Spokane Food Blog

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The downtown Thomas Hammer is a weird and wonderful place. Maybe firstly wonderful, seeing the barristas there tend to make some very good espresso based drinks, at least during my handful of visits.

Yet wonderful as it may be, the weird part is really what makes it a stand-out. Spokane certainly has its share of mismatched people, and for whatever reason they all seem to congregate at Thomas Hammer. Why is this? No, really, I actually want to know.

I have seen the typical Beverly Hills Hillbillies-hillbilly on television many times, but in real life, I’ve only had the pleasure twice. Both times at Thomas Hammer. The one man, in particular, fit the stereotype beautifully, particularly when he broke out in a ditty mid-sentence, in between the characteristic “hee hee hee”-laugh spurts. He looked a bit like this.

On the other side, there tends to also be a bunch of younger hipsters sitting around comparing who has the thickest rimmed glasses. I kinda prefer the hillbilly, but that’s neither here nor there.

Thomas Hammer. I don’t quite get it, but I like it.

Luna really doesn’t quite get the respect it used to, does it? Ten years ago it was the place to dine in Spokane, but with places like Mizuna and Moxie gathering popularity, and new players like Latah Bistro and Sante hitting the market, Luna kinda just has gotten forgotten about. These days it almost has the word of being a bit of a blue hair-spot.

This is too bad, because Luna still delivers good food.

Having had a couple of brunches there semi-recently, there is no reason to consider this a “has been.” Sure, there are more creative and daring (and cheap) choices out there, but the quality is consistently high. Their eggs benedict? Excellent. Huevos rancheros? Perfect. Sure, these have probably been on the menu for the last ten years, but you know what… You need spots that can dish the classics up well. Not to deter anybody from taking any chances out there, of course, but I will say there are room for everybody in this town.

A quick sampling of their dinner menu recently — OK so it was boxed leftovers, but whatever, I’m not too proud for the doggy bag — was also a pleasant experience. In fact, the dug leg confit was great in all its succulent glory. Mixed with a juicy bit of lamb the overall quality was high enough that I will gladly eat other people’s leftovers from Luna.

I’m just saying. I think Luna still deserves some love, even though it’s aging a bit. But then again, who isn’t?

(Start playing this video while reading for full effect of the post.)

Oh yes, it is still going down: three teams — Team SFB, Team Blue Spark and Team DTE (we don’t really count them, even though they now also have a fourth player) — are battling it out through five rounds of heavy spicy food challenges. Here is the original post, and keep in mind everything is still in the planning phases.

Some more background

The heart of our competition was best summed up by Team Blue Spark Bradley: This is a contest where we’ll eat “notorious dishes served in Spokane resaurants that are actually on the menu.” Sure, there will probably be some customization in the spirit of the contest, but anything we’ll be eating will in some shape or form exist in local restaurants. Hence why we call this Spiceavore — we nabbed the name from “locavore.”

And of course you — yes you — know something spicier than what we’ve picked. Thing is we have to pick something, and reactions to spiciness are incredibly subjective, Scoville scale aside. Our aim is to grab high quality food from local eateries.

Not that we aren’t open to suggestions, which brings us to…

The elusive Round 5

This will be a relay round, though we haven’t quite decided how it will go down. Slick Rock has, however, kindly offered up some of their ghost pepper salsa (if they can stock it — I’m guessing ghost peppers aren’t readily available from our local grocery stores) and we look forward to trying that.

The ref

We have learned that Chris Dreyer is interested in judging the contest. That’s great, although I’m a bit suspect the suggestion came from James Paul who is well known for bribery in contests.

Give Zip’s this, they know Spokane. And a subset of Spokane — more often than not the self proclaimed hipster (but don’t call them that, because that would be labeling them!) — really really really wants Spokane to be Portland. (I have my opinions on exactly why this is, but I won’t digress into that…) Zip’s knows this. So why not emulate Portland’s famed creative-yet-not–really-that-tasty Voodoo Doughnut when creating their new “unique” dessert menu?

