EXPLORE THE REGION’S NEW FOOD TRUCKS

Jerusalem Middle Eastern Cuisine sets up weekly at the Garland Summer Market. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

FOOD TRUCKS FOOD ON THE MOVE

From Middle Eastern and Cuban cuisine to pizza and beer, the area’s newest food trucks have it

By their very nature, it can be hard to keep track of the growing number of locally owned food trucks, trailers and pop-up vendors on constant rotation between community events, farmers markets and other venues around the region. And if it seems like there’s always someone new arriving to the food truck scene, it’s because there is, including the following five who’ve launched in the past year, plus a new stationary spot where these mini restaurants-on-wheels can set up shop regularly.

JERUSALEM MIDDLE EASTERN CUISINE

Facebook: Jerusalem Middle Eastern Cuisine and More, 509-998-0549

Recipes for each dish delivered through the window of Majda Ritchie’s bright orange food truck were passed down by her mother, all for favorite dishes enjoyed often while growing up in Jerusalem, Israel. Ritchie, with the support of her husband, Dan (whose family owns Mary Lou’s Milk Bottle and Ice Cream), launched Jerusalem Middle Eastern Cuisine last fall, and through the summer can be found Tuesday evenings at the new Garland Summer Market, as well as every other Wednesday at the Kendall Yards Night Market. The truck’s concise menu showcases the best of Jerusalem-region Middle Eastern flavors and dishes, including Ritchie’s chicken shawarma wraps ($12) and beef kofta, seasoned with onions, parsley and spices and served in slider form ($12).

“So far people love our shawarma,” she says. “It’s not like gyros, we don’t have tzatziki in Bethlehem. And the falafel also people love. A lot of people tell me it’s different even though there is a lot of falafel in Spokane.” (CHEY SCOTT)

BY CHEY SCOTT AND CARRIE SCOZZARO

MAMA TIAZ AUTHENTIC PIZZERIA & MORE

Facebook: MAMA TIAZ Authentic Pizzeria & More, 208-916-1526

Thursdays used to be the slowest day at Mama Tiaz food truck, but not anymore, says founder Talitha “Tia” Tarpley. Now Thursday means the debut of specialty pizzas, like the extremely popular Big Dill with bacon, sliced dill pickles, red onion, mozzarella cheese, and housemade ranch on Tarpley’s Neapolitan-style crust. It’s a dough recipe seven years in the making, says Tarpley, whose background includes 16 years as a franchise owner of the Coeur d’Alene Jamba Juice. Tarpley opened the truck last spring — it was delayed a few months because of COVID — and is currently parked at the Prairie Pavilion (7777 N. Heartland Drive, Hayden) food truck park, although she’s already set her sights on someday opening a brick-and-mortar pizza place. In the meantime, diners are digging her assortment of cleverly named pies: the Spicy Porker with bacon, ham, pineapple and jalapeno; the Supreme Bender with sausage, pepperoni, bell pepper, and black olives; or the most popular, her Loaded pie with pepperoni, salami and sausage (all 9-inch pies are $12). In cooler weather, look for an expanded menu of entrees, like lasagna and, of course, more specialty pies. (CARRIE A. SCOZZARO)

THE CUBAN WAY FOOD TRUCK

Thursday July 8th

5-8PM

LIVE Music

Christy Lee

PRIZES

FOOD & DRINK SPECIALS

Jerusalem Middle Eastern Cuisine’s best-selling falafel sandwich. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

“FOOD ON THE MOVE,” CONTINUED...

through generations is also partly what inspired Jose Sosa to launch The Cuban Way this spring, after waiting out the pandemic in 2020. Sosa hopes to bring joy to the community through his food, and to give back through his business. The truck’s top-selling item so far is the El Jefe Cubano sandwich ($14.50), but Sosa says he has about 200 recipes he plans to rotate on and off the menu. His popular sandwich is made on Cuban-style bread, which is similar to French bread but softer and fluffier, Sosa says, and piled with 16-hour slow-roasted pork, Swiss cheese, ham, pickles and yellow mustard.

