Monday, February 14, 2011

Bits & Bits & Bits & Bits & Bits

Valentine's Day. We here at Get Out headquarters totally hate its guts. Really, we've got more important things to discuss today anyway...

Cher, If You Dare!

February, the year 2576. A cockroach crawls out from underneath a steaming pile of metal and rubble, the aftermath of the apocalypse. It surveys the landscape and sees no sign of life until suddenly, off in the distance, it hears a familiar voice. "Do you believe in life after love?" That's right, it's the legendary singer and actress Cher, the sole other survivor. Her career began at some point in the late mid 20th century and continues to this day, her legion of adoring fans likely the only ones who bothered to go watch her latest train nwreck of a film, Burlesque, co-starring Tammy Faye Aguilara and dozens of other hos.

These days, a Cher impersonator is probably more interesting than the real deal, and on Wednesday, February 23 at 7 p.m.,  the Coeur d'Alene Resort's Shore Lounge has a treat for all you middle aged ladies and gay men out there: Lindsey Aramburu (above left) starring in "Cher on Stage: A Tribute". Whether Lindsay will be lip syncing for her life like a drag queen or actually attempting the glottal acrobatics of Our Lady of Asscheeks remains to be seen, but either way, this is an event that simply cannot be missed.

According to her Facebook page, Lindsay is a massage therapist at the Cd'A Resort, so if her show really ends up doing some magic for you, you can "turn back time" and see fake-Cher again while she smothers you in oil and rubs you down in a hot, steamy chamber of relaxation. Er, don't get any ideas there, champ. No happy ending!

Tickets to the show can be purchased through the CD'A Resort business center. The price is $10 for general admission and $20 for reserved seating which will include a glass of champagne. Get yours fast before every Gypsy, Tramp, and Thief in the area snatches them up.


Ex-Cd'A Brewing Co. Transforming Into Chi-Chi Tapas & Martini Stop

From the "It Remains to Be Seen How Well This One Flies" Dept., I have it on good authority that the deconstruction of the former TW Fishers/Coeur d'Alene Brewing Company building that is going on at the moment will lead to its re-opening as a fancy-schmancy Martini and Tapas restaurant this spring. Maybe I just run in the wrong circles (PBR anyone?), but I honestly can't imagine the need for another sort of place in the downtown area where one must spend and entire days wages to enjoy a meal and an adult beverage.

Certainly, the locals just love to complain about how the texture of downtown Coeur d'Alene is increasingly being geared specifically for Touristas with hundred dollar bills flowing from their  Prada handbags, and the opening of this place (name as yet unknown) will sure give them more fodder to bitch and moan about.

One thing everyone loved about the Cd'A Brewpub was the not only the excellent local beer, but the fact that one could hang out, watch the game, have a burger or some fish-n-chips and feel like they had an honest-to-goodness local experience that was satisfyingly real. I'm sure the food and martini menus will be dazzling and fabulous, but I have a hunch the whole affair will be lacking in much nitty-gritty personality and stick-to-your-ribs goodness that the local folks adore so much, and might be a bit above people's heads.

Perhaps this all will turn out to be a good thing, but I have a feeling they're going to have a hard time keeping above water unless they can find a niche and price point that caters to folks that live in Coeur d'Alene for more than five days a summer.

Sandpoint to Get a "Little Olive" All Up Inside It
"We are a SOON TO BE Greek inspired restaurant located in Sandpoint, ID. Our food is fresh, tasty and homemade. We will be releasing the location of our restaurant via Facebook and Twitter. We are opening in early May 2011." That's really the sum total of news so far on this one  and was issued forth by Little Olive owners John and Tullaya, on their website which is pretty much empty except for a couple of pictures of their yumtastic looking veggie burgers (see left). Not even a location has been revealed, so you Sandpointers make sure and keep us updated. This looks like it has the potential to be a pretty major entry in the Walking Town's culinary world...


Anyone for some Poffertjes and Clogging?

Despite the tragic loss of local breakfast hotspot Milltown Grill in Post Falls (if you never tried it, shame on you!), a glimmer of hope lies in the fact that the place has already reopened (Feb. 12) as the Wooden Shoe Restaurant, a cafe specializing in European cuisine that covers nearly as wide a spectrum of nations as the EU itself. Featured is food from Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Holland, France, Ireland and Russia, and owner Dirk VanDerKolk (left) will be serving American food as well for those of you whose idea of experimental is mayo on your fries (the national food of Belgium, by the way).

