From The Back Kitchen

The French is Coming

2012-01-31T22:14:00.000-08:00

Today marked the beginning of the preparations for the 5 day all French menu that will run from February 10th through the 14th. The menu below is still rough. All of the French titles have not been added, formatting issues are everywhere, details will be added and some of the ingredients will change. This a la carte list includes the items that will be offered for the 4 course Vegan and Vegetarian menus. This week is all about tracking down the ingredients. Wild mushrooms will be flown in from Seattle, live lobsters from Maine, and then I have to find enough beef cheeks wherever I can.
The goal is nothing short of creating the most complete french restaurant experience possible. All of the work will be detailed out here in the coming two weeks.

french onion

vegan carrot

beef tartare– beef tenderloin, capers, garlic, olive oil

cheese plate– Morbier, Camembert, Monk’s, baguette, fruit, almonds

charcuterie plate– terrine of pheasant, duck rillette, air cured beef, melon pickled, mustard

asparagus terrine– tomato, peppers, herbs, vegetable gelatin

marrow bones cultivatuer– marrow, vegetables, consomme

torchon– foie gras, quince jam, sea salt, toast

escargot en croute -snails, puff pastry, garlic, almonds, pernod

oysters fricassee– brussels sprouts, arugula, lardons

salade de herbe- watercress, marche, chervil, fennel, nasturtium, and carrot conserve

aspic de crabe– dungeness crab, green olives, celery, lemon-tomato gelatin

salade de porc– frisee, pork belly, poached egg

crepe aux champignons– hedgehog and morel mushrooms, comte, truffle oil

omelette aux herbe– chervil, parsley, tarragon, dill; served with herb and carrot conserve

homard spaghetti– one whole lobster, pasta, tarragon cream

veal blanquette– veal, onions, cream, boiled potatoes

canard et saucisse - duck breast, cipolatta sausage, fingerling potatoes, beef consomme

quail choucroute - quail stuffed with andioullette sausage, pork belly, sauerkraut

striped bass - consome, curry fennel salad, saffron beurre blanc

trout amandine with green beans

vegan cassoulet - three beans, tomatoes, parsnips, sun chokes, celery root, mushrooms

pissaladierre - flatbread, onions, nicoise olives, anchovies

daube dejoues de boeuf chaude - beef cheeks with olives, celery root-potato puree

crepe– cherries, brandy, butter, chocolate shavings

beet sorbet with lime ganache

financier - cake with orange

orange crème caramel

chocolate-espresso mousse

bucket of love- tiny flourless chocolate cakes

pumpkin bread pudding

tarte tatin– apple upside down tart with cream

Bay Area Coffee

2012-01-31T09:16:00.000-08:00

There is a movement in coffee that has nothing to do with espresso. Hipper than thou roasters making good coffee in cool places with vintage equipment. They serve up plain ol' black coffee one cup at a time by grinding a single order of beans, placing it in a cone filter and slowly pouring perfectly heated water out of a specially designed long spout water pitcher but only after giving the ground beans a moment to bloom in the water before pouring the rest of the water.

In San Francisco I went to Sight Glass Coffee. Here coffee and design are held in equal esteem. The front door is awesome, The vintage basin sink which is located outside the bathroom is clever, practical and beautiful. The vintage stereo equipment and well organized LP collection makes playing an iPod seem cheap, unimaginitive and pedestrian.

I sampled some Rwandan, Colombian and Ethiopan. I even got a mocha just for thoroughness. It made me wish that I had picked up the coffee diary I saw at Bi-Rite Market. After Sight Glass I tried Blue Bottle coffee from Oakland. Blue Bottle is not quite the hipster Taj Mahal that sight glass is but it is conveniently located just a few blocks from Oakland's Jack London Square's Food Market. There was no way I could drink anymore coffee so instead I bought some Giant Steps blend. I have previously tried their Blue Donovan which is why it was worth it to make the trip.

Another trend is coffee shops offering beans from more than one roaster. The practice of the single blend offering is changing. This trend renforces the notion that coffee is produce. It should be fresh, it has a time when it is in it's prime, and it should not always be expected to taste exactly the same. Variety is good.

My Last Minimum Wage Rant.

2012-01-27T11:57:00.000-08:00

While looking around The Stranger's website for the offensive comment that inspired this response I came across a piece about a new push to add a tip exemption to the minimum wage. I don't know what the specifics of this new rule would be but I do believe in taking some action to help rectify some of the minimum wage law's unexpected consequences. I support a living wage. I support locking the minimum wage to the cost of living. I don't think that minors working seasonal jobs need a living wage. I don't think that a server making $50,000 in tips needs a living wage in addition to those tips. I don't think that the state should have overruled the law by not lowering the minimum wage when the cost of living dropped and then not waiting until the cost of living went back up to the previous levels before raising it thus effectively pushing the wage ahead of the cost of living.
I think that the intent of the law was to help out people struggling to survive at the lowest rung of our economy (once again I support this). It is unfortunate that the issue of tweaking the law in a way that does not erode the intent is not sexy enough for the initiative process and too politically charged for anyone other than pro-business asshole politicians to champion.
With the record rise of food prices, farm subsidies on the chopping block, and the endless death march of low priced chain food outlets closing; it is obvious that the end of cheap food is nigh. Living wages are more important than ever but the issue is too complex to be solved with one sloppy initiative.

Food in Print

2012-01-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

I have my problem with a good deal of local food coverage. So when I saw The Inlander's Cheap Eats cover story I decided it should be noted as an example of what a good piece looks like. Lots of actual information, wide range of places covered, shows the people behind the food, and the retro American graphic theme is fresh, pleasing to look at and works to help convey the materials quickly.

Feast Portland

2012-01-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

I am going to go ahead and mark the calendar for time off right now. Portland is going big time with an international food and beverage festival called Feast Portland. The last time they did something like this (Cochon 555) there was a fistfight over the use of a non-local pig. Portland will always be the Drunk Uncle at the family reunion and that makes it much more interesting to me than the Miami or Vail Food And Wine Festivals.

Book Review: Joe Beef

2012-01-23T17:44:00.000-08:00

This book has saved my interest in French food. French food in America has become such a mess. It is too much Escoffier and not enough M.F.K. Fischer (she is American but her essays about eating in France have no equal). It is too much about dining and not enough about eating. Joe Beef is a restaurant in a working class neighborhood of Montreal that understands the difference.

Joe Beef loves good food but doesn't think that you have to be pompous about it.
Joe Beef makes it's own absinthe.
Joe Beef makes a double down sandwich with foie gras substituting for the chicken.
Joe Beef makes a doughnut glazed with smoked cheddar, maple syrup and bourbon.
Joe Beef includes plans for how to weld your own smoker.
Joe Beef has a photograph of David Bowie in the Bathroom next to a stuffed buffalo head.
Joe Beef thinks square plates are silly.

I want to get on a train with a briefcase full of booze and charcuterie and head to Montreal right now. Joe Beef calls to me.

Common Restaurant Crankiness

2012-01-23T11:48:00.000-08:00

I lay no specific claims to these beefs but do acknowledge that some discussion on these subjects could be helpful.

Ordering a steak "Medium to Medium Rare" is not helpful. 10 degrees separate these levels of doneness. It is an imprecise science to get the steak temperature correct at the moment it hits the tables-minutes after it leaves the kitchen, and getting it into a 5 degree range is setting a cook up for failure. Also show an over easy egg to 10 people and some will say it is too runny and some will say it is overcooked. Doneness can be subjective and strangely specific to a geographic area.

When someone calls and asks if a restaurant is kid friendly what are they asking? "Can my kid run around, scream, and make a mess?" or do they just want to know if there will be high chairs or booster seats? I always want to ask "Is your child public place friendly?" Personally I think it is important for young people to experience a range of experiences so that they learn what behavior is expected of them. Infants are another matter all together. This is a flammable topic but no less than...

...Are more people in Spokane bringing their dogs into places of business? Please remember that IT IS ILLEGAL TO BRING ANIMALS INTO A FOODSERVICE ESTABLISHMENT. If you have a service animal please make their credentials visible so the awkward confrontation can be avoided.
***UPDATE***
This just in to the newsroom:

A service animal does:

Assisting individuals who are blind or have impaired vision
Alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing
Pulling a wheelchair
Assisting an individual during a seizure
Retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone

In situations where it is not apparent the dog is a Service Animal, you may legally ask only two questions:

Is the dog required because of a disability?
If yes, what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? (The dog must be trained to do at least two tasks, but you legally cannot ask them to show you.)

No other inquiries about an individual’s disability or the dog are permitted by federal law. You may not ask them to show you what the dog can do. Businesses cannot require proof of certification, nor do the animals or owners need identification.

Chinese New Year: Enter the Dragon

2012-01-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

The menu got off to a successful start on Friday. It only gets better as the staff gets more comfortable with the food. We have the best clientele. They ordered 95% off of the special menu. It makes me think that we should have just skipped offering our regular items. This is something I will have to think about before we roll out the five day long French Menu for Valentine's Day. The French Menu will be quite elaborate but at least we usually carry most of the ingredients. The Chinese Menu will keep us in asian themed specials for a while as we work our way through the mushroom soy sauce, salted black bean, rice threads, shrimp paste, etc.

Violet Dupree tired after a long night of taking phone reservations.

Chinese New Year: Prep Final Fury

2012-01-19T22:18:00.000-08:00

Between some tough bike commuting, lots of prep and the end of day snow shoveling; I am tired. So here are some pics I took today- including a shot of my lunch. I am making no guarantees about pulling off the whole menu for the full four days but I will say that it will only be the availability of products that could stymie us at this point.

Chinese New Year: Prep Day Two

2012-01-18T21:39:00.000-08:00

Today ramped up the intensity. Got a lot done including lamb meatballs, blood orange panna cotta, pork belly, won tons, pork bun filling. pork ribs, chicken marinades and so forth. Everything done today is really to set up for the big day tomorrow. Basically everything has to get done by the end of tomorrow. Today it hit me how hard it is to calculate the prep for a menu that will not only run for four days but the most important day is the last one. We can't be running out of everything on Monday so if my guesswork is wrong it makes for a long day- on my day off. One thing i got done today is the menu so I have included what will be the final menu.

