Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Horsethief Pub & Eatery -- by gcleff11


Ahhhh, the beautiful Kootenay Rockies, in British Columbia.  Alpine mountains, bighorn sheep, natural hot springs, friendly locals, and.....poutine.  Yes, poutine.  The official, unofficial comfort food of Canada.  We all can make it:  french fries, brown gravy and cheese curds.  But can we make it at home as well as the real deal north of the 49th Parallel?  Might as well try to make lasagna better than your Italian grandma...

I asked our staff at the resort we were vacationing at Thanksgiving week where we might encounter the best made poutine, and threw in as an afterthought an inquiry about where we might also find the best Alberta beef burger.  Horsethief came up as the place to fill both squares.  It's one and only review on Urbanspoon did not offer any encouragement on how our meal would be.  In the end, the Horsethief did not disappoint.  It hit it out of the ball park...

Lunch for my wife, my oldest daughter, and I started with a split of a large portion of you know what.  My wife and I decided to opt for soup with our meals, knowing that the savory starch area would be deliciously covered...




My daughter selected their version of the teriyaki burger.  I wound up finishing it for her, and I loved it.  Not terribly, syrupy sweet like teriyaki burgers I have had elsewhere.  It wound up being one of the best things I sampled here...





My lovely wife selected a sirloin sandwich, which essentially was like a mid-western philly cheese, made with sauted pepper and onions.  She upgraded her soup selection to french onion, and boy was that ever a great choice.  It was astoundingly good, and I base that on the one-and-only spoonful that she allowed me.  "Absolutely not" is what I heard after asking for seconds...




This place is a bar.  19 and older, only.  I wanted my 18-year old to go and try their "Bet You Can't" burger, but to enjoy it in the pub he'll have to wait another year.  Like a good dad--and knowing full well that there was no way in heck I was going to finish this beast--I went for it, so he could have the rest back at the resort.  What a monster.  And that delicious Alberta beef came up ace of diamonds, baby...
 




Realize the place wasn't too busy at lunch time on a Friday afternoon out of season.  Heck, there were half a dozen other local joints that were seasonally closed because of the timeframe of our visit.  But I have a hard time thinking that these guys don't do just as good a job when they get busy.  Their ingredients were all fresh, their portions were more than ample, and their preparation was very well done.  Bravo Horsethief Pub & Eatery.  You made these Yanks' one and only sit down dining experience Canada this time very memorable...





BUSINESS NOTES:  They're open through off seasons, but it's best to check their website if you visit:  http://www.horsethiefpub.ca/  As mentioned earlier, under age is not allowed so it's not family friendly.  Ignore their approval percentage in Urbanspoon.  It's suspect, in my humble opinion.  Look at the photos, folks...


Horsethief Pub & Eatery on Urbanspoon 
 


Sunday, November 4, 2012

Cafe Italiano -- by gcleff11

Take one wonderfully colorful character (Dad), mix with a business savvy, extremely intelligient manager (Son), and you have a winning formula for restaurant success.  And with Dad's decades of experience already passed down to Son, you know the food is delicious even before you have that hot plate put in front of you.  This place is easily a Top-10 restaurant in Spokane County.  There's an abundance of dedication to product, and a spirit of entrepeneurialism at Cafe Italiano unmatched by any other place it's size in our area.  A little corner strip mall joint on the Northside that I can't possibly think anyone would not enjoy...

I don't normally comment on other reviewer's opinions, but when someone writes an Urbanspoon review and says, "It's just Greek people making Italian food," who cares about national origin when the food is this good?  Heck, the best French chefs in New York City are all Mexican.  It's a non-issue in my book, and it shouldn't matter to you either...

Dinner started with a lovely, and perfect Hummus antipasti, accompanied by a crisp lager for me and a very large glass of house merlot for my wife...




I have heard and read about how phenomenal their pizza is.  Someday I will try it.  But I was zeroed in from the get-go to have a creamy, comfort food pasta dish on a dreary, rainy Spokane November early evening.  My selection was Crab Gratinata, and the Son reminded me that one of the day's specials was Lobster Gratinata for the same price.  Far be it from me to not upgrade to the king of crustaceans.  It was superb, and beckoned me to take a nap after completion...




My lovely wife was echoing my sentiment for comfort that evening, and selected another creamygoodness dish....Chicken Milano.  I was grateful to sample it, and it was no less superb than my platter, with a wonderful "nutmeggy" overtone...




