I never personally made my way into the original Geno's, this because reliable sources told stories of dark, drab, depressing settings and equally dark, drab, depressing food.
Geno's has, of course, been taken over by the Zola-team, and the spot has appropriately been changed up and Zola-ised. It's somewhat surprising they decided to keep the "Geno's" name, but that's about the only thing that has remained the same.
The interiors can only be described as pretty damn cool. It's like a lounge mixed with an abandoned circus. We use "Lynchian" to describe many things -- too many, really -- here in Spokane, but this spot truly could have been picked straight out from Inland Empire.
As for the food, it seemed good. I say "seemed" as I had been competing in SpiceaWAR a few hours before checking the spot out -- it's how I roll -- and my taste buds might have been somewhat numb. We tried the wild mushroom pizza, and while the crust won't have Veraci running back to rethink its methods, we did quite enjoy what Geno's did with their imported New York Lamonica's dough. The toppings, too, were nice and fresh.
The caprese salad hit home well, as far as the freshness goes. Good mozzarella; good balsamic vinegar; lettuce on the side. It's hard to make a downright bad caprese salad, but even harder to make a good one, and thus I think Geno's deserves kudos for falling in the latter category. Good ingredients, not surprisingly, go a long way.
I didn't go through their beer selection, but as they had Pipeline Porter on tap -- one I enjoy quite a bit -- it seems like they have their selection down pretty well.
Geno's, then, is pretty promising. It follows the latest Spokane trend of providing casually upscale casual food at affordable prices. We'll be back, definitely.
Well. Wow. That was something, wasn't it? We aimed to create a spectacle, and that we achieved, with crazy spicy food, a crowd that seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show, TV coverage (what the hell?), and a fight to the almost literal death. What was not to love? And the Blue Spark was as awesome of a venue as anyone could have asked for!
Now, the food was something special this time around. Pretty much every dish was both tasty and spicy, and by the sounds of it the audience favorites were the Monterey pizza, the Savor Sweet suckers, Saranac's sausages, and Brain Freeze's mango habanero ice cream.
In fact, if you want to taste the latter, you can run down to Saranac right now and ask them for the "secret SpiceaWAR dessert"! It includes the ice cream and Savor Sweets unbelievably hot ghost pepper suckers, both which are awesome. And the $5 supports the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!
A special shout out has to go to Rex's Burgers and Brews who 100% fulfilled their promise of making the spiciest wings known to man. Truly. I rarely have issues with hot wings, but these ones almost sent me to the bathroom. Much much respect! (Their regular wings, by the way, are not that insane, so go check 'em out.)
As for the final standings, it was a race to the finish, with only one warrior standing by himself on top. Worth noting is that one representative from each Spiceavore team placed in the top three:
Chris (770 points): Folklore has it that Chris will devour anything you put in front of him. This, as it turns out, was entirely true and Chris's commanding lead persisted throughout the game. A deserving victory for Chris, who gave it all! Puke status: Occurred at 10pm the same night.
Remi (650 points): Yours truly danced with the devil and was the only true challenger to Chris, but a weak finish in the trivia round contributed to my downfall. Puke status: Negative. People who puke, pft, seriously.
KC (410 points): A surprise last second entry from last year's Spiceavore Blue Spark team, KC made a blazing comeback, one no-one had expected. Puke status: Unknown.
Bart (400 points): Bart was close. So so close. Then, seconds before the start of the last round, he had to toss the towel in and cry uncle. There are incriminating photos of him curled up in pain in the bathroom, but we'll save him the embarrassment of showing those. (This is a family site after all.) Suffices to say, he had to give in, and the last round was only played by three contestants. Puke status: Very positive.
Lars (300 points): The chicken suit gave him power, but, alas, he couldn't finish quite in the top ratings this time. Puke status: Unknown.
Seen (300 points): He skipped the kilt, the source of his powers, and could not make it to the top this time. Puke status: Positive.
Patrick (210 points): A strong opening gave way to a few middle of the pack placements, and Patrick couldn't live up to his international reputation this time. Puke status: Positive.
Brett (110 points): The highest placing non-Spiceavore contestant, Brett tried, but sadly not hard enough. Puke status: Unknown.