Won Ton Soup

Szechuan Green Beans with Dried Shrimp

Salted Black Bean Pork Ribs

Steamed Buns with Pork Filling

Vegan Egg Roll with Peanut Lime Dipping Sauce

Salmon Cakes with Charred Scallion Cream

Tea Smoked Chicken Salad w/ Ginger Dressing and Pickled Shiitake

Fried Rice w/ Smoked Eel, Scallion Sauce and Pickled Egg

Orange-Chili Stir-Fried Noodle

(choice of pork belly, chicken, prawns, or duck confit)

Curried Seafood Hot Pot w/ Scallops, Crab and Shrimp

Lamb Meatball Hot Pot

Coconut-Ginger Ice Cream w/ Spicy Orange Pecans

Blood Orange Panna Cotta with Ginger Cookie

LinkStorm: Text Free Edition

2012-01-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

SOMM Documentary Trailer 1 from Forgotten Man Films on Vimeo.

Chinese New Year: Prep Day One

2012-01-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

Planning out a special menu is all about trying to get ingredients made ahead that will benefit or not be harmed by sitting around for a few days. Today I was able to get some pickling done. Pickled shiitake mushrooms are addictive so I made 20# just so I would have plenty extra. I also pickled eggs. It isn't a vinegar pickle like the mushrooms, instead it is peeled hard boiled eggs that are soaked for several days in Master Sauce. Master Sauce has many variations but the one I did is from the China Moon cookbook. Barbara Tropp wrote the two best books about Chinese Cooking. My recommendation is her China Moon because it is both authentic and innovative which is a tough combination to pull off. Master Sauce is an umami hot tub for cooking or soaking meats or vegetables. This week I will be using it for both eggs and chicken.

I also put together some spice mixes. The best spice blends are made in small batches from whole spices that have been sautéed in a smoking hot dry pan then ground together. What makes Chinese spice blends unique is the use of Szechuan peppercorns and lots of cassia bark- a more savory version of cinnamon.

I made some marinades for meats that will get prepped on Thursday and some orange-chili candied pecans. It looks like I will have to make some more of the pecans because I know I will eat a pound between now and Friday. I was just going to use the pecans as a amuse bouche but I started thinking about how good they would be in a dessert. I might have to make some ice cream to pair them with.

Tomorrow I am making my first ever batch of chinese sausage I am curious to see how it differs from the European style sausages I am used to making.

Deathwatch Rumormill

2012-01-17T09:27:00.000-08:00

Sometimes places shutdown temporarily for myriad reasons ranging from plumbing problems to tax issues. Sometimes these temporary shutdowns become permenant. I have received word that Wild Dawgs is experiencing one of these types of issues. I don't think it is related to it's provocative signage but you never know. I hear they have the best vegetarian hot dog option in town.
Last year in Spokane was all about Hot Dogs and Cupcakes and yet we don't have any of the characteristic elements that have marked those trends nationally. Where is the house made sausages and duck fat fried frites? Where is the Mobile Cupcake Carts? I am still waiting to see Madeleine's frosting yellow 70's VW Bus driving through my neighborhood slinging the sugary goods.

Chinese New Year: Year of the Dragon

2012-01-16T16:09:00.000-08:00

Special menus are a requirement of holidays such as New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day. While those events are great, it is Chinese New Year that I enjoy the most. Cooking with a completely separate list of ingredients makes the job feel new again.

***Dried shrimp, crab paste, Oyster sauce, lemongrass, bean thread, salted black beans, mushroom soy sauce, water chestnuts, Szechuan peppercorns, enoki mushrooms***

This week I will be chronicling the prep for the holiday menu which we will run from Friday through Monday. Today was gathering the ingredients. Tomorrow I will start building the pantry essentials: infused stocks, spice mixes, chinese lamb sausage, chili-oils, etc.

LinkStorm

2012-01-13T10:11:00.000-08:00

Quillisascut is the magnetic north of this region's food culture. There is no easier way to become part of the local food community than to take part in one of their education vacations. Read about their new Winter Pantry program and then go register.

Portlandia is at this moment the most relevant food culture commentators available. To prove this, here are some amazing videos.

Go here to see how fun menus become unnecessarily complicated.

Here is a giant list of cookbooks coming out in the next few months.

Here is how to cut up a tuna:

A website has been created to compare advertised fast food with the actual product. The Jack in the Box taco is the worst case of false advertising.

Forget Kitchen Confidential, if you want to know what it is like to work in a restaurant kitchen look at this book.

What espresso drive throughs are to coffee, youtube suburban rap videos are to culture:

A buzzed David Chang explains Bourbon:

...and now for something completely different: Get your Petite Lap Giraffe.

Restaurant Deathwatch

2012-01-10T07:43:00.000-08:00

I have heard that The Globe will be closing this week. Their longtime chef Howard Bateman left a few months back to be the chef of the new restaurant going into the house just North of The Elk. The Globe started up after a grocery store failed to survive in that location. They were famous for Howard's ability to invent any dish on the spot based on a short questionnaire that the guest filled out.
This comes on the heels of learning that just down the street, The Rocket on Main will be closing. The space will become a new bakery/bar hybrid from Alison Collins- the person responsible for the famous vegan carrot cake at Mizuna.
Also the Enaville Snakepit has closed.

How Did American Food Get Bad?

2012-01-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

Economist Tyler Cowan has book coming out that looks to undo a good deal of conventional wisdom about food in America. No doubt the media scuttle butt will be his so-called defense of agribusiness and fast food but there looks to be a great deal of interesting information about how we got to this state of bad food. Prohibition plays a bigger part than previously given credit for. Also there is an interesting bit about how World War II strengthened European food traditions while paving the way for America's fall into mass market commercial garbage.
Here is a tantalizing quote from a short bit on the Freakonomics blog:

COWEN: "Let me just give you a few traits of food snobs that I would differ from. First, they tend to see commercialization as the villain. I tend to see commercialization as the savior. Second, they tend to construct a kind of good versus bad narrative where the bad guys are agribusiness, or corporations, or something like chains, or fast food, or microwaves. And I tend to see those institutions as flexible, as institutions that can respond, and as the institutions that actually fix the problem and make things better. So those would be two ways in which I’m not-only not a food snob, but I’m really on the other side of the debate."

This should be interesting.

Black Cypress and Embracing Bitters

2012-01-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

I had a great dinner at The Black Cypress in Pullman last night. This isn't a review site so I recommend you take the 1.5 hour drive down and have your own experience. One thing I will talk about is the fact that the meal started with an appropriate cocktail- The Americano. No not the coffee drink with the cost of espresso but none of the lactose, I am talking about the age old drink made from Campari. For decades Campari was one of those bottles that collected dust behind the bars of American drinkeries. There wasn't much use for it as cocktails got sweeter and sweeter. Bitter just isn't a flavor that has been popular 'round these parts.
Things are different now and I want to help you get caught up so you can learn to embrace bitter flavors.
***INTERLUDE***
I just wrote a wordy attempt to explain why sugar does a number on an empty stomach and how it screws with our ability to taste flavors, etc. etc. Problem is no one cares. Really all that needs to be said is that there is a whole world of cocktail options that you probably have not been exposed to. You will like them or you won't . The important thing is that you give it a try. Who liked red wine the first time they drank it, real olives, oysters, and so forth.
***/end INTERLUDE***
Here is the way forward:

1) Check out Jim Sheehan's PDT book, the Bitters history book, and then go to Cassano's and buy some non-alcoholic SanBitters for the Campari experience anytime.
2) Have some club soda with Peychaud's (find at Huckleberry's) next time you think about drinking a Cola.
3) Go to Bon Bon and strike up a conversation with the barkeep about Bitters and see what kind of bespoke cocktail they can create for you.

It will take or it won't. No harm done.

LinkStorm

2012-01-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

In keeping with the Mission Street Food theology I just explained, The Seattle Times talks about Skelly and the Bean, a new restaurant in Seattle that provides space for incubating new food start-up.
Chef's Collaborative wants to educate you about Seafood Sustainability but a terrible website experience turned me back before I could learn more (like price).
The NYT writes about a Slate writer's assertion that food is gay or straight and if you eat more gay food you will be thin. He is brilliant for coming up with a topic that writers won't be able to resist talking about but the conjecture is idiocy. And what about bears- do they eat straight food?
One of my many crosses to bear (not that kind) is to decide what fake sugars to offer guests. The number of choices is exploding. The WSJ explains it is only getting worse.
Could the best restaurant in Spokane be 2 hours away? I will let you know on Friday.

Reading: Mission Street Food

2012-01-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

It is a good thing that Christmas and my Birthday are both in the winter.Cold weather and book reading goes hand in hand. So when I get a grip load of great new books I don't feel weird about spending hours in my reading chair with a cup of coffee or a winter ale close at hand. The first book I received was Mission Street Food. This is not a book about food carts.

The quick version goes like this: Line cook in San Francisco thinks it would be fun to rent a taco truck. Crazy success results in being shut down, leading him to renting space in a decrepit (his term but I agree) Chinese restaurant on Thursday nights. Before they get used to the popularity, he brings in guests chefs to sublet part of the menu in the part of the kitchen he sublets (the Chinese restaurant continues to do delivery while the dining room is rented). Soon after he rents the deli counter of the neighboring grocery store to sell hamburgers. Then winds up with an actual restaurant that he opens with his old boss as his hired chef. But he still manages to form a partnership with the chinese restaurant which re-opens as Mission Chinese Food. Woven through this whole store is the fact that all of these ideas serve the purpose of creating benevolent business that give tens of thousands of dollars to charity. This entire saga (which continues today) happens at a pace matched only by the Large Hedron Collider.

Why do I love this book? It is not about recipes. If you buy $40 cookbooks for pork belly recipes you should admit you have a cookbook buying problem. The story is the thing. At the end of the book there is a manifesto on how to succeed in the restaurant business. It is whimsical, tongue and check and quite literal. In the 21st Century it is possible to have a business plan that looks like a practical joke and still succeed. I believe that we have entered into a new epoch of eating in America that undoes everything that was gospel and replaces it with the best kind of creativity- the kind that reflects the true personalities of the people involved.

I hate camouflage restaurants. These places disguise the people and personalities of the owners and employees and replaces it with some dated notion of what the costumers want. From uniforms to canned soft jazz. Apparently every restaurant person in Spokane thinks they look good in black shirts with black pants with black shoes, is passionate about salads with nuts, cheese and dried fruit and Kenny G music.

