Central Oregon's nearest facsimile of a classic, intimate Greek taverna nestles on a busy street corner between downtown Bend and the Old Mill District. Yet it waits to be discovered.

The food at the Maragas Winery Tasting Room is outstanding, and the rustic ambience is everything one could ask of a small-menu wine bar.

Originally the home of winemakers Doug and Gina Maragas, the small red house at the southeast corner of Colorado Avenue and Bond Street became an urban tasting room after the couple established their winery and residence north of Bend — just off U.S. Highway 97 between Terrebonne and Culver — in 2007.

At one point, they considered selling the building. But last fall they pulled it off the market and thoroughly renovated it, opening as the M Bar (a name that may soon be changed) in late November.

Maragas patrons who recall a tiny tasting space will no longer recognize the building's interior. It is a totally different establishment.

Large, solid-wood tables, each seating six to eight people, flank a fireplace and dominate the main dining area. A few tall stools stand beside a small bar above which a blackboard menu announces which of the winery's current vintages are available for sipping. An upright piano and a guitar invite amateur musicians to entertain friends and family.

Up a narrow divided set of steps, two intimate loft sections seat fewer than a dozen people on sofas. It's a perfect place for a quiet tête-à-tête with a sweetheart.

The menu is in the hands of chef Justin Brown, a Western Culinary Institute graduate who moved to Bend in 2009 and previously cooked at The Blacksmith and Chow. Somehow, from a tiny residential kitchen, he is able to craft consistently marvelous plates of healthy, often Mediterranean-influenced cuisine.

Greek heritage

I was first introduced to Brown's talents at a sold-out Valentine's Day wine dinner, where each of five courses was paired with a different Maragas wine. That meal included a butternut-squash soup, a sauté of mussels and sausage, and a rack-of-lamb entree.

More recently, my dining companion and I have returned twice for shared meals. There's a choice of more than a dozen bar snacks priced $3 to $7, and a limited, more formal dinner menu with entrees at $16 and $17.

Doug Maragas, whose grandparents emigrated to the United States from the Aegean isle of Crete, has encouraged Brown to develop his Greek culinary skills. For the moment, the menu features only three Greek items, but all are excellent.

I'm especially fond of Brown's version of spanakopita. Unlike the more traditional Greek spinach pie, the Maragas spanakopita is presented as a stack of fresh ingredients, not as a baked, filled phyllo pastry. Fresh spinach leaves, feta cheese, roasted garlic, mushrooms and walnuts are stacked between crispy leaves of phyllo and lightly sprinkled with chili flakes.

Moussaka, a meat-and-eggplant dish that is typically layered and baked like lasagna, here is a lighter dish. Brown prepares balls of lamb in a blend of tomato paste with the winery's own zinfandel. These are alternated with eggplant on a skewer, seasoned with cumin, coriander and cloves, then baked and presented with a garlicky Parmigiano-and-cream dip, sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Dolmathes are given a more traditional treatment. Grape leaves — this is a winery project, remember — are stuffed with rice, onions, dill and lemon zest, baked and coated with a light avgolemono (lemon) sauce.

Future Greek menu additions may include a peasant salad (vegetables and feta cheese tossed in olive oil without lettuce) and lamb ribs braised in red wine.

Filling out the menu

Here's what I've sampled from the rest of the menu:

Bacon-wrapped dates are stuffed with goat sausage, adding a savory element to the sweetness of the fruit.

Sautéed mushrooms are blended into a tapenade-like spread and served with Juniper Grove Farms' trademark Redmondo cheese and freshly baked bread from the Sparrow Bakery.

A sauté of garbanzo beans, roasted with kalamata olives, chilies, fennel and coriander, are a pleasantly spicy palate pleaser.

A roasted Anaheim pepper stuffed with mushrooms and herb-blended goat cheese, and a plate of roasted garlic polenta topped with braised beef and stewed tomatoes are hearty and filling small plates that might easily satisfy a wine taster's appetite.

These are all from the bar menu, none priced over $7.

My favorite among three entrees was the pan-fried chicken. Tender and peppery, served on arugula with a house-made tomato sauce, Redmondo cheese and a sprinkling of capers, it was presented with roasted parsnips and rutabagas, two wonderful but often-forgotten root vegetables.

A pan-roasted Alaskan cod was also delightful. It was served with sautéed garbanzos and candied walnuts on a salad of arugula and red cabbage with capers, lemon and olive oil.

And for meat lovers, a flatiron steak was offered with braised mustard greens and a puree-style mash of sweet potatoes. The meat was perfectly done, as was everything on the menu in back-to-back visits.

Chocolate and wine

Brown is also a chocolate lover, as his dessert menu makes evident. The winery recommends — very successfully, in my opinion — that these be tried with glasses of Central Oregon Beat Red, its award-winning dessert wine that is the first vintage produced from grapes grown entirely in Culver and Terrebonne.

The menu features a white-and-dark-chocolate fondue. It offers a blue cheese-and-prosciutto chocolate, sprinkled with cayenne chili pepper.

And perhaps most surprising, it presents a shot glass of warm spiced chocolate, seasoned with fennel and ancho chilies. “It messes with your taste buds,” Brown said with a smile. He doesn't add that it may also be addictive.

“I enjoy exploring what's going on in my head food-wise,” said Brown, 31, who discovered his passion for cooking when working as a guide on wilderness expeditions.

The tasting room's ultra-casual service is its only possible weakness for some diners.

Except on busy occasions, Gina Maragas does double duty in the wine bar and serving tables, while Brown himself may deliver plates directly from the kitchen. And Doug Maragas may abandon the winery to assist.

It all adds up to one big, happy family operation — not so different than what it might be in Greece.

SMALL BITES

Red Napkin , a mobile kitchen, opened March 16 on 14th Street in Bend. Owned by a recently immigrated German couple, the cafe serves bratwurst and schnitzel with potato salad and sauerkraut for $5 to $9. Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. N.W. 14th Street between Commerce and Knoll avenues, Bend; www.facebook.com or 541-639-2775.

Tart Bistro has extensively revised its menu to place a new emphasis on small plates. Chef Joe Benevento said a 35-item bistro menu features salads, patés, escargots and several vegetarian items, as well as duck-leg confit, gnocchi with truffle butter and shellfish in a trio of sauces. The entrée list has been trimmed to four, all of them less than $20. Open 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. 920 N.W. Bond St. (St. Clair Place), Bend; www.tart bistro.com or 541-385-0828.

RECENT REVIEWS

Big Island Kona Mix Plate (B+): Nestled next to the Regal Cinemas in the Old Mill District, this casual cafe serves multi-ethnic, Hawaii-style meals mainly in the $8 to $10 range. Plate lunches range from kalua pork and mahi-mahi to teriyaki chicken and grilled-cheese sandwiches. 680 S.W. Powerhouse Drive, Suite 1004, Bend; www.konwmixplate .com or 541-622-7278.

Sidelines Sports Bar & Grill (B): Classic comfort food from soup to ribs to pasta, is presented at bargain prices by a friendly and efficient service staff. Two dozen flat-screen TVs are all the ambience required. Open 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. 1020 N.W. Wall St., Bend; 541-385-8898.

Brickhouse Steak & Seafood (A-): At once simple and sophisticated, Brickhouse has a veteran professional staff that serves superb steak dinners in a handsome atmosphere overlooking the Deschutes River. Open 4 p.m. to close every day. 803 S.W. Industrial Way, Bend; www.brickhousebend.com or 541-323-5382.