This is pretty much an eastside restaurant mini-review feature that I’ll be running periodically. You can view my “lunch bite” critera at this first post.

I can’t imagine any long-time residents of Bend that are either unaware of Taco Stand or haven’t ever been—and yet every now and again I’m completely nonplussed to run into one. (One of my co-workers has never been, and he’s been here for many years.) Taco Stand is a Bend institution, the hole-in-the-wall cheap eats place off the beaten path (indeed unless you know where to look on Hill Street near downtown you’ll likely miss it) that offers a lot of food for the price.

It’s the perfect lunch spot.

Most items on the menu are $5.50 or less (the most expensive special I’ve seen is $5.75), with the exception of the “Boswell Challenge” at $8.25 (which is something like a 3-pound burrito eating challenge item). Plain burritos and tacos are $2.50, and there are various other items on the menu that you’ll only find on the board (or on Facebook now).

It’s about as far as I want to go from the east side for lunch—“far” being relative in Bend at that’s only a 7 or 8 minute drive depending on traffic—but it’s definitely worth it. So I went in to grab some lunch (a bit over a week ago) and opted for the combo burrito, with pork, for $5.25.

And like Super Burrito, the burrito was huge and delicious—a meal in itself, you don’t need anything else with it—service was extremely quick (quicker than Super Burrito actually) and friendly, and worth the trip and the price by far.

The best part about Taco Stand is if you know about Taco Stand, you feel like you’re “in the know.” (Fortunately the first rule of Taco Stand isn’t “Don’t talk about Taco Stand”!) But they’re not trying to hide or be exclusive: they’re just doing their thing and making really good, inexpensive food.

Oh, and apparently this year they will be celebrating their 20th anniversary—keep an eye on their Facebook page for details.