Mission Street Food is rounding out the new school of thinking. From Momofuku to Tasty n Sons there is a lot to to be excited about. I am glad that I was given this book and expect to return to it many times like Scripture. It gives guidance but more importantly it gives hope.

The Blog

Mission Chinese Food- The Chinese Restaurant Partnership

Commonwealth- The New Restaurant

Charlie Trotter Closing His Restaurant

2012-01-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

The NYT does a nice article about Charlie Trotter making the announcement that his famed self named Chicago restaurant will be closing after 25 years. Charlie Trotter was the bridge between the perfectionist European chef archetype to the recent incarnation of Celebrity Chef. By today's standards he was camera shy but still had a memorable cameo in My Best Friend's Wedding.

I am a fan of Trotter for the philosophies he wrote about in his book about service. The book is devoid of pictures and he takes an approach that is applicable to any company. Specifically for restaurants he advocates for doing away with the tip-based front of house compensation system. All of his service staff receives a fixed salary. This allows the business to reward more experienced, better performing servers with higher wages and a consistent dependable income, letting them to do things like get mortgages and buy houses.

The great thing about Trotter's closing is that he has made a strong point that he is not getting out of the business entirely. Unlike someone like David Chang who in just a few years has restaurants stretching from Sydney to Toronto, a magazine (Lucky Peach), a line of flavored milk products and endless TV appearances. Charlie worked in the restaurant that bears his name. This could be an opportunity for him to open another place. One with a more contemporary take on American food in the cultural capitol of the Midwest.

I'm Back

2012-01-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Grab a craft brew and do a dance. It is time to report on food, Spokane and unrelated matters. It will take a few weeks to get organized but I am committed to moving forward through 2012 or at least until the Mayan Apocalypse. There will be the old posting standbys like Restaurant Deathwatch and The Rumor Mill but I expect to roll out some surprises as well. I just have to figure out how to get Twitter and FB into the program.

Closed

2010-01-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

I am just going to make it official and close this site down for the indefinite future.

Bennidito's is on the Slice Blog

2010-01-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

Bennidito's get's some blog love from former Spokane food critic Leslie Kelly.

Just thinking...

2010-01-13T09:04:00.000-08:00

...if I could name all of the coffee roasters in the area off the top of my head.

In no particular order:

Doma

Craven's

Thomas Hammer

Roasthouse

4 Seasons

Anvil

Bumper Crop

Gemelli

Waverly

Tom Sawyer

Signal Point

Kootenai Coffee Roaster

Avion

Crandell's

Monarch Mountain

New Coffee Roaster Alert

2010-01-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

Unbelievably there is yet another coffee roaster in town: Tom Sawyer Country Coffee

Food In The Back Kitchen

2009-12-18T08:27:00.000-08:00

7 months ago we cut up a hog. Yesterday we cut into the leg which has been magically transformed into prosciutto.

The Best Thing I cooked All Week

2009-12-17T09:42:00.000-08:00

Last night I had several specials and one R&D project that I was working on. The Ribeye with Chanterelle Mushrooms and the Lamb Loin with Quince-Pepper Jelly, Cous Cous and Carrot-Ginger Puree both sold well. The Slipper Lobster with Tomato-Brandy Pan Sauce, Creamed Spinach and polenta did not sell. Not one order.

I ate one because it was probably the best thing I cooked all week. This "no one came to my party" feeling is part of the game but it still leaves me scratching my head. It is lobster how did that not sell?

My R&D project was to recreate in some smaller scale the glory that is the Timpano dish from The Big Night (the greatest food movie ever made). This dish is the real star of the film and has inspired many home cooks to attempt the ambitious project. I have been doing a smaller version with my own combination of fillings. I am starting to understand the challenges of the dish better and hope to offer one up on the special sheet before the end of the year.

Speaking of NYE, I have been toying with the idea of doing a early 60's themed holiday menu. It will be part Julia Child and part Mad Men. Time to break out the High Ball glasses and jello molds.

Restaurant Deathwatch: Ferguson's Cafe

2009-12-17T09:22:00.000-08:00

View Larger Map
Ferguson's Cafe in Garland is reported to be closed. This institution had been in business since 1935. Interesting news on the hills of recent conversations about the viability of a Garland District revival.

Local Loose Ends:updated

2009-12-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

I needed a Garland Theatre Shot but all I could come up with was this image of Corky's sign before they went out of business.

Awhile back I spotted the Garland Theatre's liquor license application now I hear that Dan Spalding is helping out to provide a cool design to the bar. Is the Garland neighborhood about to be the new hot spot?

View Larger Map

The 619 Tavern space has been for lease. I lived across the street a million years ago when this was the original location for The Viking. Has parking issues doomed the space to never open again?

Speaking of trivia, I heard that a local chef graduated from high school in Iran and it would be someone you would never guess.

I also heard that Marrakesh is moving and samurai sam's is closed.

Brian Hutchin's the much loved former chef of Mizuna has come back to Spokane as the chef at Twigs Wandermere. Here is a recipe for his Crab Mac and Cheese.

No sooner than I had pressed "publish post" and I come across this via Ed Clark:

Swanee how we'll miss ya, how we'll miss ya, our dear old Swanee!" The Metro Café on the skywalk level, above Riverside and Stevens, across from the Fernwell is up for sale. Andrew Swanee Swanson, owner of the popular downtown breakfast and lunch spot for nearly 25 years, has accepted an opportunity to develop a restaurant in a large condo/apartment complex in Shoreline, Washington. The number, for more information, is 509-747-8250.

B&O Espresso will live but will change

2009-12-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

In my catalog of favorite "3rd places" the B&O Espresso in Seattle ranks high. In the last couple of years the rumors of it's demolition keep filtering over the mountains but now we know thew truth. The building will be torn down in 2011 but the coffee house will return inside the new building when it is completed. I have a year to visit the place one last time. After that I will pass on trying the out the new version.

New Roaster Alert

2009-12-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

There is a new Spokane coffee roaster coming the first week of January (the cat is still mostly in the bag). The company will have some familiar faces from Spokane's coffee scene offering an organic line up of beans. In the process of of learning about this new company I was introduced to the idea of Third Wave Coffee. That was a new term for me but then again I don't read any coffee trade journals either.

LinkStorm

2009-12-07T09:59:00.000-08:00

The LinkStorm returns.

Cool New restaurants. Seattle addition has Po Dogs the nicest Hot Doggery in the world. The LA addition has what might be the nicest Hamburger Joint in the world: Umami Burger.

Cool Chocolate Branding Video:

How do you build a chocolate brand? from edenspiekermann_ on Vimeo.

The Huffington Post runs down the most expensive foods in the world.

Seafood salespeople are always trying to sell me Escolar. Escolar has a bad reputation for sliding right through people in the worst possible way. I always say no and then ask "who buys escolar?" the response is always a very vague "lots of people." Now I know WTF is going on thanks to some accidental discovery by some scientist doing DNA research on Sushi. Sushi DNA Test reveals fraud.

We have all seen the carnage of people burning down their houses trying to Deep Fry a Turkey, but this is America and we love carnage so much we get competitive about it. Here is a Turkey stuffed with Ice Cubes going into a Deep Fryer.

This is lunch in Paris: Wow.

Trivia: Most restaurants have this ingredient but it is used mostly on the employee's own meals (and for the occasional prank)...sriracha.

And now for something completely different....

This Is How We Do It: Updated

2009-12-04T12:05:00.000-08:00

A month ago I decided to chronicle a month of daily specials to highlight just how many different dishes we do. I skipped over the lunch specials, missed most of the soups and even failed to photograph some of my favorite dishes such as the Choucroute and the Pork Confit (update: I found some of the missing photos and have added them). With that having been said I did include some extra shots of the people and products that help to tell the story of how we do it. During the making of this collection the incomplete slideshow has been viewed over 4,000 times. This level of interest helps to keep us to keep trying new things. Thanks for watching and eating. I want to repeat this experience during other seasons to show what we do with those ingredients.

New Restaurant Alert: El Que

2009-12-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

I am not dead (I just feel like it) but I perked up a little bit when I heard this news:

El Que is opening tonight. What is El Que you ask? Think taco truck, take away the wheels, add 23 different tequilas, the most inventive cocktail list in town, a dash of house made hot sauces, mix together in a 35 seat space and enjoy. Come down to the Elk, they’ll show you the way.

November Food

2009-11-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

This is the weekly update of the food photo month. I did not want to edit out the first weeks which I posted previously so this will be cumulative. I have missed some food (like 2 weeks of lunch specials), but I feel like this is a good representation. I am also trying to add some actions shots. I think the term is b-roll footage.

Looking ahead we have some lamb, lobster and beets coming in.

Sometimes I look at the series of specials and it looks repetitive, there is a lot of chanterelle mushrooms, but the framework for our creativity is to go after an ingredient for a short period of time and then move on. Over the course of a year there are duck intensive periods but most of the year we don't have it around. I think this is good for the cook and the eater.

Linkstorm

2009-11-11T08:17:00.000-08:00

This is a handy trick, well worth 1:25 of your time.
Lavazza Coffee has Antony and the Johnsons singing opera for them.

Gordon Ramsey talks about getting plastic surgery, closing restaurants and his wife's backside. He is a charmer.

Chicago Tribune covers the ten worst dining trends. Warning this is one ugly looking newspaper website.

Seattle celebrated it's growing street food scene at Mobile Chowdown.

Portland's Nostrana keeps with the tradition of not cutting Naples style pizza but they do offer scissors at the table if you want to divide the pie.

David Chang is cool. His new Momofuku cookbook is awesome and this video gives you the virtual experience of hanging out with the man.

December 4 the second batch of Dry Fly Whiskey hits the street. The first run sold out in a day with a long line forming in front of the distillery hours before opening.

The sad truth about most of the wine in the grocery store as over told by The Daily Beast.

Larry David takes on the Auto-Grat and math.

Is it too early to be thinking about those culinarians on your holiday list? Check out this molecular gastronomy starter kit.

I like apples. I like trying new kinds. Here is a website that chronicles all of the apple varieties.

Milk Men. It makes me want to start watching Mad Men.

Milk Men - A Mad Men Parody

And for something completely different, this is a beautifully simple webpage that allows you to make sounds.

Catching Up

2009-11-10T08:45:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Dessert from Big Table event.

Things I have let happen without chronicling.

Lazy Bones BBQ closing.

New GU eatery on track with unique business ideas.