Dinner was capped off with a very generous portion of baklava.  Sensing we each did not want another libation, our Host brought us ice waters to clean the palate and wash down the flaky, honey goodness.  It was a thoughtful touch.  Simple, yet demonstrative of the little things this family does to make your experience special...





It took awhile to finally visit here.  Living in Cheney, there is no travel road of convenience to get to the Northside.  And with Cafe Italiano's focus on dinner, it's tough in the evenings to want to drive all the way there after the work day is done.  Staying in Spokane for a birthday/anniversary weekend finally gave me a window of opportunity to take this place off my wishlist.  It's totally reminiscent of family places I loved eating at back east while growing up, and in that regard my dinner was truely comforting and nostalgic at the same time...





BUSINESS NOTES:  Cafe Italiano is open 7 days a week for dinner 3PM to close, according to their facebook page.  All dinner entres on the menu are extremely affordable, ranging between $10-20.  There is news that the family will be opening another location on the South Hill in the old West Wing.  This is great news for myself, because it will be much closer to my home.  To view their menu, visit their website at...   http://www.cafe-italiano.com/Cafe_Italiano_Spokane/Cafe_Italiano_Spokane.html


Cafe Italiano on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Sunshine Grill -- by gcleff11

Spokane get ready...! Get ready for your new multi-purpose, superfluous, tribal casino coming to you in sunny, cosmopolitan, Airway Heights. Get ready for the new and shiny facility to dilapidate into a carbon copy of one of the Spokane Tribe's current offerings for Eastern Washington...Two Rivers Casino, and their lovely dining facility, the Sunshine Grill.  I've never been to their casino in Chewelah, but I can't imagine it being any less third world...

The Sunshine Grill is a dumpster fire.  Filthy, dingy, smokey and thoroughly disgusting.  And here's the part that drives you insane:  they don't care.  Dozens of employees just walking around doing nothing.  Some with empty bus carts, rolling passed tables full of mess.  We had to transfer a previous patron's plates to another messy table behind us just to have a clear table top...

The have a great prime rib night on Friday and Saturday nights.  5PM till 10PM.  We arrived at 5:20 on Friday and were informed they were out of prime rib.  Can't wait for that to happen at their new casino.  Next requested was battered cod and chips.  Nope.  Sorry, we're out.  The young, rotund gal behind the do-it-yourself order counter found it gigglingly humorous as she told me.  And three enormous employees standing behind her doing nothing thought it was funny, too...

I will provide a few shots of things they didn't run out of.  Granted, we should have left, but we had grandma with us and she was hungry.  Apparently, they did not run out of processed, shaved deli turkey meat.  I settled for a club sandwich...




My lovely wife had what probably was the highlight offering of the night, which was a chicken and bacon wrap that your 5th-grader at home could have made for you.  Mmmmmm...!  She just stared at me with disdain the whole time she was eating it, because she did not dare look down at the carpet.  Trust me....you wouldn't have wanted to look down, either...




Grandma ordered what grandmas order.  Totally benign Food Services of America food, incredibly below even the description of bland.  No challenges here, unless of course you like more than a tablespoon of mashed potatoes.  I guess they were close to running out of mash, as well...




I am not being unfair with this assessment.  It is being made with total trepidation of what might lie ahead for their new facility.  The Spokane Tribe pushed a new casino through the Spokane city council at the peril of possibly contributing to the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission considering closure of Fairchild Air Force Base for encroachment on their air space.  I have no dog in the fight, but I'll take the base--who is the largest employer in the county--over a casino full of morbidly obese employees that don't give a damn about anything...




BUSINESS NOTES:  I'm refraining from providing much.  In non-summer months they are only open on weekends, and if you wish to have the pleasure of making a trek to this hole, you can find their website online.  Just don't expect prime rib when it's advertised.  And don't expect anything in the way of service...


Sunshine Grill (Two Rivers Casino) on Urbanspoon

Friday, September 21, 2012

Fusion Korean Restaurant -- by gcleff11

"Kam-saham-nida."  A crude Anglo phonetic thank you in Korean.  And something that any military member who spent a year on the penninsula will never forget.  If you did spend a year over on the friendly south side, you are addicted to Korean food.  You can admit it...

