When Bend’s 10 Barrel Brewing Co. was purchased last winter by giant Anheuser-Busch corporation, many local beer drinkers grumbled about the big fish that had landed in the small Central Oregon pond.

As time has passed, however, former fans have returned to the Galveston Avenue brewpub. And they’ve shown plenty of respect for the satellite brewpubs in Boise and, more recently, in Portland as well.

This reviewer won’t address the quality of the beers that established 10 Barrel’s reputation and led to its Cinderella growth. Every brew lover has his or her favorites; mine happens to be the S1nistør Black Ale, which pairs well with any of the brewpub’s roster of 10 specialty pizzas.

Bend patrons don’t seem to mind waiting a half-hour, or longer, for a table here, even at a restaurant that easily seats 120 diners, indoors and out. As the clientele includes many families with under-age children, that’s no doubt a credit to the menu more than to the beer itself.

“The sale hasn’t really affected the restaurant business,” said Garrett Wales, 10 Barrel’s vice president of restaurant operations. “Since the initial reaction (to the sale), people have really realized it’s the same product, if not better.”

Community feel

The spacious brewpub, on the corner of NW 12th Street, has a rustic appeal that’s emphasized in its dark-wood construction. A renovation of the former Di Lusso Bakery Café that 10 Barrel opened in 2010, it has the appeal of a community gathering place.

A long, high table runs down the center of the dining room, inviting new arrivals to share seating with other singles and couples. Large booths extend down the walls on both sides of the room, and a spacious outdoor patio features a central fire pit surrounded by umbrella-sheltered tables. An intimate bar, its TVs tuned to sports channels, extends off the dining room.

Service is certainly more professional than it was in the months after 10 Barrel opened. It remains friendly and casual, with a team approach, but shows additional signs of thorough training by general manager Jeff Hakala and his staff. On my second recent visit, our server offered my dining companion a free taste of beer when the pub didn’t have her preferred drink. As well, the server was careful to keep our food dry when she attended to our table on a rainy day on the patio.

Under the direction of executive chef James Ludwicky, the kitchen makes every dish from scratch, using as many locally sourced ingredients as possible, according to Wales. “We take pride in that,” the company partner said.

Solo visit

My first recent visit was a solo one. The pub was only moderately busy, and although the dining room was full, I found a vacant table in the bar, where I was served promptly and efficiently.

I started with a small house salad of fresh mixed green and red leaf lettuces from the Good Earth Farms in northeast Bend. Shredded carrot and finely diced tomato were enhanced with a creamy, buttermilk-ranch dressing. And I was delighted when my server arrived with a pepper grinder for additional seasoning.

In a “comfort food” sort of mood, I requested the pub’s original-recipe mac and cheese as my main course. Elbow macaroni was perfectly cooked, just past al dente, doused with a creamy cheddar sauce and finished with a crispy bread-crumb topping. Mixed into the entrée were a generous helping of bacon bits and several large rings of fresh jalapeño peppers, their seeds removed so as not to be too spicy. The only thing I could have done without were a side of house-made barbecued potato chips.

When it comes to comfort food, Wales told me, the pub’s single best-selling menu item is its steak-and-gorgonzola nachos. “The beef is raised at Prineville’s Antone Ranch, where it is fed with our own spent grain,” Wales said. “We’ve had that program in place now for about 6 to 8 months. It’s ideal.”

Dinner for two

At our most recent visit, my companion and I shared three dishes — a quinoa salad, which Wales said is his menu favorite; a pizza, “still half of our food sales,” Wales said; and a plate of lettuce wraps featuring wild Alaskan sockeye salmon.

The salad was mostly quinoa, a Peruvian grain, blended with a good amount of charred kale. I would have been happy with more greens, but the complement of toasted slivered almonds and juicy pomegranate seeds more than compensated. Roasted garlic-and-parmesan vinaigrette was a delightfully light dressing.

The lettuce wraps came unassembled. A stack of red and green lettuce leaves were presented with portions of shredded pickled carrots, sliced cucumbers, cilantro stalks and lightly cooked red salmon, to allow diners to determine their own preferred portions of ingredients. Two dressings were also offered; I found a Thai-style peanut-butter sauce too thick, to a point where a simple spread could overwhelm the salmon, but a mildly spicy Indian sambal was just right.

The pizza was delicious, especially so because the crust was, to my taste, perfect. Thick and yeasty, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, it supported a slew of mostly meaty ingredients that comprised of a pie labeled “The Cowboy.” This featured three meats — pepperoni, Italian sausage and (best of all) pulled pork — along with black olives and sliced pepperoncinis on a layer of tomato sauce with mozzarella cheese.

While the principal owners of 10 Barrel Brewing may now be half a country away in St. Louis, the food continues to be locally sourced and prepared in-house. To me, those are two of the key elements that make a good restaurant.

— janderson@bendbulletin.com