Epicurean Delight keeps getting better.

The EatSpokane potluck is next Monday at Taste Cafe.

Big Table partners with The Purple Turtle and Jeremy Hansen for the kind of event that could improve people's opinion about the state of Spokane's Food Community.

There are a million URLs cluttering my various desktops.

Still working on cataloging as many specials as I can this month. I have already realized that I have not saved any of the lunch specials.

New partner at Pacific Avenue Pizza.

One Week of Specials

2009-11-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some specials from this last week. I am finding it hard to get them all but this is a fairly complete account of the last 7 days.

Chicago Rundown

2009-11-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

Chicago is not a town to spend just two days in, especially if eating is a priority. I still have a pretty lengthy to-do list including Publican, Frontera, Chicago Diner and Kuma's Corner. I also missed out on trying some Intelligentsia coffee. I should have been better organized with my list by including hours of operation in my planning. I strolled up ready to enjoy Chicago's finest cup of coffee only to find the doors locked. I wanted to see the Clover machine in action. My seat-of-pants planning broke my heart when I found Rick Bayless' new street food inspired place Xoco closed on Sunday as well.

I did not go hungry. Memorable experiences were had at Yolk, The Artist's Snack Shop, and Tamarind. Tamarind was just around the corner from my hotel and that little place delivered some quality asian food and the lemon tartufo we had for dessert was the best dessert I have eaten this year. I am going to make recreating it a special project of mine. I have a special fascination with Eleven City Diner. The attention to detail in creating the ultimate Jewish delicatessen and diner were incredible. Breakfast was good but it is obvious that lunch is where their greatness resides.

Wednesday Food

2009-10-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

Machaca Beef with Corn Meal Porridge

Pork Belly over Udon Noodle with Scallion-Ginger Sauce

Linkstorm

2009-10-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

Last Year's Boston Marrow

My two biggest pet peeves of Autumn are treating leaves like hazardous waste by putting them in plastic bags for the garbage man to haul them away and using food as decoration then throwing it away. The Oregonian offers up suggestions for that winter squash that is being used to decorate your place. At the Bistro we have some Boston Marrow Squash grown by Dan Jackson that have become a favorite topic of conversation with the customers. Most people are suprised to find out that we actually cook with them. Some Jarradale squash is headed to the guillotine tomorrow so the Boston Marrow will be around for at least a week or two more.

The White House Bee Hive hauled in a good harvest.

One of my favorite things is Sweet Potato French Fries. My love of them has allowed me to be OK with having bags of french fries in my freezer. Now this NYT magazine article makes me wonder if I should be embracing Ore-Ida in new ways.

Anthony Bourdain has his own cartoon. Can't wait for the mash-up with Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This is not the worst cartoon concept ever. The NPR Car Talk Guys made a PBS cartoon that would just be boring if it wasn't also at times overtly offensive to large ethnic populations.

Eat All About It covers Seattle Metropolitan's best food issue.

This is a great video of pizza being made. Soon after this video was made Una Pizza Napoletana closed. It is slated to reopen across the country in San Francisco in the coming months.

NATURALLY RISEN from michael evans on Vimeo.

Ever since seeing Bacon Jam on the menu at Skillet in Seattle I have been thinking about it. This recipe seems to be the best manifestation of this deadly concoction. I still have not jumped on that bandwagon. I have been sticking with my brandy candy bacon which is a little snack that I get whenever we make Bacon Pine Nut Dressing.

My love of the food cart aside, I saw the menu for this walk up in Portland and fell in love. Other then the Turkey sandwich, that menu is a rundown of what I like to eat while at work. And those prices are the same as those plastic wrapped sandwiches at skywalk level cafes downtown.

Every Bakery Should Have One

2009-10-27T08:12:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of Don

Cassoulet

2009-10-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

Taste Everything Once Dies

2009-10-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

I have written extensively about my trepidations related to online restaurant review websites. Recently I conceded that Taste Everything Once might be an excpetion to my general distaste because it had reached a critical mass that creates a somewhat reasonable cross section of people, helping to put into perspective those crank reviewers and the obvious partial praise-singers. Sadly this site is no more. This will make some restaurants very happy. The question is what is next. Remi hints of future plans but I wonder if this is the opening that someone like The Inlander needs to get into the game. TEO had some good traffic and great Google results. If I was trying to build online market share I would not be able to resist getting in on some of that action.

Inlander's Kevin Gillespie Article

2009-10-22T08:58:00.001-07:00

Kevin is now famously associated with Pork but here he shows his cattle whispering skills at Cascade Creek Farm in Bonner's Ferry October 30, 2007

The Inlander has an article about Kevin Gillespie. Overall the article exceeded my expectations but I had low expectations. I think that using Kevin to talk about the state of food in Spokane was a stretch. It makes the article more marketable for sure (he is a sexy beast in that photo), but in my opinion, Kevin's time in Spokane has no reflection good or bad on Spokane. It is now just one of many weird trivia facts about the often curious history of the Lilac City.

What the article does do a good job of is showing the range of voices within the food community. I think that diversity is the key to a vibrant food scene. When Chester "Chet" Gerl says "It seems like all the good chefs leave" he is reflecting a thought that was more correct back in the 90's when he was cooking here. But he is absolutely right that if you are a cook that wants nothing more than to win a James Beard Award and be on Top Chef (he auditioned), then you have to get into a bigger market. The cooking world that revolves around the James Beard Awards (for the rest of you, it really is like the Academy Awards of cooking) is a small slice of the culinary pie.

My one moment of failing optimism comes when I think about the small obstacles that are preventing Spokane from developing a more unique food environment. There is plenty of talent in Spokane, the problem is that their abilities cannot outpace the marketplace, it is a business and we cannot forget that. It is a mistake to judge the state of food in Spokane based on restaurant menus. Most restaurants menus are crypts housing the popular dishes of bygone eras. Unless you are a chef-owner, there is not much you can do about that. The daily specials are a much better indication of what is happening in Spokane right now.

In the next month I want to focus more on showing all of the food that is happening on a daily basis. We spend so much time in the kitchen looking forward to what needs to get done next that we rarely step back far enough to see all that we have already produced. In November I will try to photograph all of the specials we create. It seems simple enough but somehow these simple plans end up being more complicated then I am capable of managing. It will be a November to remember.

Corn Causes Vampires

2009-10-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

The always excellent Encyclopedia Britannica Blog has an interesting article on how Pellegra, a disease that is caused by eating too much corn, might have led to Bram Stoker creating the character traits of Dracula.

Chicago

2009-10-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

I am heading to Chicago in a couple of weeks so I have begun planning out my dining atrrangements. Forget about Alinea, Moto and WD-50 , one of the places I am most excited to check out is the Chicago Diner. All vegetarian, mostly vegan and sometimes gluten-free diner food. The Vegan Rueben looks too good to be true but the Fleet Foxes said it is great and who am I to argue with the Fleet Foxes?

Quickie

2009-10-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

One of my regular restaurant stops got robbed at gunpoint last night. What makes this even more alarming is the fact that there were four employees in the building at the time. The ridiculous thing is that there is very little cash in a restaurant.

In brighter news, there are some new items at Sante including a stellar indian summer omelette. The ingredients were good but mine was cooked to perfection. I have never seen a better omelette made in Spokane. Light, no browning, nicely shaped. Wish I had my camera.

Link 182

2009-10-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

The furthest you can be from a Subway franchise is 138 miles. From the looks of this map, Subway hates Nevada or Nevada hates Subway. Oh, I remember now, Nevada is a desolate wasteland suitable only for peyote trips and hazardous waste disposal.

Cake Wrecks . This website is more entertaining then most single serving sites.

A book for cooks rather than a cook book. The definite guide to Pasta fits in with my dream of a food section of a bookstore filled with thick books about food rather than just picture books with recipes.

Espresso meets a bike pump. I wonder how it compares to this cheap classic.

Here is a slideshow from last weekend's trip up to Quillisascut Farm.

BIll Gates Wants To Feed the World

2009-10-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

It is no small thing when Bill Gates sets out to solve the world's problems by throwing his money at them. His latest target is global hunger. Due to the technology angle on his programs, it could be big for agricultural research schools like WSU.

Interesting...

2009-10-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

A quick visit to Remi's liquor ticker revealed that the owners of One World Cafe are now the owners of the Checkerboard tavern. Could the Checkerboard be the next Swamp? The Keystone neighborhood keeps doing things that are marketed straight at me. A more awesome Bay Market, an Apple only computer store and One World which is Spokane's most innovative food business.

View Larger Map

Caffe Dolce Missoula

2009-10-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

Recently while in Missoula I got a tour of Caffe Dolce. Someone told me that it was a million dollar coffee house. After the tour I think they may have underestimated the cost. The owner, Peter Lambros, was in the business of importing Italian tableware so it only seemed natural to want a business that could showcase the plates in action. Having a decade old relationship with Italian craftsmen, Peter utilized these connections to produce a restaurant with a surprise in every corner.

The ceiling fresco, the mosaics and even the exterior stucco were all accomplished by bringing over Italian artists that he had worked with in Europe. This place is so over the top that the fold down diaper changing station in the bathroom was made from stainless steel.

The overachieving continues in the two story kitchen (with an elevator) that includes a bad ass woodstone oven with a unique double sided door option I have not seen before, two pasta cookers ( I worked at a 300 seat Italian restaurant and we only had one), a pasta extruding machine with ten different dies, two gelato machines, and a special marble topped refrigerated pizza making table they brought from Italy. All of the links are done to give you a sense of what I am talking about because this kitchen has equipment that is nicer than I can find through google.

The strange thing about the restaurant is that it did not feel like a restaurant. With the long coffee counter for the two 3 groupo machines and 50# per minute bulk grinder, the dining room has a coffee house feel. When I finally saw a dinner menu (I only visited in the morning) I was surprised to see they actually have a reason for all of that equipment. From the looks of the gelato maker's log on the freezer door, they seem to be selling some product, but the question remains how can that business ever pay for the building it is in?

Another question, one that I went to Missoula to research, is how does this little cow town in the foothills of the Rockies have so many interesting food businesses. How are they able to do so many things that fail to find a foothold in Spokane? Those questions will be explored later.

Linkstorm

2009-10-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

Kevin Gillespie keeps plowing through the competition and picking up more fans. This Stranger post has a comment stream that suggests Kevin has become a sex symbol as a bear. What a heartbreak it must be for those men that love big bearded guys that he is straight and taken.

