Restaurants in Coeur d'Alene

When most little boys were hoping to unwrap G.I. Joes or dirt bikes on Christmas morning, Michael DePasquale had his fingers crossed for a Suzy Homemaker oven. From this iconoclastic start, Michael advanced from his toy oven to a job as a dishwasher, then prep cook, then lead cook—and then honed his developing skills at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. In his spare time, he adopted a loyal pet rhode island red chicken and taught it to chase frisbees. After graduating, he honed his craft as head and executive chef at several different restaurants before launching his own eatery.

Fifteen years later, Michael is still cracking eggs and sizzling sausage for the breakfast dishes his eatery serves all day long. Omelets—which convert to scramblers upon request—can be packed with fresh jalapeños, bacon, and sour cream. For sweeter creations, he slathers honey butter onto pancakes, as well as custard-style sourdough french toast. At midday, hand-pressed burgers enter the lists and don cloaks of spicy habanero or barbecue sauce. Diners can lounge on an outdoor patio on summery afternoons, and on colder evenings, they can savor chicken marsala and roasted tri-tip steak amid the dining room’s wood-paneled walls.

Located in the Davenport district, in the same refurbished brick building as the Montvale Hotel, Scratch Restaurant & Lounge blends contemporary cooking with a refined atmosphere of white tablecloths and black decor. Fresh aromas waft out of the open kitchen, where, true to the restaurant's name, chefs craft inventive dishes entirely from scratch. They draw on caches of seasonal ingredients such as herbs that only grow in a groundhog's shadow in February. Their USDA prime Angus steaks soak up flavors of smoked bacon and rosemary compound butter, while flaky halibut filets grill over smokey cedar planks.

Within the dining room, servers draw Washington and California wines from the rack that lines one exposed-brick wall. To further compliment the fresh fare, bartenders can shake or stir 32 specialty martinis.

The Grille from Ipanema, which takes its name from a beach along Rio de Janeiro's picturesque coastline, also draws inspiration from the Brazilian churrasco experience. This type of dining stems from the gaucho tradition of gathering around a fire pit and roasting skewers of meat over the flames.

The eatery’s chefs re-create this experience by searing skewers of more than 18 different meats—including top sirloin, pork shoulder, and bacon-wrapped chicken—over a mesquite-filled grill. They then hand the large meat skewers off to servers, who drift throughout the dining room looking for green coasters, which signal that the diner requires more meat. After they’re called tableside, the servers carve the meat into individually sized portions with their industrial-strength laser pointers. By flipping their coasters from green to red, guests tell servers to temporarily stop the never-ending meat deliveries, buying themselves time to visit the salad bar and load plates with hot and cold side dishes.

Natural light floods in through the walls of windows, illuminating the dining room's blond-wood finishes and draped fabrics. The Pacific Northwest Inlander praised the restaurant's scenic vantage point in 2011, saying, "you won’t get a view of the Rio de Janeiro beachfront but you will get an eyeful of still-impressive Lake Coeur d’Alene."

Mulligan’s Bar & Grille comforts bellies with hearty, home-style fare. Nestled inside the Best Western Coeur d’Alene Inn, the restaurant’s blond-wood booths host groups of hungry hotel guests, and a fireplace warms sippers under the beige fabric awning of the full bar. The breakfast menu awakens erstwhile dreamers with the scents of jumbo cinnamon rolls, huckleberry pancakes, and six types of omelets. Meaty viands such as burgers and chicken-fried steaks pal around with lighter fare such as chicken-spinach wraps and candied-walnut salads on the lunch and dinner menus, and the prime-rib buffet on Friday and Saturday nights challenges the traditional notion that prime rib should only be eaten on Sundays from a Stetson hat.

Taxidermy buffalo and deer heads oversee GW Hunters Steakhouse's rustic wood-paneled dining room, where tables strain beneath the load of hefty steaks, seafood, and pasta. In addition to the traditional hearty steak-house fare, the chefs at the family-owned establishment dish out a wide range of unusual meats, including elk, buffalo, and alligator—each of which are personally wrestled into submission by the head chef, Rex Shank. Every Sunday, a country breakfast buffet spans the restaurant's event hall with a smorgasbord of skillets and steaks. The steak house also opens its elegant, 50-year-old banquet facility for private events, where parties of up to 50 folks can feast amid gold-stained floors, golden walls, and a sophisticated absence of chimpanzee waiters.

Laguna Cafe's owners, Dan and Debbie, are avid travelers—and were inspired to create a menu that reflected the cuisine in their travels across the country. At the restaurant, patrons will find a large selection of local craft brews and wines, met with delectable entrees such as veal and beef meatloaf, burgers topped with cheese, bacon, and barbecue sauce, and overflowing cobb salads. While dining, they'll also be met with outdoor seating that overlooks a fountain, and live music weekly.