“When you mix those flavors, it’s just a bomb of flavor that explodes in your mouth,” Sosa says.

While many customers return again and again for the Cubano, Sosa encourages diners to sample the truck’s whole menu, which includes Cuban-style roasted pork, chicken and beef ($15-$16), and a traditional bread pudding ($4) and flan ($5) for dessert. The Cuban Way mostly rotates around to local breweries during dinnertime, and weekly schedules are always shared on Facebook.

“I want to bring to Spokane the flavors that Spokane has been missing for a long time,” Sosa says. “People always say ‘Your food is so delicious,’ and I am grateful for that.” (CS)

NORTHWEST TAPS

Facebook: NorthwestTaps, NorthwestTaps.com 208-968-2337

If there’s been any upside for the food and beverage industry during COVID, it must include the new and inventive ways vendors can now sell, serve and even deliver alcohol. Parked among a plethora of other food trucks at the popular Prairie Pavilion food court in Coeur d’Alene, NorthwestTaps offers assorted adult beverages for on-site consumption or to go. Canned drinks include the classics like Kokanee and Modelo, while draft beer rotates through regional options like Elysian’s Space Dust IPA or brews from Coeur d’Alene’s Trails End Brewery. The pop-up bar also serves wine, canned cocktails and alcohol-free beverages, along with food like wings ($9.50) or German sausage ($4.25). On Wednesday, get a dog or sausage and a beer for just $8. (CAS)

OPA! GREEK MEDITERRANEAN FOOD

Facebook: OPA Food Truck

After several seasons in Sandpoint serving Greek food inspired by her grandmother at such events as the annual Festival at Sandpoint, Adia Burton has finally gone mobile with her Opa food truck. Most days you can find her near Misty Mountain Furniture (502 Cedar St.), but she’s also a staple at MickDuff’s Beer Hall (220 Cedar St.) and recently helped christen the new Sand Bar (formerly Roxy’s, at 215 Pine St.). Have a savory lamb and beef gyro with slathering of hummus and all the trimmings ($12), which in the Aegean style means lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives, tangy Feta cheese and the delightfully creamy, garlicky sauce known as tzatziki. Try crispy, fried falafel (ground chickpea) wrapped in a pita bread ($12) or just jump ahead to dessert with baklava ($5). Burton makes hers with walnuts (versus pistachio) and just a touch of cinnamon. (CAS)

HILLYARD FOOD TRUCK PAVILION

5108 N. Market St., Facebook: Hillyard Food Truck Pavilion, 509-998-5572

The newly launched Hillyard Food Truck Pavilion offers a space for up to five mobile vendors to operate simultaneously in a spacious lot along Market Street in the historic Hillyard District, adjacent to the Hillyard Heritage Museum. Owned and operated by Kailey Vallee and Kyle “Chef Freak” Bowlby, the pavilion debuted this spring and hosts a handful of trucks on rotation during the week.

Friday evenings, however, are a weekly highlight when the park hosts its market and open mic night from 5 to 9 pm with several rotating vendors on site, a chance for local musicians to perform live, and lawn games and other all-ages activities. Amenities for diners include a covered seating area, portable bathrooms and handwashing stations. Food trucks get power and water hookups.

“We want to bring the Hillyard District back to life,” Vallee says.

Adds Bowlby: “I want this to be a destination hub. I’m from Coeur d’Alene and see the markets there getting huge, like the Prairie Pavilion, and I want that here in town.” (CS) n

MickDuff’s Brewing Co. in Sandpoint opened a new location in late 2020. CARRIE SCOZZARO PHOTO

Summer Vibes

The Sandpoint food scene sees new faces and places while continuing to navigate pandemic challenges

BY CARRIE SCOZZARO

As if you needed a reason other than the lake to make the beautiful drive to Sandpoint, the picturesque Idaho Panhandle town is chock full of dining opportunities, most within walking distance of the lake and each other. Over the past year, new places and dining options have appeared along with some new faces behind the counter of longtime favorite spots.

