A link to the Inlander's Best of... because why the hell not?
In case you didn't catch it earlier, Veraci will be hitting the Hop Shop this Saturday, serving up a Pollo e Asiago and the Primavera.
The Spokesman has an excellent map of the I-1183 transition. Figure out how far you'll have to walk to find booze! (Answer: Not far, apparently.) The Liquor License Stalker will always keep you up to date too.
And a link to our last Best of... which conspicuously lacks Clinkerdagger.
So this is a homerun of a beer for Elysian, one you apparently can find on tap at Manito right now. And do check it out; the Rapture Heather really is a great ale.
It pours a lightly hazy orange with about a finger's worth of foamy head. Give it a whiff, and hints of floraly hops hit upfront, flanked by orange. The nose is in itself really quite refreshing, and a good indicator of what to expect flavor wise.
Taste it, and you'll likely find it very pleasant and drinkable. (Unless you're an awful, awful person.) The sweetness and floral notes are feminine, but the bitterness toward the back should make even the most manly man feel secure. Somewhere in between you'll find the citrus too, and even a bit of caramel-like maltiness.
This is one of those ales anyone can enjoy. At 7% ABV it's a wee bit too heavy to be a session beer, but a pint of it is refreshing. It's not a spring ale per se -- it's part of Elysian's 12 Beers of the Apocalypse series -- but still tastes spring-y to me.
The Rapture is an excellent ale. You probably should check it out.
Restaurants – Spokane –
Here's a restaurant some have compared favorably to Vien Dong, a restaurant many in town seem to love. We just kinda liked the spot, though apparently liked it enough to make the trek to the Valley for a meal at Three Sisters.
And Three Sisters... Well, it's good. Good, but not spectacular, and I'm not foreseeing us heading there again anytime soon. It's worth checking out if you find yourself in the Valley, craving some Vietnamese and/or Chinese cooking, but probably not something to plan an outing for.
I like a good bun -- rice vermicelli -- and sampled a bowl with beef and chili peppers. Credit where credit is due, the three star dish was fairly spicy and had a decent flavor of what we believe was rose water.
That's all well and good, but is there anything to really put this bun above the many other average-to-good equivalents around town? Not really. There's nothing wrong with Three Sisters's bun, yet there's nothing to make it distinguishable from the same ol'.
The same can be said about their beef and broccoli dish. There was beef. There was broccoli. There was a sauce. The dish was perfectly fine, but memorable? Not so much.
In that sense, Three Sisters is worth a visit or two if you live close by. They serve perfectly good food at perfectly reasonable prices. Is it worth the drive from elsewhere in town? Not really. Consider it the Vien Dong of the east side. That, in itself, is not a bad thing.
Restaurants – Spokane –
(As the result of a long, long, long Twitter debate on blogs's restaurant write-ups, we are looking at doing some things differently here at the ol' SpoCOOL. First step: Taking another look at certain spots we have visited earlier.)
So here is a spot that gradually has improved since it first opened, and has turned into a place we have in our regular rotation. In our opinion, Saranac has gone from good to excellent, and, equally important, is showing a good level of consistency. How very un-Spokane.
During our last visit we sampled the St Patrick's Day specials, and particularly the bangers and mash went over well. In fact, one of Saranac's staples is sausages, which always have a signature flavor base to them.
Yet here it was the gravy that really made the dish stand out. Make a good, classic gravy, and I am sold. This gravy was flavorful and very very rich. A perfect compliment to the sausages.
The shepherd's pie, too, was of high quality. The ground lamb was well seasoned, and, frankly, it's hard to go wrong with anything topped with a crust of mashed potatoes.
Prices here are fair, and pretty much what one would expect from a "gastropub".
Also, while there aren't too many taps, the beer selection has improved quite a bit. The Elysian Rapture was on during our last visit, and it's pretty damn tasty. And you can, of course, follow Saranac on Taplister, to stay up to date with their selection
Most everything has improved at Saranac since our last write-up; even the interiors are more inviting. We highly recommend stopping by.
Our first visit was positive, and things are still looking good at Saranac. Literally, really, as the interiors in all their simplicity are welcoming, and as far a public house goes, Saranac does what it's supposed to; it's comfortable and unpretentious without sacrificing quality.
The food is good, and particularly the soups have been hits. Their lentil, for example, is thick and with the right depth of flavor and spices. Their pulled pork sandwich, too, is good, though the mustard flavor of the slaw didn't quite do it for me. Bonus points for use of proper buns, however.
I would like to see a couple of taps here dedicated to something a bit outside the ordinary, but that's not to say the selection is bad. Plus, there are always cans to choose from. During our first visit we got those served without glasses, which was odd, but that seems to have changed now.
In fact, the service in general is quick and friendly here. None of the I-am-better-than-thou certain other public houses in town are famous for.
Hell, we're fans of the Saranac. Spokane is a town where vaguely upscale takes on casual dining should succeed, and hopefully we'll see Saranac flourish. This is a good place for a quick bite and a beer.
Check it out if you haven't already.