Take a moment right now to plug Craig Goodwin's Year of Plenty blog into your RSS or bookmark it. His blog has very thoughtful posts about food and community. Recently there was the link to a NYT op-ed challenging the assumptions about the positive attributes of Farmer's Markets and a new community kitchen in Greenbluff that is truly unique.

Ballard has one of the hottest new pizza places in the country. If only they wore viking costumes when they served the food. I like the font on the menu. Fonts are important. They really are.

Best wine bar in the country has a lesson for grape slingers everywhere. Why is it that when something incredible is discovered in the wine world the word unpretentious always comes up? If we all hate snooty wine people why are there so many of them? Two of the best people to talk wine with in this area are John Allen and Eric Cooke and they are the least pretentious wine people I have ever known. Take note all of you servers who are psyched to regurgitate all of those facts you just learned at the wine tasting. Nobody cares about the design of the dimple on the bottom of the bottle or even what the real name for it is.

It seems obvious that if you are designing the logo for The Noble Grape, over stylizing the "G" can have regrettable misreading of the business name. Reminds me of the "cratch" sign here in Spokane.

The sad thing is that this is a product with a viable large scale market.

Hiring Rant

2009-10-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

Craigslist is a godsend and a curse. The old newspaper ad methods are ineffective and expensive, while Craigslist is just ineffective. I have become more surly in my job postings in an attempt to discourage people who have no chance of getting the position I am trying to fill. This has cut the number of respondents down but has not increased the quality. I know that it does not take much effort to email a resume and I know that sending out a 100 resumes in a day must feel like you are working hard at getting a job, but you are kidding yourself.

The majority of resumes I received for my Latah Bistro Cook position were from people with only Server experience. The manager of the Starbucks was enthusiastic about how perfect they were for the job I was offering. Unfortunately, they included the 30 other job posting email addresses in the CC window so that I could see just how many jobs they were perfect for.

The fact is that I have a kitchen that operates at a high level of efficiency because everyone in it is a professional. I don't train people to cook. I hire people who have dedicated themselves to being good at their chosen career and then let them do it.

Somewhere along the way Escoffier's vision of the battalion kitchen, where each person had a specialized task they perform, has degraded into dumbing down the cooking staff so that any person only has to accomplish a simple set of instructions. Often this involves the unbelievably insulting use of photographs to remind the monkeys what the finished product should look like. Standardized recipes have replaced technical skills.

The problem isn't that there are no good cooks in this town. The good cooks are hidden away in kitchens all over town. The good cooks tend to be well taken care of by their employers. Good cooks don't spend nights reading through Craigslist ads. Good cooks don't bounce from one job to the other. I have tried to create the best cooking jobs in town but the good cooks don't know the job is available. The good cook is at work doing their job. Everyone else is on craigslist sending me their resumes.

Now Hiring

2009-10-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

One of our cooks is going away. We have a tight knit group of 5 cooks (including myself and the sous). It is hard to find someone who is technically proficient and fits into the social dynamic. This could be a bumpy few months.
Here is the ad.

Hard Work, Long Shifts, Professional Standards

four 10 hour shifts, three day weekend
daily opportunity to be creative using the highest quality ingredients

If you don't know what our kitchen is about then don't apply.
If you don't have a career interest in food then don't apply.

DO not call the restaurant.
respond by email or better yet come by with your resume Tuesday through Friday noon to 8pm.

Live Blogging Missoula: Slideshow Time.

2009-10-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

My time is up but before I go here is a few more shots and the take away message of the day- when businesses try to be different from each other, the marketplace seems rich and vibrant; even if there is still the same number of options.

Live Blogging Missoula: Cafe Dolce

2009-10-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

Endless Mosaic work, uber cool equipment, massive size; Cafe Dolce is a mind boggling exercise in over achieving.

Linkstorm

2009-10-01T08:37:00.001-07:00

When this book comes out, I hope someone buys it for me.

Everyone already knows that TGiFridays has closed in the Valley. I just could not help pointing out that it appears to be a tougher time for the corporate overlords than the small local guy.

Super sustainable farmer Joel Salatin finally got around to having a carbon footprint by traveling to Oregon.

I have always believed that caffeine fuels innovation. These coffee inventions might prove that.

New York Times officially declares Portland the coolest food city in America.

Meanwhile in Seattle, food innovation can't get their paperwork in order.

And in San Francisco they watch meat being cut like everyone else watches rock bands. 4 1/2 hours? That is like a Bruce Springsteen Show.

When a hot dog cart is just too much overhead, just strap an oven to your back and start selling some Brats.

Now it is time to start the day right: Pee Wee's Breakfast Machine starts at 1:20

New Hours at Marron

2009-09-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

Cafe Marron has dropped Sunday dinners from their schedule. They will be serving brunch until 3pm.

Linkstorm Ketchup

2009-09-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

It is blogging cliche to apologize for not posting. I am not sorry. I was busy doing exciting secret things. I can't even begin to tell you about all of the Spokaner food scene news that I have forgotten to post of recent. One thing I do remember is that word on the street is that Walt Worthy's new pub will have 20 taps but only 5 items on the menu. Which brings up the topic of lunch in the CBD. Why is everone eating at skywalk cubicle cafes with there whiteboard menus and cold, pre-made sandwiches?

While you think about that here are some URLs on my desktop that I must have thought were of value.

Meat themed stationary. Is this a sign that the bacon meme is nearing completion.

Bon Appetit has a temporary restaurant in NY with food by Mario Batali and Daniel Boulud. Porcini Pizza looks to be the big winner.

Bistro Maison in Portland gets a thorough review.

Portland's street food scene is exploding and this website is there to cover it. Even Burgerville USA has a truck.

New Alcohol Options

2009-09-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

This faded application for the Dawg House Eatery suggests that the business may not happen. Other clues are the application date April 6 and the fact that a realtor is shopping the space around. It seems that an old house across the street from Jack and Dan's could be a successful watering hole. Perhaps McMenamin's wants to come to town.

A bar called Revolver is slated to open in the above location on Riverside.

If you can believe it there is another winery opening. Summit Winery joins the crowded local grape business.

The Casbah won't be silent for long. Someone has already begun the process to start a new nightclub in the upstairs space.

As I write this I am drinking some hopped up IPA from a local underground brewer. You must start selling this godly nectar. Spokane needs more beer options.

How to smoke a website.

2009-09-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

How to cook a wolf is a cool restaurant in Seattle but it may be the coolest restaurant website.

Time to stock up on meat for the winter.

2009-09-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

I can't say it any better than Jennifer at Slow Food so I will just copy, paste and add a photo of Thundering Hooves from the trip last Autumn.

If you're already a great supporter of local producers and shop "off the grid" at Farmers Markets, try this on... find sustainably raised meats not available from our most immediate sources at the Markets. Add this stop to your regular Saturday trip to get good, local food. You just need to order in advance, so they bring just what you want.

Thundering Hooves comes to town for order deliveries!

DATE: Saturday, 9/26

TIME : 10-10:30am
HOW? Order at www.thunderinghooves.net by 5pm this Thursday, 9/24/09
DO NOT overlook their 1st time buyer $20.00 coupon on the home page!

PICK UP LOCATION: check their list on-line, but it's near First Presbyterian - 4th & Maple

Auctions

2009-09-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

We are in the market for a freezer. New freezers are expensive so the first choice is to find a used one. The craigslist and eBay markets are hit and miss but generally you can find something of interest at a restaurant auction. Reinland does a number of liquidations around here. It is fascinating to peruse through the leftovers from someone's failed dream. In Post Falls, the Greens Ferry Crossing restaurant has gone under and left the world some real treasures. There is the 10 feet tall neon dart sign, the low end DJ equipment and these super sweet plates. Believe it or not the plates matched the interior. Even the baby seats were painted in this Clown camoflouge from the 80's. I think I remember a similar color scheme at the original Rock City. Those were the days; Miami Vice was the number one show in America and you had to have a Nagel print if you wanted to be cool.

A Few Bits Before The Weekend

2009-09-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

What I Ate Home Edition

Spokane's former queen of restaurant criticism Leslie Kelly is now experiencing life on the other side of the food fence. She has taken a job as a cook at a UW fraternity- she is braver than I. Also she is getting some prep experience at Seattle's newest pizzeria Delancey. She writes about Delancey and her new dough rolling position at SeriousEats.com.

The corner of 2nd and cedar has been idle since Cruizer's closed but a new yellow paint job and a taco sign in the window suggest things are about to change. Many years ago this location was home to Steve Quinones' La Leyenda, considered by many to be the best Mexican food Spokane has ever seen. La Leyenda moved to the ill fated Marr's Hotel and then out to The Landmark space on Vista and Sprague. They were never able to capture the magic of that original location and that original location only briefly had a tenant with staying power. Of course the memories of The Quarterhorse are not as nice.

Down the street the Sunset Convenience store has opened. For some reason I held out hope that it was going to be a bit more upscale but watching the growing collection of beer and cigarette signs being added to their visual landscape has made me remember that we don't do that kind of thing around here- but wait we do. And speaking of Rocket Market, the city has allowed them to do live music so that they can measure the sound levels.It is never too late to do the logical thing.

Kevin Is Kicking Ass and Cooking Snails

2009-09-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

Cukes and Toms

2009-09-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

LinkStorm

2009-09-01T08:03:00.000-07:00

I forgot to put this article up a while ago. Dairy Farm in Valley closes.

The Rocket Market gets it's wildly popular outdoor music series shut down because a neighbor is disturbed.

Mobile Slaughterhouse will help small farmers compete with the big boys.

The Percy's story is far from over.

Add Localwashing to your Vocab list. Definition: to give the impression of localism even if the product does not normally fit the conventional definition. This is an increasing problem.

The people over at Spokane Food Blog are experiencing some of the quirks of localism while trying to work out the rules to their 100 mile diet challenge. Is wine local if the winemaker used yeast from somewhere else?

NPR talks to someone who thinks localism is bad because it promotes spending more for products- and she thinks that is a bad idea. Perhaps she places too much value on money or maybe this is another one of those value versus prices issues.

I love food items with interesting back stories. Currywurst comes out of the food shortages following WWII but it was so good the concoction of German sausage and English curry powder has survived, thrived and arrived...in America.

I have my issues with online review sites but at least I have not resorted to bribing customers. This article tells the story of a place that offers 20% discounts to people who write positive reviews about them on Yelp.com

Despite living off of Pagliacci slices back in the early 90's, I have never thought of Seattle as a pizza town. Now that Delancey has joined Veraci and Serious Pie, Seattle has a good selection of fancy flatbreads. I like the trend. This now makes for an interesting battle of the pie between Portland and the Emerald City. Apizza Scholls and Ken's Artisan are going to give Seattle a tough hill to climb.

And now for something completely different. How do you count your cash money?

Slow Food Eat-In

2009-08-31T17:02:00.000-07:00

The community spirit continues with this event from Slow Food:

Slow Food Spokane River is organizing an Eat-In in Spokane, and we’d
love for you to help with the plans and participate in our event. The
Eat-In is scheduled for Monday, September 7th from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
at the picnic area in the northwest corner of Comstock Park. We’re
planning hands-on activities for kids of all ages. We’ll have
information about the Time For Lunch campaign and you’ll have the
opportunity to sign the petition if you haven’t already signed online.
And of course, there will be a free community potluck. Just bring a
blanket or chair, a reusable plate, cup and utensils, and a potluck
dish to share!

Fresh The Movie is Coming

2009-08-31T17:01:00.001-07:00

MAIN MARKET CO-OP TO BRING “FRESH” AS PART OF SUSTAINABLE SEPTEMBER FILM AND LECTURE SERIES

Spokane, Wash. -- Main Market Co-op, opening late 2009, is sponsoring the film, Fresh, on September 3rd at the Magic Lantern Theater, 25 W. Main. A recent release, this is the first screening of Fresh in Spokane.

Fresh celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are reinventing our food system. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision of our food and our planet’s future.

On September 2 at 3 pm, Paul Haeder, host of Tipping Points on KYRS, 92.3 and 89.9 FM, will interview Fresh filmmaker, Ana Sofia Joanes.

Fresh screening • September 3, 6:30 pm • Magic Lantern Theater, 25 W. Main Ave Spokane, WA 99201 • Donations to Main Market Co-op at the door • Panel discussion to follow • More information at www.freshthemovie.com and www.mainmarket.coop

The series of films and lectures will continue every Thursday in September on a variety of sustainability-related topics.

The event is part of a month long campaign called Sustainable September sponsored by Community-Minded Enterprises. Sustainable September seeks to raise community awareness about the importance of simple living, taking care of our environment and one another, and supporting local businesses. Throughout September, people can take part in all kinds of activities, most of them free. To see the entire list of events go to www.sustainableseptemberspokane.org

EatSpokane.Org Summer Potluck

2009-08-31T08:53:00.001-07:00

A catering company would charge thousands of dollars to put out a spread like we had last night at the EatSpokane.Org Summer Potluck. Roasted figs, sweet potato tamales, grilled chicken, nectarine tarts, cupcakes with gold leaf, salsa made from backyard ingredients picked that day, marinated grass beef flank steak, chicken, pork chops, corn salad, and on and on. All of that food was made possible by community spirit. It was impossible to believe the old myths about Spokane and food when sharing such great fare with people who obvious care enough about food and community to dedicate an entire night to sharing the proverbial (and literal) bread with their neighbors.

I know that there were many people that would like to have been there which is why it is important to continue with this potluck experiment. There was a whole new mix of people different from last May's potluck at Sante and I hope to see another fresh influx at the winter event (we are officially looking for a location and date). If you are interested in hearing about future events then you should sign up for the eatspokane google group. A link can be found at EatSpokane.org.

Thank you to Dave and Heather Dupree for opening up Latah Bistro for this event. Thank you to the staff who never stopped smiling despite all of the extra work I pushed onto them. Woody Allen said that 80% of success is showing up and when it comes to building community that number is at least 20% higher, so thank you to everyone who showed up.

Value Versus Price Versus Reality

2009-08-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have had a good rant. This one has been building for a while. It got a boost when The Inlander ran an article about "Saving Your Restaurant" because several restaurant people used the often sited myth that Spokane likes value. I think that there is empirical evidence that Spokane does not give a rip for value it only cares about price. Of course this does not apply to that small group of enlightened individuals that are reading this, only to the faceless masses that seem to keep low cost restaurants in business forever.

Exhibit A from an actual review on Yelp.Com:

"I mean, really: $23 for pork osso bucco in a STRIP MALL??? Not a bad price if you are eating somewhere nice like CI Shenanigans, but when your view is of a grocery store it's just thinking too much of yourself. Our server was mediocre, but the food was pretty good."

Lets break this down. The sad truth of the restaurant business is that it is built on an inefficient model. The consumer is thinking that they are only paying for the food and everything else comes free. Because of our commitment to using the absolute best ingredients we have a food cost of 30 percent. I have worked in restaurants that used lesser ingredients and were able to operate with a food cost below 22%. The remaining 70% of the price of the meal pays for the labor (Washington leads the nation in restaurant labor cost), the taxes, the rent, electricity, the Internet, the lease on the dishwasher, the cleaning supplies, the linens, the candles, the drain cleaning, the hood cleaning, the fire system recharging, the garbage service, the recycling (yup we pay to recycle our bottles and cardboard), the drain cleaning, snow removal and so on and so forth.

Instead of asking why that dish is so expensive, ask why that other restaurant's food is so cheap. Lower quality ingredients is the big reason. OK, so we are in a strip mall, why would I feel bad about being the chef of a strip mall restaurant when I use genuine Parma Prosciutto, real Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese and local grass fed beef from Emtman''s Farm. And that Osso Buco is a 16 0z. cut of Berkshire Hog. These are the best of the best. I don't buy the non-Berkshire pre-cooked osso buco (plenty of places around town do). I cook it for 4 hours in chicken stock I make from the bones of organic, free range Washington chickens that we break down in house. We add kalamata olives to the stock and Schrieber Spices. Schrieber is more expensive then getting the Sysco house brand but they are always fresh and have a selection that allows me to use exotics like Schezuan Peppercorns. We also use that chicken stock to make the risotto for the Osso Buco dish from Roland brand Arborrio rice and Walla Walla sweet onions. This week we are serving the dish with patty pan squashes we get from Dan Jackson Farm in the Spokane Valley. And I do all of that for less than $6.90 (30% of $23).

The reason I have do it for less than 30% is because of waste. We don't know if 20 people are going to order Salmon or 2. One of the worst ways to save money is to keep that expensive Halibut around an extra day or two to try and sell it off. When you are paying for a dish you are also subsidizing our practice of throwing away food that is not at it's best.

So if the price of the food is too high, and you are willing to overlook lower quality ingredients, employees not making a living wage, and freshness; then there are plenty of places to go. I am grateful that there are enough people that think more of the food they eat than the money they have left after their meal to keep me working in Spokane. For years the best chefs and cooks would leave this town because the heart was ripped out of cooking for the sake of lowering the price of a plate of food. I do not expect the majority of people in this town to understand the complexities of why a sandwich costs different at different places, nor do I worry about what budget someone sets for their meals, but when there is an insinuation that the price somehow reflects unethical businesses practices without taking into consideration anything except the view I cannot help but be insulted- especially when THE REVIEWER LIKED THE FOOD.

I expect this problem to get worse as food returns to it's natural price. In the last 40 years, food dropped from over 20% of the American family budget to less than 10% due to huge subsidies, cheap oil and unsustainable agricultural practices. In the first half of 2009 consumer food prices rose 8%. With no magic bullet solution to the issues facing the global food system, there is no reason to believe we will ever see such a cheap bounty of food again. In the future, people may have to drop a few of those premium channels on their cable television plan to maintain the eating lifestyle they have become accustomed to and when that happens I don't want to hear anyone trying to blame me for it.

Linkstorm

2009-08-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

Alinea/Crucial Detail - Tokyo Taste Intro from 2061wc on Vimeo.

This is a well shot video of one of the World's most celebrated restaurants. The presentations are unmatched.

Spok(a)n(e) Magazine, a local web only publication has a food issue. This is the PDF.

San Francisco Magazine has a great food issue out. Among many well written articles is a piece about the surge in casual eating. There is a particular attention paid to fancy food trucks and walk-ups. The cover image shows a paper basket of frog legs that is a signature dish of one french food truck.

It isn't just my impression that food trucks are the new hot topic. Google Trends shows a huge spike in Internet interest.

In a sign of the times The Oregonian has a very complete section of their Food website dedicated to food preservation. This weeks 90 degree weather doesn't get me excited to think about canning.

And my Top Chef home boy Kevin Gillespie comes out of the gate with the 1st victory of the season. As the season continues I will talk more about Kevin. We had some lively conversations during his time here in Spokane. What he thought of Spokane's food scene probably won't come as any surprise but what Spokane cooks thought of him might.

Rumor Mill: The Return of the Mom and Pop Store

2009-08-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Browne's Addition is getting a new food outlet in the form of a convenience store. When Curve's moved out of it's Sunset Avenue location I thought it would surely become a Salon; there seems to be no end to the opening of hair shops. When I spotted the refrigerated beverage cases I knew I was wrong. Apparently this will be a step above the average c-store. There will be a walk-in beer cave (it makes shoplifting so much easier) and the decor looks more like the salon I thought it was going to be than the 7-Eleven that was in that location originally. The friendly worker that I quizzed said that a restaurant owner and a food store owner have partnered up for this venture. Knowing which restaurant and store could be the clue to figuring out what quality of products they will carry. This could be just the place that Browne's has needed, but then again that is what I said when the House of Chaos opened up there 8 years ago.

Soulful Soups Redux

2009-08-19T10:58:00.001-07:00

Soulful Soups is under new ownership and things are about to change in a big way. New interior, new menu, and most significantly new hours. From what I have heard this could be the first full service restaurant to fit into a new trend for much smaller restaurants and the latest to go after the late night market. Oh yeah, and there will be a full bar.

One Last Thing

2009-08-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

I will be busy with less virtual things in the coming weeks and so before I forget to mention it:

EatSpokane.Org is having it's Summer Potluck at Latah Bistro on Sunday August 30th at 7:00 p.m. Mayor Mary Verner is the special guest. This event comes out of a discussion at last year's Chef Summit. We all recognized that there needs to be more opportunities for people with an interest in the Spokane food community to connect. We hope to build off of the momentum that began last May when Jeremy and Kate Hansen hosted the Spring Potluck at Sante. There won't be any speech making and nothing is required to attend- just show up. Farmers, restaurant people, and eaters are all welcome. The only rule is please don't bring any alcohol (the WSLCB frowns on this) drinks will be available to purchase from the host restaurant.

