Restaurant review: La Magie in Sisters

Published 12:00 am Thursday, July 21, 2016

In 4½ years, Chef Di Long’s La Magie Bakery & Cafe, on Bond Street in downtown Bend, has established a reputation for savory breakfast and lunch fare enhanced by a display case full of sinfully delicious French pastries.

Long expanded into Sisters at the end of March this year, and the food is as good as — maybe better than — what’s served in the larger city. Certainly, the room, a spacious former Mexican restaurant, lends itself to enjoying a meal more than the cozy, eclectically decorated Bend cafe.

The one thing that might keep La Magie’s Sisters outpost from succeeding at the highest level is very inconsistent service.

Granted, I’ve been there only twice: once for breakfast, once for lunch. But my experiences offered an easy reminder of why I never judge a restaurant on a single visit.

Service on my first visit was, quite frankly, abysmal. My companion and I had to order twice because our server was distracted and didn’t get it the first time through; even then, an incorrect order was delivered to us, and the kitchen had to start all over again. We twice requested coffee without success, until we flagged down a different person to bring our brewed awakening. We were never offered a refill of either coffee or water, even when our attendant stared at our cups and glasses.

On a second solo visit, about a week later, my experience was the polar opposite. The server was as efficient and charming as our earlier one had been abrupt and unsmiling. Orders were correctly taken and quickly delivered; refills were offered at the half-full stage; there was even a bit of friendly conversation. I’m going to count on that being the standard.

A little lunch

While the service element may have affected my opinion, I found lunch superior to breakfast. I had a cup of the soup du jour with a sandwich and a house salad, and was completely happy with all three.

The soup was a blend of coarsely chopped butternut squash with kale and Italian sausage, celery, onions and a sprinkle of dill seed. It came in a light cream broth with a mild curry flavor.

Although the salad of mixed greens (notably red leaf lettuce and baby spinach) was a simple one, it featured cherry tomatoes, red onions, craisins and house-made croutons. The honey-sesame dressing was a perfect choice.

My steak sandwich was served on black Russian wheat bread, similar to pumpernickel but made in-house with Deschutes Brewery’s Black Butter Porter. (Contrary to the name, it was actually brown bread with a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds.) Thinly sliced beef carried a little more gristle and fat than I would have liked, but the sauteed mushrooms, red onions and crumbles of blue cheese, along with spring greens, made it a delicious sandwich.

Breakfast time

For breakfast, I ordered a Cowboy Benny. My companion opted for cinnamon babka French toast.

The “benny” was a variation on eggs Benedict, featuring a generous amount of pulled pork rather than ham, Canadian bacon or a more typical meat. It may not be on the menu at the original Bend cafe, but in Sisters — renowned for its June rodeo — it fits perfectly. It was served on house-made biscuits and topped with two poached eggs and barbecue sauce. My friend offered that it’s not something she’d be likely to order, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The French toast was made with cinnamon-swirled babka bread, a yeasty, brioche-like recipe typical of eastern Europe. Our server had no idea whether pure maple syrup was available to accompany, but when my companion made the same request of a different employee, she was immediately delivered her preferred syrup.

We enjoyed our meals in a large room hung with landscape oil paintings by Sisters-area artists. Accents of flagstone and stacked logs injected an element of rusticity into a mostly white room trimmed with dark wood.

This space is to the left of the entrance. A quiet seating area, with plush chairs for relaxing with a group, is to the right. And straight ahead, beyond the hostess stand, is the display case of Long’s marvelous baked goods.

It’s a beautiful thing that Sisters residents no longer have to drive all the way into Bend to sink their teeth into these sweet delights.

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