The Flying Goat

The Flying Goat is located in a neighborhood.  I love the fact that people in the neighborhood can walk over to go out to eat or hang with friends, maybe even have beer and then not get behind the wheel of a car and drive afterwards.

  (There are a few good little spots for eating in this neighborhood by the way.)

I found The Goat to be a very friendly, and quite lively place with good food and a good selection of food on the menu to choose from.  You know, if you are ever at Audubon Park, this might be a good spot to stop to eat before going home, or you could eat here first and then enjoy a day at the park.  Either way, (or if you go there without going to the park,) the Flying Goat is worth a try, if you like dis-ordinary pizzas, some made with exotic sounding cheeses, roasted peppers, asparagus... things like that.

I went there on a rainy day with some friends.  The atmosphere was great.  There was a fire outside on the patio in the pit with people sitting around it, enjoying the contrast in temperatures as they ate their food.  We sat inside, and as I walked past table after table on the way to my own, I couldn't help but notice the beautiful pizzas being served... and the happy people, (this on a Monday, none the less!)  I mean imagine, if you will, steak pizza with roasted mushrooms, capers, flying goat cheese blend, a sweet onion cream sauce and watercress, or a chorizo and shrimp with spiced tomato sauce, house cheese blend, red peppers and Manchego cheese.  I never even heard of Manchengo cheese!

Of the group I ate with, we all absolutely loved what we ate, (though we did think the asparagus salad would have been more asparagus.)  This Flying Goat place, was truly a find for us that day that we all wanted to visit over lunch...  and we all will probably go another day.  I was just right for us.

Our table ordered several menu items including a pizza. 

Asparagus Salad with Chicken

The Grace Veggie:  asparagus, roasted red pepper, tomato, cucumber, carmelized onion, goat cheese arugula and balsamic reduction..... on a delicious flatbread, with Greek salad on the side.

Here is the Pizza, still on the pizza serving pan.

I kinda forgot which one this is, but think this is the Wellington...  note the asparagus!

Garland Chicken, with potato salad.

 You can double click on the menu and see it closer for prices if you like.

Now, about that "Flying Goat" concept.  I love it, mostly because I often thing of my own goat with ears so long, and when she hold them out and runs, she reminds me of The Flying Nun.  Have you ever heard of it, or do you remember Sally Feilds in that TV show?  Alas, it was long ago, and rather silly, but believe it or not, people watched it way back "when."  My goat looks nothing like the one that is their logo, but I love the concept....  Goats are pretty cool animals. 


I did read that in the building of this restaurant they used the wood from an old grain elevator belonging to Otis Leonard of Ritzville.  The grain elevator originally constructed in 1910, can be seen in a photo on the wall near the front entrance of the place.  It's amazing to think that that structure's materials are now being used throughout the pub.  I think it is what gives this place it's character.  HAving been built just in 2010, it doesn;t feel new, but has the feel of being there a while.  It has a lot of warmth and charm.

I liked it!

They offered desserts, but we declined, thinking coming here for dessert alone would maybe be fun.  They sounded delicious, and they even have Root Beer Floats!  But one of the desserts, the fruit crisp, was advertised to us as being made with a fruit called "a pluot."  (Plu- ot.)  IT sounded interesting but we were all pretty much calorie laden.  I left wondering why I had never heard of a pluot before.

But guess what?  As I was driving home, I just happened to stop at a fruit stand on my way home,  that just happened to have some pluots for sale. Interesting....

So, I had to buy some...

A pluot!

and taste them.

They are pretty much just as advertised and they are indeed, the best of both worlds... a mix between a plum and an apricot! 





And such was my day, the day, I went to the Flying Goat!

There is some great artwork on the walls too!

Andy's Pho

One restaurant closed and another one opened.  King Yen is gone and Andy's Pho has taken it's place.  Now Ansy's has become Andy's Market!


Here is hte post about eating Phi at Andy's anyhow:
Because we love soup, and we love it Vietnamese Style, or "Pho" as well, we had to give this newly opened place a try.

