Bend Restaurant Holds Quake Relief Dinner

Bend-O Bento Japanese Kitchen is marking its opening with a relief dinner Sunday, to help raise funds for victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan a year ago.

The new restaurant’s two owners came together last year at the Common Table in Bend for a successful feast. They then decided to open up their own business.

Lots of people were on hand Sunday to get a taste of the authentic Japanese food.

All the meals were just 10 dollars a plate with some of the proceeds going to aid the victims.

“I couldn’t contact my mom for a month because she didn’t have an e-mail, that was — oh my gosh, I worried about her so much,” said Keiko Wysuph, co-owner of Bend-O Bento.

“There’s so many people still suffering. Some kids lost their parents, their homes,” said Yukiko McLaughlin, the restaurant’s other co-owner. “We would like to do something, even just a little bit.”

The women say lots of people from the community have helped them get the restaurant opened and they wanted to say thank you.

Bento is the Japanese word for a single portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine.