Sweets & Treats

Sweet

TREATS

SmallBatchIce Creams&Sorbets

VOTEDBESTICECREAMFOUR YEARSINAROW!

112 N. 4th St. Coeur d’Alene, ID • 208.930.0699 abisicecream.com • @abisicecream

ALL ICE CREAMS, SORBETS AND BAKED GOODS HAND-CRAFTED ON SITE DAILY USING FRESH AND NATURAL INGREDIENTS FREE OF ADDITIVES AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS. PEANUT AND TREE-NUT FREE FACILITY. OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

Rotating Scratch made Pastry Menu

Cinnamon Rolls, Sweet and Savory Scones, Drop Cookies, Sugar Cookies, Croissants, Pu Pastries, Vegan and Gluten Free Pastries, Custom Cakes and Cupcakes, Croissant Breakfast Sandwiches, Breakfast Burritos, Quiches, Holiday Pies, Espresso, co ee and tea made fresh daily.

Hours: Mon- Fri 6AM-4PM • Sat 8AM-2PM 1612 N Barker Rd • Spokane Valley www.blissfulwhisk.com 509-242-3189 Plenty of outside seating, curbside service, website ordering or inside pickup.

House roasted coffee

house-baked pastries from scratch + Delivered directly to our stores everyday House roasted coffee

rocketspokane.com | @therocketbakery | 509-927-2340 Millwood | 1st & Cedar | South Hill| Wall St | Garland | Space Station

Hand Sc ped Premium Ice Cream

including specialty fl avors like Caramel Caribou,

Moose Tracks, Huckleberry, No Sugar-Added

Black Cherry, and Non-Dairy SorbetBlack Cherry, and Non-Dairy Sorbet

ice cream & burgers

Try our Old Fashioned Shakes, Malts and Floats! Old Fashioned Shakes, Malts and Floats!

Taste the quality!

1224 E. Sherman Ave. CdA, ID • 208-930-4900 2420 Government Way. CdA, ID • 208-930-4274

403 N Spokane St. Post Falls, ID • 208-773-6532 8833 Hess St. Hayden, ID • 208-777-6205

RogersIceCreamBurgers.com

Chef and restaurateur Adam Hegsted. The Wandering Table, in Kendall Yards, was reinvented as Baba, a new Mediterranean-inspired comfort food spot that replaced Wandering Table this spring.

YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS

Silver LININGS

Restaurants that launched during the pandemic find positive moments amid challenges

BY CHEY SCOTT

Opening a brand new restaurant during a global pandemic — an event that’s required ever-changing regulations on dining out, and spurred the permanent closure of eateries across the country — might seem like the opposite of a good idea.

Yet the Inland Northwest saw several new restaurants open their doors for the first time in the last year, giving local foodies something to get excited about and look forward to sampling in person as the health crisis eases.

One of the most notable recent newcomers to the region’s dining scene this past year has been Wooden City Spokane, the second Pacific Northwest location for an eatery that first launched in Tacoma. The casual new American eatery opened last August in a historic downtown Spokane building.

In some ways, there was no turning back for its trio of owners, Jon Green, Abe Fox and Eddie Gulberg, who’d signed their lease and hired an architect long before COVID-19 upended life.

“We figured, let’s open, we’ll have less tables but can focus more on the experience and making sure every guest that comes in has an amazing first impression,” Green says. “I think it’s also a lot harder to change a

restaurant that is already open than to open a new one.”

While the months since have doled out plenty of ups and downs to all restaurants, Wooden City included, its opening during last summer’s 50-percent indoor dining cap came with another unexpected positive.

“Had we opened at full capacity in the space it might have actually been too crazy right out of the gate,” says Green, Wooden City co-owner and chef. “It almost had this built-in soft opening effect for us. The last thing you want to do is open and be slammed and have bad first impressions.”

Another newly opened restaurant in the last year is Pint House Burgers & Brews in Spokane’s Indian Trail neighborhood, which debuted late fall 2020.

Owner Josh Blair says during Pint House’s first few weeks of operations, just before the second dine-in shutdown was issued in November, the restaurant reached capacity nearly every night. Customers continued to show their support after the pub had to switch back to takeout only, so much so that Blair had to install a second phone line to handle all the calls to place orders.

“The community has been so supportive of us,” Blair says. “This is such an underserviced area for familyowned restaurants and local restaurants, so the support has been great.”

The pandemic’s slow-down also proved to be an opportune time for rebranding, as seen at Adam Hegsted’s Kendall Yards eatery Baba, the new Mediterranean-inspired comfort food spot that replaced Wandering Table this spring.

“Wandering Table was put into a fine dining demographic, and that did not transition well into COVID times,” Hegsted says. “We wanted something that would travel well, and was also a place people could eat every day; that was how the idea came about.”

There are also still several new restaurant projects set to debut later this year, including Seattle chef and restaurateur Ethan Stowell’s Tavolàta. Also expected in the coming months is People’s Waffle and Emma Rue’s, a connected cafe and bar in the old Observatory spot. n

Wooden City co-owner and chef Jon Green. Wooden City Spokane opened in the middle of the pandemic, which was a blessing in some ways. YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS