JIA Asian Street Kitchen

JIA Asian Street Kitchen sits on the south side of Bend in the River Rim area, cooking street food across a range of Asian traditions, and it has one of the more genuinely fun zero-proof lists in Central Oregon. Three named builds is more than most restaurants attempt, and the range across them is what makes it work rather than the count.

The ube lavender sparkler leans floral and fizzy, built on ube — the purple yam that runs through Filipino desserts, earthy and vanilla-adjacent rather than simply sweet — with lavender and carbonation to keep it light. The passionfruit mango iced tea goes maximalist in the other direction, arriving topped with whipped cream and diced mango, which puts it closer to a dessert than a drink and makes it the obvious order for anyone who has spent the evening watching other people have pudding. The tiki panda plays it for whimsy, mixing fruit and fizz in the tiki register.

What is notable is that none of the three is a subtraction. They are not cocktails with the spirit left out; they are drinks designed around ingredients the kitchen already works with, which is why they hold up next to the food rather than getting lost against it. For a family eating here, that also means the non-alcoholic list is genuinely appealing to everyone at the table rather than being the children's option by another name.

The restaurant is out in the newer south-side development rather than downtown, so it is a drive from the centre, and it keeps restaurant rather than bar hours — last orders around half past eight most nights, nine on Friday and Saturday.