(SpoCOOL) A Spokane Blog

Well...

So River City is out there and, presumably, loving it. Which is great. There has been quite a surge of new local breweries as of late, and some, like Iron Goat, have done some pretty excellent stuff.

River City might also be primed for excellence, but their IPA is... not so good. I kind of hate ragging on a local brewery, particularly after trying just one of their beers, but this IPA is not up to snuff.

It looks fine and all, decent retention, and there's just a bit of caramel on the nose. That, sadly, is as complimentary as I can be.

Nothing is going on here flavor wise, and the mouthfeel is completely off. I mean, really, this tastes and feels more like a watered down pilsner than an IPA. I could not pick up on any caramel, hops or... anything. And that's about all there is to it. All, in this case, being preciously little.

I really did want to like the IPA, just like I want to like any local beer, but this didn't do it for me. As far as River City goes, I have fond memories of their old incarnation's vanilla bourbon stout, and I look forward to seeing that again.

The IPA, meanwhile, is something I just want to forget. Hopefully River City's other brews will help me do just that.

Friends and foes will undoubtedly remember this...

Patrick started the $100 Mac & Cheese Challenge with a confidence rarely seen outside Donald Trump's Twitter account, and we applaud him for it.

This time we hit Downriver Grill to try their butternut squash mac and cheese gratin during what some might call the blue hair hour. And, let me digress here: Why wouldn't you eat an early dinner? What's this obsession with being all Spanish and eat dinner at 10 p.m.? Seriously. The blue hairs have this figured out, damn it.

Tirade aside...

This mac and cheese is more in line with the more traditional style seen at Saranac, but with a couple of twists thrown in for good measure. First, the butternut squash, the Spokane standby, gives the dish a creamy texture, and adds just a bit of sweetness to the palette.

Then you have the crispy prosciutto and breadcrumb serving well as a contrast to the creaminess, even though they probably don't really add too much to the flavor.

The parmesan topping finishes it all out well, and really, other than some slightly overcooked noodles, there's little to complain about there. Overall it is a mac and cheese I'd eat again.

Is it enough to top the $100 Mac & Cheese Challenge though? That is up to you to decide, but we think it might place well with those who like more of a traditional mac and cheese.

Props to @truxtonite for pointing out the (in retrospect rather obvious) parallel:

The owner of three Flamin' Joe's has, apparently, been raided after being suspected of participating in a drug ring. Yes, that Flamin' Joe's, well known for their rather tasty hot wings. The similarity between this and Breaking Bad's Gus Fring's Los Pollos Hermanos is pretty staggering.

Completely unrelated, it's March 1st (I know, right?!) and it's Friday, which means it's First Friday. Sante is running a pretty cool looking four course meal today, which, for $50, includes fried frog legs, pork tenderloin, and sweet potato ice cream. Add 30% off wine by the bottle, and you got yourself a good deal.

Finally, if you want to support a good cause, one time #SpoBREW winner (and one time loser, but let's not rub that in) Brad, is pimping out a silent auction supporting a high school house building trip to Tijuana. Show up and bid like crazy, this Sunday, 11am, First Presbyterian downtown.

Sometimes we like to try weird and, sometimes, wonderful things. When we heard Costco had a take and bake deep dish pizza, we found the idea to fit well enough in the "weird" category. "Wonderful" though? Well...

Let's just skip any kind of analysis. This pizza can not be classified as "wonderful" or even "could be worse". I mean, really, it's kind of hard to mess one of these things up -- for heaven's sake, even an average pizza is acceptable -- but Costco managed to do so just fine.

Don't get me wrong, the pizza is deep. They managed that part. But when cooked, and we followed the instructions to a T, the pizza turns into something more similar to a thick stew. One could argue a deep dish pizza should be a bit messy, and that's probably true. This, however, went above and beyond.

First, the actual bottom of the crust could not withstand the amount of cheese -- and there was a lot -- piled on it. By the time the pizza was done, the cheese had soaked through the bottom, pretty much making a circle-crust surrounding the cheese inside. Try cutting out a slice of that...

Second, the toppings, sausage and pepperoni. I don't know if this is how it works at Costco, but they all had an unpleasant metallic taste. It was kind of like eating tinfoil.

Eat a slice-ish (or a bowl of whatever you'd call it) and you will be, if nothing else, pretty dang full, though even a meatza is about infinitely more satisfying. 

Sometimes we like to try weird things, and we usually shut up about it if it's not wonderful. The Costco deep dish pizza is just so awful -- and OK, that might not be too shocking -- we can't stop ourselves from warning you about it. We're still feeling vaguely sick...