MickDuff’s Brewing Company (mickduffs.com) isn’t new to Sandpoint, but they do have a new location on Second Avenue, which opened in December 2020. Brewing brothers Mickey and Duffy Mahoney spent more than a year remodeling the stately, two-story brick building that served as a federal building, library and post office throughout its nearly 100-year history. Although they’re keeping most of their brewing operations at their Beer Hall on nearby Cedar Avenue, the new MickDuff’s location does feature a small pilot brewing setup like the old location.

Spud’s Waterfront Grill (spudsonline.com) has relocated to 202 N. Second Avenue while construction continues to shore up its First Avenue location above Sand Creek. Visit spudsonline.com for updates to renovations or to order online, like the always-fresh daily soups.

There have always been dining facilities at the Sandpoint Elks Lodge #1376, which includes a nine-hole golf course open to the public. What’s new is the Ponderay Club, which is slated to open by the end of summer and will feature an elevated dining experience still in the planning stages. Several Sandpoint-area venues have also recently added or expanded their dining options, including Laughing Dog Brewing Company (laughingdogbrewing.com). The new food menu has a chili bowl with pork, beef and andouille sausage ($7), a pastrami sandwich ($11) or pound of chicken wings ($13). Pair that with the 7B Hazy IPA and a quiet outdoor seating area where dogs, of course, are always welcome.

Several longtime favorites are now under new management, including Connie’s Café (facebook.com/ thecon2018), which has no plans to change much of ’50era diner.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” says Lars Hall, who took over Connie’s with business partner Chris Ankney a few months ago.

The modest changes they plan to make includes cosmetic upgrades to the diner’s iconic neon sign, and “showing some love” to the lounge with aesthetic improvements and a revamped cocktail program.

Otherwise, says Hall, Connie’s is still one of the best places for bloody marys and eggs benedict, plus plenty of hearty comfort foods.

Cedar Street Bistro has new management and is now called Taysty’s Eatery and Wine Bar, (facebook.com/ Taystys.EateryandWinebar) and serves a similar menu as the former venue: scratch-made baked goods, pizza, coffee and gelato. And, of course, the view from the bridge over Sand Creek is just as amazing as ever.

Farmhouse Kitchen + Silo Bar changed owners and rebranded in spring of 2020 as Farmhouse Burgers, BBQ & Events (farmhouseponderay.com). Look for house-smoked meats like brisket ($17) and upscale burgers ($12-$13), plus southern-inspired items like fried chicken ($16).

The same owners also run Breakfast Cantina (breakfastcantina.com) across Highway 95, offering breakfast bowls, burritos, tacos and smoothies. Try the chilaquiles bowl ($9) or shredded chicken molé tacos ($9).

And because they’re not busy enough, owner Patrick Shepler jokes, he’s also added a food truck typically parked at 120 Cedar St. that offers foods from both establishments.

Being busy is a good thing for area food establishments, yet the staffing issues being felt elsewhere in the country are hitting Sandpoint businesses, too, with several posting curtailed hours or unexpected temporary closures due to being short staffed.

MickDuff’s, for example, loves the large, covered outdoor patio in its new location, yet had to get creative when it comes to ordering. They’re working with a QR-code system so patrons on the patio can self-order some items. “I think some of [the staffing issues] is people leaving the industry,” says Mickey Mahoney.

MickDuff’s pub manager Carrera Swarm has seen a lot of out-of-state applications that lack contact info and wonders if those are people simply fulfilling unemployment filing requirements. Locally, however, she’s also noticed a gap in applicants in the 20- to 30-year-old age group.

“We’re also concerned about the price to live here and where are employees going to live,” adds Mahoney, articulating a very real issue many towns and small cities will likely continue to grapple with long after the summer dining season has ended. n

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Sly Stone’s performance is a bonus, but Summer of Soul shines as important American cultural history.