Now, despite my promise not to digress, I will do just that. Somewhat strangely, perhaps ironically, enough, Portlanders who travel up here have a love affair with Zip’s. Why this is, I don’t know, as I never found that much to love about the place, but there you go.

Enough digressing… I tried the chipotle chocolate doughnut and have to say… Could be worse. Could also be better, but then again, this is Zip’s.

At first bite it really just tastes like a regular chocolate glazed doughnut. At second bite the light smokey flavors of the chipotle starts coming through. At third bite, the novelty wears off and you realize you’re eating a pretty standard grocery store-tier doughnut with some chipotle flavoring added. Sure, it’s all good in a sick and wrong way, but really, it’s nothing special.

It’s definitely an interesting little experiment from Zip’s, which served the doughnuts downtown at 3rd and Lincoln. But as a substitute for a real dessert, it falls short.

Maybe the bacon maple bar is better, but I’ve yet to try one of those. It might be easier just to buy a maple bar from Rosauers and fry up some bacon yourself.

There are better things to spend $0.99 on.

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We have talked about it, and now it’s going down! Three teams — so far — are facing off on April 3rd to see who will be the ultimate Spiceavore in Spokane.

The Teams

Team Blue Spark: They might have good beer on tap, but can they hold their own in a spicy food challenge?

Team DTE: Nick, Bart, and James “Porcelain Mouth” Paul got severely defeated by yours truly during our last spicy food contest. Can they stage a comeback? (Answer: No.)

Team SFB: With two mystery members and two crowned champions, SFB is ready to take another victory.

The Venue

Checkerboard Tavern.

The Rounds

1. Spicy hot wings from the Screaming Yak.
2. Dish to be determined from De Leon.
3. Dish to be determined from Thai on 1st.
4. Tamales and some crazy spicy tequila from El Que.

The Rules

They’re being ironed out, but really — it’s about eating spicy foods. It’s not that complicated. We’re trying to keep it local (with one large exception to be announced soon) hence why we’re not getting KFC wings.

The Profile: Screaming Yak wings

It had to be either Screaming Yak or Northern Lights hot wings — they definitely rule Spokane’s wing scene in terms of flavor and spiciness. And while Northern Lights has a more lingering heat (and in my opinion a bit better flavor), the punch of Yak when it hits your lips just seems to fit a contest better. The hottest Yak wings don’t stay with you for as long as Lights do, but my god, when they hit the lips it feels like you’re being physically punched. There’s definitely some habanero going on with these wings.

And really if you’re a contestant, now you can go practice. Heck, if you like spicy foods and hot wings, Screaming Yak is a good place to stop by. It was extremely crowded during our visit, on account of it being happy hour, so finding sitting room might be an issue. It’s worthwhile, though, as the wings are about $5 during this time.

Plus the beer selection, while not stellar, is not awful either.

And furthermore…

If you’re interested in being a spectator, we will have some more information coming up. It’ll be worthwhile as you’ll see grown people cry.

As you may or may not know — and consider me in the latter group until just recently — Keith and Janice Raschko, the duo behind One World, now owns the Checkerboard Tavern (1716 E Sprague Ave). The bar was established back in 1933, and has quite the history behind it, including holding the longest liquor license for an establishment in one location in Washington state. Wednesday peanut nights will, apparently, continue with the new owners. I have no idea what that actually is, but they also add Wii tournaments the same night, and that’s pretty great.

Currently the menu is showing nice potential with vegetarian options, and, soon, vegan options. And our pretzel was served with a pretty dang good mustard.

The beer selection too, is going in a direction that is looking good. Sure, it’s not huge, but with the excellent Clem’s Gold on tap and Laughing Dog IPA on bottle.

Checkerboard Tavern still feels old school, and hopefully that won’t change, even though the clientele inevitably will start skewing younger after the grand opening on March 17th. That’s probably not a bad thing, as the place is big enough for everyone. And the checkerboard tables are awesome for the competitive among us.

Also worth noting is that Down to Earth will host Green Drinks at the tavern on April 13th. Consider this your early notice.

