Thoughts for March
March is all about expectation. Thoughts are drawn out into the weeks ahead, the warmer days, the radishes, English peas, the cherries. There is also much serious thought about how the restaurant will...
View ArticleFood Identity, Spokane
Last weekend was the 6th annual Chef’s Retreat at Quillisascut Farm. Thinking about the conversations from 6 years ago provides ample evidence that food in Spokane has changed in remarkable ways. One...
View ArticleQuillisascut Farm
Vendors is a funny word. I guess that I would get more interest if I said “farmers” but then that is not always an accurate term either. Partners is a word that sometimes makes sense and in the case of...
View ArticleFull Bushel Farm
This is only the second year that Dan and Lauri Sproule have been farming in this area but they are already one of my favorite providers. Two of the products that are under represented in the...
View ArticleBloomsday and Mother’s Day
The first year is all about learning. We are about to learn what two big events have in store for us. Bloomsday is a massive community event that we happen to be stuck inside of. Automobile access...
View ArticleBooks, Barbecue and Self Discovery
Later today a custom smoker will finish it’s journey from Centerville, Georgia to Central Food. Toys are great and I won’t argue that this is a big boy toy in many ways but it is more importantly a...
View ArticleKetchup Conundrum
A couple of weeks after opening our doors, a Spokesman-Review blogger wrote about an enjoyable breakfast he had at the restaurant. The praise was diminished somewhat by a lengthy rant about the coffee...
View ArticleFood For Your Ears
Food is tied to music in so many ways it is beyond the need to explain the relationship. The relationship is stronger than ever but it is definitely changing. The days of listening to the classic rock...
View ArticleCentral Scrutinizer July Edition
100th Tour De France We are wheeling out the TV to watch the biggest bicycle event of the year. The live broadcasts of the end of the race starts most days at 7:00 a.m. and then at about 8:00 a.m....
View ArticleFinn River Farm Cidery
For all of the excitement in American food today, I think that the growth and creativity in the beverage market is where the greatest advances have come. Much has been said about the rise of craft...
View ArticleEstella Farm
Usually when I visit a farm I expect to see things growing. My recent visit to Estella Farms was more about the future growth of the farm itself. Local businessman John Crow has land in Deer Park that...
View ArticleMilk Crate Garden
This summer we have been doing a lot of thinking about how to green up our space. Gardening is part of my blood and it has been a hard thing to realize that this year I wouldn’t have the time to commit...
View ArticleShepherd’s Grain
Shepherd’s Grain is a collective of 30 farmer’s that utilize a remarkable no-till method of wheat production to produce the best flour I have worked with. My opinion of Shepherd’s Grain is shared by...
View ArticleLima Greenhouses
Last week I visited the Lima Greenhouses in Vinegar Flats. This is a third generation business run by the Taylor family located along Latah Creek just down the hill from downtown. They have...
View ArticleOne Year
A year ago this week we were bleary eyed with an endless To-Do list. We were just weeks away from opening the restaurant and drowning in questions that had no answers- just guesses. One year later,...
View ArticleHannah the Baker
Before there was Central Food, there was an idea that I wanted to build a restaurant around bread. Lots of things are required to do it right: the oven, enough space, a menu that could utilize the...
View ArticleCentral Food is People: Bambi
During this last year, the sun that our morning crew revolves around has been Bambi. I don’t know of anyone who is happier at 6:00 a.m. than Bambi. She broadcasts joy every minute of every day. Fun...
View ArticleCentral Food is People: Kris
I couldn’t resist using this picture of Kris chopping wood during last fall’s trip to Quillisascut Farm not because he is Canadian and we all enjoyed how gleeful he was at the chance to swing an axe...
View ArticleCentral Food is People: Irina
Hannah calls Irina “accidentally fabulous” because of her effortless style. I call her simply “the best” because of all the people I have worked on the line with, Irina is the person I like working...
View ArticlePalouse Pastured Poultry
Every Tuesday morning Emmy Widman calls me from Rosalia to get our chicken order. During the next 24 hours they select birds that fit our size request, process them in a certified organic facility and...
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