Open at the ungodly  hour of 6 a.m., and serving only through lunch at the moment, the Wooden Shoe plans on expanding to dinner hours when they are able to secure their beer and wine license, some time in the not-too-distant future. According to a Coeur d'Alene Press article, VanDerKolk says "A specialty from Holland will be poffertjes, a small kind of pancake with powdered sugar," and that they'll have "wines that correspond with the dishes from those countries. The only wine I cannot find is from Ireland. Google is your friend, kind sir. Here's a start: http://wineireland.com/

Let's hope this place serves up the real deal and brings to the area such delights as weinerschnitzel and spaetzel, two German favorites of mine that were nowhere to be found last time someone said they were doing this sort of thing (Wagner's Hofbrau, now the Fedora). Ich bin total verhungert für diese Dinge!

Java on Sherman NOT CLOSED FOREVER!

Did you drive by Java recently and feel a sudden Bowl-of-Soul shaped hole in your soul that made you want to smoke a bowl of a different kind of soul when you saw the place locked up and emptied out? Relax, junkie. They were merely putting up a fresh coat of paint and had to close up for a bit to accomplish this task. You weren't the only one worried - I received several panicky emails wondering if i knew what was going on (I didn't) as well as several customers at my bar who were driven to drink over the situation. Well, they're always driven to drink, but as long as they don't drink and drive, I'm okay with that.

Anyway, they are now open once again and life in Cd'A can carry on as normal. Here are some of the various reactions to the situation, according to Java's various Facebook pages (for some reason there are three). If Java ever truly did go away, this entire town might as well just give up on life and jump in the lake.

"Check out the paint job and the new windows Rob the Juggler Discovered!! Pretty awesome! COFFEE IS HOTTT!!!"
"We were traumatized on Sunday when we stopped by on our way to Fleet Feet and found you closed. Stopped at another coffee place a few blocks away and it was not something I want to repeat. Glad to know you'll be open next time we stop by!"
"Packers win the Super Bowl, and Java opens up its doors again... could this week possibly get any better?"
"Going through withdrawals....."
"Oh good, cda can rest and become civilized again"
"Back to the grind! Yuck yuck yuck!"
"Could use a little java in me life. Grind. Dose.dose. Tamp.polish. Pull. Steam. Pour. Sip. Smile. =)"
Kootenai Cafe: Soon to Be Full of 3 a.m. Drunks Once Again

I recently stopped in for an omelet at downtown Cd'A's super-delish Kootenai Cafe and owner/head cook Michael Haynes couldn't wait to fill me in on a few new breaking developments around there. As you may recall, his first go (as "4th Street Pantry") didn't exactly end in Ice Cream Sundaes and Huzzahs. For whatever reason, and despite the fact that people loved the food and it was almost always packed, the place had to shut its doors for a few months to reorganize its hot mess of a situation.

One of the best things about the old place was the fact that they were open 24 hours a day and provided a fantastic spot for late-night post-bar folks to go and soak up their twelve shots of Rumple Minze with a tall stack of pancakes or a bacon burger. Since reopening as Kootenai Cafe last fall, the place has had very limited hours, breakfast and lunch only. Thankfully, they've seen the same success and Mike said that they are almost ready to once again stay open 24 hours a day and will also be introducing a dinner menu full of 'comfort foods" such as pot roast, meat loaf, and country fried chicken. Personally, I cannot wait to have one of their killer Monte Cristo sandwiches (the best in North Idaho) after a wild night out on the town.

This is such happy news, as there has been a serious food gap in the late night down town scene for a long time and everyone is sick of eating post-booze Pita Pit. I don't have an exact date when Kootenai Cafe will be starting up again with being open around the clock, but as per usual, I will keep you updated.

1 comment:

Michael_Hanes said...

I must say thank you for the blog. Even though i am not the legal owner of the restaurant i have taken bride in trying to recreate the magic that our customer base gave the Pantry. Now six months in the time has come to redevelope the menu and make that next step in becoming Coeur d’ Alene’s Affordable Community restaurant. It is our intent to give this wonderful town it’s 24 hour hang out. I am very proud of our servers and the care that they have taken in serving our patrons that we have developed a relationship with. Please take a moment to come and meet Jorden, Cat, Jessica and Cindy. You might even see an original pantry server or two. Again I Thank everyone for thier support. Watch for us at www.kootenaicafe.com and say hello on www.facebook.com/#!/KootenaiCafe