History Lesson

Summer of Soul captures the kind of American event that still seems too easy to ignore

BY SCOTT RENSHAW

Just six months ago — when Summer of Soul (… or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, and subsequently won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize — there was no way of knowing how weirdly relevant it would feel upon its theatrical/streaming release. Because while Summer of Soul is primarily a concert film, its subtext is quite clearly, “Why is it that this film of a concert more than 50 years ago is only now seeing the light of day?” And the answer, as anyone who has been paying attention to the manufactured furor over “critical race theory” understands is, “Come on … you know why.”

The event chronicled here by director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, in theaters and on Hulu starting Friday, is the Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place over six summer weekends in July-August 1969, coinciding with that other big musical festival taking place 100 miles away in Woodstock, as well as with the Apollo 11 moon landing. The lineup put together by promoter Tony Lawrence represented a remarkable array of talent from the worlds of soul, blues, funk, jazz and gospel — performers like Stevie Wonder, the 5th Dimension, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Mahalia Jackson, Hugh Masekela, and Sly & the Family Stone — plus comedians like Moms Mabley and speakers including Jesse Jackson and then-New York City Mayor John Lindsay.

If Summer of Soul had done nothing more than chronicle the musical performances that took place on those summer days, it still would have been a terrific experience. There’s a fascinating kind of passing-of-the-torch in a performance of “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” where an ailing Mahalia Jackson offers most of the lead vocal duties to Mavis Staples. We get a rare glimpse of Stevie Wonder going to town not just on his keyboard, but behind a drum kit as well. Simone provides an electrifying intensity when she leads the crowd in a call-and-response version of David Nelson’s revolutionary poem “Are You Ready?” The music is uniformly spectacular, and it’s a joy to see some of these legends at the height of their powers.

We do also get insights from some of a few of the surviving performers about their experience at the Harlem Cultural Festival, and those interviews offer some perceptive glimpses of that particular moment. It’s perhaps most enlightening to hear former 5th Dimension vocalists Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. talk about the way their group — which had hit it big with a medley of the hippie musical Hair’s songs “Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In” — was perceived as “not Black enough,” and how important it was for them to be received by a Black audience.

Yet there’s a more poignant undercurrent to the memories of those who were there as audience members. In part it’s simply the recollections of seeing so many black faces together in one place; in part it’s the giddy memories of making up a story of going to visit an aunt so parents wouldn’t know where they were really going; in part it’s a flashback to the fashions, the feeling, even the smells of that particular historical moment. But perhaps most powerfully, it’s being startled by the conviction that this event — after half a century of being a footnote, almost lost to history — actually happened. After observations from the footage’s original director, Hal Tulchin, about how nobody was interested in buying the rights to the Harlem Cultural Festival recordings, we hear an offscreen voice say, “We hold this truth to be self-evident: That Black history is going to be erased.” It’s hard to argue with that notion after what we’ve seen in 2021. As is the case with most of American history, there’s a narrative of what we call “The Sixties” that centers on the White experience. The contextual footage Questlove employs in Summer of Soul explains not just the notion of a Harlem still recovering from the 1968 uprisings in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, but a community uncomfortable with police presence at the Harlem Cultural Festival, and reacting to the Apollo 11 moon landing with a much more cynical eye than White Americans did. Summer of Soul reminds us that plenty of young Americans in 1969 didn’t think of Woodstock as their defining event and how easy it is for some defining events to drift away because some people don’t think they’re the kind of history worth preserving. n

SUMMER OF SOUL Rated PG-13 Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

FILM | SHORTS OPENING FILMS

NOW PLAYING

AGAINST THE CURRENT

In this documentary, a woman undertakes the daunting task of kayaking around the entirety of Iceland, but that challenge pales next to what she faced when she decided to undergo gender reassignment six years prior. At the Magic Lantern. (DN) Not rated

THE BOSS BABY: FAMILY BUSINESS

The boss baby (Alec Baldwin) and his big brother (James Marsden) are all grown up in this sequel, and they’ve drifted apart only to come back together when a new boss baby shows up in their lives. (DN) Rated PG THE FOREVER PURGE

