Spokane Food Blog

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.

Challenge? What challenge? Get a DOMA Americano from Coffee Social — I don’t want to experience a life outside of DOMA, thank you — and you can buzz through the day quite nicely. Yet in fact not everybody has such an easy time with that, as…

… she’s out!

Gaeyia: Sorry, but we require some communication each day. A tweet. A blog post. Something. You might call this being out on a technicality and you might be right. But let’s not take the anarchy route, people!

The law abiding ones.

Andrew: Being sucked into Inglourious Basterds is fine, as long as it’s misspelled correctly. A part of me feels today is Andrew’s time to fall, however.

Bart and Paul: Bart and Paul must have sampled some of the less savory ‘shrooms in the area, with Bart preaching the apocalypse and Paul vesseling Mitch Hedberg.

Becky might actually be a pyromaniac.

Geneva points out some of the many great things from Main Market as well as SFCC’s interesting free produce offerings. Oh, and also a new hot foods challenge: Team SFB vs. Team Blue Spark.

Mark is in it. And he writes short posts.

Monique: She is in it. And she seems a bit competitive. Who’d have thunk it?

Last night the Spokane Food Blog Editorial Board undertook a fact-finding mission in the jungles of Airway Heights. Our journey took us to the Village Tavern where we sampled two of the local brewery’s finest: Golden Hills‘ Lizzy’s Lager and Ben’s Brown. More about those later in the week.

As for now…

Aaaaaand she’s out!

Rachel: Sorry, Rachel, but it was the rice that got you. That’s a no-no, unless it’s local. However! It only means that you — and anyone else that breaks the holy rules — are out from winning the lovely DOMA-donated prize. As the point of the contest really is to promote local eats, we fully encourage you to play the game to the finish, and thus get the coveted Honorable Mention.

As for the rest…

Andrew is still in it, and focuses his post on my past as a professional model.

Bart and Paul had a man-date at the Main Market Co-op, but, alas, Paul was stood up. Apparently Bart couldn’t hold his wine or something and fell asleep.

Becky attempted to burn down the house to bring attention to the locavore cause. Bless.

Gaeyia continues to write the shortest posts ever. But I assume she’s still in it.

Geneva takes local ingredients and makes them international with boulani. (It’s very good and tasty.)

Mark is kind of phoning it in now that he’s the Only Mark.

Monique, meanwhile, is not phoning it in and is making the rest of us look lazy.

… and me? I’m cruising through. Seriously.

I’m of the opinion that food and beer pairing is extremely subjective, despite there being many rules of thumb. And granted, these rules of thumb might be good starting points (BeerAdvocate, not surprisingly, has a great article), but experimenting is definitely the way to go.

With that said, and in spirit of our little contest, here are some simple local pairings I enjoy. And so should you!

Cured meats from Sante and Laughing Dog’s Dogfather Stout: The big flavors of Sante’s meats goes nicely with the creamy bold flavors and sweet chocolaty goodness of the Dogfather.

Steak from Rocky Ridge and Northern Lights Amber: A steak, like say a beef tenderloin, often goes well with a good porter, but I personally prefer something just a bit lighter. Northern Lights Amber has enough flavor to pair with beef without overwhelming it.

AC LaRocca Garlic Chicken Parmesan Pizza and Golden Hills’ Clem’s Gold: Granted, you might have to get a growler of Golden Hills, as I’ve yet to see it on bottle, but Clem’s Gold is a nice session lager to swallow down a thin crust pizza with.

Mizuna’s flourless chocolate cake and Coeur d’Alene Brewing Co.’s Vanilla Bourbon Stout: Get the cake to go, and indulge in what will definitely put you into an oh so nice and sweet coma. This is definitely what dessert should be.

I’m out there and I’m loving it. However, this isn’t the case for everybody as…

One person is definitely out!

Crystal conceded and bowed out of the contest. But was she the only one? By the looks of it…

Another person is highly likely out!

Apparently Mark G. didn’t even start and thus relegated his status to the “Other Mark.” Meaning…

Ten players are still in it!

And they are…

Andrew! He points out that he doesn’t “advocate an all-local diet at the expense of variety and staying within a budget.” Nor do we. An all locavore diet would, somewhat ironically, hurt many local businesses like International Food Store. And that’s not good. Very civic minded here, Andrew. Our own little miniature Buddha.

