Steam Plant Grill

Have you seen this place?  Have you driven or walked past these smoke stacks as much as I have without ever thinking much about what they are for; thinking they are just some old remnant of the past that has been left behind?

Ahhhh Grasshopper, do not be deceived, beneath them is a restaurant!

This is one place you don't want to miss, simply because the atmosphere is so unique!  Once inside, you are in an old refurbished steam plant relic of a place, one that actually used to heat the downtown area of Spokane, built in 1915!

We even had dinner there...

We both had soup... Creamy chicken lentil potato, a tasty and interesting blend.

  Geo ordered a Buffalo Burger

and I, the Fish Tacos....

Our meals came with a choice of house seasoned fried or sweet potato fries.... Geo had the regular and I had the sweet potato.  Never having eaten sweet potato french fries before, this was interesting.  I ate them with ketchup, but I must admit it was a little bit weird.  The fish taco was really good   Different than most because it was not deep fried.

As for the Steam Plant... it was cool.

Here is the downstairs bar..



and some special private dining rooms.

This is the boiler room and the hole in which the coal was put into the boiler.  You can read more about this place at their website.... Steam Plant Grill.com.

Panda Express

IT was a lovely summer evening for a picnic, so we had Panda In the Park.

Panda Express is a drive through or eat in restaurant with several locations in Spokane.  It's a Chinese fast food restaurant chain throughout the US actually, one we reap the benefit of.  YUM!  What can I say, we like it every now and then.  It was inspirational to think of taking Panda Express food with us on a picnic!


At Panda, you get a choice of rice or chow mein and then add your favorites from their selection to your dish.  They even let you sample stuff.  The restaurant is cafeteria style... you see what they have and pick what you like as you go down the line and pay for it at the end.   You can drive through too if you like. 

We sampled the Walnut Shrimp, which was delicious, but we went with eating Bejing Beef and Kung Pow Chicken and Bejing Beef with Orange Chicken.  Then we went to Manito Park.

"

"Man, It' toe purty here!"
we like to say,
using our Tweety Bird
voice
in  the way he says,
"I thought I saw a puty cat."

Here are some pictures from around the park:

Man-it-o Pretty!"
Small people, big trees...look at the grandma with her grandchild standing at the bottom looking to the top, marveling at how tall the tree is!

We walked around the duck pond listening to the sound of cello being played upon the breeze.

Old European

Old European Restaurant is not only a local restaurant, they have restaurants in several locations, including Pullman and Post Falls.   In Spokane, there once was two locations.  The valley location closed and now there is only one, on north Division St near Lincoln Rd.

Their specialty is breakfast and lunch and advertise that they serve foods from Germany, Scandinavia, Sweden, Ireland, Eastern Europe and America. The north Division store is new, a transplant fro the other side of the street,  but it is cheery and spacious and there are probably less lines waiting outside the door like there used to be when they were across the road.  There was no line today when I was there for a gathering of friends.

There are a lot of dining options...
There is a breakfast bar...

or there are tables and booths. As you can see advertised on the wall here, they make fresh squeezed orange juice.







It's a friendly crowd at this place.  The times I have been here, I always see someone I know... or meet someone new to me.  On this particular day I met a famous Hollywood director, now retired, who introduced himself after jumping into a photo we were taking of our group.  He was wearing sun glasses, trying to remain incognito...(I am sure) and to keep his name secret, I will only tell you his first name.. George.
  Anyhow it was fun.


I do not know what everything here is, but there is quite a selection on the menu, even something simple if you like, like oatmeal. On our table was a variety of items... here are some:

I had stuffed french toast, (stuffed with bacon and eggs)

Did I like it?   No. The french toast part was good, butI think too that she gave me ham instead of bacon, but as I was eating it I figured, they were pretty much the same thing anyhow.  I didn't like my coffee either.  I guess this restaurant just isn;t for me. My Hungarian husband, who also has eaten here before, doesn't like to come here, so I was hoping I cold give him a good report.  His complaint about it is that the dish they serve, labeled Hungarian Goulash, (which he has ordered here before,) "isn't even Hungarian."  HE did like though, he said that it was good, ust not Hungarian by his Hungarian definition.

A lot of people do like this place, they love the food here, but it just doesn't seem to be the place for me.  I kinda like my eggs and bacon separate, and not hiding beneath my french toast. I will say that they do make some not-so-usual dishes., like the walnut smothered crepes, which I heard were wonderful.  There really is a lot to select from on the menu and uniquely different breakfast meals is what this place is about. As for me, this is not one of my favorites, but then, I just like good ol pancakes, french toast or bacon and eggs for breakfast.  For me, it was too hard to pick something from their menu.

Taco Del Mar

Taco Del Mar is located on the North side of Spokane... in the Wandermere area.  It's a sort of Baja Mexican seaside kind place that specializes in... fish tacos.

Yes, fish tacos, (supposedly all the rave beachside USA, but for me, when I first heard about them, this was quite a tastebud s-t-r-e-t-c-h.... and at that time I had never heard of such a thing before.  What is stranger is that a fish taco usually has shredded cabbage on it, (lettuce, for tacos, is the usual fare) 
Setting out for lunch this was the place of choice today and fish taco was on the menu for me.  My dining partner, Nate, went for the taco salad.

This restaurant is set up like Subway sandwich shop, All the ingredients are laid out for you and you can select them as you go.  They serve all sorts of things.. make them to your order right before you in the line, you pay and then you take your food and find a place to sit.  You can even sit outside on sunny days, as they have tables in the front.

It's a pretty big place and there was quite a lunchtime crowd.  This made me happy as I waited patiently in liine for my turn to order.  A lot of people really like this place.


Here is their menu... click it to enlarge.

I was talking to a friend who mentioned that this is where they learn how to eat a burrito... she didn't know before and had learned she had all her life been eating her burrito WRONG!  Sary.. if you ask me.  How do you eat a burrito?
Sign says:

They have a great sense of humor here too...

And the fish tacos...?
I thought they were good!

As of this writing I could not find an urbanspoon listing for this particular Taco Del Mar restaurant located at 12501 North Division Street
(509) 466-4814, but that is the one we visited.