7 HOME FOOD NEWS
Time to make the switch
7/4/2008 | DRINKS | So. Hot. The sweltering Spokane summer finally arrived last week just in time for Fourth of July backyard barbecues. We all know what that means: Time to switch to summer brews.
Getting the gang together
6/27/2008 | COLUMN | Howard Bateman realizes that progress comes from experimentation. His regular customers at The Globe Bar & Grille, 204 N. Division St., get a taste of this philosophy every Thursday with Bateman's ACME Test Kitchen program, where he invents dishes on-the-fly based on customers' answers to a questionnaire he created.
Crazy about cart food
6/20/2008 | COLUMN | Frank Alberti's on to something. A New York native and "full blooded Italian," as his t-shirt says, Alberti romanticizes cart food. So five years ago he worked out a deal with Sabrett the company that manufactures Alberti's favorite authentic New York franks to ship the brand's dogs over this way, and Frank's Franks was born. "It's just something that I always wanted to do since I was a kid and I used to frequent stands like this in New York," Alberti said. "You're more one with the customer. It's more personal, I think. I've met a lot of people out here. I've made a lot of friends. Don't think I've made any enemies."
Ordering made easy
6/13/2008 | By now, everyone knows how to pronounce ratatouille. Many of us ahem have Disney to thank for that. But as eclectic world-fusion cuisine rivals forearm tattoos for cultural ubiquity, we're all gonna have to learn a few more food phrases if for no other reason than to avoid sounding like jackasses when dining out.
A sweet love rekindled
6/6/2008 | COLUMN | If you are what you eat, call me Edmond Dantes. Those of you who've been reading my blog posts on Taste of the Town know I've rekindled a minor obsession with a major sandwich from my childhood: the Monte Cristo. For anyone who doesn't know, it's 20th century America's variation on the French Croque Monsieur a heart attack disguised as a fried ham and cheese sandwich.
Tilting toward greatness
5/23/2008 | COLUMN | If Anthony Rice and his crew have their way, it's only a matter of time before Spokane bars become overrun by gangs. Pinball gangs. "One of the phrases I like to say is, 'I've got a pocketful of quarters and a finger full of dreams,' " said Rice, who plans to hold his second annual Spokane Pinball Showdown next week at Season Ticket and Irv's.
Cheers to charity events
5/16/2008 | COLUMN | If you need a favor from someone, wine and dine him first. It's a perfected recipe after all, people tend to be a bit friendlier with a bellyful of syrah and spaghetti.
The old-fashioned way
5/9/2008 | DRINKS | We've just returned from two weeks in England and, man, do I miss real English ale. "Real English ale" conjures up, to many Americans, the terms "tepid and flat." Yet this cask-conditioned ale is actually at the pinnacle of the brewer's art, and I have grown to love it.
Going on a beer run
5/2/2008 | DRINKS | Maybe someday they'll call him the Don Kardong of the Spokane bar scene. I mean, if Bloomsday's babydaddy could draw tens of thousands of people to town just to run a few miles, certainly Jon Robideaux can sell people on an annual Downtown bar crawl.
Cinco de Taco
5/2/2008 | Close your eyes and picture a taco. If you pictured a crunchy shell filled with tomatoes, lettuce and ground beef, it's time to lay off the fourth meal. Unlike the American version served at fast food joints and big-platter restaurants, a true South-of-the-Border-style taco like those served at a handful of local authentic taquerias arrives flat on a grilled corn tortilla with little more than meat, cilantro and onion.
At your service?
4/25/2008 | Clang your silverware if you have a restaurant horror story. Listen to the din of botched orders, cold food and snotty servers as it clashes with a cacophony of complaints about crabby customers.
Doesn't make for very appetizing dinner music, does it?
Stick a fork in winter
4/25/2008 | COLUMN | While passing through the West Sprague Avenue dance club district on a relatively warm Saturday night a couple of weeks back, a friend whacked me on the shoulder and made the type of excited observation usually reserved for scientific discoveries.
What's new at Luna
4/18/2008 | Luna is now serving pastries, espresso and coffee for breakfast on weekdays from 8 a. m. to 11 a. m.
A new number for Elk family
4/11/2008 | The Elk Public House took over the cool-kid food scene in Spokane when it opened in Browne's Addition almost a decade ago, and with it, Moon Time and The Porch expanded the empire into North Idaho. So it was no joke for South Hill residents when the owners of the growing gastronomical group opened The Two-Seven Public House in the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood on April Fool's Day.
Finding the fifth taste
4/4/2008 | It's the m-m-m in meat. It's part of the pizazz in a pepperoni pizza. It's what makes people cheer for cheese. It's umami, and if your reaction is "u-what-ee?" you've got plenty of company. But not for long. Chefs, nutritionists, cookbook authors and food processors are salivating over the merits of umami, the "fifth taste" that is neither salty, sweet, bitter or sour.
Beautiful garbage
3/28/2008 | COLUMN | One man's trash is another man's treasure. Odd that such a tired clichι applies to Zola, the unique, vibrant nightclub that opened a few weeks ago in downtown Spokane's East End.
Video: An interior with character
Hop Scotch time
3/28/2008 | Tickets are on sale now for Seattle's yearly Hop Scotch Spring Beer and Scotch Festival, which, as you can probably guess, gives drinkers the annual chance to sample offerings from Scotch distributors and microbreweries.
Adding a little flavor
3/21/2008 | DRINKS | NEW YORK It may seem heresy to purists, but flavored beers are going mainstream as brewers reach for sales growth. The $90 billion beer industry only recently has seen a little growth after flat sales for about six years.
Mojo working on new look
3/14/2008 | Mojo has undergone a full-service makeover. No more ordering from the counter. This restaurant at 328 N. Sullivan in the Valley is now a full-service restaurant with a new interior, new lighting and a new menu.
Irish love reborn in Scotland
3/14/2008 | DRINKS | It may seem odd to admit, this being St. Patrick's Day weekend and all, but it took two weeks in Scotland to make me fall back in love with Irish whiskey.
De Leon Foods is coming downtown
3/7/2008 | Big changes are afoot at Heroes and Legends. Big, delicious changes. The downtown sports bar, at 825 W. Riverside, is now under the ownership of the De Leon family, proprieters of the popular De Leon Foods grocery store and Mexican deli in North Spokane.
Trio of new bars means more Spokane options
2/29/2008 | A handful of powerhouses dominate the local specialty booze scene. Week after week, you belly up to the bar at Bistango, The Viking, Capone's and other lighthouses and wonder when something new is going to pop up.
Raising the bar
2/22/2008 | DRINKS | Chad "Cabby" Cabanlet wanted to kickstart collaboration between the growing number of bars in downtown Spokane. So the Raw Sushi and Island Grill marketing manager decided to import an idea he used in his native home of Hawaii: The age-old Iron Bartender competition.
Watch video of the event
A hearty chuckle
2/8/2008 | DRINKS | Laughing Dog has done it again. The Ponderay brewery's latest invention a rich black India Pale Ale called Tail Wagger froths the rules of flavor until they just about overflow.
Domini: Serious about sandwiches
2/8/2008 | COLUMN | Domini Sandwiches is the type of Inland Institution that simply works. In fact, the storefront shop is so Old Spokane, former residents stop by for lunch on the way out of town and pack an extra sandwich in case they want to induce a meat coma on the plane ride home.
