For years, locals commented that the Oxford Hotel’s restaurant, 10 Below, should not have been hidden in the basement. The Oxford took heed and brought its restaurant up to the surface and changed the name to Roam. The executive chef from 10 Below, Jake Alaniz, continues his role at the new upscale eatery.

After his training at the Culinary Institute in Napa, Alaniz worked in some of the best kitchens in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Meadowood and French Laundry in Napa Valley. He’s brought some of the unique techniques he learned there to his dishes here at Roam.

We arrived one morning to take a booth in the bright dining room, next to what looked like a framed Native American blanket. Artistic wood accents balance the lines of the modern furniture to give the restaurant a Bend style.

The breakfast menu has the usual eggs and omelets with a few unique items, including a Blueberry Mint Kombucha Waffle. The Dungeness Crab Avocado Benedict looked tasty, but I opted for another special breakfast dish.

Elk from an Oregon purveyor was piled in the center of the Elk Sausage Breakfast Bowl, surrounded by crispy fingerling and purple potatoes.

An overcooked egg sat atop the mix that was flavored with onions and red Mama Lil’s sweet peppers. The elk sausage was a little spicy, and some heat lingered on my tongue after taking a bite. While no herbs or spices stood out, the ingredients did balance one another well. An additional herb, spice or sauce would have added dimension to take it to the next level. Nonetheless, the quality ingredients made for a satisfying dish.

It’s not often you find a brioche toast option to go with your meal. The buttery, rich slices had a crunchy crust, and I imagine the brioche French toast would have been tasty made from this bread.

I had been reading online about Mimi’s bagels and was eager to try what others have been calling authentic bagels. Perhaps I’m not used to New York bagels, but the one I had was chewy and dense. They seemed to be low in salt with not much of “everything” on top. I didn’t finish it.

My friend ordered the Marionberry waffle. Berries were baked into the airy Belgian waffle with crispy ridges. A few Marionberries were scattered on top. Chef Alaniz said that he brings in the deliciously light Marionberry syrup, and I’d love to know his source. Usually, I prefer maple syrup, but this fruity topping matched the lightness of the waffle. My friend was delighted with her breakfast, calling it “the best waffle I’ve had in Bend.”

The restaurant had filled up when I returned with another friend for dinner on a Tuesday night. The dinner menu is not extensive, but it is varied. Options include a filet minion, a vegan cauliflower steak, braised lamb shank, and pappardelle pasta. While the lamb shank is a dramatic looking dish with its bone standing up in the center of the plate, it had sweet peppers, which I had in the Elk breakfast bowl. I chose other options.

Steak tartare is one of those dishes I frequently compare from one restaurant to the next. The chopped raw beef was topped with a pasteurized egg yolk and dotted with capers. Anchovies, cured, thinly sliced lemons, and Mama Lil’s pickled vegetables were included to pile with the meat onto perfectly grilled baguette slices. The meat was moist but without a lot of flavor. The pickled asparagus and cauliflower were quite sour and strong. We experimented with different combinations of the ingredients. My friend’s reaction was that “it was worth coming here to check out the tartare.” I was lukewarm about it. I prefer the steak tartare preparations at other restaurants in Central Oregon.

Our first entree was the Chinook salmon. Perfectly cooked salmon came in a deep dish atop steamed baby bok choy surrounded by salmon roe floating in grapefruit foam. Alaniz explained that this is a stable foam rather than one with delicate bubbles. While it looked like a thick sauce, it was a light foam. Rather than smoke the salmon, it is served with a vegetable broth smoked with applewood chips and served in a small pitcher to pour it over the salmon dish. The menu listed tarragon as an ingredient, and it would have added the right amount of complexity to the combination: The tarragon leaves are usually sprinkled on top, but my dinner was missing the herb.

As I often make chicken at home, it’s not the first entree that I think of when I go out to eat. Nevertheless, I was seduced by the description of the plancha chicken with matsutake mushrooms (an autumn treat). I was disappointed when the dish arrived with oyster mushrooms instead, but I was still glad I ordered it. This was one of the best chicken dishes I’ve had in Bend. A small, organic half-chicken was cooked sous vide. Sous vide cooking involves low temperatures for a long time. Alaniz told me that he cooks the chicken at 155 degrees for three hours. The bird was moist and very tender throughout. After it’s removed from the sous vide machine, it is finished on a particular Spanish plancha grill that is hotter than a typical flat grill. It brought the perfect amount of crispiness to the chicken’s skin. The chicken was tasty enough on its own. Still, a puddle of caramelized onion cream sauce took the dish to another level. The sweet, oniony cream enhanced the chicken, roasted heirloom carrots, and gold and purple potatoes (like those in the breakfast bowl). I couldn’t stop eating this dish and will be sure to return to have it again.

We ended the meal with a creme brulee and a housemade chocolate truffle. The truffle was about the size of a halved tennis ball, wrapped in white chocolate and covered in shaved chocolate curls. A couple of hazelnuts were scattered inside the lusciously rich truffle interior. Raspberry and orange coulis was dripped around the plate with an occasional fresh raspberry and blueberry. This was like a giant candy truffle. Each bite was divine for a chocoholic like me, but it would take someone with a huge sweet tooth to eat the whole thing.

The creme brulee had a nice charred crust and was creamy and flavorful. The interior, however, was a little cold. We ordered it with a couple of decaf coffees and noticed that it was robust but not bitter. The server told us the coffee was from down the street at Bellatazza.

Other competing restaurants often create homemade syrups, pickled veggies, and the like, but Roam sources them. Alaniz finds good quality products, but it would raise the food to a higher level if it was made with housemade ingredients. Still, the waffle and chicken will call me back soon.

What: Roam

Where: 10 NW Minnesota Ave., Bend

Hours: Open every day 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Contact: roambend.com or 541-382-7626