Twigs

Twigs Bistro... and Martini Bar has several locations.  I went to the Northside one, Twigs Wandemere, for lunch with a friend.  This location opened in 2008 at the Wandermere Business Park.



This was the view from our window.  I must say, looking out the window and experiencing the sunlight was nice.  The restaurant overlooks a man-made lake and some real Pacific Northwest scenery, trees, mountains and probably free roaming moose.  Didn't see any moose today though.  There are apartments and business buildings too, but we won't talk about those... just think of the nice natural looking setting.  It's supposed to be relaxing and serene... elegant....gourmet...

Let's talk food....

We ordered the Three Cheese Grilled Cheese with Tomato bisque soup and the Green Curry Salmon and Spinach Rice  Bowl.  The tomato soup was more like a spaghetti sauce... great for dipping...but not what I would expect.  The salmon was good, not too spicy.... a nice light lunch, but you have to like green.  IT was defniately green.
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The restaurant is a little spendy, meaning, expect to spend some money here.  However, you can order a lunch from their menu for as little as 5.95, making it a place to try if you plan to eat light...  and there are several  two item options, so you can make your own little combo..

I don't quite get the booze scene myself... at least for a restaurant.  The place really glorifies libations.  I mean there was the empty wine bottle that say's TWIGS ...on the table.... the enormous booze bottle sculpture that could be seen (from where I sat)  over in the bar... and it was magnificent to say the least, like a Christmas tree...up to the roof!  There was even a martini picture (eight feet tall... at least...) hanging on the wall of the restaurant.   I felt tlike the booze thing was quite overblown here, at least in my opinion, for "a restaurant."  I think it should be noted that the place is more like a bar, hence the sign..."and Martini Bar."  So, I offer some advice.  If alcoholic beverages are your forte' that is one thing, but if alcohol is a problem for those in your luncheon party, this might not be the first choice restaurant for you.

Quizno's

Yum! 

I kinda like this little place... a nice alternative to the usual sub sandwich!

Pleasant Blends

Pleasant Blends serves up coffee and teas well as simple sandwiches soups and desserts.  It's a tiny gem of a shop in North Spokane located near the Rosauers store... to the eastern side.  The address is 9147 N. Newport Hwy.  It is upstairs which may limit it's access for some people.  They do mail orders (might be a good source for your favorite blends,) and they see teapots, coffee presses and trinkety things like that too.

My friends began meeting here when, once upon a time, one of them began working there and then it just sort of became a hang-out meeting spot.  Not for all of us at the same time but individually from timne to time.  today I met here with L. and S and A.  It's a great place to meet on the Northside.  It is small and quaint and quiet too... except of course for us..  Our friend who worked here has since moved on, but there is something about the location that is appealing.  It is a nice little shop,  though we do miss the trumpe l'oeil painting of a rug on the floor.  That was cool.

My friends had coffee and I had tea, since tea is one of my latest obsessions. It was made a little strong for my liking, but I must say, they had quite a selection.  There are many kinds of tea and coffee as you can see:

This is a nice place for meeting up with people enjoying a cup o joy or getting a bite to eat while you relax and read the paper.  It is not a loud place... the people are friendly and you can get almost any flavor your heart desires in the way of coffee or tea.  My tea today was Jasmine.

They have lots of pleasant blends!

Honey Baked Ham Cafe

This is a small place with just a few tables, and it was news to me.  Never noticed it before..

However for people who like  Ham, in particular,

Honey Baked Ham, you can even go home with a party or holiday ham ...or two if you like. 

No more mail order shopping or paying for shipping.! )Now there is an old-fashioned idea!). 

I stopped here for lunch with some friends having never heard of it before. I am not a ham fan but I enjoyed my sandwich.

There is nothing foo-foo or frilly about this place; in fact , I think it is very much a man's kind of sandwich stop.  (Even man's salon right next door!)  I say this because this is the real deal.  You do not even have to go in to see what they serve, it is right on the door.  Its the kind of place where you walk in, ger what you want and then, having done what you came to do, you're ready to be on your way.... or you can stop and eat it at one of their very few tables. It's the kind of place that gets the job of lunch done, no frills... except the pickle.