On the morning after the annual bloodletting purge, a masked gang attacks a wealthy ranch family in Texas, and the family of ranch hands who work for them, forcing the two families to band together and fight. (DN) Rated R

SUMMER OF SOUL (...OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)

Questlove directs this documentary about 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival, featuring incredible performances by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone and more. (DN) Rated PG-13

12 MIGHTY ORPHANS

Luke Wilson plays a high school football coach who turns a ragtag team from a Texas orphanage into Texas state champions in this inspirational tale inspired by a true story. (DN) Rated PG-13

THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT

The latest chiller about supposed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, investigating a murder suspect who claims to be possessed by a demon. (NW) Rated R

CRUELLA

Disney’s puppy-skinning villainess gets her own origin story, as Emma Stone portrays the enterprising seamstress turned devilish fashionista. (NW) Rated PG-13

DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN

A feature-length follow-up to the popular anime series, which has already broken box-office records in its native Japan. (NW) Rated R

F9 THE FAST SAGA

The long-awaited ninth episode finally hits theaters, bringing Vin Diesel’s Dom back into action to foil a plot hatched by his long-forsaken brother Jakob (John Cena). (DN) PG-13

THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR: MEET THE BLACKS 2

Author Carl Black (Mike Epps) moves his family back to his hometown of Chicago, only to be convinced his neighbor (Katt Williams) is a vampire out to take his family. (DN) Rated R THE HITMAN’S WIFE’S BODYGUARD

Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson are an odd couple hitman and bodyguard combo back for another actionpacked adventure, this time with Salma Hayek in the mix as a world-class con artist. (DN) Rated R

IN THE HEIGHTS

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Bronx-set musical hits the big screens under the direction of John Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), tracking a bodega owner’s dreams of forging a better life in a neighborhood full of colorful characters (and a whole lot of music). (DN) Rated PG-13

PETER RABBIT 2: THE RUNAWAY

Here comes a Peter Rabbit sequel in which the mischievous rodent finds a place beyond the garden where he’s accepted for his roguish charm. Is that enough to keep him from going home? (DN). Rated PG

QUEEN BEES

Think Mean Girls, but set in a retirement home instead of a high school. Ellen Burstyn is the newbie trying to navigate romantic pitfalls and interpersonal politics, joined by AnnMargret, James Caan, Jane Curtin and more. At the Magic Lantern. (DN) Rated PG-13

A QUIET PLACE PART II

A sequel to the hugely popular 2018 horror hit, following the original film’s family as they continue to evade monsters with hypersensitive hearing. (NW) Rated PG-13 ZOLA

A Twitter thread-turned-feature film documents a wild weekend endured by a Detroit server and a customer who convinces her to take off for a round of partying and dancing. Mayhem, naturally, ensues. (DN) Rated R n

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NOW PLAYING: SUMMER OF SOUL WEREWOLVES WITHIN AGAINST THE CURRENT IN THE HEIGHTS

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MOVIE TIMES

ZOLA

RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT on

A documentary dedicated to the Puerto Rican actress who rose to Oscar-winning glory and success on the Broadway stage. At the Magic Lantern. (DN) Rated PG-13

SPIRIT UNTAMED

A young girl befriends a rebellious horse named Spirit after moving to a small town, and must foil the bad guys’ plans to capture Spirit and his herd in this animated family flick featuring the voices of Julianne Moore and Jake Gyllenhaal. (DN) Rated PG

TOVE

A biopic of Finnish painter Tove Jansson tracks how her unconventional approach to life pushed back at her father’s staid ways and led to a creative outburst that included writing, comic strips, illustrations and more. At the Magic Lantern. (DN) Not rated

WEREWOLVES WITHIN

A new forest ranger (Sam Richardson) and postal worker (Milana Vayntrub) try to uncover the mystery of a creature terrorizing the small town of Beaverfield as the town’s residents are trapped together by a snowstorm in this comedy/mystery. (DN) Rated R

WRATH OF MAN

The latest thriller from Guy Ritchie stars Jason Statham as a shadowy figure who becomes the guard of an armored truck. (NW) Rated R n

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