You can tell it is a start up restaurant... not much fancy going on here.  Not much has changed about the atmosphere.  There is  new menu and  less decorations, but the tables and basic layout, as well as some of the photos on the wall are pretty much the same.  The condiments on the tables are not on EVERY table, yet.  Mentioning to the waitress that it was a  little bland, she told me that some renovations were in the plans and would b taking place in months to come.

I didn't mind that this place was not so fancy.  I  mean. really, this is the way of business, small business, in America.  I know sometimes people get huge loans and hope for the best, but it is also common that people simply start up a business with what they can afford and then they work hard to make a profit.  If they do a good job, before they know it they are remodeling, expanding or at least adding to the employee roll and taking yearly vacations, with a low overheard because they started small.   It's freedom to do this...(and of course, many other things,)  that makes living in America great.

Andy's is definitely an work in progress... which is a good thing. But most of all, as the sign says, it's Pho. I happen to think that Pho is fun to eat.  And wouldn't you know, Pho is pretty much what they serve here, I mean, pretty much all that there is on the menu. However, we did order a crispy noodle veggie dish too.   I should mention that you can get have your Pho prepared for you with various add-ins too, like meatballs or fried egg,  if you like.  My guess is that they will make it anyway you want them to.  For opening special, ( to get people to try the Pho they love to make,) they had special prices, so our  Pho was one or two dollars cheaper than the regular menu price.  That was a nice surprise.

Here is our dinner:

 Pho comes with Thai Basil and Mung bean sprouts, lime and Jalapeno peppers that you put into the broth yourself... if you like.  I love the sprouts and basil and jalapeno and lime in my soup so much I sometimes add these to my Ramen noodles when I make that at home.

The crispy noodles were smothered in fresh stir fried vegetables.

They have serveral different Pho selections, and even serve it with the meat rare, if you like.  (Not my kind of thing. Ususally I get chicken with is always good, but today we shared, and we also ordered it well done.)  It was well done, but it was also fatty.  We did not know if maybe that was the way it was supposed to be.  I might stick to chicken in the future, but Geo didn't mind.

 We also ordered a Iced Coffee drink which was really tasty.

 It was realy sweet, more like a dessert... but Yum!

 Pho....(pronounced "fa" ) is soup in a big bowl with lots of noodles, and soup, like Campbell's advertises, is simply, "good food!"  There are a lot of Pho restaurants in the area, so they do have some competition and will have to work on sprucing up the place to gain public appeal, but the service was great and Spokane is definately curious about Pho!



 

Thai Bamboo (again!)

Thia Bamboo opened a larger restaurant on the north side of Spokane not too long ago and Geo and I finally had a chance to go there, for dessert!  We ate Deep Fried Banana with Banana Ice Cream and Black Rice Pudding with Coconut Ice Cream....  Yum!

Both were absolutely wonderful treats. The Banana Ice Cream was the highlight though as it seemed we have never had banana ice cream before.

I think a part of me has been reluctant to come to this restaurant because it is such a monstrosity from the street.  Seriously, Thia Bamboo on N. Division street used to be just a little quant restaurant... easy to miss if you are driving by too fast.  Apparently when they undertook the endeavor to build anew, they wanted everyone's attention.  Here it is at night:
I

Those are fake Palm trees, by the way.  At night is is lighted up and in the daytime it kinda looks the same but instead of lights it is painted in bright red and yellow, and green.  It is quite different from all the other buildings in the area.

(They apparently do not want people to miss this place.)

Inside there is a bar area and a restaurant area... and there is outside seating too.  We sat inside.

Now, I have known several people who have come here and the only thing anyone told me was that it was "good food but a little expensive."   No one told me about this:

 THIS... is the beautiful twinkly, colorful ceiling they have in the restaurant.  It is beautiful!

 The colors change and almost swirls, as tiny lights move across the "sky."

I thought it was great.  I loved the atmosphere and the delicious desserts.... and I have to admit, when it comes to Thai food, Thai Bamboo has never let me down.  It iw just that usually, when you eat such good food, you never have room for dessert.  Sometimes you just have to live it up and go out for dessert!

The outside of the building is a little much, if you ask me....  One thing is certain, if you are looking for it, and maybe even if you are not, you wont miss it!  The address is 5406 N Division St, and their website: http://www.thaibamboorestaurant.com if you want to see a menu.