioned something called "sassy" pickles, and perhaps the pickle spear was one of their "sassy" variety. It was a little sweeter than the common dill that I am used to.