(SpoCOOL) A Spokane Blog

De Leon... We'd kind of forgotten about the old standby of Mexican food, but it is, of course, still there. Right up on the Northside, proudly located in an anonymous strip mall.

Some rather high profile names have left the spot, but De Leon is still definitely good. Maybe not the temple of awesomeness it once was, but always worth the trip.

Their breakfast huevos ranchero is what they've always been: Wonderfully flavorful, served in a perfectly spiced salsa, with De Leon's classic tortillas. For dinner, look for the mole poblano, now, apparently, a staple dish. A spicy sauce with hints of chocolate, served over tender chicken. It is really, really tasty.

I could go on about the carnitas and carne asada and... Well, you know it all. And therein lies the problem, of sorts. De Leon used to always have some crazy good specials on the menu. Always something different, and always well prepared. That isn't really the case anymore. Oh, they have well prepared specials, but it wasn't what it once was. It isn't that special, but more in line with what you would see at any other good Mexican place in Spokane.

Of course, that might be part of it. We have a lot more truly excellent Mexican places these days. Being just good, even very good, might not be quite enough anymore.

Don't get us wrong, we still love De Leon. The food is excellent, but the spot might just not be as special as it once was.

Original June 15th, 2010 review

So let's just get it out of the way. Our opinion about De Leon. I might not be religious, but if there is a heaven, I imagine De Leon's deli would be pretty close to what it'd be like. 

Be it their crazy good guisados or just the tortillas, you truly can't go wrong here. You know this, of course, because you've visited either their north or downtown location more times than you can count. If you haven't, you're dead to me. In fact, if you haven't, you've never really lived. Go grab their brisket and beans -- Friday special downtown -- and you will get it. It's love for the mouth and stomach.

And of course, it's when you get the rare specials that you really live. The huevos rancheros, last seen during the Mexico World Cup game downtown, is a good example. A special spicy salsa and beans with chorizo. It's an epiphany and it should be embraced.

I maintain the market part of El Mercado del Pueblo is marginally better than De Leon, but as far as the deli goes, nothing in town beats De Leon. It rivals the best Mexican food I've had anywhere else for that matter.

De Leon = awesome and a half. But again, you already knew that.

Chocolate: We like it, you like it, and those who don't like it are no friend of ours or yours. Or so we assume. Anyway!

We enjoy Chuao's products quite a bit -- find them at Chocolate Apothecary --  and their Honeycomb Bar is up there with some of the better bars we've tried as of late.

This one comes exactly as advertised -- a simple combination of dark chocolate with nibs of honeycomb in it. We couldn't find the cacao percentage on the package, but would guess it was around 60-65%. As with Chuao's other bars, the chocolate has a nice creamy texture to it, more so than what we're used to from most dark chocolates.

But, the caramelized honey is really what this bar is all about. Texture wise the bits aren't too dissimilar to toffee, but with that luscious -- their word, and an appropriate one at that -- sweetness you get from honeycomb. The combination of the chocolate and honey really is decadent, and half a bar should probably be more than enough to satisfy your cravings.

Grab a coffee stout or porter with a good backbone, pair it with the Honeycomb Bar, and you'll really feel what living is like. 

As a layer of smoke slowly covers Washington, it felt somewhat appropriate to try a hemp seed based beer. Uinita has released just that, the appropriately titled Dubhe.

This is an imperial black IPA, weighing in at a hefty 9.2% ABV. Many have, for unknown reasons, called it an exceptional beer. I don't get it. To me this is the beer equivalent of UB40: somewhat bland, but pleasant enough.

It pours a dark brown, borderline black, color with just a finger or so of a semi-tan head. Pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a black IPA.

Hops dominate the nose, well flanked by malts. This is also where you'll kind of notice the hemp seeds, or so I assume. I'm not a hemp expert, but there is a scent kind of tying the hops and malts together. I wouldn't say it's a pleasant small, but there you go.

Flavor wise... I don't know, there's nothing here that'll blow your mind. I mean, apparently it does blow some people's minds, but what do they really know? The hops are sort of there, though not quite where I'd expect an imperial IPA to be. The maltiness comes through well enough, but I'll be damned if I can pick up on anything weird or wonderful added by the hemp. Maybe it helps accentuate the not-so-unpleasant citric finish, I don't know. 

It's not that Dubhe -- say it out loud, and feel free to snicker -- is a bad beer, it's just duller than an imperial black IPA should be. There's not too much going on here, and the hemp seed claim feels a bit gimmicky.

Other people seems to like it though, so give it a shot. I'm sure many college kids would find you to be quite edgy.

A few weeks ago we were loudly accused of being too lenient on Go Froyo. "The toppings are stale!", they yelled, and, well... The only way to find out was really to revisit the South Hill froyo shop.

Now, it should be pointed out... We never really proclaimed Go Froyo to be the second coming. We specifically pointed out the possibility of the toppings's freshness being a thing that could change over time.

And you know, our suspicion was right. The diligent Go Froyo connoisseurs nailed it: The toppings did, sadly, look like they had been sitting out for way too long. You know when chocolate starts getting that light dusting on it? That was happening here.

Equally tragic was the froyo selection. It had not changed since the last time we visited Go Froyo many a month ago. Worst of all: Some of the flavors had started melding. In other words, you'd pull one handle, and the flavor of its contents tasted like it had mixed with the neighboring flavor. Very odd.

It's not that we hate Go Froyo, negative as all of this may sound. It all still tastes pretty OK. Sadly it is not as mindblowing as we want it to be, and the naysayers might just have been right about their complaints this time around.

Original Jun 05, 2012 review

You could probably make a pretty decent argument that all froyo places around town are pretty identical. Yet, correct as you may be, the deity of your choice is in the details, and it's the little things that can make or break a good froyo shop.

Go Froyo recently opened on the South Hill (they already have a couple of other locations) and they do sweat the little things. Granted, the actual frozen yoghurt seemed pretty identical to what we've become accustomed to -- we assume they use YoCream or something similar -- but the flavors were good, ranging from huckleberry to bubble tea.

Where many a froyo place has fallen flat is on the toppings, specifically when they've been sitting out for too long, and thus turned stale. Go Froyo does not suffer from that, at least not yet -- it's still early in the game here.

As importantly, the spoons used for scooping are actually fairly large. It's a great annoyance, all these places only providing teaspoons. I mean, really, it takes minutes (almost literally) to scoop with them, time that could be better spent doing other things. Like watching TV.

Anyway!

The toppings range from the usual suspects to tapioca balls. (OK, so the latter is starting to become more of a usual suspect.) There are a good handful of sauces to choose from, some even a bit outside of the usual.

In the end, though, you can't get past the fact that this simply is a run of the mill froyo spot, whichever deity you may see in the details. Go Froyo might be a bit better than some, but we're not sure it's worth an outing past your current favorite spot. Give them a shot, though. Maybe you'll find yourself a new favorite, who knows?