(SpoCOOL) A Spokane Blog

So, here we are again. Another year, another Inlander poll, another rant of frustration from us, and... What happened here? I mean, really? Were the votes cast erroneously? Has Spokane become so detached they have started voting with a smirk of irony? Were there printing errors? Was this a fake list with the intention of riling us up? Will the actual list be printed next week?

Many questions, in other words, and we can realistically only assume the voters are in need of some sense of direction. You know, getting back on the righteous path. And we believe you can help them. In fact, you already have.

We took a look at spots you voted for in our Best of '12, as well as your current scores, and compared them to some of the more egregious choices in the Inlander poll.

Best Pizza: They said Pizza Rita; you said Veraci

Fair is fair, and the more level headed voters did go for Flying Goat, Bennidito's, and South Perry, but who looks at the runner-ups? Nobody, and therefore it is a crime against humanity to see Pizza Rita top this. Go with one of the runner-ups if you want a good pizza, but if you want great pizza: Veraci it is.

Best Mexican: They said Azteca; you said De Leon

Or Guerrero. Or Tumbras. You sure didn't say Azteca, Rancho Chico, or Casa De Oro though, and bless you for that.

Best Breakfast: They said Frank's Diner; you said Italia Trattoria

Spokane really needs to learn that a train car does not improve the quality of what they're served. Italia Trattoria might be located in a boring, old building, but their breakfast is awesome.

Best Italian: They said -- I kid you not -- Tomato Street; you said Italia Trattoria

Good grief...

Best Local Drive-Thru Espresso: They said Dutch Bros.; you said "get out of the car"

Wow. One thing is Dutch Bros itself, which is... Well, Dutch Bros, but wasn't this supposed to be local? Of the many places in town that serve good coffee -- granted, you'll have to get out of the car -- the recommendations tend to fall on Coeur, Revel 77, and Indaba. (This goes for "Best Local Coffee Shop" too.)

Best Fine Dining: They said "we don't really like food"; you said Sante

Clinkerdagger? Oi... Sante is just one actual alternative (of an almost infinite amount) better places, of course. You have the Wild Sages and Italia Trattorias and Clovers and... Well you get the picture. Life is too short for Clinkerdagger.

We could go on and vent about this, but really... What is the point? I guess, more than anything, it's good to be reminded that those who vote in the Inlander polls of the world represent only one portion of Spokane. And that is OK; at least they care enough to complete the ballot.

But. We do reserve the right to be annoyed with the results. And we do reserve the right to remember the many people in our area with excellent tastw who don't vote in these polls. Some of them even take the time to vote in our Best of's -- this year we'll be drilling down in the details, so make sure to keep up with the local scene -- and posts. Thanks to those who do, as you make us believe in humanity.

The introduction really isn't necessary anymore, I suppose, but for the benefit of those who might need a reminder...

We're not sure if this $100 promise really is in effect anymore -- Donald Trump probably would claim it is -- but this is an honorable mission to undertake anyway. The world needs to know.

The Elk's offering is, in theory, a bit different than some of the other mac and cheeses we've tried, but then again, so is the Elk. This is the spot that has advertised through the wedonthaveone.com domain since '02, which makes them, what? Pre-hipsters?

Their mac and cheese has a similarly creativity behind it being called "cheese and macaroni". Irish Cheese & Macaroni at that, and it's only on the menu this week, presumably in celebration of St Patrick's Day.

It's kind of beyond me how Irish it actually is, though I'm guessing the abundance of Irish cheeses make it what it is. Flavor wise I wouldn't say it's particularly different from the more traditional mac and cheeses we've tried, but that's not to say this isn't good. Because it is. Good.

So, the cheeses. There are a lot of them, including a Dubliner, a porter based Cahill, as well as the more traditional Swiss. In other words, it is both a cheesy and creamy dish.

We do enjoy the smaller macaroni noodles the Elk uses, and they are nicely cooked here. Not mushy, and though they aren't entirely al dente, they still have a decent bite to them.

Topped with a smattering of bread crumbs, I'd say this is a very pleasant mac and cheese. Or cheese and mac. Either way, it was very Elk-y. You know, following that traditional Elk style of flavors.

