Carbo Loading Zones Is Your Race Strategy To Chow Down On Pasta Before Bloomsday? Here’s Where To Carb Up
Let’s get one thing straight from the start: Carbo-loading is a crock. At least it is for running a race like Bloomsday, which isn’t long enough for racers to tap into that pool of carbo-powered energy.
Still, the practice of pre-race pigging out on pasta has become a Bloomsday tradition - second only to throwing up on the top of Doomsday Hill.
Never mind that scarfing carbohydrates the evening before probably isn’t going to help shave a few seconds off last year’s time. It’s a great excuse to have a meal out, to socialize with fellow racers and to tap into the terrific energy that comes from having all these visitors in town.
Of course, planning your pasta (or potato) feeding frenzy requires a game plan. Do you want to stuff yourself silly at a noodle buffet? Or, would you rather savor the delicate nuances of hand-crafted pasta with exotic sauces like Cajun-ostrich?
Whatever you’re craving, area eateries are eager to dish - and in every price range, too. Be sure and make a reservation, if possible, as it’s a busy weekend.
The following list of restaurants are showing their Bloomsday spirit in the form of big plates of pasta:
Europa might be starting a new Bloomsday tradition by giving away a witty T-shirt with every special dinner purchased. When guests order the chicken saute with sun-dried tomatoes, the veal marsala or the spaghetti with seafood, they will receive a tee that says: “I got loaded (carbo, that is) at Europa.” Those specials run $15.95.
Rock City’s regular menu features 18 pasta dishes and, as owner Jim Rhoades pointed out, there are also carbohydrates in beer and “our 13 microbrews can aid in the effort.”
On Sunday morning, the restaurant will open at 7:30 to offer free coffee, Gatorade, muffins and use of its restrooms. It will reopen at 10 a.m. for post-race fun with its full menu available along with drink specials.
The Ridpath’s Silver Grill will offer a carbo-load buffet from 5 until 8 p.m. on Saturday. The all-you-can-eat lineup includes Caesar salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, a veggie pasta and garlic bread for $5.95.
On race day, the restaurant will serve a breakfast buffet from 6 until 9 a.m. with oatmeal, yogurt, muffins, and fresh fruit for $4.95.
Espresso Delizioso will be introducing three new pasta dinners including pasta fagioli, linguine and clams with zesty red sauce and a pasta with puttanesca sauce. A trio of noodles will be featured on another entree including lasagna, ziti baked in a cream sauce and linguine with a choice of sauce accompanied by focaccia bread for $9.95.
Also, you can order one of Espresso’s 20 different pasta dinners and get $3 off this weekend.
Cyrus O’Leary’s will also open early on Sunday (at 8:30 a.m.) with complimentary fruit trays, juices and coffee. And then Sunday brunch will begin two hours earlier this weekend (at 9:30) with post-race nourishment that includes pecan French toast, steak and eggs and all sorts of omelettes.
The Mustard Seed hopes to attract runners checking in at the Ag Trade Center on today and Saturday with its sidewalk noodle stand. Pork and veggie stir-fried noodles will be served in the restaurant’s patio. The price is $4.95.
At Hill’s Someplace Else, the kitchen routinely makes its pasta the old-fashioned way - from scratch using a hand-crank machine. But for Bloomsday, they’ve upped the ante by creating a slew of interesting sauces for their homemade noodles.
Diners have their choice of fettucine or linguine and then can select their toppings from a list that includes a spicy Cajun sauce studded with ostrich, a creamy smoked salmon, a Thai-spiced shrimp, a white clam, a marinara or an Alfredo sauce.
Those pasta specials will be available Friday and Saturday and will run $8.95.
Mizuna will offer a couple of pasta specials designed to be low-fat, yet flavorful. A grilled vegetable lasagna will be made with fresh spinach pasta and topped with a fiery chipotle pepper marinara. A lemon and roasted garlic tagletelli will be tossed with asparagus, cremini mushrooms, tomatoes and a rosemary cream sauce made with tofu. Both dishes are vegan, which means they include no animal products. That means they contain no saturated fat.
Also, don’t go looking for Sunday brunch at Mizuna. It will be closed this week because of the race.
