The Lakers was converted from an old Health and Welfare office (irony?) into the Lakers Inn in around 1968 by Alice and Floyd Roselund, who were actually my paternal Great Aunt and Uncle. Was it somehow a normal thing for parents to bring their toddlers into a smoky beer bar in the 1970's or was it just a quirk my family ran with? Regardless, I recall spending more than a few hours there during my early childhood, playing in the corner while my parents, uh, socialized. The memories are pretty vague, save for the unbleachable image of lurid red-orange floor-to-mid-wall shag carpeting (in a bar? what were they thinking?). Still, I am quite sure that everything but that godawful carpet (it has since been covered over with equally-as-taste-questionable wood panels) has remained at least 90% unchanged/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: When did you last bend an elbow at the Lakers Inn?

When I was growing up, the Coeur d'Alene Wendy's was a pretty hot place to go eat. My parents liked it because it was one of the only, if not the only fast-foot joint that had a lush, well-stocked salad bar (now long gone) and also a groovy baked potato situation. I remember thinking it was so totally oddball that their burger patties were square and the bun was round, it nearly blew my mind. Like trying to push a square peg into a round hole, only upside down and reversed and much more delicious. The novelty value of the square patty clearly worked well, and I remember always having to spend a lot of time hanging out in the winding labyrinth of pole barriers set up on front of the order counter behind a large crowd of hungry strangers. It was always worth the wait, because even as a young one, I could recognize that there was something different about Wendy's food, something that set it apart from other shady burger chains/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: I rarely eat at fast food burger joints on Appleway. But Wendy's is my pick when we do. Or maybe Burger King. Never McDonalds. How about you?

OrangeTV/Get Out! North Idaho Facebooks: “Contacted the Silver Lake Mall on Twitter and asked about what remaining eateries they had and if any new places were planned. The response: 'Right now at @SilverLakeMall: Taco Time, Pretzel Maker, Flaming Wok, Huckleberry Thicket. Coming: an exciting new hot-dog concept!' Excited?”

Question: When did you last eat at the Silver Lake Mall? What type of Food Court offering would you like to see there?

The patties served up at Coeur d'Alene's Scrud's Gourmet Burgers would give my grandma a moment of pause and a mildly jaundiced eye. Just like hers, these babies are hand-formed and thick, but not thick enough to have that sense of meatloaf-esque overkill that some places like to do (hi, Nosworthys). Just like hers, they're moist and juicy without being total grease bombs, and there's a certain deep auburn richness to the flavor of a well cooked beef patty that they both have in common. Naturally, there's somewhat of an unavoidable giggle factor to the name Scrud's/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: Is there room in Coeur d'Alene area for another hamburger joint?

I drove into the little parking lot adjacent to Lyle's Fabrics where the shack sits, next to the aforementioned taco truck, an espresso stand and who knows what else, and pulled my car right up to the little window. Hint: I sorta learned this the hard way, but in retrospect I'm thinking it's meant to be a walk-up window, not a drive up window. I realized this when another hungry customer pulled into the lot, got out of his rig and knocked on my window: “Hey buddy, you mind if I squeeze in here to get my order?” Come to think of it, the kind sirs running the shack had given me kind of an odd look when I shimmied my Mercury Mystique directly up next to his building, but how was I to know it was supposed to be a walk-up scenario with no cement parking barriers or anything to pitch a clue at me? Mea culpa, I guess, and fortunately I was handed my food right away after I realized my faux pas and Mr. Window Knocker was able to pick up his order without any trouble/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: How often do you eat food from one of the myriad stands around Coeur d'Alene?

On the restaurant scene, OrangeTV/Get Out! North Idaho ranks the cupcake wars in downtown Sherman as one of the top stories. You can see how OTV ranks the local top stories in the two links directly below.

