Rookie Food Cart of the Year: Farmer's Deli

Next time you’re in Brooks Alley in downtown Bend, don’t overlook the Farmer’s Deli, the silver truck with the chips, drinks and other bodega offerings out front. The Source eating team (aka Jared Rasic) raved about the food truck tucked behind Bar Rio back in January, and we’ve been returning for more elevated grilled cheese, amazing Reubens, legendary tomato soup and more ever since.

Owner and chef Justin Halvorsen grew up in Vermont. Along with 24 years of cooking experience, he spent time working with youth and in community gardens while moving around the West. In Bend, he served as executive chef for the Victorian Café and the two Hideaway tavern locations before going to work with the owners of Bar Rio and Shim Shon.


From the Farmer’s Deli, the food truck he launched in June 2023, he gives a nod to his home state by serving up East-Coast inspired specials and menu items. A staple of breakfast is a simple, yet craveable version of a Vermont egg sandwich, called The Local, featuring a locally sourced egg, Tillamook white cheddar and a Sparrow English muffin, with bacon, sausage or ham as an added side.

The Local, Halvorsen said, “is actually a nod towards the little general store where I went to college. It’s just a grandma making egg sandwiches.

“In Vermont, if you want lunch and you’re just driving around, every little town has these little delis. They’re in the general store, they’re privately owned and you chat with the person while they’re making you lunch.”

Popular lunch items currently on the menu at Farmer’s Deli include various versions of grilled cheese, served up on thick slabs of Sparrow bread; the big seller, the ASMR VT-ster, features Tillamook white cheddar, Pullman sourdough from Sparrow Bakery, sliced apple and turkey and Vermont maple aioli.

In every dish, Halvorsen aims to highlight local ingredients. Bagels are sourced from local Mimi’s Bagels; breads from Sparrow. The veggies often only require a short walk outside the cart to source them from the local farms set up at the Bend Farmers Market, or from the market in Northwest Crossing, when the markets are in season.


With the Farmer’s Deli concept, Halvorsen said, “I wanted to do full-circle, closed-loop systems, and bringing it back to why I started cooking, what made me want to cook. Shit just tastes better when you know the person growing it or when it’s raised locally.”

While the first year in business — or any year in the restaurant business, really — can have its major challenges, the focus on the heart and soul of food is thus far what motivates him.

“I cook because it makes people happy. I get off on that,” he said. “But when the food is that next notch up, or a couple notches up, it brings it all together, and it’s really the sole purpose of the Farmer’s Deli.”