I ordered the Tavern Sandwich, a creation made with both Turkey and Ham.  It was good.  Served warm, it was made with whole grain bread and was accompanied by a bag of potato chips and a slice of dill pickle.  Our sandwiches looked just like the pictures on their menu board.


This Cafe is located across from Northtown Mall in the Northtown Sqare Shopping Center.

This place is so new that its not on Urban Spoon yet

Mustard Seed

The Mustard Seed is a restaurant located at the Northtown Mall.  This was my first time ever being here. It was crowded for lunch.


This restaurant has a good reputation and not only that, the wait staff was freindly and helpful.  We ordered the Green Bean Appetizer, Cashew Chicken and Bong Bong Chicken.

These two dishes look the same but they are not.


The food was good, but having been thoroughly spoiled by a lot of yummy Asian food around Spokane,  it was not earth shatteringly fantastic...not something I personally would go out of my way for.. but  it was good. The servers were more than helpful too, making it a nice experience.  It certainly is a convenient location for a dinner and movie at the mall.

Glad I tried it.  

Sala Thai

The name is Sala Thai.  Note the roof over the "S," for it represents a "sala."

A Sala, as I understand,  is very much  like a gazebo.  It is considered a resting place, and this little Thai restaurant in Airway Heights, WA, is a nice rest stop for those of us who love Thai food.  Be warned and be ready because, it is really, really good Thia food.


Sala Thai is located at 12924 West Sunset Highway, and for us, it was a bit of a drive, but having heard that this was a good Thai restaurant we simply had to make the drive and try it for ourselves.
Our sources were correct, as I indicated already, this place is simply fantastic. 

Not only did they have an easy to read menu and a lot to choose from, it also had some very interesting dishes that were offered, making it very difficult to choose what to try.  (One dish was called "Evil Jungle," for example) The staff was also happy to answer all of our questions.  I like the fact that one who is not so sure about Thai food can preview their menu at their website located at: http://www.salathaispokane.co, but I didn't know THAT until later when I got home and checked the internet, for information on their restaurant, which is usually how it works for us with our dining adventures, we just kinda go where the wind blows and then find out more about it.  All I can say is that this is the kind of food  that makes one want to visit Thailand.

For an appetizer we enjoyed some dumplings and Thai Tea. 

They make a special kind of Thai tea here with lime.  It is  quite pleasant...
and they make the usual too, this served with whipped cream.

I am not an expert on Thai food, but I do order coconut milk soup a lot.  I have never had Thom Kah (coconut milk soup) quite like this one.  The flavors were tantalizing.


The extra veggies, carrots, cabbage, zucchini and broccoli were a nice addition and they did not even change the traditional flavor of this delicious soup.  We also ordered a dish called Yellow Curry. (not pictured.)  It was delicious too.

I will suggest that one take the time to discuss your preference for spiciness with the server.  We ordered our dishes at a four star spiciness and they were spicy.. good and spicy.. but not everyone likes spicy and with a little communication to your host, this will be adjusted to your liking.  Next time we who like spicy will probably order a "three."
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And then...we ordered dessert.

With Thai food there is often ice cream or some other tasty sweet dessert offered.  My advice is try to ice cream and sticky rice...  Delicious!  This place, as well as many Thai food restaurants makes their own coconut ice cream and ice cream with hot rice is an unbelievably good combination.  We loved it.

El Mercado de Pueblo

El Mercado de Pueblo is a new addition to Spokane, located at 1814 N Division St.  It opened in January 2010, I believe, (I could, of course. be wrong about that!) It is so new I don;t see a listing on Urbanspoon yet!

Anyhow it is new and this was my first time there though I have seen the painted wall outside the place.   I probably would have missed the place were it not for the artwork on the building.  It's so southwest and colorful too!

This place does not realy have anyplace to even pull up a chair if you want to have a bite to eat, just a lunch counter; but they do make orders to go and that is what I did.  Their specialty seems to be tamales.  I love tamales!  I had the notion to take some home for diner, so I did. 


