7 HOME • FOOD • NEWS
Fare thee well, Spokane
10/17/2008 | COLUMN | Right now I'm slouching at a desk which, by the time you read this, will no longer be my desk. I'm savoring the last bite of a meal that took more than four years to finish.
Happy birthday, brewery
10/10/2008 | COLUMN | Spokane's oldest operating brewery is throwing itself a huge 15th birthday party on Saturday. If we were talking about your little brother, that might not seem like a big deal. But for Northern Lights Brewing Company, 15 years of survival – no, prosperity – in such a turbulent market makes for a big birthday.
Something brewin' locally
10/3/2008 | DRINKS | The Inland Northwest doesn't exactly stand out amid the rest of the regional microbrew scene. Not that the beer produced here isn't good – in many cases, local brews flirt with a greatness long lost on now-giants like Red Hook or Widmer.
Fugazzi does a 360
9/26/2008 | COLUMN | Independent restaurants have to affect constant change in order to keep in the foreground of foodies' minds and stay afloat in an industry where recognition stands between success and failure.
Home-grown homecoming
9/19/2008 | COLUMN | Crowds around Auntie's Bookstore in downtown Spokane on Saturday are bound to buzz about something other than this weekend's centennial celebration for the historic Liberty Building.
Dine the night away
9/12/2008 | COLUMN | In the eyes of the local last-call crowd, the concept of late-night dining traditionally involves a drive-thru window, a pizza delivery guy or a long wait for a table at The Satellite Diner. That seems satisfactory until you consider that other restaurant and bar scenes around the world keep later, longer hours.
The new MarQuee event
9/5/2008 | COLUMN | When Bluefish and Bistango opened in fall 2005, there was a question as to whether Spokane could support two neo-retro martini lounges. That they've survived – and thrived – for so long in a market that continues to welcome similar spots proves that, yes, Spokane loves high-end cocktails.
Happy times
8/29/2008 | Nothing's better than cheap food and drink, especially when the economy's in the tank. Maybe that's why more and more upscale lounges continue to add happy hours and other similar events to their schedules – they're trying to attract those of us who love to eat good food, but can't afford to drop a Benjamin for a night out with friends.
The kitchen's getting hot
8/22/2008 | COLUMN | Decades ago, Scott Cook may have ended up a rich man. As the brains behind Ambrosia Bistro and Wine Bar in Spokane Valley and the recently opened Café Neo, which he co-owns with his wife, Kara, Cook may have been well on his way to starting what he refers to as a great, local restaurant dynasty of yore, like those started in the 1970s and '80s by local legends such as Larry Brown (The Onion) and Cyrus Vaughan (Cyrus O'Leary's).
East Francis goes global
8/15/2008 | COLUMN | A tasty district stealthed onto Spokane's restaurant radar recently, creating a makeshift destination neighborhood out of a series of North Side strip malls. With dense traffic and, let's face it, pretty low curb appeal, the blocks to the immediate east of Division Street on Francis Avenue don't seem like the obvious choice for a burgeoning pocket of culinary culture.
Above-ground underground
8/8/2008 | COLUMN | The Crescent Court sits empty, nothing more than a glorified breezeway, booths shuttered like a Sunday flea market on Tuesday. The second floor of the historic Bennett Block has a secure keypad entry and advertises vacancies on its tenant display.
Something unique brewing
8/1/2008 | COLUMN | Things are tough all over for hopheads like Steve Hedrick. Six months have passed since the announcement of a crisis-level hop shortage forced microbreweries to start scrambling to secure enough of the aromatic cones to keep the suds flowing.
Serving up a revolution
7/25/2008 | The Inland Northwest tastes different nowadays. Once dominated by the corporate restaurant culture, the local food scene now finds itself gorging on creative, chef-driven eateries where freshness and experimentation are the norm. Not that our community doesn't still devour the reliable uniformity served at popular chains – the Olive Garden still reigns as the most popular Italian restaurant in Spokane – but a growing number of inventive idealists continue to steer people's palates toward fresh, independent ideas and local flavors. 7 sat down with a handful of the area's culinary visionaries to survey the local landscape and better understand what it's like to work in this market, where we are as a food culture and where we might be headed.
