Santé Restaurant and Charcuterie

This is not only one of the best restaurants in downtown Spokane, but one of the best restaurants in the whole state. Santé, located in downtown’s Auntie's Bookstore building, focuses on whole-animal butchery and local ingredients. It also has one of the best charcuterie menus around (smoked blackberry salmon with Nordic rugbrød, for instance).

 

Santé is owned by Chef Jeremy Hansen, who trained under a Michelin Star chef in New York before opening Santé in 2008. Since then, Hansen has received numerous accolades, including a nomination for Best Chef: Northwest by the James Beard Foundation.

 

Scratch Restaurant

The chefs at this Davenport District restaurant, located in the same refurbished brick building as the Montvale Hotel, pepper their contemporary scratch-made dishes with local, seasonal ingredients. They smoke chicken breasts and pair them with fried sage, seasonal roasted veggies, and a housemade barbecue sauce. And they prepare grilled racks of lamb with cinnamon-infused honey, candied bacon, and a rosemary demi-glace. To complement the meal, Scratch offers wines from Washington and California pulled from a rack nestled against an exposed-brick wall.

Quick Tips for Taking an Appetizing Pic of Your Food

We’re willing to bet that the most Instagrammed item is food (followed closely by adorable pets). And yet, it’s extremely hard to take a picture of food that actually looks good. According to Tulsa chef Roque Heidler, The Chalkboard’s plating and Instagram expert, there are a few things you can do to ensure you get an appetizing photo:

 

1. If possible, use natural lighting. It’s the most flattering for food (and friends, if you’re including them in the picture).
2. Position your plate on a neutral background. Chef Heidler believes anything shot on black or white will add another visual element to your image.
3. Play around with your angles. “Take a step around, even if it’s like, I don’t know, 6 inches from where you were just at. You might capture a cooler way.”

Clover If you’re a Gonzaga student and your parents are in town for, say, graduation, or a simple wellness check, you’re going to want to have them take you to Clover. This high-end restaurant serves up locally inspired dishes in a converted home in the Logan District. We’re partial to the chili-oil-drizzled kurobuta pork tenderloin, complete with pasilla-corn fritters, a sweet potato puree, a blackberry-tomatillo salsa, and sunflower brittle. But test your parents’ love by ordering the superb block-cut new york strip. And if you’re of age, don’t miss out on one of Clover’s cocktails. There’s a reason Food & Wine magazine named Clover one of the best bars in the country a few years ago. Wild Sage Bistro Another top downtown Spokane restaurant, Wild Sage has won multiple awards for its cuisine utilizing locally sourced ingredients. The chefs here pride themselves on their creativity, as they have to work within the limits of what’s in season at their partner local gardens and farms. They also work with local beef and fish purveyors to ensure their food is as fresh as it can be. Naturally, the menu changes frequently, but locals especially love going here for special nights out.

Taco Del Mar

Sure, Taco Del Mar is a chain, but at least it’s a chain that started in the state. In 1992, Taco Del Mar’s founders opened their first location in Seattle after spending years surfing California's coastline. During this time, they ate as many fish tacos and stuffed burritos as they could, eventually developing a bottomless appetite for the local specialty. A favorite fish taco featured fried fish, shredded cabbage, lime juice, salsa, and a mystery white sauce. They loved it so much that they decided to make it their signature menu item when they opened Taco Del Mar.

 

Since its founding, Taco Del Mar has opened in more than 20 states and Canada. The Spokane outpost is always buzzing with people who love the coastal Mexican eats.

Smacky’s on Broadway

If you’re looking for one of the better Spokane Valley restaurants, you can’t go wrong with Smacky’s. It’s one of the finest sandwich shops in the Northwest, so naturally, you can find some pretty stellar creations you won’t see elsewhere. There’s the spicy Hawaiian melt, for instance, a gooey mess of ham, pepperjack cheese, grilled pineapple, tomato, and brown-sugar chipotle mayo. We also like the turkey, bacon, pesto wrap with pesto-studded cream cheese and the ultimate grilled BLT panini enhanced with avocado and cheddar.

What Exactly Does the Impossible Burger Taste Like?

At this point, you’ve most likely heard of the Impossible Burger, the meat-less patty that claims to convincingly mimic the flavor, smell, and texture of a beef patty. It even "bleeds" like a real beef burger due to its so-called magic ingredient, heme.

 

But what does it taste like? This is how two of our editors described it:  

 

Colleen: “[My mom and I] thought the Impossible Burger was pretty tasty. We actually agreed that if someone had served it to us without telling us what it was, we probably would have thought it was a beef burger, albeit one that tasted a little different than normal. But we would have just chalked it up to some strange spice or topping.”

 

Andy: “I'd say that of all of the burger substitutes out there, the Impossible Burger looks the most like a real burger, which is more important than you might think. . . . I had mixed opinions eating it. While it does a pretty good job of mimicking the texture of meat, I didn't think it tasted very much like a real beef patty.”

 

Still, they both agreed that they would try it again to see how it held up with different toppings.

Find it in Spokane at Cascadia Public House.