A hot serving of gumbo in a bread bowl from Upper Terrace Eats in Bend. (Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photo)

Former tenants of the small cafe space in Bend’s Phoenix West building have had grandiose plans — things like a gourmet restaurant, a brewpub and an entertainment space.

Lee Peltier, who opened Upper Terrace Eats above the Old Mill District in late October, just wants to keep it simple. And the approach seems to be working.

“We want to be here for the professional community,” said Peltier, a Louisiana native who moved with his family from Virginia to Bend in 2013.

Together with Lindsay Peltier, his wife and co-owner, Lee Peltier reopened the business two months after Rat Hole Brewing (which already had relocated to Sunriver) closed its Bend pub in August.

The cafe is open only on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The menu is simple: A half-dozen sandwiches, four soups, three salads, a quartet of brunch items for late risers and a couple of daily specials.

But everything is fresh. Meals are fast. And few restaurant owners are friendlier than Lee Peltier himself. He introduces himself to every new face that walks into his cafe and quickly remembers patrons by their first names when he sees them again.

Soups and salads

As a man with Acadian roots, Peltier knows how to make a good Cajun-style gumbo. The first meal I had at Upper Terrace Eats was a chicken-and-sausage gumbo, cooked with okra, served on a bed of white rice with two buttered slices of toasted baguette.

In deference to palates not accustomed to bayou spices, the heat level is toned down — but Tabasco hot sauce is readily available on request.

On another occasion, I had a daily soup special, a beef-vegetable blend with barley and herbs.

But best of all may have been a salmon-and-corn chowder, served in a hollowed-out bowl of sourdough bread. The creamy blend was made with wild-caught Pacific salmon, kernel corn, lots of potatoes and fresh herbs.

A salad of baby spinach leaves, bacon bits and blue cheese crumbles, along with halved cherry tomatoes and red onions, was delicious. Dressed with a warm bacon-shallot vinaigrette and topped with a fried egg, it was a meal in itself.

Sandwich selection

A classic Reuben sandwich, served on toasted marbled rye bread, had multiple layers of lean, thinly sliced corned beef, along with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing. It wasn’t as sloppy nor as thickly piled as some Reubens I’ve had — I would have enjoyed about twice the amount of kraut — but it was very good.

A bow-tie pasta salad accompanied; it was made with cherry tomatoes and red onions, cucumber slices and crumbled feta cheese, tossed in red wine vinaigrette. Kettle chips were an option.

There was a lot to the Upper Terrace Burger, a thick patty of ground beef grilled medium and stacked with cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and onion. It was served on a toasted brioche bun that somehow survived the process of squishing all this food — dressed with mayonnaise, ketchup and Dijon mustard — into a mouth far smaller than the burger itself.

And every meal finishes with a freshly baked chocolate-chip cookie.

Big Ed’s breads

All of the bread at Upper Terrace Eats comes from Big Ed’s Artisan Bread, a local bakery that can no longer fairly call itself Bend Oregon’s best kept secret! Dozens of Central Oregon restaurants and markets, brewpubs and food carts carry products from Big Ed’s. The bakery’s 23 breads include such variations as ciabatta, pumpernickel and challah.

The bread plays a behind-the-scenes role here, as does the low-key atmosphere — which, like the food itself, is simple but classy.

Patrons enter to an informal seating area reminiscent of a living room, with a sofa and a table for four set with a large chess game rather than table settings. An open-sided book and knickknack shelf separates this area from the main dining room, which seats 20 at seven tables.

Historic black-and-white photos of old Bend hang on the walls between large windows and a door that opens to seasonal outdoor deck seating.

Another half-dozen seats at the bar, where taps draw six different regional beers: I enjoyed an Oakshire amber, from Eugene, and a Breakside pilsner, from Portland, on two of my visits. There’s also a small selection of reasonably priced quality wines and a variety of non-alcoholic beverages.

— John Gottberg Anderson 
can be reached at 
janderson@bendbulletin.com.

The bread plays a behind-the-scenes role here, as does the low-key atmosphere — which, like the food itself, is simple but classy.

NEXT WEEK: AJII ASIAN KITCHEN