2011 wasn't necessarily a year to shoot off a bunch of expensive fireworks into the midnight sky about (whoops, don't tell Duane Hagadone that!), but as per usual there was a lot of action happening on the local restaurant and nightclub scene. Openings, transformations, and transgressions kept our forks full and our martinis loaded  in a year filled with tsunamis, Occupiers, evaporating dollar bills, McEuen Park drama queens, and too much brain-meltingly bad pop music (Ke$ha, LMFAO, etc.) to even remember/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here and here.

• An interesting year/Arch Druid
• Just about done with 2-0-1-1/Atmospheric Ruminations
• Initials can and do confuse/Bay Views
• Obama passes national defense authorization law/Community Comment
• Does the biggest bag of dirty tricks always win/Dogwalk Musings
• Checking my list, checking it twice/From A Simple Mind
• Sacketts oppose conservationists' Supreme Court brief/KEA Blog
• Turnin' up the heat/Not A Fairy Tale
• Behold I make everything new/Rants, Raves, & Random Thoughts
• Schweitzer Valley dwellers shine/Slight Detour
• The power of No!/Jill Barville, 3Rs
• Yaktrax are unbeatable/Tumblewords
• Writers write: A New Year's resolution/Writing North Idaho

HucksOnline numbers to 2011: 2,302,421 page-views/1,433,926 unique views

Question: What would you say was the biggest 2011 news in the local restaurant/nightclub scene?

The lone employee on duty (at Greek Street Pizza) was visibly annoyed with me at first, and I don't really blame him. I asked for the lamb gyro lunch special basket with extra feta, and he came back at me a bit abruptly with the news that Greek Street was out of feta cheese. A Greek restaurant out of feta cheese? That's like a Subway out of bread (this actually happened to me once), or a strip club out of dollar bills. It just ain't right. Especially when there's an Albertson's deli case ripe with cartons of feta cheese around the corner in the same shopping center. So I was thinking, “uh…I dunno what I want now, maybe a pizzaloni after all. Maybe, but uh…what kind of pizzaloni do I want?” Or do I want a…uh?” There were other customers waiting on their food and I was holding up the show, and my man rightfully snapped at me that he would be back in a bit and would return was I was through with my fits of indecision/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: How important to you is customer service at a restaurant?

Bewitched. Funky disco chickens. Wizard of Oz. Cherries, bananas, peaches, and parrots. Mega deluxe super four-leaf clover diamond golden leprechaun queens. I do love the geniuses who think up all the totally deranged themes and names for slot machine screens. Truly, a visit to a rural casino is one of the most insanely surreal, detached-from-reality situations that exists within the realm of modern human existence. It's a drug-free psychedelic experience (no, I wouldn't know anything about that sort of thing), equally as enrapturing as it is bewildering. Never any clocks in view because they want you to forget about sort of thing. What is time? It could be 3 p.m. or 3 a.m or 13 a.m. Who gives a puff what time it is? Not the bonanza of chain-smoking zombied-out old ladies, chained to their favorite slot machines by the curly plastic straps of their Coyote Rewards cards for hours, days and weeks/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: What's your impression of the Coeur d'Alene Casino?

Since opening earlier last month near the tail end of an unusually not-so-sizzling summer, Fire Artisan Pizza has been setting the downtown Coeur d'Alene restaurant scene ablaze.  Basically, the buzz has been all Heavy Debbie up in local culinary circles that, to put it in the most irritatingly obvious way possible, Fire is hot. Wait - I think we can do better than that. How about: Fire is hotter than a two dollar pistol on the 4th of July. Even better: Fire is hotter than a nanny goat in a pepper patch. Or, my favorite: Fire is hotter than two rats screwing in a wool sock in the desert. (Thanks to the Cliche Finder site for these gems)/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here. (Get Out! North Idaho courtesy photo)

Question: Do you agree with OTV that Fire Artisan Pizza is hotter than a nanny goat in a pepper patch?