Its a great little store,  a lot like De Leon's further north.  The pastries are wild looking, their colors amazing but I am am not into eating doughnuts.... I will say they looked very interesting.  In addition to making tamales and a vast array of baked goods including cakes, they also make salsa, pico de gallo and serve fruit and fruits salad.  Their small grocery contains fresh items like bananas and cucumbers... and they have lot of great Mexican items, barrels and barrels of dried peppers, some pinatas for parties, soda from South America, a large selection of spices and huge cooking pots too.

 

I bought chicken, pork and the rajas tamales.  Rajas is a chile and cheese filled tamale, as seen on the right hand side in the photo below.  Rajas is the one in the middle.  This particular tamale was a little over done and not very appetizing to look at... unless of course you really do not mind green. 

   I served the tamales at home with lettuce on the side and some tortilla soup, (not in the photos.) 

I also bought pico de gallo and some wagon wheeled shaped super crunchy chips that sure were tasty!

Well, I have to say the tamales, especially the rajas were not my favorite, at least nothing like I expected and I seemed to have missed the cheese in the rajas too.  They were probably totally authentic.... and since I am not acquainted with authentic, they were foreign to my particular liking.  Geo found them to be interesting.  As I thoroughly expected to like them, this came as a bit of a disappointment to me.  They were good with  the pico de gallo all over them though.

I do not mind green (these wee green) and I like the more vegetarian-style fare.   These would be much more appetizing if the chiles were diced and maybe if there was some more cheese in them and maybe even bits of corn.  (This, of course, would be the "gringa version"... It is perhaps what I would do with them in the kitchen to make them more to my own personal liking.)

Geo could not tell any difference between the chicken and the pork tamales and he also commented that they were a little dry. 

Also the tamales were wrapped in such a way that when they were opened the tamales were all broken inside because the masa stuck to the various portions of the corn husk wrapper.  So, next time, the tamales will not be on high on my list when shopping here.  I would order the chicken, beef or pork the next time.

 The rajas was simply not my kind of thing, but the pico de gallo was delicious!  I will be back for more of that.

Fun store... 

Chicken and More (CHKN-N-MO)

My, Oh My!  If you love Southern style cooking, hushpuppies, fried chicken, catfish or BBQ ribs, then this place is for you!  The food is delicious!
 

Not only that the location downtown at 414 1/2  W. Sprague is casual and convenient.

It's a go up to the window and order your food type of place with several booths and tables for your seated dining, but you can order food to go as well.  This would be great if you are planning a picnic I am sure. I enjoyed the decor of signs and license plates from all the states. 

Double click on the menu below to get a closer look.

On the menu for us tonight was the ribs and chicken combo plate.  It came with two sides and rolls.  We also ordered the Beef Brisket sandwich, served on a bun.

For sides we ordered chili, rice and beans, and "greens" which was either collard greens or maybe spinach, I am not sure.  All I know is that they were good.  Made me feel like I was in the South.

The rice and beans was great too, fantastic flavor... Soul food ya know. We even liked the chili.

Geo says the ribs were awesome.  The chicken was greasy, but then it is fried chicken.  People at the table next to us kept saying it was the best chicken around.

For dessert we has ourselves some sweet potato pie.  It comes int he little mini pie tin and it is definitely sweet.

Not only good food here, but nice people.  And you know, it is the people in Spokane that  makes Spokane such a great place to live and work in, or even visit.   We certainty have our share of good restaurants too, and this is one of them... fer sure.

Rita Marie's CAFE'

Rita Marie's is a little cafe located in the lobby of the Cancer Care Northwest building, 605
E. Holland.  I went there to eat lunch with a friend.  It is one of her favorite spots.

The menu is simple, the fare is made fresh, and the price is reasonable.  

The atmosphere is casual and quaint.  

I even met Rita Marie.  She is a real person!

                                                                           When you come in you order your food, cafeteria style, and they bring it to your table when it is done, unless it is something quick like a salad from the salad bar.   Mashed potatoes and gravy and meatloaf were the special for the day.

My friend had salad and chicken noodle soup and I had a hamburger and fries, served with onions lettuce tomato and pickle...which was quite good. 

            

 This is a very friendly little place too.  I read a bulletin they put up even offering to teach cooking classes, so if you want to learn how to make scones, give them a call.  The phone number is (509) 464-2922.