LinkStorm

2009-08-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Time to clean off the desktop.

I will be heading to Seattle soon and I have been thinking about what to eat. I was wondering if I could do the whole weekend eating top notch food without ever stepping inside of a restaurant. This notion led me to learning about Veraci. The story goes like this: In Seattle there is a little trailer with a funny little oven that makes big pizzas. It is called Veraci. Here is an article. Here is a video. And here is Seth Carey's Spokane-based Veraci trailer.

As a rule I think that food machines with the foods portrayed on them are always a pass but then slap a $3500 price tag on what is the simplest food in the world to cook and we have reached a new level of ridiculous. I expect the ChefStack to be popular with those horrible "free breakfast" programs that business hotels always offer.

After reading The End Of Food, I am even more interested when I see an article about ideas to produce more food. The sad thing is that this article is less helpful than an average science fair project. Robot fruit pickers? We are doomed.

To show just how complicated things are right now, I offer you this unexpected article on how the growth of home gardening has led to huge crop failure issues on the East Coast.

Awhile back I mentioned that Leslie Kelly, Spokane's most noted restaurant critic, had resurfaced in Memphis. She resurfaced again in Kettle Falls at Quillisascut Farm's culinary program where she was a student alongside my Sous Chef. She lives in Seattle and is now looking to get into cooking after many years of writing about it. I remember the impact that she had on dining in this town. She may be solely responsible for making Ian Wingate and Mike Walliser the first stars of the restaurant scene in Spokane. I am hoping to spend some time with Leslie and get here perspective on Spokane's food history.

Heaven Help Me

2009-08-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

In what may be the worst idea ever, I am trying out Google Voice's new widget feature to allow people to leave voice messages directly for me via the ugly little badge to the right. I can't imagine what I can expect. I suspect that most people will fear the feature as some kind of spam/phishing/scam trap. Those willing to take the chance on this new technology will just be calling to ask, "is your refrigerator running."

Rumor Mill: ChapSweet or BitterChaps?

2009-08-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

There are 4 different restaurants that will be opening soon but each of them have asked me not to let the cat out of the bag yet. I am thinking about running a redacted post about them. One rumor that I will make mention of may brighten the day of many Spokane cake lovers. All of that baking equipment at Bittersweet is going to find a new home at Chaps along with it's former owner Gina. Expect to see some remodeling to accommodate the new bakery and staff.

And congratulations to Kevin West for ignoring the rules of Walt Worthy's Name my Pub contest. Despite asking for a single English word for the name, the winner is the the oh so clever Post Street Alehouse. Walt loves someone who thinks out of the box. Of course, during my time working for him my effort to promote the restaurant with vinyl banners that read, "Walt Worthy has Crab Legs" were not received warmly.

LinkStorm

2009-08-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

Another week and more rumors of new restaurant openings. It would be interesting to go to Spokane SCORE's "How to start a business" workshop to see who else is thinking about jumping into the fray.

Craig Goodwin talks to Matthew Simpson of Wisdom Coffee on his Year of Plenty Blog. A while back I tried to count the number of roasters but I am realize that one can only count the number of roasters that you know about. Who knows how many lurk in garages around this town. Now that restaurants are actually reaching out to one another and developing a community, it leaves the local coffee scene as the least interactive business group in town.

I am reading The End of Food by Paul Roberts and things look pretty bleak so it is reassuring when I find out about farmers who are not falling into the trap of the food industrial complex. Promised Land Farm in CDA has the right idea. The small farmer is quietly saving the world and most people don't even know it. Other farmers are just hippie weirdo yoga farmers.

A Harvard professor weighs in on the Un-Starbucks. Spoiler: He thinks it will fail.
There is a video game for cooking. This brings to mind the Michael Pollan article about how Americans love cooking...or at least the idea of cooking but not the actual task.
Bootsy Collins has a restaurant. And I thought the age of celebrity eateries was over. The 360 degree tour shows a place much more subtle than the man himself.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Wall Street Mess

2009-08-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

Megan from Madeleine's had her wedding at her restaurant on Saturday. They extended the patio across Wall Street. The whole affair looked elegant and exciting. Which brings up the Wall Street Mess. This Wall Street mess goes back to when The Crescent department store closed and The Crescent Court was created.

Cucina! Cucina! was signed as an anchor tenant. Cucina's space was designed around an artists rendering of a remodel of Wall Street. The pavement was to be torn up, replaced with pavers to create a pedestrian mall. Based on those images of crowds wondering up and down Wall, Cucina put there front door on the east side of the building. Somewhere along the way another plan to begin trolley service between downtown and the Arena seemed to derail the vision. The trolley became a bus dressed up like an old time trolley and the route went right down the pedestrian mall.

Now Wall Street functions poorly as a street and even worse as a pedestrian mall. I propose that we once and for all block off the two blocks of Wall Street between Spokane Falls Boulevard and Riverside. We could install seating and create spaces for street vendors and musicians. I wonder if any of the City Council members want to weigh in on this one. Seems like a no brainer idea that wouldn't cost a lot of money.

Restaurant Deathwatch: Picnic Company

2009-08-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

With the space at Howard and 3rd now available I wonder if someone will come up with the ulitimate LC student hangout. I also wonder if that is even a good idea. Funny thing about the Picnic Comapny closing is that everyone who has talked with me about it suggest that they could not compete with the High Nooner. There is some history with that rivalry that goes back a long, long way.

Playing With Food

2009-07-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

Allen the Intern has been producing some great stuff. This mini chocolate ice cream cone with masala ice cream was a technical challenge but it all worked out in the end.
When Dave Dupree's brother Dean dropped off some of the honey from his hives, a whole quart of it went into Allen's Honey Cake with fresh local raspberries.
For dinner yesterday, I made a rustic pizza with English pea puree, cherry tomatoes and brie. I still like the idea but the sauce needs some tinkering.

LinkStorm

2009-07-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

The Bistro Sous Chef will be at Quillisascut Farm for this weeks Professional Retreat. It makes me think fondly back to 2006 when I was there. It was all about the food. You never eat so well as when you spend a week on a farm with 20 chefs.

The Spokane Farmers Market has a Pie Contest. How did I miss out on being a judge for this event.
Go here for a genius infographic of how Britain's food buying habits have changed. I am mesmerized by this graph.
This case against a Northside Bistro just boggles the mind. If you want to be a restaurant owner you better have some fight in you because you never know what you will go up against.
And if you think being a restaurant owner in Spokane is hard, try being a cacao farmer in Venezuela. The NYT has a story about the political challenges of the chocolate trade in the county that produces the best cacao. Getting shot in the neck is just one of the problems.
Deanna Adams is a vegan endurance athlete who just finished the 2700 mile Tour Divide mountain bike race on a fixed gear bike (one speed, no coasting). Her website has some annoying music that plays when you go there but here is what she said about the food she was forced to eat as she passed through small rocky mountain towns that don't even know what a vegan is:

Oreo’s- I love these cookies, because of the fat/sugar/hehehe chocolate!

Peanut Butter- Was not the lightest food item to carry, but extremely worth it!!!

Clif Bars- too expensive to buy most of the time, unless I could buy them from a grocery store.

Coconut Bars- wonderful source of fats! Very rarely I could find them, but a huge treat to be able to carry!

Mixed variations of Nuts- I liked when I was able to buy the little tube versions…instead of the huge can.

Hard candy Spearmints

Now and Later- good to have to keep up the sugar levels so I don’t bonk

Mike and Ike-“ “

Hot Tamales-“
black licorice “

Blow Pops (not the safest thing to eat while riding…whatever)

Wheat Thins-it’s nice to have some whole grains

Dried fruit

Thirty days on a bike eating what looks like the movie theater snack bar menu. That first plate of fresh vegetable after the event tastes so good.
How to make a sandwich from the guy who wrote the book...and opened the ultimate sandwich restaurant.

starbuck's wants to ditch their reputation

2009-07-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Starbucks no longer wants to be the Starbucks of coffee. Almost a year and a half ago, Howard Schultz wrote a now famous memo that marked a new beginning for the company. The effort to distance themselves from the "commoditization of the Starbucks experience" is not going to be without controversy.

The first store with the new thinking has been dubbed the Un-Starbuck's due to the nearly complete lack of the familiar logo. 15 th Avenue Coffee and Tea is the name on the sign and on the cups. The attempt is to trick people into thinking it is a local, independent coffee shop. The disingenuous nature of this new marketing has already inspired protests. The Stranger covered a group of naysayers that tried using some humor to send a message that localism is not an advertising buzzword. Another reason to either love or hate the new concept is the addition of beer and wine.

As I read about this new business move I wonder what happens if they are successful in tricking most people into thinking that they are a small mom and pop coffee house? Is it possible that the green army of Starbuck's addicts pass right over the new places? Could Starbuck's be the competition that poses the greatest threat to the 15 th Avenue Coffee and Tea?

now bigger than ever

2009-07-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

For the first time in almost 5 years I have changed the look of this page. I felt compelled to do it because my new modern cameras with their cinematic aspect ratios required resizing to avoid getting cut off by the template. Fixing that problem has created several more so there is no telling if I am going to stick with this.

The timing of this change is important because this is the time of the year when I seem to never tire of taking garden photos. Having my first ever artichoke makes for a good subject. As does the wok full of freshly picked vegetables that threaten to make me healthy despite all of those ham and cheese croissants I have been eating lately.

New Restaurant Alert: Welcome to the Boomtown

2009-07-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

The long dormant Merq Lounge space has a new tenant- The Local Pub is coming soon. Just up the street Rancho Viejo is moving into the Kaufer's Christian Supply building across from REI. And now I know of two Pizza joints set to open later this year. This all sounds counter to the prevailing idea that the restaurant population is on the decline. The thing is that in many ways this economic situation has created opportunities. Commercial real estate has an occupancy problem which makes landlords more likely give some ground in lease negotiations. There are more spaces available to choose from. And there is more money to be had. Tucked away in the Stimulus bill are some pretty sweet tax savings for small business and loan guarantees that caused one local lender to say, " We would be stupid not to be writing these loans."