I'm not a prolific blogger.  But when I do post, it's because the place has cracked the pantheon of favorite places of mine, and the best way to honor is to let others know about it in this fashion.  Fusion Korean Restaurant is not new to the area, and their brief history in the local area is a blueprint for surviving in the tough ethnic food restaurant biz...


Years ago, they were located on the corner of Sprague and Fancher out in the Valley.  In my--and others--opinion, they were...the best...the acme...the pinnacle of Asian buffets in the county.  Fresh, delicious, Korean cuisine--with some Chinese mixed in--and all you could lovingly eat.  It failed.  Not because of the product, but because of the location.  It just didn't work in that blue-collar area, because the fare wasn't your standard, Americanized, Asian comfort food that most area diners settle for when taking grandma out to lunch/dinner...

Rather than going belly-up, they made a shrewd business move that will probably keep them open for decades.  They relocated to Airway Heights to take advantage of the military masses who crave Bul-go-gi, Kim Bap, and Kal-bi.  Our fine airmen (myself being a retired one) had yet another delicious option for Korean food on the Airway Heights strip.  Fusion even has a satellite operation right on the base.  It's that good...

This evening's meal was a take-out from them, and while I have enjoyed several sit-down meals in their place, my choice for this blog posting was for folks to see exactly what to expect if--for convenience--they want to grab a din-din on the go.  Below is my wife's favorite order, and ironically enough, really not even a Korean dish---Chicken Yakisoba...


My go-to order from just about all the Korean joints in town is Spicy Pork.  Fusion does two options--which I love having the choice of--either being grilled or stir-fried.  Last night I chose the stir fry, and of course it's accompanied by beloved sundry kimchi items...



Sushi lovers know that Kim Bap is really not sushi; however, it is similar in appearance in roll style.  Fusion's Kim Bap made my wife less intimidated by sushi, because of it's simplicity, and since she has tried it, she has been much more receptive to more traditional Japanese options at different restaurants.  It's incredibly affordable here, with the most expensive roll $4.00.  They offer a discount on an order of two (fried dumplings not included)...




BUSINESS NOTES:  Fusion Korean Restaurant is open Mon-Fri: 11AM to 8:30PM, Sat: 11AM to 9PM, and is closed Sunday.  It is very clean, and devoid of a lot of unecessary clutter in the dining area.  The family who run it are very friendly, helpful with your choices, and there is absolutely no language barrier when ordering.  It is not fast food, so plan on waiting for your food to be cooked fresh.  If you wish to order take out, call them at least 30 mins before pick-up...


What did you have for din-din last night...?


Fusion Korean Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

El Rodeo -- by gcleff11

Bring your appetite.  No...bring two appetites.  You're gonna need it to even come close to finishing one of the hearty, manhole-sized plates of food crafted by El Rodeo in Cheney.  Never has writing about a restaurant been more painful to me, because of how much I love this place, and because the inner, greedy, sonofagun me wants to keep it all to myself...

I would surmise that a lot of folks who take the time to review restaurants have a noble feeling that they are helping a place generate business-sustaining patronage in some way.  In many cases that may be true, but in this instance El Rodeo absolutely does not need my, or anyone else's, opinion to help their bottom line.  This has consistantly been the busiest restaurant in Cheney for years, and when you mention El Rodeo to area residents, it's the place that evokes the most praise and adoration.  This is restaurant number two for this family.  The original El Rodeo is in Moses Lake, and was/is a regular stop for my family on trips to and from Seattle.  Imagine our surprise when we saw that familiar sign put up in front of the old Fiesta Charra building several years ago.  But perhaps surpise is lacking in description.  Euphoria, ecstacy, naked cartwheels are all probably better characterizations of the joy... 

Creatures of habit that we are, we all have that one plate of food that winds up being that 'go-to' comfort provider, and for me it is the dinner portion Tamale Enchilada & Relleno Platter with chicken, otherwise known as---The Number 26 (veinte-seis, for those of you keeping score at home)...





You only have your 50th birthday once...  My choice of celebratory dining was easy.  The hardest part was to veer from what I know and love (see above).  Chided by my lovely wife and oldest son to try something special and new, I chose the crowning glory of the El Rodeo menu:  The Chef's Special.  Made with your choice of rib steak or carne asada, this is the most expensive dish in house at $17.50.  Best steak ever?  Of course not.  This is a Mex place and not a steakhouse.  But was it good?  Of course it was, and one of my teenage sons agreed when he ate the other half of the platter that I couldn't finish--due to complete and utter engorgement...