Mark (100 points): He kept his form up well until the insanely hot wings ended up being too much and he had to bow out in the middle of the round. Puke status: Unknown.
Liz (80 points): Our one female contestant, Liz gave a valiant effort, but had the severe disadvantage of having two extra challenges from the Wheel of Misfortune to go through. And those challenges didn't give points. Puke status: Unknown.
Adam (40 points): He tossed in the towel after the first round. This makes him the smartest person in this contest. Puke status: Unknown.
Want more? We'll have a post of the full score board and photos later in the week, showing off some of the madness captured by Team Rawr! Stay tuned for that.
As far as spicy food contests go, this third one will be our last and it couldn't have been a better event. Our thanks go to: Blue Spark, Savor Sweets, Big Sky Brewing Co., DJ Josh, Doma Coffee Roasting Company, Saranac Public House, Soulful Soups and Spirits, Brain Freeze Creamery, Fremont Brewing, Monterey Cafe, Pyramid Brewing, Red Bull, Red Couch Bistro, Rex's Burgers and Brews, Judge Ryan, LK Studios, Team Rawr Photography, Tacos Tumbras, Juan the MC, and Spike's Phillys. Particularly huge thanks to Patrick and Chris for really being the ones to make this happen.
So, it's really happening. Tomorrow, 3pm at the Blue Spark, you'll see Spokane's best-ish and brightest-ish give it all to conqueor SpiceaWAR. Oh, it won't be pretty, but that's how you like it, isn't it? You feed on failure!
And as for the challenges, they are listed below, though they are not 100% fleshed out yet. Get to the event to witness the real deal and a few surprises! (There's a scoring system in place too, but it's... complicated... and still in its final stages.)
Speed Trial: The players will wolf down a spicy Philly cheesesteak.
Bonus Round 1: Eat insanely hot Peeps for extra points.
Trivia Round: With a ghost pepper sucker in mouth, the warriors will have to answer trivia questions. Don't know the answer? Get ready to eat the Ring of Fire pizza.
Bonus Round 2: Spicy jell-o shots for extra points.
Buffalo Pong: We split into teams, competing in the time honored tradition of beer pong, minus the beer, plus hot wings.
Bonus Round 3: Apple cider vinegar shots for extra points.
Hot Sauce Pudding Balloons: This is something Chris Dreyer came up with, inspired by a Christina Ricci movie (possibly Now and Then). Here we have to fill balloons with spicy pudding using our mouths. The heaviest balloon wins.
The Last Supper: A five course meal consisting of Bloody Mary, spicy cupcakes, chili, sausage w/picked egg and habanero relish, and a spicy ice cream with a side of coffee.
(Poster designed by Chris "Chris Dreyer" Dreyer of Dreyer Press.)
A bunch of stuff will go down during SpiceaWAR -- Blue Spark, Saturday, 3pm, yada yada yada, Facebook invite -- and we're not just talking thirteen insane people stuffing their faces with insanely hot food. No, this is an event where everybody -- you! -- will benefit, and here are just some of the things you can look forward to:
Tacos Tumbras! Our favorite taco truck will be at hand, serving up great Mexican food.
LK Studios will be selling their 6pack Saddlebag, so if you for whatever reason haven't picked one up yet, now's your chance.
Savor Sweets will have some special ghost pepper suckers on sale, most a bit milder than the crazy ones you'll see in the contest. (This is probably a very good thing!)
Some of the dishes will be available for public sampling with a donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
The event will be MCed by DJ Juan and judged by Judge Ryan! Photos will be taken by the famed Team RAWR Photography.
This is of course all going down at Blue Spark, which has more great beer on tap than most any other spot in Spokane. You like beer don't you? Of course you do!
Our thanks to all those helping us out with SpiceaWAR, particularly Patrick O'Halloran and Chris Dreyer who both have gone above and beyond to make this happen!
Dishes, prizes, and more are provided by these awesomely awesome folks: Brain Freeze Creamery, Big Sky Brewing Company, DOMA, Fremont Brewing, Monterey Cafe, Pyramid Brewing, Red Bull, Red Couch Bistro, Rex's Burgers and Brews, Saranac Public House, Spike's Phillys, and Soulful Soups and Spirits Lounge.