The question remains whether it is a good idea to grease the small business credit machine when there is some doubt as to whether there will be enough consumer spending to keep them alive. There is always room for good ideas but you never know how good the idea was till you switch on that open sign.

Link Storm

2009-07-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

I am learning how to be a food porn photographer. Halibut Tagine looking seductive.

The god send that is Hulu has added Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie. Having missed the entire history food television I was fascinated to see a little of what people have been watching. The verdict is that I want the word foodie to go away but the I am a sucker for travel pieces about food. There are maybe two dozen other food shows on Hulu but I draw the line at watching recipe shows. Soon Sunny in Phillie will be back and I will have something to watch again.

The Spokesman has an article about Mitchlich. I am quoted. It is an unremarkable quote. On Thursday, I get interviewed for a Bicycling Magazine article about chefs who cycle. More unremarkable quotes are expected.

The photography site Dark Roasted Blend has a collection of English pubs signs. I had no clue that there are a lot of places named for pairs. Such as Cock and Bottle, Buck and Ear, Duck and Dog, Lamb and Flag, Horse and Groom, or the George and Dragon. Thinking about Walt Worthy's "name my pub" contest and wished I would have thought of Beauty and the Beast, a tribute to the Davenport and it's Tower annex.

Style-your-garage.com has a giant photograph you can stick on your garage door so that it looks like you are butchering meats.

Just when I thought I had run out of venom for the endless fad of calling every cocktail a Martini, along comes the chocolive. This is the perfect garnish for the sweet monstrosity of a beverage called the Chocolate Martini. Of course that is my opinion, if you ask Chef Jason, it is one of the world's most romantic cocktails. And I thought that title went to Jello Shots (link opens noisy video).

You Wait All Week Then...

2009-07-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Restaurant Consultants: Part One

2009-07-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I talked about the Inlander's article on how to save a failing restaurant. All of the consultants quoted in the article are Seattle area high rollers. One of them, Arnold Shain, was one of the originiators of the Cucina! Cucina! concept. He may be responsible for the exclamation marks.

During Cucina's mid life crisis when it was struggling to be vital again they brought in Mr. Shain to help bring back some of that early magic. He sat in the middle of the large conference room in his ponytail and sweatpants and worked off the top of his head. The end result was his brainchild- Ferrari lunches. Fast Italian. Lunch in 10 minutes or it's free. Forget that Denny's was already doing this with breakfast and forget that it was impossible with the foods on the Cucina! menu. When confronted with concerns about the potential issues around the idea, Arnold would wave his hand and utter, "minutiae, minutiae." It seems that his breed of consultants are paid for ideas not for plans. It was up to the Corporate Chef to figure out how to make it all happen.

Ferrari Lunches were just one of a series of terrible marketing ideas that made the company's situation look worse from the outside than it actually was. Scratch off lottery style coupons, early bird special with 3 mini courses for $15, and a summer long volleyball theme had the restaurant identity veering off course.

It wasn't until the company brought back the original Chef that things improved. The company had been built around the idea that everything was made in house but during the explosive growth phase mistakes were made. It might sound overly simplistic to say that the key was making stock and sauces in house, but it changed the morale of the employees in a way that cannot be underestimated.

P.S.

One fo the best things at Cucina! was the Lentil Sausage soup. I still make it the way I learned from Chef Bill Beck back in the day. The recipe for this great soup is on their website.

Watching The Deathwatch

2009-07-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

Not every idea is a good one.

The Inlander has an article about how to save your failing restaurant. The problem is you can't- it's failing. You can take a restaurant that is not living up to it's potential and maximize profits, and improve overall consistency and quality but the reason restaurants fail is rarely sloppy performance.

The fact is that restaurants are small businesses and the Small Business Administration knows why those fail: 7 reasons small businesses fail. The only other caveat that I would add to their list is: know your market. Spokane has it's own quirks and if you come into the scene blind then you will be bumping into walls if not off of cliffs.

Another reason to know thy market is to avoid jumping into an over saturated businesses population. If there are too many mouths to feed then how well each of them does their job matters less.

I will pick this topic up again later but I do want to leave off with a couple of questions. What is a Spokane restaurant consultant and why is there a Spokane restaurant consultant?

Link Storm

2009-07-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

I like the fact that one of the most prominent constellations in the summer sky is a piece of kitchen equipment.

Summer is great though 90+ degree weather is miserable, but you can make the best of it by baking some cookies on your cars dashboard.

My recent obsession with bottled non-alcoholic beverages brought me to this remembrance of 90's drinks that did not make the millennial cut.

The Daily Beast has come back to the food topic with some moderately interesting pieces. First a coke addict chef writes about a coke addled world of cooking. I did not like this kind of writing when Bourdain did it and it isn't any better now. The fact is that there are drug addicts in every industry but it is ridiculous to suggest that somehow the food business is run on narcotics.

Then The Daily Beast lets Nigella Lawson recycle a recipe that she has been getting column inches with since it first appeared in her 2003 cookbook "Forever Summer."

I admit I have been opening my bananas wrong as well:

Obama wants the dairy industry to protect the public health but they are not having it.

Despite a recent attempt to convince me that Monsanto is not a bad word, I can't say I am happy with anything they are doing including new GMO testing with wheat.

This weeks unrelated video is dedicated to the squirrel that seems to think that I plant a garden so that he can vary his diet. The video comes from an industrious person that assembles different sets and then lures Betty the squirrel with some peanuts.

Bar Deathwatch 2009: The Casbah

2009-07-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

The Casbah served it's last round of drinks last night. It sounds like it was one of those Going Out Of Business parties that I always seemed to miss out on. I heard that when Chevy's Tex-Mex Grill closed the employees decided to not bother working and spent the last shift drinking and giving away drinks to anyone who happened to wonder in.

Shepard's Grain Open House

2009-07-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Yestarday I popped into Shepard's Grain's yearly open house. The event brings chef's from all over the Northwest to Reardan for the full farm experience. During Last nights dinner, President Karl Kuper introduced the people that produce and distribute Shepard's Grain products and there was also a presentation by Larry Lev of Oregon State University about "Providing context for mid-scale food value chain development in the United States." The gist of it was that farming is on the decline except for operations larger than $1 million dollars in sale and smaller than $2500. If the mid size producer is going to succeed they must 1) differentiate with value added attributes, 2) Aggregate for necessary volume and 3) operate with new kinds of business rules. During the presentation I kept thinking about how these ideas apply to restaurants. It will take a few more days for those ideas to congeal.

Karl introduces Bernie Duenwald of Golden Hills Brewing Company while the Stone-Buhr CEO Josh Dorf and Paul Header look on.

Karl introduces the faces behind the meal

Summer Is All About the Beverages

2009-07-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

I have been around town looking for places that sell Bibicaffe (aka the world's greatest summer drink). There are no local distributors of the product but the Trading Company Store's Thomas Hammer coffee bar stocks it. I heard that World Market did but that turned out not to be true. While I was there I decided to buy some Reed's Ginger Brew. At the checkout I came across this Townshend T3 Display. World Market, Local Wine.

In ancillary beverage news, my home refrigerator started acted up and I had to get a repairman to swap out some parts in it. I never miss the opportunity to ask repairmen what machines they think are built best because who would know better than them. This repairman said that Whirlpool is his choice. The few repairs that he does involve small fixes with cheap parts. The repairman did not have much good to say about my GE fridge. Also, I use an inexpensive dial themometer to monitor my cold storage temperatures. It allows me to spot cooling issues early. I also use one in my oven because oven dials cannot be trusted to give you an accurate reading. You can pick them up for a few bucks at Spokane Restaurant Supply.

Remi Is As Awesome As He Thinks He Is

2009-07-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Remi at TEO, I Heart Spokane and Spokane Food Blog continues to prove that he is the undisputed ruler of Spokane's interweb tubes. The huge database of restaurant reviews is going mobile with his new iphone app. This is a much better idea than the company that is trying to sell text message advertising schemes to local food businesses.

What Are People Searching For Today?

2009-07-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Looks like I am not the only one thinking about Percy's.

Num	Perc.	Search Term
	3	11.54%	percy's cafe americana
	3	11.54%	from the back kitchen
	2	7.69%	percy's cafe
	2	7.69%	bourbon ice cream
	2	7.69%	spokane family farm
	2	7.69%	percys cafe americana, spokane wa, closing
	1	3.85%	percy's americana
	1	3.85%	percy's cafe americana july 2009
	1	3.85%	greg kroetch spokane
	1	3.85%	percy's cafe university city
	1	3.85%	spokesman-review percy's americana cafe
	1	3.85%	the back kitchen
	1	3.85%	duck confit recipe
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Thundering Hooves In Spokane

2009-07-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

This just in:

Hello Spokanites (Spokanians? Spokansans?)

Well, it is official. We will make a delivery to First Presbyterian Church in Spokane from 10-10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1. Members of that church are also going to spread the word (in addition to The Word) to their friends and fellow congregants.

Here is what you need to know and what you are encouraged to pass along to your friends:

1. The website: www.thunderinghooves.net is set to take online orders now until the order deadline on Wed. night of July 29. Just click 'Go Shopping' and choose the Spokane delivery while placing the order.

2. Restaurants can order via phone (509-522-9400) or email (info@thunderinghooves.net) and can receive a delivery for our regular restaurant delivery fee of 2% of the order with a $10 min. and a $30 cap). The wholesale pricing list is attached.

3. Also attached is a $20 coupon for first-timers. This coupon also describes our products and gives ordering instructions for newcomers. All people need to do is print it out and bring it to the delivery between 10-10:30 a.m. on Aug. 1. Payments of cash or check are preferred.

4. The delivery is in the parking lot on 4th Ave. across the street from First Presbyterian Church, which is located at Cedar St and 3rd Ave. just off I 90. Here's the link to the church:

http://www.spokanefpc.org/DirectionsParking/tabid/896/Default.aspx

Our hope is to generate enough interest to create a regular Spokane/Pullman delivery for restaurants and buying clubs sometime early this fall. We aren't setting a minimum for this delivery, but will need to generate decent volumes by this fall to make it all work.

Thanks!

-Keith

Meat With Stuff In It

2009-07-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

The thing I have never understood is how crazy people get when you put ingredients inside of meat. Pork Loin with cherries, garlic and pine nuts is one thing but put those things on the inside and the crowd goes wild. I served this engorged meat with baked beans, southern style greens and an apple pan sauce. It accounted for nearly a third of the dinners served.