5 Best Restaurants in Eastern Oregon, Oregon

A frequent winner at American beer festivals, Barley Brown's is just as famous in the area for its food, which is prepared with locally sourced ingredients and hormone-free beef for burgers and other tasty grub. The "Shredders Wheat" American Wheat Ale has beaten out international contenders for a gold at the World Beer Cup. You can watch the process behind glass windows as they brew some of the more than three dozen beers available. The adjacent taproom is open daily.

The Outpost occupies one of the sleekest spaces in town: a large building with a log-cabin exterior, a vast entry lobby, and a bright, spacious, high-ceilinged dining room. The kitchen serves creative pizzas and has a lengthy menu of standard entrées including burgers, steak, seafood, salads, and quesadillas.

Side A Brewing is a couple of blocks south of La Grande's main drag but definitely worth seeking out to enjoy beer and upscale pub food that features local purveyors of meat and produce. Food options include burgers made of beef from Oregon's 6 Ranch, with Gouda cheese and tomato jam on the house burger. A peanut-butter bacon burger is also on the menu, along with non-beef choices like the ahi tuna sandwich, fried chicken sandwich, grilled cheese and tomato, veggie burger, baked mac and cheese, and a few salads. The brewpub welcomes kids with a pretty standard kids menu. Beers on tap change seasonally and often include the Sammyville Stout, which won an award in the Oregon Beer Awards in 2020, and the Fresh Hop IPA, which was voted the people's choice at a Seattle Hop festival in 2022.

A cavernous and historic former car dealership houses this hip brewpub, which also has a kitchen serving tasty pub food, such as Tillamook cheeseburgers and beer-battered fish-and-chips. Since it opened in 2010, it's become known for its nicely crafted beers, including the heady Maxxx Power IPA, faintly tart Huckleberry Wheat beer, and robust Bruce/Lee Porter.

In this rich agricultural region, it makes sense that downtown Hermiston is home to a restaurant with a strong farm-to-table ethos, along with a great list of regional craft beers and wines. The menu rotates regularly, but recent dishes have included ruby red trout with butternut squash, potato-and-apple hash, and sautéed haricot verts, and hearty chili with three kinds of pork (ground, loin, and belly) with poblano chiles and local "tongues of fire" beans. The restaurant occupies a simple gray Craftsman bungalow with a charming dining room that befits the unpretentious cuisine.