Most good Mex places have Molcajete (pronounced mole-ka-hay-tay).  Molcajete is, in actuality, the description of the serving dish, not the food itself.  In Mexico, it is usually served in a large, hot stone bowl to keep it's contents soothingly warm throughout the dining experience.  Shrimp is normally the dominating protein, but beef, chicken and pork can always be included in the savory stew that fills the molcajete.  El Rodeo's was obviously not in a stone bowl, but was no less delicious with a nice spicy bite to it, that--while it took a few bites to get used to--wound up warming my wife up and she enjoyed it very much.  Once again, another teenage son at home finished off the leftovers with glee...




Writing this was a labor of love and agony for me.  Sometimes you enjoy a restaurant so much that you just don't know how to start, or what to say.  In my mind there are too many superlatives to list for this place:  the food, the wonderful family who run it, the location (for me), etcetera, etcetera, infinitesmal etcetera.  But let me put it in this perspective...  Will everyone share my opinion when dining here?  Certainly not.  But they might.  And that's the way it should be.  Everyone's tastes are different, and rare is the establishment and dining experience that we will all agree upon.  But we all have that one special place that makes us feel the happiest, the most satisfied, and the most comfortable.  For me and my family....it's El Rodeo.




BUSINESS NOTES:  El Rodeo is open seven days a week for lunch & dinner, and is very affordable.  Most meal combos are under $10.  Their specialties are at a reasonable premium, but hey, look at the photos folks.  You get a lot of goodness for your investment.  They have a small, full service, lounge hidden from the restaurant, with happy hour offerings/specials and the full menu available.  There is outdoor dining when beautiful weather allows.  I do not believe they cater, but I do know they can accomodate large parties with prior notification.

El Rodeo on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Spangle Saloon & Grill -- by gcleff11

Can't think of a reason to visit the sleepy hamlet of Spangle, WA...?  I will give you a fowl reason. Some of the best broasted chicken in Spokane County is being served in the Spangle Saloon.  Here it is in all it's magma-hot, right out of the broaster glory...




A lot of folks don't know what broasted chicken is, and frankly, I had a limited knowledge of it before my midwestern wife shared her love of the broasted bird to me. My intial thought was that it's some kind of broiled-roasted creation, and not the standard over-fried dry and tasteless pieces that restaurants and grocery stores offer to the masses. Broasted chicken is, essentially, the pressure-fried creation of one Harlan Sanders of Corbin, KY. Yee-up, the one and only Colonel. But not all broasted bird is the same from all the limited numbers of restaurants that serve it. The Spangle Saloon had a reputation for good bird before I tried it. Folks were right...

Tender and oh so juicy, the hallmark of great broasted chicken, these guys/gals have it nailed. There isn't much more to say about it, except that you have the open-canvas to make it your own special bite. As is, dipped in ranch, splash of hot sauce, Heinz 57, etc,....you name it.  It's yours.  Mine is enjoyed with a squirt of sriracha.  While they don't currently have sriracha as a condiment, they have no problem with me bringing in my own bottle.  That's the mark of a nice home town place that lets the customer be comfortable.  And, their ample and perfectly cooked jojos (potato logs, as my part of the country calls them) are the proper side dish for this country comfort food dish.  Add a nice long neck bottle of beer and, well, you know the rest...


There are great flat-top grilled tavern burgers to be had at the Saloon, as well.  Their signature Saloon Burger was exactly as satisfying as I wanted it to be the first time I visited--and has never disappointed since...




Just to add a bit more of the menu to this posting, I'm including a pic of my oldest daughter's favorite burger in the County...The Pizza burger.  I didn't get a bite of this one, if you know what I mean.  Many other typical bar food menu items are available.  There's something for everybody...




I love finding places like this. These folks have been in business for a long time for a reason. They do better than a good job, and serve their small community in a way you would want/expect them to.  Do I make this place my local?  Nah.  But I know I can head from Cheney on a beautiful back country road and watch my my lovely wife have an umami, eyes rolling back moment, shaking her head on how on happy she is biting in to a juicy, perfectly cooked piece of fowl...



BUSINESS NOTES:  The Spangle Saloon & Grill is open seven days a week, breakfast lunch and dinner.  One thing to know is even though it's a bar, under 21-yr olds can enjoy a meal here with their families--in what I thought was a very safe environment...

Spangle Saloon & Grill on Urbanspoon