Traveling Feast

The restaurant in Browne’s Addition with the most Inland Northwest mindshare is clearly The Elk. It is an institution and for good reason, but I find I head into Browne’s Addition more often to slip into Cafe Marron across the street.  It is a bit quieter, and I enjoy both the space and like the menu.  Yesterday it was for lunch and I settled on the roasted beet salad that tosses the greens with the beets, candied walnuts, and soft goat cheese.  A little Bouzies bread on the side rounded out a nice meal.

Full Disclosure: I’m not a coffee aficionado.  I know plenty: Lea Greene, Daryl Geffken, Jake Reidt come to mind immediately.

Maybe I’ve hung back a bit because I so mercilessly made fun of my mom for her coffee addiction when I was in high school.  Or I maybe the taste of coffee itself never thrilled me without so much sugar it made more sense to order something else.  As the risk of being expelled from the Northwest, I’ll admit we still don’t brew a pot at home except when guests (or mom) comes over.  But after hanging out with enough people who are borderline fanatical about their coffee, I’m working to develop an appreciation for different roasts and blends if only not to embarrass myself in public.

This said, I met two friends at Caffe Delicio on North Monroe yesterday, and I suggest you go out of your way to try not only their coffee, but enjoy the space they’ve created.  I’ve driven by their double lane commuter establishment for years and never turned in.  Yesterday I parked and walked in only to be surprised and delighted by the design work inside.  I also appreciated the collection of unique mugs they use to serve customers who plan to drink their coffee at a table rather than in traffic.

Geoff and Debbie White opened the Perry Street Cafe in the fall of 2006.  I’ve driven by often, but never stopped in.  This morning I did and the number one item on my hit list was to try Debbie’s signature cinnamon roll.  Our waitress also suggested the home fries over the hashbrowns with the omelete, and I was grateful for the recommendation.  I’ll be back for both.

Here is the visual rundown:

Last night the table was set for 28 guests – nearly all of them connected to the restaurant and hospitality industry.  I’m sure I’m biased, but it was a brilliant evening with wonderful food from Jeremy Hansen at Sante, an amazing space compliments of the Brad and Sara Greene of The Purple Turtle, and an actual Big Table due to the creativity of Chris Olson of NOC Architects.  We will post more pictures soon, but here is one from the evening.

Chef Anna Vogel is offering $25 Prix Fixe Dinners on the Luna Daily Fresh Sheet inspired by the communal dinners she remembers from childhood that were served each night during the grape harvest.  “Grape Picker Dinners” they are called and come with a choice of two small plates, an entree, and two options for dessert.

I stopped by Tuesday night to try the dinner along with the Vin du Jour that is offered alongside the Prix Fixe for $5 a glass.  Both the dinner and the wine were a delight.  I started with the Organic Roasted Beet Salad featuring greens from the restaurant garden fifty feet from the side door, and finished with a simple vanilla bean ice cream served in a martini glass and topped with grappa macerated concord grapes.  Yet on the food front it will be Vogel’s “Pork Ragu” that I’ll be dreaming about for a while.  She braises the pork in tomatoes and fennel along with plenty of bacon and serves the pork and the rich sauce over creamy parmesan polenta.  Think high caliber comfort food.

But the other star of the evening arrived in a glass: an 2007 Cotes du Rhone from Le Pas Du Meunier.

The menu noted that this particular Cotes du Rhone was only available with the Prix Fixe dinner, and I’d say it is worth ordering the dinner just to get the wine.  Of course the huge bonus is the great food, but the wine itself was quite satisfying even before the food arrive.  Drinking it felt like sipping the best of autumn in a glass.

When we need a fix of great Chinese we usually pile into the van and head to the South Hill strip mall  in Spokane that houses China Garden.

The restaurant tucked in next to an Ace Hardware store doesn’t scream EAT HERE in neon like most of the Chinese restaurants on the Division strip up north, but the food keeps us coming back.

Tonight it was Honey Walnut Prawns (sweet and undoutbtedly addictive), crispy Sesame Beef with just a hint of heat, and Broccoli Chicken.

If you have your own Chef Raymond favorites, please pass them along for the next time the family gets a Chinese food craving.