In addition to the tasty pasta entrees on its regular menu, Birkebeiner Brewing Company will offer a venison fettucine with rosemary potatoes and red onions mixed with a pink peppercorn sauce for $12.95.
Other specials available this weekend include a buffalo lasagna, a low-fat spinach and four cheese manicotti and a ratatouille linguine. All those are under $10.
Birkebeiner will also be open for post-race celebration from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Niko’s II will add a pasta salad bar to its dinner lineup tonight and Saturday. A variety of noodles with a Mediterranean accent will be offered for $6.95 those evenings.
Luigi’s will run its Bloomsday special menu tonight, Saturday and Sunday that includes a fuselli puntanesca for $11.95, a rock shrimp florentine with fresh spinach, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, chardonnay and red pepper flakes served over angel hair pasta for $14.95 and an Thai chicken salad for $9.95.
On Sunday morning, Luigi’s will open from 7:30 until 9 to serve free orange juice, tomato juice, Gatorade, rolls and coffee. It will reopen at 10:30 a.m. for lunch and will offer drink and beer specials.
The Old Spaghetti Factory opens early Saturday, at 3 p.m, and while it’s not offering any special deals on dinner, if you’re still hungry, a second plate of spaghetti will run you just $1.75.
O’Doherty’s will offer a different sort of carbo-loading material during its pre-Bloomsday festivities. Potato specials will be featured this weekend, including its signature ice cream and french fry combo.
And this seems a particularly appropriate place to celebrate because of Bloomsday’s Irish roots. (How many times are you going to see James Joyce’s “Ulysses” referred to in a restaurant column?)
On race day, The Onion downtown opens from 7 until 9 a.m. with free juice and doughnuts. The restaurant opens back up at 10 with its regular menu.
Even a couple of steakhouses are jumping on the carbo-loading bandwagon. A Cut Above in the Spokane Valley is offering all-you-can-eat spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread for $9.99 and a chicken pasta salad for $5.99.
At The Calgary Steakhouse, a complete salmon fettucine dinner will cost you just $12.95.
DeCaro’s Little Italy will serve up five pasta meals for $3.99 apiece. The featured specials include pasta fagioli, bowtie pasta with red sauce, pasta piselle (tiny pasta cooked with peas and served in a red sauce), linguine with white sauce and a pasta cooked with garbanzo beans and a Southern Italian red sauce.
Add soup, salad, soft drink or ice cream for 89 cents each.
In Post Falls, Casey’s Pub and Grill will stock its buffet with angel hair and linguine and all sorts of toppings including seafood, chicken, marinara and alfredo sauces, along with salad and garlic bread. It’s $5.99 for one trip through or $8.99 for all-you-can-eat.
On Bloomsday, patrons wearing their race T-shirts will be treated to their first beer free.
Fast Break Pizza is laying out an all-you-caneat spaghetti buffet for $3.99. For a couple more bucks, you can add the salad and soup bar.
Finally, for the best carbo-loading deal in town, head to St. Luke’s Lutheran church on Division for a $3 spaghetti dinner that includes salad and rolls. A family can feast for a mere $10.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PASAT PLACES A Cut Above, 11723 E. Sprague, 924-5011 Birkebeiner Brewing Company, 35 W. Main, 458-0854 Calgary Steakhouse, 3040 E. Sprague, 535-7502 Casey’s Pub and Grill, 315 N. Ross Point Rd. (Highway 41 and Seltice Way), Post Falls, (208) 777-7047 Cyrus O’Leary’s, 516 W. Main, 624-9000 DeCaro’s Little Italy, 922 N. Division, 327-5259 Espresso Delizioso, 706 N. Monroe, 326-5958 Europa Pizzeria, 125 S. Wall, 455-4051 Hill’s Someplace Else, 518 W. Sprague, 747-3946 Luigi’s, 113 N. Bernard, 624-5226 Mizuna, 214 N. Howard, 747-2004 Mustard Seed, 245 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., 747-2689 Niko’s II, 725 W. Riverside, 624-7444 O’Doherty’s, 525 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., 747-0322 Old Spaghetti Factory, 152 S. Monroe, 624-8916 Onion, 302 W. Riverside, 747-3852 Rock City, 505 W. Riverside, 455-4400 Silver Grill, 515 W. Sprague, 838-2711