(SpoCOOL) A Spokane Blog

Let's talk Fraiche for a while, because why not? Rex's sister-restaurant offers a French inspired menu, one that's certainly higher end than the neighboring burger joint, and one that does what it does well.

We sampled the snails and bacon appetizer, and very good they were. There wasn't much here to overpower the flavor of the actual snails, thankfully, and the small pieces of bacon played more of a flavor enhancer role than the "two pounds of bacon and three snails" that seems to be oddly common. Snails, when done right, are great both in flavor and texture and they should be celebrated. Thus the Fraiche appetizer was a winner in my book.

The duck followed suit; not much there to overpower the lightly seasoned, crispy meat which was perfectly cooked medium-rare. An accompanying polenta cake flanked the delicate flavor of the duck alongside a serving of asparagus.

This wasn't an oh my god I have never seen anything like it before type of dish. Nor should it have been. It was simply a well-executed duck with well-balanced flavors. Something as simple as that can be complicated to pull off and I am happy whenever it happens.

The sea bass special went over well, too. Again, lightly seasoned, with a very good butternut squash and potato side.

"French" and "French inspired" can mean many things these days, but Fraiche hit the bullseye in terms of what I expect from a more bistro-y restaurant. Anything we tried here was well prepared, and the front-of-house was friendly and professional.

Fraiche is, judging by our first visit, a good restaurant, and we'll definitely will be back.

Clearly this town could use some real coffee shop help. Atticus #1?

Recently you named Atticus the best coffee shop in town, and the reactions weren't all positive. As illustrated by above tweet, some want to see a real coffee bar in town, and by real we mean one run by and for coffee nerds. We like Atticus, and we think we can find good coffee other places, like Lindaman's, but frankly, when we rate Inland Northwest coffee shops, we grade on a bit of a different scale.

Some individual baristi in these parts can make a mean espresso-based drink, but calling Spokane a coffee-town would be a stretch. We have yet to experience anything close to Tim Wendelboe here.

It is, of course, easy to say we'd like world-class coffee, and could somebody please just make that happen, thank you. Executing the idea? That's a bit harder, seeing how many want to get through the coffee shack as quickly as possible to get their sugar with caffeine fix.

A real coffee bar, for us, would in a nutshell constitute a spot where coffee is roasted, and where we'd be willing to wait a bit longer for the coffee to be served as it's brewed with care. That'd also mean 20 oz syrup bombs would be out, and a macchiato would actually be a macchiato. Paper cups would be frowned upon. We'd even be OK with some snobby attitude from the baristi -- that's part of the charm!

Only a few years ago people would scoff at Spokane being a place to find good beer. We think that has changed, and we think it could change for coffee too. But maybe we're just being blindly optimistic here? Do you think Spokane is mature enough for the dawn of a true coffee bar? Tweet us or Google+ us. We are genuinely curious.

You probably didn't know this, but Spokane has its very own Trader Joe's. No! Really! They're right up on the South Hill!

Trader Joe's also sells beer. This might not come as a shock, though you might be surprised to learn that some of the Trader Joe's-branded stuff is pretty good. Their Unibroue-brewed "Vintage '11", for example, is excellent.

Simpler Times Lager is not Trader Joe's-branded, but apparently it's pretty much a Trader Joe's exclusive.

So. To look at the positive aspects, a six-pack will set you back less than $5 and that includes tax. I don't think you could find PBR cheaper than that. In fact, Untappd recommends PBR to anyone who might enjoy Simpler Times Lager.

And what better note to end the positives on.

This is not a very good lager. Granted, I'm not a huge fan of lagers in the first place, but I would never turn down any incarnation of Full Sail's Session.

The main reason I don't like Simpler Times is one that requires minimal scientific insight: The beer tastes like sour apples. I'm not saying that to mock the beer with some crazy hyperbole or anything. It literally tastes like sour apples. You know that fake syrup-y flavor, the one you find in a Jolly Rancher? That's Simpler Times for you.

That might still put it above a PBR or a Budweiser, and that's awesome. Would I drink this again, though? Possibly, if somebody gave me a can at a social function. I don't see a scenario where I'd buy it, however.

Put your ear to the ground -- and these days "ground" means "Twitter" -- and you'll hear a lot of chatter about Manito Tap House. Chatter suggesting inconsistencies everywhere from service to food. This is not an uncommon thing with Spokane restaurants, sadly, and we don't doubt there's a lot of truth to said chatter. We can only judge Manito from our own experiences, however, and those have thankfully been very positive.

The interiors here are inviting; not flashy, but laid back and slick, very much in tune with the "gastropub" vibe Manito set out to create. The only oddity are the benches which are set quite a bit higher than the chairs, making for an odd height dynamic while chatting.

"Gastropub" is also the theme of the menu. Here you find creative takes on more casual dishes, with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients.

We tried the carne adovada during our last visit. This braised pork shoulder came nicely spiced and was perfectly tender. One could probably argue that the tortillas could have been done in-house, but I really don't have any complaints seeing they use De Leon's. The accompanying slaw also gave the dish a nice fresh feel.

The lumpias, too, were good and pretty much what you should expect from egg rolls. These came with duck and shiitake mushrooms, and you could actually taste each individual ingredient. Not too bad, seeing how egg rolls often can be one giant grease-fest. Bonuspoints for having some nice sweet dipping sauces too.

There are many other items worth trying on the menu too -- the mozzarella bruschetta, for example -- many made using various beers.

Which brings us to the beer selection. Fifty taps are impressive, there's no doubt about that, but we previously noted the selection needed something more special. This has now started taking a turn for the better, and you can currently sample great ales like the Abyss and DuganA.

So, the chatter hasn't been all positive, and that's something to make a mental note of. We have not seen much to complain about at Manito. ourselves. (Sure, making people pay $8 for a t-shirt after they've gone through fifty of their beers might seem a bit... tight... but nobody's making you do that anyway.)

We recommend Manito Tap House. Hopefully your experience will be as positive as ours have been.