In the comments section of a Yelp review that lists the Canton Restaurant as Coeur d'Alene's best Chinese eatery, OrangeTV writes: “The cosmetic improvements alone make the Canton that I reviewed back then seem like a dusty old dive stuck in the ruins of some old Chinatown. Changes have been gradual, but Alex and staff have managed to clear up the dinginess that once lingered with simply fresh paint, a bit of modern feeling décor and most likely a lot of elbow grease. The seemingly low turnover level of servers has created a sense of familiarity and friendliness, and I never have to worry about returning late from my break after stopping in for lunch. There's almost always enough time left over to relax and ponder the deep, hidden meaning of my fortune cookie. But really, the most impressive difference at Canton in the last few years has been the noticeable upgrade of the food itself.” More here (3 comment).

DFO: I'm glad to hear the Canton has upgraded. It's a special place for my family, once owned by a neighbor on my street. It was the place where my son told us about the young woman who's now his wife of 8 years, lovely Stephanie.

Question: Which INW eatery holds a special memory for you?

The Ugly Fish menu is like a coffee-table art book, pages and pages of kaleidoscopic food pornography, wild fonts and playful layouts, all bound together with a thick textured maroon rubber cover. Those things are big and heavy, like a deluxe-edition Japanese import KISS triple live LP on 180 gram vinyl. There are so many items on the menu, it's a bit mentally exhausting with the weight of possibility. In fact, everything on the menu has an item number attached to it, and in full there are around 150 choices to make/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: Anyone add any thoughts re: your dining experience at the Ugly Fish?

OrangeTV: Just like last year, my vote for most over-the-top unbearably obnoxious parade entry goes to the Tea Party “float”. They drive the most gigantic, louder than hell, bright yellow monster rig (what IS that thing anyways?), have cloying, cornier-than-corny “patriotic” country music blaring at full volume and a half and have a handful of people shouting hollow political slogans through megaphones. It’s like a slow hurricane of white people and bitterness and it leaves children clinging to their mothers’ bosoms in fright and gives everyone else within a 3-block radius a powerful migraine and an excuse to reach for that 2nd valium pill.

Question: Which 4th of July Parade entries did you consider to be the best/worst?

Sometimes I find myself just sittin' around and wondering: “¿Que Pasa? Why don't we have more Mexican restaurants in this town!” OK, I lied. Didn't we just have three or so new Mexican eateries just swing open their doors?  According to my quick count, taco trucks and fast food included, there are approximately 43 places in the Cd'A-PF-Hayden area to choose from when your brain and tummy gang up on you and say “We need tacos right now“. Yes, brains and tummies can speak in bold print.  It does seem a bit like overkill at times, but here's what I say: the more, the más feliz.  Driving up Lincoln Way yesterday en route to a routine colonoscopy, I noticed the sudden un-expected appearance of El Paisa Mexican Restaurant in the strip mall space that Donut House used to occupy (1801 N Lincoln Way)/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: Some of you may suspect that I posted this simply to include the line: “Driving up Lincoln Way yesterday en route to a routine colonoscopy … ” I take the 5th. But I'm curious re: how many different Mexican food places you frequent in town?

As I sit here typing, I am currently in a haze of hot dog bliss after consuming a divine Dangerous Dog lunch consisting of the #7, the All Cheese Dog. Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, Cotija cheese, and whole grain mustard all layered nice and thick on a plump wiener on an intensely fresh-baked bun that was soft and doughy on the outside and crispy golden in the center. It was a fantastic way to spend my lunch break and very well worth every penny of the $4 i put into it. Cheese nirvana! Today was actually my third experience with the Dangerous Dog, and like cheap no-prescription narcotics mail-ordered surreptitiously from overseas, I'm totally hooked. These folks do wonderful, creative things with the blank canvas of a hot dog, and really, downtown Coeur d'Alene kinda got a few notches groovier overall when they decided to open up their doors/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: How do you best like your hot dog prepared?

