The Northside Bar and Grill isn’t the sort of place that you go for food.

The Northside is a music venue, and a good one. Musicians perform here every night but Sunday, playing funk and blues, jazz and hard rock.

But it doesn’t hurt that, once you’re at the Northside, you can enjoy what the kitchen turns out. It’s not gourmet, but neither is it half bad.

From bar snacks to burgers, salads to fish and chips, this little establishment, hidden in an industrial park on Boyd Acres Road in northeast Bend, gives its customers what they want. And that includes budget-priced taco specials on Thursday’s open-mic night.

No longer a well-kept secret, Northside remains a well-kept establishment. It’s clean and tidy, with a polished hardwood floor for dancing in front of the band platform, and a carpet behind that shows no signs of being threadbare. Tables seat about 60 guests, with another 10 stools at the bar and additional chairs at a half-dozen video poker machines.

Six flat-screen TV sets ring the bar, most of them tuned to different sports channels. When there’s no band playing, speakers pump out classic rock tunes.

First impression

On my first visit, when I dropped by for lunch shortly after noon, I wasn’t left with the best impression of service. The cook was sitting out front, having a smoke, and when I departed 45 minutes later after my meal, the cook was again sitting out front, having a smoke. The lone server was involved in a discussion at the bar, so I found my own table. Five minutes later I walked over to find a menu.

From that point on, when the server realized I wanted more than a beer, I got adequate attention. And on two later, evening visits, service was fine: I’m sure the Northside is used to an after-dark clientele, and it is certainly better staffed at that time.

My order at that first meal was a Philly cheese-steak sandwich with a salad and fries. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the salad. Made not with everyday iceberg lettuce, but with mixed fresh greens and red cabbage, it was tossed with tomato, carrot and minced black olives as well as shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses. My honey mustard dressing was presented in a cup on the side.

Although the fries were boring — they certainly appeared to have come from a frozen-food package — the Philly itself was quite satisfactory, from the standpoint of ingredients. A generous amount of lean sliced beef was layered with green peppers and onions, then topped with melted Swiss cheese. The bread was unremarkable, and could have been improved with a light toasting or a spread of mayonnaise-based dressing — or both.

Evening visit

I dropped by twice at night with my dining companion to sample several other dishes.

On one visit, I had a half-dozen chicken wings and a mushroom Swiss burger. The poultry parts were rather anemic looking, certainly far from plump, and the accompanying barbecue sauce was too vinegary for my taste. I won’t be ordering these again.

The burger, on the other hand, was delicious. A good piece of meat, maybe a third of a pound, was settled in a toasted bun with slices of tomato, pickle and shredded lettuce, along with the mushrooms and Swiss cheese that earned it its name. There may have been a little too much mayo — it dripped out as I was eating — but the flavor was great.

My companion ordered a happy-hour hummus veggie platter. There was a good amount of food on the plate, but a good share of that was sliced and lightly toasted garlic bread, which is not the same as pita bread with this traditional Middle Eastern chick-pea dip.

The hummus, a processed brand, was surrounded with celery and carrot sticks, sliced red bell peppers, a half-dozen green olives and three whole, large button mushrooms. If nothing else, it satisfied a need on the menu for vegetarian dishes.

Taco night

Our last visit coincided with Taco Thursday, and we indulged with plates of beef tacos (three of them) and fish tacos (two).

Those filled with ground beef were less expensive and a better value. Each fish taco contained just a single small piece of seafood, breaded and deep-fried, easy to lose in the accompanying shredded iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. The beef taco had substantially more meat within its lightly fried flour shell.

The tacos came with sour cream and salsa. The latter, in particular, didn’t meet a quality standard; it clearly had been poured from a flavor-poor commercial jar.

To go with our tacos, and in keeping with a south-of-the-border mood, we called for an order of cheddar-battered jalapeno peppers. They weren’t at all what I had expected: Rather than being sliced lengthwise and filled with cheese, these peppers were sliced crosswise and deep-fried. There must have been five dozen of them on the plate.

I saw the signs flashing in front of me: “Danger! Heartburn!” But my diet-conscious companion dove in first, confessing to a guilty pleasure. “I sort of like the batter,” she said.

— Reporter: janderson@bendbulletin.com

SMALL BITES

Chef-owner Kristin Yurdin of the Terrebonne Depot restaurant has announced a special Valentine’s Day menu for next Friday. Diners will be able to choose between five appetizer courses, seven main courses and three desserts, and enjoy a full three-course meal for $38. One option: Prosciutto-wrapped prawns, followed by filet mignon with pecan-stuffed pears, and a flourless chocolate almond cake. Reservations are essential. Open 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday. 400 N.W. Smith Rock Way, Terrebonne; 541-548-5030, www.terrebonnedepot.com.

New lunch and dinner menus at Elevation, the restaurant at the Cascade Culinary Institute, are highlighted by two different versions of fresh Oregon steelhead. Prices at the instructional restaurant top out at $21 for a short-rib entree. Open 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday. 2555 N.W. Campus Village Way, Bend; 877-541-2433, www.elevationbend.com.