The empire strikes gold
7/18/2008 | For a city to grow, it needs to attract empire builders. It needs people who look around and see endless potential for future projects. People like Noel Macapagal and Eric Nagano.
Distillery owners seek same guidelines as breweries, wineries
7/11/2008 | COLUMN | Trailblazers. Entrepreneurs. Pioneers. Don Poffenroth and Kent Fleischmann fit many descriptions, but as the enterprising founders of Washington state's first post-Prohibition distillery, perhaps they deserve to create their own label.
Time to make the switch
7/4/2008 | DRINKS | So. Hot. The sweltering Spokane summer finally arrived last week – just in time for Fourth of July backyard barbecues. We all know what that means: Time to switch to summer brews.
Getting the gang together
6/27/2008 | COLUMN | Howard Bateman realizes that progress comes from experimentation. His regular customers at The Globe Bar & Grille, 204 N. Division St., get a taste of this philosophy every Thursday with Bateman's ACME Test Kitchen program, where he invents dishes on-the-fly based on customers' answers to a questionnaire he created.
Crazy about cart food
6/20/2008 | COLUMN | Frank Alberti's on to something. A New York native and "full blooded Italian," as his t-shirt says, Alberti romanticizes cart food. So five years ago he worked out a deal with Sabrett – the company that manufactures Alberti's favorite authentic New York franks – to ship the brand's dogs over this way, and Frank's Franks was born. "It's just something that I always wanted to do since I was a kid and I used to frequent stands like this in New York," Alberti said. "You're more one with the customer. It's more personal, I think. I've met a lot of people out here. I've made a lot of friends. Don't think I've made any enemies."
Ordering made easy
6/13/2008 | By now, everyone knows how to pronounce ratatouille. Many of us – ahem – have Disney to thank for that. But as eclectic world-fusion cuisine rivals forearm tattoos for cultural ubiquity, we're all gonna have to learn a few more food phrases – if for no other reason than to avoid sounding like jackasses when dining out.
A sweet love rekindled
6/6/2008 | COLUMN | If you are what you eat, call me Edmond Dantes. Those of you who've been reading my blog posts on Taste of the Town know I've rekindled a minor obsession with a major sandwich from my childhood: the Monte Cristo. For anyone who doesn't know, it's 20th century America's variation on the French Croque Monsieur – a heart attack disguised as a fried ham and cheese sandwich.
Tilting toward greatness
5/23/2008 | COLUMN | If Anthony Rice and his crew have their way, it's only a matter of time before Spokane bars become overrun by gangs. Pinball gangs. "One of the phrases I like to say is, 'I've got a pocketful of quarters and a finger full of dreams,' " said Rice, who plans to hold his second annual Spokane Pinball Showdown next week at Season Ticket and Irv's.
Cheers to charity events
5/16/2008 | COLUMN | If you need a favor from someone, wine and dine him first. It's a perfected recipe – after all, people tend to be a bit friendlier with a bellyful of syrah and spaghetti.
The old-fashioned way
5/9/2008 | DRINKS | We've just returned from two weeks in England and, man, do I miss real English ale. "Real English ale" conjures up, to many Americans, the terms "tepid and flat." Yet this cask-conditioned ale is actually at the pinnacle of the brewer's art, and I have grown to love it.
Going on a beer run
5/2/2008 | DRINKS | Maybe someday they'll call him the Don Kardong of the Spokane bar scene. I mean, if Bloomsday's babydaddy could draw tens of thousands of people to town just to run a few miles, certainly Jon Robideaux can sell people on an annual Downtown bar crawl.
Cinco de Taco
5/2/2008 | Close your eyes and picture a taco. If you pictured a crunchy shell filled with tomatoes, lettuce and ground beef, it's time to lay off the fourth meal. Unlike the American version served at fast food joints and big-platter restaurants, a true South-of-the-Border-style taco – like those served at a handful of local authentic taquerias – arrives flat on a grilled corn tortilla with little more than meat, cilantro and onion.
