Brian Malarkey is known for his successful turn on “Top Chef” and his California restaurant empire that includes Herb & Wood and Animae in San Diego and Herb & Sea in Encinitas (25 miles north of San Diego). But his roots are firmly planted in Central Oregon, where he grew up among the ranches and rodeos of Redmond. In mid-June, he merged those two worlds and opened Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge in Bend, Ore.

Malarkey teamed up with his brother James, who runs the financial side of the business, and his longtime collaborator, chef Tony Torres.

“I spend a lot of time up here, and my friends and family have been asking me for years to open a place,” Malarkey said. “I said, ‘no, never, it’s too sleepy and the town goes to bed at 7:30.’ But a lot has changed since Covid, and so many people have moved out of big cities to work more remotely. I began to see all the successes some of these chefs were having, so I thought it might be time to look.”

The menu features an assortment of steaks, divided between ranch cuts and cowboy cuts. Photo credit: Mark West

Malarkey and his partners found a building with good bones in Bend, and they decided to go for it. The 11,000-square-foot space features a “modern cowboy” aesthetic, with wood-fired ovens, a birchwood stage for musical performances, semi-private canvas tent dining spaces, and an outdoor patio with a kid’s camp area and a fire pit for roasting s’mores.

The Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge menu features a variety of cold and hot appetizers, including a roasted beet salad with burrata, a beef tongue tostada, and fried shrimp toast. Mains include a wood-fired half chicken, Columbia River salmon and a few pizzas, plus a section of steaks divided between ranch cuts and cowboy cuts. The former features dishes like a chili-rubbed skirt steak with ranch beans and chimichurri, while the latter is stocked with classic cuts like bone-in rib eyes, New York strips and filets.

There’s also a selection of sauces and add-ons, so diners can top their steaks with toasted bearnaise, chili butter, crab hollandaise, or bone marrow gravy.

The restaurant goes the extra mile, raising its own chickens and beef at a nearby ranch, and has an on-site butcher shop and smoker to break down meat and preserve whole animals. What isn’t grown or raised on the ranch is sourced locally, including Oregon-raised pork and Oregon seafood, like albacore, salmon, and rockfish.

“There’s so much energy in this town right now. It feels like the Aspen or Park City of Oregon,” said Malarkey, who’s relishing having a restaurant in “paradise” and a reason to bring people together in the area where he grew up.

The beef tongue tostada, with avocado, pickled onion and salsa macha. Photo credit: Mark West

But he concedes that operating in a small town does have some challenges.

“It’s really hard to get product here,” Malarkey said. “In San Diego, you order something and you get it the next day. Here it takes a few days and might be wrong. They’re not used to a restaurant of our size with our demands, so we have to make sure we get stuff delivered on time.”

Malarkey said the menu changes as needed, but they’ve gotten into a rhythm. The restaurant was fully booked the first couple of weeks, and diners were eating late.

Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge is just one of the big projects on Malarkey’s docket. He partnered with James Beard Award finalist Tara Monson on Le Coq, a French-inspired modern steakhouse, which opened June 27 in San Diego. Monson, who also runs the kitchen at Animae, is the executive chef.

That’s two major openings, in two different cities, in two weeks.

“I’m a madman,” Malarkey said. “I just love working in restaurants and spending time at my restaurants.”