Bart and Paul! They’re connected at the hip — if one goes down the other will follow, as evident by the wing challenge. I mean, really? Bart, the man who previously went out on a Miller Light, can’t handle the Dogzilla IPA. And he will pull Paul down with him, in a binge of bad beer.

Becky!  Well, not much in terms of blog updates, but Twitter would reveal she’s still in it.

Gaeyia! And we thought she had forgotten about the contest too.

Geneva! Reminds us all of the greatness known as Petite Chat. And vodka. Vodka is pretty great too. With Dry Fly and 44 Degrees one can always stumble through the week in a happy daze.

Mark S! Or, as we like to call him, The Real Mark. There can only be one Mark. Anything else is too confusing.

Monique! Nobody can accuse her of playing this game half-heartedly.

Rachel! She writes about why Coffee Social and DOMA is awesome. Which is true. Ink, however, as her post points out, isn’t.

Remi! That’s me. I’m writing this. And I’m being pretty cocky, so obviously I’m in.

As I sit here sipping a DOMA Americano in an extremely diabolic manner, plotting how I will sabotage the other players of this little competition. And apparently it’s going to be simple enough, as Gaeyia still hasn’t let us know where she’ll be posting her progress. In other words, if we haven’t heard anything by tomorrow she is out!

Speaking of tomorrow… We’ll be setting up a page where you can follow the progress of the competitors. Or you can just read their blogs individually:

• Andrew: Andrew Zahler Eats. The fallen champion — our Mike Tyson — has something to prove this time around. Will this be his Hangover?
• Bart and Paul: Down to Earth. Bart in particular has been the puppet master behind this leg of 7vs7, so he really has something to prove.
• Becky: The Me in Awesome.
• Crystal: spovegan.
• Gaeyia: ?!
• Geneva: Finally a Blog and SFB.
• Mark G: Librarian Lateralus. The 7vs7 #2 champion is making a comeback.
• Mark S: Sounds like Almonds. Hungry for revenge after 7vs7 #2. There can be only one Mark.
• Monique: Home Economics 2.0.
• Rachel: One Facet of the Human Experience
• Remi: Remi Andre and SFB.

And that’s it. We’re hoping to be a bit more creative this time around about what we blog about, meaning you’ll hopefully see some cool local suggestions as opposed to a list of things we eat every day.

Because really, when I’m done with the competitors, they will be eating dirt.

Hey, it’s spring! At least it is according to Redhook, which recently released “Mudslinger,” their new spring ale.

And really, this is a pretty dang solid ale from the Woodinville brewery. It takes some of the best features of Latter Day Redhook’s best ales and, sadly, also one of the worse features too.

Let’s start with the positives. Mudslinger pours nicely nut brown, and has a creamy head that laces the glass fairly well. Give it a sniff, and you can smell the nuttiness and sweet malts. The flavor is surprisingly deep. Sweet and caramel-y and very nutty.  This is the type of complexity the Winterhook should have had — not mindblowing, but still very pleasant.

The one negative is what has plagued recent Redhook ales, and that’s the mouth feel which is a bit too watery. I wouldn’t go as far as to say Mudslinger feels thin, but it’s definitely on the lighter side of a medium body.

Overall, though, this is a solid entry from Redhook. I’m almost willing to forgive Winterhook. Almost.

Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Quick reminder that the deadline to register for our little Spokavore contest is tomorrow. Check aforementioned link for all the rules.

The current players are:

• Andrew
• Bart
• Becky
• Crystal
• Gaeyia
• Geneva
• Mark G.
• Mark S.
• Monique
• Paul
• Rachel
• Remi

Hey, we’ll admit it. We were right among the skeptics when the new owners of Natural Start announced they were taking  the coffee shop in a different direction. But honestly, they’re really not that bad. Sure, we miss the former owners’ take on organic foods, mostly because it was delicious.

The current incarnation of Natural Start has opted to get baked goods from a selection of bakeries. There’s really nothing wrong with that in and of itself, and the prices are fine. (Even discounts on day olds.) I wouldn’t recommend Natural Start as a place to go for food anymore, but the most important part is that they’re still rocking the DOMA coffee.

They didn’t at first; the Americanos were luke warm. Hey, it was a transition period. Now they’re doing a fine job, and I have no problems recommending this as a coffee stop. In fact, it’s probably the one I still frequent the most.

Rumors of huge changes to the interior design of the place seems to have been unfounded too. That’s a good thing, as it looks great as it is.

No changes for the better, but the coffee is still great.