The Crosscut Tap House Warming Hut No. 5, 566 SW Mill View Way in Bend, is not your typical pour house and food truck pod. With a beautiful prow gable rooftop, the pine-sided building houses decorative treasures. Outside are three food carts and beautiful iron fire pits. It is an intimate place where you can slow down, enjoy a libation and get some good food. Owner Bob Libby told me that while it is called Warming Hut No. 5, it is the first of his taprooms that will be opened throughout the Northwest. He explained, “We’re going to count down backward.” He broke ground, October 2019 and opened on May 22.

A retired general contractor, Libby talked about his passion for design. The lumber for the siding of the building is from a lumber yard in La Pine. He found a tree that had died from pine beetles. At 75 feet up, the tree was over 5 feet wide. There was enough wood to create all of the shelving, the bar, and the tables inside and out. A 19-foot long piece of wood was made into a table as the centerpiece of the taproom. Libby found an antique donkey steam boiler (an engine that replaced donkeys for moving logs). He had it restored but kept the rusty exterior. It serves as a fireplace inside the taproom.

Libby’s passion for his craft gives him an appreciation for Bend’s local brewmasters, “I love the culture and the passion of brewmasters. I went to them and said ‘What if I built a place that served your beers perfectly?’” To serve the beer at the perfect temperature, all of the beer tenders are Cicerone beer certified. They learn quality control and exactly how to handle and serve the beer. Alison Burns, the bar manager, is highly trained and has a superlative sensory for beer. She understands the nuances of beer in the way a wine connoisseur knows wine.

Burns will soon add unique and rare whiskeys from around the world to the taproom’s offering of beer, wine, cider, hard seltzer, and such.

When bringing in food carts, he looked for owners with a passion for food that paired well with beer. Abe Cappano’s serves pizza and Italian food. Gyro Power serves Mediterranean food, and Incred-a-Bowl’s menu includes healthy bowls, burgers and wings.

Abe Cappanna’s Detroit Style Pizza

Over the years, Cliff Abrahams, Blumas Chicken and Waffles owner, has won national awards for his pizza. He brings that expertise to Abe Cappanna’s Detroit Style Pizza. Detroit pizza is a new trend with a distinct style. The deep-dish chewy, buttery crust is rectangular, not round. The tomato sauce is added on top of other ingredients instead of applied first to the dough.

On my first visit, I ordered a pizza with our favorite toppings — olives, mushrooms, onions, pepperoni (and half pineapple for my son). Having the sauce on the top, we had to be careful that the toppings didn’t slip off to not lose the sauce. While the meat, veggies, and sauce were tasty Italian, the chewy crust stole the show.

The second pizza, “Something About Olivia,” had an issue. Topped with arugula with what should be a squeeze of lemon, it didn’t have the delicate mix of flavors I had come to know from Chef Abrahams’ other dishes. I decided to return to see if it had been made correctly. As suspected, the second tasting was utterly different. It was clear why customers rave about it.

The mozzarella was thick, melted and stringy as I pulled apart each piece. The pear’s sweetness brought out the savory prosciutto, which was accentuated by onion and balanced by fresh peppery arugula with just a touch of sour lemon and sweet balsamic–all atop that wonderful thick crust. This was a lesson in how difficult it is to control all the factors in a food truck kitchen.

On my second visit, I picked up some meatballs. Ground pork and beef are mixed with parsley, shallots and a touch of panko bread crumbs. The outside was a bit crunchy, but the meatballs were moist. A mild blend of Italian seasoning made the marinara sauce and meatballs exemplary of the flavors I remembered from visiting Italy.

Gyro Power

When the third cart owner fell through, Abrahams stepped in. They chose Mediterranean food as Libby has fond memories from his college days of grabbing a gyro and beer.

The Mezze Grand Slam seemed like the perfect way to sample as much as possible. The gyro meat was tender, savory shaved beef and lamb. An included chicken kebab was fine when piled on a soft, pita triangle with some tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and feta cheese. House-made dill tzatziki added good flavor. The falafels were interestingly bright green inside with a fried-to-a-crisp exterior. The spicy aioli dip and the tzatziki complimented the fried chickpea balls. The hummus was the star of the plate. Rather than just blended chickpeas, Abrahams added a surprise of curry oil and aleppo pepper, giving it a bit more zing and Middle Eastern flavor.

Incred-a-Bowl

Owner Chip Rothenberger has been coming back and forth between Portland and Bend since 1986. He and his wife Prang wanted to settle in Bend to raise their family, and now together, they own and run the Incred-a-Bowl cart.

Incred-a-bowl’s menu reflects Rothenberger’s previous food carts. Thai Noon was one of Portland’s first food trucks in 2007. Later he opened a burger cart that led to becoming an investor in Little Big Burger. Knowing his background makes it easier to understand the menu at this food cart.

Half the menu features wings and burgers like the one he served at his Burgers or Bust cart. The other half are bowls created by Prang, who grew up on a tiny island south of Thailand.

As a starter, I ordered the wings. Deep-fried wings are served with raw carrots and celery with ranch dressing. I opted for both barbecue sauce and a sweet chili sauce. Crunchy breading overpowered the small chicken wings. There needed to be a boneless wing with more meat to balance the amount of breading.

I followed the wings with the shrimp Curry Bowl. Sautéed Brussels sprout flavors are balanced by chunks of sweet butternut squash and six large shrimp. The curry sauce is house-made from turmeric and other classic Indian spices. It seemed to have a red curry flavor with just a touch of heat. The bowl was wholesome, with each ingredient adding its flavor atop the nutty brown rice. It was a simple dish with no complexity or surprises. Still, I would order it again.

In a subsequent visit to take photos, I tried the incred-a-burger, and it was indeed incredible. It checked all the boxes of what makes a great burger. Starting with a quarter pound of Painted Hills, organic, grass-fed beef. The beef is raised outside John Day and humanely slaughtered at a Temple Grandin designed facility. Its origins surely make this a flavorful, juicy patty. It’s then piled with fresh romaine lettuce, dill pickle, and a thick slice of red onion and tomato. I ordered it with thick-cut bacon and melted cheese on a Big Ed’s bun smeared with burger sauce. As good as the burger was, the French Fries were perfection for those who like well-done potatoes. Shoestring fries were cooked crispy with soft insides and served with ketchup.

Warming Hut #5 is a great place to get toasty by a big beautiful fire sipping the perfect craft beer paired with tasty food.