Is the Irish Cheese & Macaroni a winner in the challenge? Well, that's up to you decide, and you'll have to decide quickly -- the dish will be gone for a year by the end of the week.

And hey, you really can make your voice be heard, what with the voting system and all. Heck, you can even go back and rate the other mac and cheeses. 

That's right, SpoCOOL [whatever version] is here, and this is one we've... Well, we haven't actually slaved over it, but rather been lazy and taken way to long to get it done. But whatever, it is here, and we have included a feature where you can rate restaurants, libations, and so forth. How well does it work? We don't know! Because we haven't really tested it that well, and this is us being all Google about it, calling it a "live beta". We're (kinda) sure it'll work though.

How do you do this. Pretty simple: Click the little person icon on the right (or top if you're on your phone) and log in with either Facebook or Twitter. Then under the "Vote" section of the post you click either ":-)" or ":-(" depending on how you feel about the restaurant or beer or whatever. The "Total" will, not surprisingly, show what the majority has voted.

"But I don't want to browse through all the posts to rate stuff!", you might say. And fair enough. Just go to the Restaurant Review section and vote away, without ever having to look at the actual post. We'll have a libations list soon.

Other questions you might ask...

Why does everything look so big? There are plenty of reasons, one of them being the increasing use of phones and tablets, a usage heading toward the majority of hits. Bigger tap areas and text makes sense for those kind of devices. (There's also things like accessibility -- many of us aren't getting any younger -- but we'll leave that for another day.) It might seem a bit different at first, but we're sure you'll get used to it.

We've added some keyboard navigation should you still be using a computer, mind you. Press "Escape" to bring up the main menu. "." lets you navigate between posts on a page. The arrow keys let you jump back and forth between pages. Or you can just do it all on the bottom of the page.

Browser compatibility -- we've kinda ignored old browsers like Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 3.x. I mean, get with the times. Should you experience any problems, you can always email us at team@spocool.com, and let us know what's up, preferably with a descriptive screenshot. And as there are a million different phones out there, we've only tested this on iPhones running the latest version of iOS. It all should work with WebKit browser, so newer Android phones should be OK too.

And blah, blah, blah. The TL;DR version: You can vote on things; there might be some occasional bugs; certain features are work in progress. That's about it, so go knock yourself out voting.

A year ago, we posted an entry called "The worst taco you will ever eat, ever. Ever. No, really, ever." Not surprisingly, this post, nay, tome, was all about Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Tacos, a taco every bit as awful as it sounds. Yes, bad enough to be the worst taco we ever had. Ever.

Taco Bell, however, is not content resting on its laurels. Taking the concept one step further, they have now introduced -- I kid you not -- the Cool Ranch Doritos Loco Taco. (Add ®'s in appropriate spots.)

This is, of course, exactly what you think it is. The same taco from last year, but this time they've swapped the ordinary Doritos -- how gauche where they?! -- for the more sophisticated Cool Ranch Doritos.

Let's be clear about this though: Everything that was wrong with the previous incarnation remains the same here. This tastes pretty much like a regular Taco Bell taco dipped in Cool Ranch powder. It's pretty grotesque.

More interesting, at least to my inquisitive nature, is reading Taco Bell's description: "A crunchy taco made with premium seasoned beef, crisp lettuce, and real cheddar cheese, in a shell made from Cool Ranch® Doritos® Chips."

Let's pick that apart:

The taco is not crunchy. How could it be? They have the tacos pre-made, sitting out, waiting to be tossed at you in the drive-through window.

"Premium seasoned beef"? Taco Bell was actually sued for not serving real meat from real animals. Granted, they came out victoriously, but the fact they had to go to court in the first place... Also, seasoned seems to be a bit of a hyperbole.

Lettuce? Not crisp (I mean, come on!); cheddar is probably real, but what would constitute a fake cheddar? I can't prove the shell was not made with Cool Ranch® Doritos® Chips, so I'll give them that one. I maintain it's just a regular shell dipped in a powder though.

A more honest description, then, would read: "A limp taco made with a plain beef-like-ish substance, wilted lettuce, and probably real cheddar cheese, in a shell allegedly made from Cool Ranch® Doritos® Chips."

Do try the taco though. Ranting and raving about it makes it all worthwhile.