Restaurants in Hayden

Go Go Burrito fills its kitchen with locally sourced ingredients in order to prepare fresh salsas and sauces daily. The restaurant’s "Build Your Own" entrees can be loaded with beef, chicken, pork, steak, rice, beans, and a variety of vegetables. During the ordering process, customers can opt to top off entrees with one of Go Go's fresh salsas or sauces, such as pesto ranch, chipotle, thai peanut, guacamole, or ghost pepper salsa. Patrons can settle down in Go Go’s brightly painted dining room or pick up orders through the drive-thru window.

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.

The chefs at Pizza Oven hand toss fresh dough to create specialty pizzas available by the slice or whole pie. In addition to creative pies like the Bangkok Bombshell, slathered in thai peanut sauce, chicken, cilantro, and mozzarella, they also make classic bread sticks and garlic bread sticks.

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."

The calligraphy on the cover of Red Dragon Spokane’s menu holds a special place in the hearts of the restaurant’s owners. It was painted by their grandfather John Chan, who founded restaurants in Seattle, Yakima, and Ellensburg in the 1930s and ’40s. John’s crown jewel was Chinese Gardens, a Spokane institution that opened in 1946 and eventually spawned Red Dragon. Chinese Gardens introduced many Spokaners to specialties such as almond chicken, which Chef Bojun Locke and his wife, June, now prepare in Red Dragon’s kitchen. Here, the couple builds appetizer trays, family-style meals, and banquet dinners featuring traditional Chinese fare, such as crab wontons and chow mein. To accommodate patrons with dietary restrictions, they also prepare vegan, low-sodium, and gluten-free dishes. On the second Saturday of each month, the East Diamond location hosts belly-dancing shows that charm and rivet, like a fairy-tale prince turned real-life handyman.

Forty-One South crafts its menu of upscale American cuisine using many locally sourced ingredients. As diners nestle into the scenic lakefront lodge, servers ferry plates of pan-seared duck confit and mesquite-smoked filet mignon to linen-clad tables. Herbs picked from the eatery's onsite garden bolster the flavors of locally sourced game, and the eatery also stocks local coffee and honey procured from the region's wild Pooh bears. A panoramic view of Lake Pend Oreille calms observant diners. On Saturday nights, romantic music fills the dining area, and live music lights up the lounge on Thursday evenings.