This summer we were about to go to press in July with a review of Cafe Neo – one of the only higher-end independent restaurants to survive on the north end of Spokane.  I even made a big deal of this fact in the review only to discover in trying to get professional photographs of the food that Cafe Neo wasn’t going to be the exception, but rather another example of the curious rule that keeps sinking restaurants that attempt to open up north without a pre-approved formula.  In retrospect my introduction was more prophetic than I intended.

The pictures included are mine snapped during the course of the meals I ate at Neo just before it closed its doors permanently at the end of June 2009.  Here is the posthumous review.

One Wonderful “Desperate Case” Of A North Spokane Bistro
Café Neo

An urban growth expert told me once that cities expand north first.  This makes real estate north of the current core a typically solid investment, but apparently there is no similar maxim for local restaurants.  If there is, Spokane would be a depressing exception since it remains almost impossible for upscale independent restaurants to survive on Spokane’s north side.

Café Neo opened last June, and I immediately assumed it would meet the fate of nearly all the bold bistro pioneers before it.  Situated in a half-vacant strip mall on Division by Whitworth University, I expected to see the “Space For Lease” sign back in the window within a month or two.  I didn’t even bother to put Neo on my list of restaurants because I didn’t want to fall in love with any dishes that I’d miss if Neo failed to survive like so many of its predecessors.

My pessimism was costly.  It kept me from both the delight of Neo’s Pecan Crusted Brie with a tart cherry and roasted garlic compote ($11.98) and their Schezuan Green Beans ($6.98).  Both beg to be ordered again, and only several bites in the green beans, I was calculating when I could return or recreate them at home.

Add to these appetizers the Crab Cake Po’ Boy on a Kaiser roll at the heart of the lunch menu ($12.98).  While the soft Kaiser roll would be anathema to any Louisiana po’boy purist, the full effect of the two crab cakes tucked inside the roll with fresh shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and stone-ground mustard aioli should not be dismissed so easily.  And if you can manage to set aside any fundamentalist dining tendencies for the duration of the meal, live a little and order one of your own.

The truth is that I may have underestimated both the determination and creativity of owners Kara and Scott Cook and executive chef Jeremiah Timmons.  The Cooks are anything but new to restaurant work; Scott started work in restaurant management when he was 16 and locally he managed Papagayo’s on Division, Cyrus O’leary’s and then worked on the management team that opened three Chili’s in the area.  Likewise, Timmons brings plenty of credibility to the kitchen:  he trained at the Western Culinary Institute Le Cordon Bleu in Portland and worked or managed kitchens in Maryland, Seattle, and Ellensburg before returning to Spokane.

Still, I’m convinced that all three are on a first name basis with St. Jude, patron saint of desperate cases, because they have also opened and maintained not only Café Neo but also Ambrosia Bistro and Wine Bar in the heart of the Spokane Valley, another supposed wasteland for upscale independent restaurants.  One restaurant in either place would be impressive; two just might qualify as a miracle.

At Neo this miracle includes half price bottle night every Tuesday, and a sit-up-and-take-note scallop dish that one top newspaper man in the city believes is the best entrée available anywhere… period.  This dish is Timmons’ pan-seared diver scallops dusted with porcini mushrooms and set on top of spinach and crisp cubes of Boursin cheese grits with a lobster sauce and fried leeks ($20.98).  A run-in with bad scallops several years ago makes me avoid most scallops on principle, but I had to see if the newspaper man had discovered the best entrée in town.  It certainly is a contender: even with my bad scallop bias, I don’t believe there was so much as a smear of sauce left on the plate, and the grits bordered on perfect.

Timmon’s Rack of Lamb ($24.98) served with a pomegranate-port reduction and mashed Yukon Gold potatoes is another standout on a dinner menu that boasts such creative comfort food a Crab Mac ‘n Cheese ($16.98), Butternut Squash Ravioli ($14.98), and a Walleye ($18.98).  I haven’t seen a walleye featured on a menu west of Minnesota for quite some time.

Timmons appears happy to channel entrée inspiration for his seasonally changing menu from all over the country.  His experience obviously helps here, but some of menu is simply the result of an active culinary imagination as well – imagination I love to see on the north side of town.  Like Ambrosia in the valley, Cooks wanted to create a neighborhood bistro when they opened Café Neo: a neighborhood bistro with a contemporary feel and a wine list worth exploring.  They have done just this, and I like the friendly and competent servers they have on the floor.

Bottom line?  Café Neo should have been on my restaurant list long before now, and I’d suggest you add it to yours.  Together we might be able to help Café Neo thrive on the north side.

Cafe Neo
10208 North Division
Spokane, WA 99218
(509) 467-5961

Slated to be published in Spokane Coeur d’Alene Living, July / August 2009 Issue

Spokane WA: I confess to being on a coast to coast gnocchi kick this summer.  It started with an ethereal version at Eleven Madison Park in NYC at the very end of May and included an almost polenta-like baked example at Tavolata in Seattle.  There have been several other fine variations along the way.

Yesterday I returned to Santé for a second run at Jeremy Hansen’s take on this Italian classic.  It is almost as different from both Eleven Madison Park’s and Tavolata’s as to be in a separate category, but it simply wonderful and one of the best entrees in downtown Spokane at $10.

Don’t count on it fitting well into a Weight Watchers plan, but please don’t let this stop you.  Bring a friend or two and share it along with a few other dishes: problem solved.  Sharing also means you’ll get to try a bit more on Hansen’s menu as a bonus.

Does one of these new wine cubbys at the Rocket Market on Spokane’s South Hill have your name on it?

Wine guru Carl Carlsteen says they are just about ready to launch their wine-of-the-month club, and soon these cubbies will be home to specially selected wines each month.  Details are still being finalized, but if your tastes in wine match Carlsteen’s passion and palate you might want to consider joining the club and score a cubby.

I had a great chicken salad sandwich today.

The spot?  Christ Kitchen on Monroe.  If you’ve been around a while, you might remember the site as the former home of Taco Time.  Now the building houses something unique – an organization dedicated to offering hope to women in poverty.  They started with dry soup mixes with kitschy catchy names, but now offer more… including a great chicken salad sandwich with crunch from pecans and celery and sweet from Crasins.  A layer of sprouts is another welcome addition.

If you have a favorite chicken salad sandwich, let me know about it.  And stop in at the Kitchen any weekday but Thursday from 11 am to 1 pm to see how theirs measures up.

My new favorite taco truck in Spokane is adding a measure of authenticity in its daily special sheet.

I didn’t order the “Shrip Speasal” but took the spelling as a potentially positive indicator that English was a second language for whoever made the sign (and hopefully would soon be cooking my food). It turns out that Patty’s Tacos is turning out wonderful and quite authentic Mexican street  food despite the decidedly Anglo name and the dictionary difficulties noted above.

For the record, there are actually two different Pattys in the family that owns the truck: cousin Patty Pineda and sister-in-law Patty Ramirez.  Pineda was at the grill the day I stopped by and her Alambre taco ($1.25) approached the category of life-changing.  Think mini fajita with steak, grilled peppers and onions, and melted mozzarella on top.  Normally I would scorn a taco that didn’t come topped in more traditional Mexican cheese, but before you do the same, try Patty’s Alambre.  It was stunningly good.  The pork Adobada taco was also wonderful.

For those of you within driving distance of Spokane, put Patty’s Taco Truck on the top of your list.  The truck is open 10 am to 8 pm every day on North Division between Garland and Walton.

Last Friday the urge for a maple bar from the Donut Parade overwhelmed any more measured reflection on how to start the day right with fruits and fiber.  It would be a morning for some of the best carbs and sugar on the continent.

I gathered up the three kids in the house at the moment (my daughter, one of my twin sons, and his friend that we affectionately refer to as ‘not my son’) and headed from Hamilton and Illinois just north of Gonzaga to order a dozen maple bars and donuts and four glasses of milk.  The milk is critical for true donut delight.

Yet another part of the Donut Parade perfection is the place.  It is frozen in time (circa 1950) and every hard-to-reach corner is covered by a quarter century of fine fryer grease that should preserve it for all eternity.  Our turquiose vinyl booth has a tear in the seat mended with duct tape.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Friday’s visit also reminded me of how much I love the old diner counter and line of chrome stools facing the kitchen.  Invariably, the line is occupied by neighborhood regulars nursing a cup of coffee, reading the paper, and discussing the sad state of the world over a plate of the sacred maple bars.

I’m sure the faces at the counter change depending on when you come during the morning, but the stools are almost always filled and all their occupants appear to have been here before.