The exterior is nice enough, with a splashy new yellow and red paint job screaming “we're authentic!”, but open the door and walk inside and certain thoughts occur. Who broke into this poor old KFC, stole all the decor, then spray-painted over all the logos with a can of red spray paint? Was it a mad electrician with a fetish for exposed wires? (There are literally open outlet boxes with wires sticking out of the walls in several spots.) Can I still get a “famous” fried chicken, corn and mashed potato bowl and a side biscuit and coleslaw? Other than the employees, the only hint of old Mexico was the tejano music floating through lightly the air, and frankly, the place could use some serious sprucework and love on several levels/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: Do you plan to visit Atilan's Mexican Food (old KFC building on Appleway) within the month?

Personally, I've never really had a nickname that stuck with me. When I was just a wee moppet, my mother would occasionally refer to me fondly as her little “Stinky McGooberkins”, but if anyone called me that now, they'd most likely get shanked in the spleen with the business end of a broken bottle of Jägermeister. On the other hand, Tim Mitchell, owner of downtown Coeur d'Alene's newly opened Jonesy's restaurant had a childhood nickname that he thinks still rocks. According to the Jonesy's Facebook info, the name on the sunny yellow sign out front is what has always made Mitchell's head turn and say “huh?” every time someone says it/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: What was your childhood/teen nickname?

At some point within the last month or two, the Hagadone-owed Italian eatery known as Tito Macaroni's underwent a much-needed image overhaul and axed the wacky from its name (except for on all the signs out front). After 15 years as the anchor eatery inside the Coeur d'Alene Resort's Shopping Plaza, Tito's is all grown up now, and has adopted the somewhat blander, more mature moniker “Tito's Italian Grill and Wine Shop.” The name is printed across the front of the new, soft beige menu in minimal, elegant burgundy fonts and shapes, as if to say “the marketing and design departments had eleven meetings trying to come up with this classy (S-bomb), so you'd better appreciate your damn lunch, okay - we're fancy now, get it?” Ironically, the menu itself seems to have taken in some random, decidedly not fancy and not very Italian residents. Do they eat a lot of tuna melts in Italy/OrangeTV. Get Out! North Idaho. More here. (Get Out! North Idaho photo)

Almost everybody is a collector of something, but few ever took the idea to the extreme level of the late great Walt Almquist, whose jaw-dropping collections of nearly everything you can think of are displayed in the dusty glass cases that make up the Sprag Pole Museum in Murray, Idaho. For Mr. Almquist, it all started in the 1930’s after a pal gave him a decorative whiskey bottle to adorn behind the bar of his newly established Sprag Pole Inn, which was housed in an already historic building where legendary local madam Molly B’Dam once performed her, ahem, business. With the help of his brother Harry and many friends, Walt spent the rest of his long life adding miscellany to his self-proclaimed Museum, eventually expanding to fill three buildings/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: What do you collect?

“Sláinte!” Literally, it translates to “health”, but somewhat ironically it's the word heard most commonly heard in the air back in olde Eire when friends and strangers gather together at the corner public house and start guzzling robust pints of ale. Your liver may disagree with that idea, but O'Shay's Irish Pub & Eatery in Coeur d'Alene is a great place to get totally sláinted.  Located directly on the last leg of the eastbound stretch of the Centennial Trail, over time O'Shay's has proved itself as one of few reasons to travel further east on Sherman Ave. than the old IGA for a maple bar and a juicy Chester Fried Chicken breast/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.

Question: I take my Toyota 4Runner to Dealer's Alternative (old Robideaux building) on 15th for regular servicing. Do you frequent O'Shay's Irish Pub or any other businesses on the east end of Sherman/Lake Coeur d'Alene Drive?

On his Get Out! North Idaho Facebook wall, Orange TV writes of a video maker who has proclaimed Coeur d'Alene's Silver Lake Mall to be at least an “almost dead mall.” Continues OTV: “I was there for the first time in ages the other day and nearly shed a tear when I saw Orange Julius was gone forever.”

Question: How often do you visit the Silver Lake Mall? What is the main attraction for you?