The Wine Knows

I have to agree that the "Tri-cities" lacks a central focus. A downtown community sure helps give a focus. There are pockets of them spread throughout the cities, but mostly in strip malls, which tend to limit growth. I think having food critics, readers comments or a contest that names the best "pizza" , best "sushi" or food category in the Tri-Cities helps foster productive competition. Competition is always a good thing. One thing I have noticed is that many young people move away from this area, people who might help foster the community. These people that leave to find more excitement in the "Big City", are the backbone of people who invest in the community. (Just my .02 cents.)

That makes sense; no true downtown core to build from. I was not imressed with Bin 20 when I was in the Tri-Cities last. In general I don't like eating in a hotel anyway.

I loved that Spudnut shop as a kid growing up. There used to be one in Sunnyside and Grandview many years ago. After they closed my mom would bring a dozen home whenever she went to the Tri-Cities.

They had a recent article on them a little while ago. I wish I had known they were still open the last time I was in the Tri-Cities and I would have stopped for sure.

Andy,

Just to let you know, Andrae's closed it's doors in Boise, but wait till you see his new address...Walla Walla! You'll have to wait and see what he is up to, but WW is blessed to have his talents in our town (I've been working on him to move to our town for 5 years now...guess the pestering worked!).

Trey

In addition to those you mention, we also lost The Milky Way in the past six months. While Red Feather, Cottonwood Grille, The Gamekeeper, Berryhill, Bardenay and Chandlers still offer great food and a decent selection of Fidelitas, Five Star and friends, losing those establishments has limited the variety offered downtown especially towards the upper end with Mortimers and Andrae's. That said, having six serviceable NW wine lists in a one-mile radius is not bad considering the economic woes we've suffered at Micron, Albertsons and HP and continued flight to the suburban areas West of downtown. I see some good things on the horizon with expansion in the Snake River Valley AVA and hopefully local business owners will be able to capitalize on some of that growth and give the PF Changs, Bonefish Grills and Old Spaghetti Factories of the world a run for their money.

It is very sad to see great restaurants closing up while the Red Robin's and Olive Garden's of the world thrive! (No disrespect to either is intended... they are both good at what they do.) My wife and I, living in the Spokane area, love to go out on those rare occasions when we have no kids, at least once a month. We have also cut back on going out. Not because of the economy, but because we are constantly disappointed in the quality of food and by restaurants who have no clue how to properly serve wine!

This weekend, we saw a fabulous concert downtown at a new upscale lounge that featured reknowned New York jazz guitarist Peter Bernstine. The music was incredible and more than worth the $10 ticket price. The food and wine? Not so successful. Our fish entree was so overcooked that it was rubbery, and we suffered from gastrointestinal distress all night long. The supposed grilled chicken caesar salad came with cold chicken (probably leftover from the day before) and a dressing that I would not have identified as "caesar" if I hadn't read the menu. It took 20 minutes to bring us two glasses of water. The wine list was completely pathetic, with 5 by-the-glass red pours. The best thing on it was Red Diamond merlot, followed by Yellowtail shiraz. They were $6 a glass for a tiny 4 ounce pour. We drank gin martini's...

A few months back, we ate at an "independent" restaurant in downtown Spokane, Moxie, known for its chef (Ian Wingate), the wine list, and high prices. While the food was pretty good, but not that exciting, our wine, priced at $11 per glass, came to us at approximately 85 degrees. It was literally warm and was barely drinkable. I walked towards the kitchen to ask about a replacement glass, or at least a bowl of ice to somehow cool the wine down, when I noticed that the bottles for their by-the-glass pours were stored on top of a refrigerator next to a deep fryer!!! And, this place supposedly has a wine steward/sommelier... I have no problem spending $100 or more on a nice dinner and a glass of wine, but it had better be good food and the wine should be at least served at normal room temperature, if not at 65 degrees!

Our dining experience before that was at a great new place here in town (Bin 9820) that positions itself as a wine bar with great, inventive cuisine. Their menu is excellent, with some very cool small plates. The food execution was very good, with a few small misses, but overall was pretty good. Their wine list, both by the glass and by the bottle, is very impressive and deep in northwest wines, although our server wouldn't know a zinfandel from a syrah... However, we ordered a bottle, which was pulled from a rack about 15 feet up in the main dining area. Needless to say, it, too, was served to us at about 80 degrees, and we had to "inconvenience" them into bringing us an ice bucket to cool it down to proper drinking temperature.

In short, as wine enthusiasts and foodies, we have a very hard time finding places in the area that know how to serve wine and have a decent selection, and have inventive and well executed menus. This is not to say we don't know of some great places in the area. There are several that are usually very good, such as Okane', Downriver Grill, Picabu Bistro, Bluefish, and several others. But, as the disappointments seem to outnumber the successes, and as prices rise, the temptation is very strong to stay home, invite over a few friends, open something really nice from the cellar, and cook food for ourselves that is better than what we often find while dining out.

It sounds like the Boise restaurants that have closed were really doing a great job, so it is very sad to see them closing their doors. Good restaurants need to be supported and encouraged. There has been some turnover in Spokane as well, although I can't say that I am surprised. The only good part of that is I get to try lots of new recipes from the cookbooks we have collected in our wine travels!

Cheers!
Tim