We took our sweet time getting there, but we finally got around to check out El Que (1931 W Pacific Ave), the Elk’s “taco truck” style restaurant with a crazy amount of tequilas to choose from. And while this in no way replaces spots like Tacos Tumbras for traditional tacos, there definitely is room for El Que in the rotation.

To start with the tequila. I, for the most part, don’t like it much. Other than a delicious Santo tequila liquor, I just have bad memories and associations with tequila. But they do have 23 to choose from, and if you like the stuff, I’m sure it’d go just fine with their food.

As for the food, it’s definitely good. Maybe not great, but good. Their “Vietnamese guacamole” has a nice flavor to it — though it’s a tad too thin — and is served with what has to be De Leon tortilla chips. (Or an extremely close clone.) For $6 you also get a lot of chips, so we’re talking a good bang for the buck here.

Tacos, meanwhile, are $3 a pop, which seems a tad too expensive seeing Tumbras serve better ones at half price. Not that El Que’s tacos are bad, but I did miss a second tortilla with the tacos. The al pastor was good, though, and if you’re hanging out, drinking some Mexican beers or tequila, then El Que’s tacos are worthwhile.

El Que, then, is an excellent addition to Browne’s Addition.

And so this is it: two more players dropped out, two were crowned winners, and three were finishers. Not too shabby, really.

Who couldn’t take it? Mark kept his promise and crashed out on a pizza. Hey, he’s only human. Then we have Becky who might technically have made it, but she didn’t check in. Thus she is out.  Hey, nobody said 7vs7 was a game, this is serious business.

The Winners:

Monique: She plays the game hard and we like that.

Andrew: Truly did end it with a stylish (and local) meal. Spokane Food Blog Editorial Board went along to oversee that Andrew didn’t run out to Carl’s Jr., and we can testify that Sante rocked together a dinner for the ages.

The Finishers:

Paul: Not sure why he thinks I was the one that came up with doing the early drawing of the winner, but he is wrong. As usual.

Geneva:  Also points out the greatness of Sante. And that this is the last 7vs7, but more about that in a bit.

Moi: I can’t help but wonder why we didn’t eat more at Sante. I mean, seriously? What the hell? It’s awesome!

And furthermore:

We’ve been hosting these week(-ish) long challenges for almost two years, and have decided this, the fourth competition, is it. I mean, really, we’re all probably burnt out.

Of course, we’ll still have challenges, but they’ll be short and to the point. Coming next: Team SFB has been challenged by Team Blue Spark to a spicy food contest. Our team of four players is being assembled as we speak, and if you feel you have what it takes, let us know and we will take you into consideration.

Yes, we take this very seriously.

We’re rolling through the last day of the contest, and, well-what-do-you-know, Bart! Is! Out! Are we surprised? I mean, really? Are we? This is the man that has gone crashing out on a Miller before. I guess it really isn’t easy being green.

And word has it another person will go out today. That’s right, Mark claims he later today will fall prey to the 7vs7 Assassin: Bennidito’s.

To make this a little more interesting, we are upping the ante here: We have already pulled two (potential) winners! The first name that came out of the hat was Monique followed by Andrew. If they stay in, Monique can pick one of the lovely coffees DOMA provided as contest prizes, and Andrew will get the one Monique didn’t pick. Should any of them drop out we have pulled the rest of the group’s names from the hat to determine who would replace the quitter. Just for fun we’re keeping that list secret for now.

As for the players progress…

Andrew did not fall for the temptation — a bottle of the Abyss — I put in front of him.

Paul furthers his mancrush on me by comparing me to Twin Peaks’s agent Cooper. Kyle MacLachlan is definitely a lesser version of me, I think we can all agree on that.

Becky has gone from burning things to dealing drugs. Yikes…

Geneva reminds us that Sante is both local and awesome. Why nobody has just camped there for five days is beyond me!

Monique, I think, would rather eat dirt (local, of course) than lose this contest.

And yes, I’m still in it! Because I’m a winner. And winners don’t lose.