Greg's Grill has come into its own, worthy of its bearing as the centerpiece of the shops at the Old Mill District.

Gone are the days of $40 steaks and inexperienced service. Quality cuisine is now served at moderate prices, presented by staff members who couple professional know-how with attention to patrons' needs. This has lifted the four-year-old restaurant into the upper echelon of fine-dining experiences in Central Oregon.

On three recent visits — a lunch and two dinners, indoors and outdoors — I was thoroughly impressed by the restaurant's much-improved performance since I last reviewed it in September 2007.

Kirby Banta, general manager since July 2009, credited owners Greg and Teresa Hubert with making the changes. Greg Hubert is a partner in the corporation that owns the Bend Red Robin and Johnny Carino's restaurants, but Greg's Grill is not otherwise affiliated with those groups, Banta said.

“It was their ability to identify the market, to adapt to the downturn in the economy, to rework the menu and get the right people in the right places,” Banta said. “I think that the menu change (which Banta said was done with the assistance of noted Seattle chef Kathy Casey) was a catalyst for the growth in this restaurant.”

Banta also singled out executive chef Denny Wheeler, chef de cuisine Mike Lyman, beverage manager Albie Bjornberg and bar manager Jade Brown Godfrey as having helped to elevate Greg's Grill.

Dinner with a view

When my companion and I arrived for a dinner reservation, we were warmly greeted by a hostess who showed us to a table beside the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the Deschutes River.

Built at a cost of $5 million, the lodge-like Greg's Grill rises like a cathedral beside the river's banks. The tall windows welcome the outside in, while the soaring wood-beam architecture keeps it there. With 280 seats — and another 70 on a riverside patio — this is not a small restaurant.

Although I appreciate that background music may get lost within the spacious interior, I still felt that the classic hard-rock music playing over our dinner conversation may have been too loud for some patrons.

For our dinner, we shared an appetizer, and each of us had a salad and an entree.

We started with a plate of seared ahi, crusted with sesame seeds and served with shredded nori seaweed and a mildly spicy wasabi cream. The fish was excellent, as was an accompanying salad of cucumbers and shredded carrots with a miso-ginger vinaigrette.

My friend had a “blue grill salad,” which meshed a Caesar with a traditional wedge salad. It was made with crisp romaine leaves, a little tomato and cucumber, blue cheese crumbles and a house-made blue cheese dressing. The croutons were also made in house, but my friend complained that it was served too cold, as if it had been waiting in a refrigerator for delivery.

She was very happy with her roasted artichoke-Parmesan chicken breast entree. The cheesy, peppery sauce contained lots of spinach as well as artichoke hearts; I found it a little salty for my taste, but she appreciated the spices.

My salad — cool but not overly chilled — was made with a variety of field greens, tossed with dried cranberries, toasted hazelnuts and a poached Bosc pear half. A raspberry-honey dressing was just sweet enough.

My pepper steak, a 10-ounce New York cut of black Angus, was perfect. Crusted with cracked peppercorns, served with a spoon of five-herb butter on top, it was cooked medium-rare as I like it. A large baked potato came with butter, sour cream and crispy pieces of bacon.

Lunchtime return

On a midday visit, I ordered a starter and a salad, while my companion opted for a burger.

My Southwest Catalina salad was Greg's version of a taco salad, made with multiple fresh garden greens — red and green leaf lettuce, spinach, radicchio and cilantro — along with lean ground beef, chopped red onions and tomatoes, and shredded cheddar cheese. It was served with an avocado-lime dressing, spoons of sour cream and pico de gallo on top, and multicolored tortilla chips around the edges.

My only reservation was the addition of fried jalapeno “wheels.” Slices of spicy-hot peppers were deep-fried and liberally distributed through the salad. The batter disguised a level of heat that I didn't think complemented the other ingredients.

These “wheels” were also liberally layered upon the bun of my companion's “Cow-abunga” burger. She picked them all out of the onion bun, dressed with chipotle mayonnaise and a drizzle of avocado-lime dressing.

Otherwise, she loved the sandwich and its lean beef, cooked medium-rare. The burger was topped with slices of bacon and avocado as well as the standard tomato and lettuce. It came with a slice of pepper-jack cheese, pico de gallo and, on her request, sweet-potato fries.

As an aficionado of both shellfish and Southeast Asian cuisine, I was easily swayed to try the coconut curry mussels from the list of specials. Ten large New Zealand green-lip mussels were stewed in a sweet, chowder-like coconut-milk curry, given a tart edge by the addition of kaffir lime leaves and fresh lemon grass. The soupy blend also included basil and cilantro, minced tomatoes and onions.

Grilled crostini slices were insufficient to soak up the sauce, but I was able to fall back upon the oven-warmed ciabatta that was also presented to the table.

Concert dinner

When The Decemberists played Les Schwab Amphitheater on Memorial Day weekend, we found ourselves on Greg's outdoor patio, dining under a heat lamp, listening to the music from across the river.

On this evening, we started with an order of calamari. It was lightly crusted in semolina flour that didn't overpower the natural flavor of the seafood. Served with a dipping sauce of sun-dried tomato and roasted garlic aioli, it was just right to take the edge of hunger off.

My main dish was a penne Bolognese; to my surprise, it was a better rendition of an Italian classic than I've had in many local Italian establishments. Made with ground Oregon sausage and a potpourri of vegetables, the tomato-based Bolognese sauce amply covered the tubes of pasta.

My companion had a cut of rotisserie prime rib, nicely seasoned and slow roasted to a rare doneness. Not overly fatty, it was nevertheless very tender. Au jus and horseradish cream accompanied the order.

Although it wasn't her birthday, my friend couldn't resist the temptation of finishing with a slice of chocolate cake. Each day, Nancy P's Bend bakery delivers a “birthday cake” for Greg's dessert menu. It was sweet and moist, just as such a cake should be.

And we were celebrating not only the music and a good dinner, but also the reemergence of a restaurant now worthy of its community stature.

SMALL BITE

Owners Michael Brewer and Caroline Henninger opened the Spagetti Warehouse in late May, just off U.S. Highway 97 near the Redmond Airport, open 4 to 10 p.m. every day. The menu is dominated by 10 varieties of spaghetti with sauce, including Sicilian meatball sauce and white clam sauce, with prices topping out at $11.95 for a full dinner. 3732 S.W. 21st Place, Redmond; www.thespagettiwarehouse .com or 541-526-5671.

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