Northern Idaho - Restaurant Recommendations (casino, sushi, to eat)

[Stepney]

Finally made it over to Joel's. And, to those of you who have recommended it, you are right on the money. Our first time there. Their beef tacos and carne asada tacos are as good as any we have ever had. Hit them up for breakfast too. DW had Mexican eggs Benedict and I had an omelet. They were both excellent also. We will for sure become regulars at Joel's.

Since we are new to the area and had already been to MickDuff's we decided to try Eichardt's. The food and beer were OK but nothing to rave about. It seems nice enough and we will probably go back but we prefer MickDuff's. In fact, when we left Eichardt's we headed over to MickDuff's for another ICDB, (Ice Cold Delicious Beverage). Burgers, fries and wraps at MickDuff's are a notch or two above Eichardt's.

For a gluten intolerant person, MickDuff's will serve a gluten free bun with their burgers or a gluten free tortilla with their wraps, on request. My wife says for the buns and tortillas being gluten free they are actually pretty good.

Anyway, from a couple of unbiased newbies to the area, we would recommend Joel's and MickDuff's.

[Bigbear2]

The best ribs and beer I have ever had was at the Brewery in Bonner's Ferry

[elousv]

So if you are in my neckofthewoods, you might try embers by the lake. They have a facebook page embersbythelake. It used to be a fancy restaurant Chef in the Forest if you remember that. The new place is revamped into a fun and open artisan pizza place with some draft beers and wine too. They have a wood-fired oven that is open so you can see all the goings on. Nice patio setup for summer that has large trees for shade. Went last night and enjoyed it. Our group tried the Carmelita and South of the Border and both were tasty! Side salad also good and beer was nice and cold.

[Cnynrat]

Originally Posted by elousv

I try to avoid chains as I like to support local and also find more unique items. So where in Spokane was worth the trip for lunch? They don't have crab legs but if you want good fish-n-chips you might try Fisherman's Market in CDA.

Picabu Neighborhood Bistro, 901 W 14th Ave Spokane, WA.

This restaurant was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive In's and Dives. We stopped there for lunch on our way to the airport on our last trip up to Idaho. Definitely worth a try!

Dave

[pnw2016]

I've had a few good meals in the Owl Cafe, on Government Way, in CDA/Hayden. I was also favorably impressed with the Hunter's restaurant in Post Falls, but I don't think they're open every evening. Hunter's offers buffalo and elk meat, among others. For chain restaurants, I'll say the Taco John's (in CDA), Hooters (in Spokane Valley, near the mall) and Pizza Hut (in Sandpoint) all seemed to maintain high standards. I even liked the Mexican place in the food court of the Silver Lake Mall (in CDA).

For those traveling through Boise, there's a Mexican restaurant (Cafe Ole', I think) in the parking lot of the Boise Towne Centre Mall that has great food. I also like the Hooters restaurant a block or two from the mall.

I'm already planning to try some of the places others have mentioned on my next visit. Thanks for the info!

[elousv]

Hooter's is gone

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by elousv

Hooter's is gone

Nooooooooooooo! I don't care about the lovely ladies , but I liked their burgers!

[Ghostrider16]

I'm a big fan of The Porch Public House in Hayden. From what I hear, they are owned by the same owners as Moon Time.

I've had several items from their menu (they have changing specials too) and have never been disappointed.

If you like spicy, try the Gumbo. I'm not a big spicy fan but they gave me a sample and, based on that, I ordered a bowl. I made it through the whole bowl because it was so tasty, even though I fully expected to spontaneously self-combust at any moment.

Check out the menu at the link:

The Porch Public House menu - Hayden, ID 83835 - (208) 772-7711

[BG79]

One of the places I was most impressed with so far has been Meltz in CDA. It's a gourmet grilled cheese place and they have extremely interesting varieties to choose from. Meltz Extreme - Extreme Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

The portions are very big.

I tried a few places so far, I prefer places that make their own stuff and I avoid chains at all costs.

