Make No Concessions: Tastes Will Be Satisfied Enormous Arena Kitchen Ensures That No Spectators Go Hungry
How big of a deal is the food at the Spokane Arena?
Maybe this will give you a hint: The kitchen is 5,000 square feet, or approximately the size of two or three normal houses.
This kitchen will supply food to eight different concessions areas, with a total of six different menus, according to Scott Middleton, the food and beverage director at the Arena. Middleton works for Service America, a national company that is under contract for all of the Arena concessions.
Three “traditional fare” stands will be distributed around the Arena. These will supply the usual staples of hot dogs, Polish dogs, popcorn, jumbo pretzels, salted peanuts, caramel corn, chips, nachos, ice cream, coffee, tea and soft drinks. These items will also be for sale at all of the various specialty booths.
Brand-name connoisseurs, take note: The hots dogs will be Ball Park, the peanuts will be Hoody’s, and the ice cream will be Dreyer’s.
For more variety, you can hit the Food Courts, one on the north side of the Arena and one on the south side. On the north side will be the Cantina Mexicana, with burritos, taco salads, chicken quesadillas, nachos and tacos. The Cantina is combined with the Espresso Caffe, which has a full menu of espresso drinks.
The north side Food Court also includes the American Grill, which offers grilled hamburgers, grilled chicken breast sandwiches, grilled bratwurst, and a steak sandwich. Along with it is Just Desserts, serving hand-dipped ice cream, soft-serve ice-cream and sundaes.
The south side Food Court also has an American Grill, with the same menu. But it also has a Pizza Pipeline stand, selling individual pan pizzas. It has its own Espresso Caffe, also.
A combined Metropolitan Deli/Pizza Pipeline/Panini’s stand will be located on the Arena floor level for events with floor seating (all of the other stands are on the main concourse at the mid-seating level). This stand will have most of the traditional fare and grill items, along with pizza and pastries.
Now, about the beer. All of the locations will serve draft Budweiser and Coors, at least during professional sports events. The Arena Lounge, next to the south side American Grill, will also sell microbrews (numerous local varieties), imported beers, wine and cocktails. No alcohol of any kind will be sold at non-sporting events.
In addition to all of this, there will be a restaurant located in the Arena Club. This restaurant is open only to members of the Hot Tickets club or the All-Hockey Club (see related story).
Service America is new to the Spokane concessions scene, but not to the rest of the country.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: What are we going to eat?