The Porch - I liked it but I found their menu to be rather small and their beer menu to be very limited. The prices were ok but certainly not cheap. It was good but I am not in a rush to go back.

Susies Kitchen - I actually thought this would be corny based on the sign outside but I looked up reviews and it was well received so I gave it a shot. It has a heavy southwestern theme (seems like most all restaurants here do) to the menu. I got the meatloaf burger and it was pretty damn good. The server was extremely friendly and there was good value to the price. My biggest complaint would be the big thick steak fries, I hate those things. I have a different idea in my head when I think of house made fries, I want to see the skin still on etc..

Capones - We got two different pizza's, they were delicious but seemed extremely expensive for how big they were. The beer menu was great and I was able to order local beer on tap but again the prices were no bargain. This is one of the gazillion restaurants around here that Guy Frieri seemed to have visit.

Country Boy Cafe (Athol) - Found this one searching through Yelp and wow was this one top notch in the value department. I went for breakfast and I got one of their skillets that consist of homefries, chicken fried steak and an egg over the top and gravy on top of that with biscuits and gravy on the side. I got their smaller size the "cowgirl" sized one. The thing was still huge and I am a huge guy so that's saying something. I couldnt finish it but it was 7.00 for that and the coffee was reasonable. My only complaint was their biscuits, it was something that didnt strike me as a biscuit. it was extremely bready almost like a big piece of non sweet cornbread. Other than that myself, my wife and my 6 year old all ate there with drinks for low 20's out door tip included.

Michael D's Eatery (CDA) - This one is right down the road where we live. Their breakfast was fantastic, the portions are huge but you can tell everything is made on premises. The Biscuits and gravy were top notch. Not nearly as cheap as Country Boy Cafe but I would rank the quality a bit better here. Normally I'd go again but I still have a huge list of places I still want to try before I start hitting up the places I already liked.

Fishermans Market - I am not a big seafood person but I do like a place that does something simple and jazzes it up. This place does that with their fish and chips. You select a fish option out of about 6+ different choices in my case I got the Mahi Mahi and then there are about 6+ more choices of different tartar sauces and you can choose 2 of those to go with it. The fries even seem like they were cut on the premises, I would go again.

All in all the places we have gone to in the CDA area have been impressive and I would absolutely return. That cannot be said to the one place we stopped at in Spokane.

The Longhorn BBQ (Spokane) - I will preface this first by saying I love real BBQ, the down south stuff that is slow smoked. This place has a wonderful smokey smell that you can smell in the parking lot. Unfortunately the smell is all that is good about this place. For one you get inside and it's set up like a cheap, rundown family restaurant. That would be fine but the prices on the menu almost make it seem like a steakhouse. Again, that would also be ok if the food warranted it but it didnt. I got brisket and it had grill marks on it. If you cook BBQ that alone should throw up flags. Normally Brisket is slow smoked to melt down the fat and break down the connective tissue taking an otherwise tough cut of meat and making it a tender juicy joy. When you grill it like they did after, it basically dries out and becomes a tough shingle of meat. I could go into more detail but the food had a cafeteria like taste and texture about it and it was all hideously overpriced for what it was. I don't get how it's popular or even still in business. This might of been the worst BBQ at some of the highest prices I have ever had for a BBQ place. It left me a bit skittish to try other BBQ places fearing if that is accepted in this area perhaps others are like it as well.

I am not snobbish on chain BBQ's, one of my favorite ones ever is a chain called Sonny's in the Florida area.

I hope this can help someone with some food choices in the area. I love trying new places but we don't have the money to do it as often as I'd like. This area has a very high % portion of quality restaurants. I remember hearing people complain about the food here as if it was inferior to other places. I really can't see that as most every place I have gone to wouldve been up for one of the best places from where I used to live (CT).

[pnw2016]

Elousv OR someone else who knows; please, tell me you were kidding about the Hooters near the Spokane Mall!