Barbecue rib joint satisfies the senses
Barbecued ribs probably top the list for foods that affect the senses.
First you smell them, hot and zesty. Then you see the shimmering, steamy, red morsels. Then you hold the gnarly ends in your fingers and mash your teeth into the meat with the slippery sauce running down your jowls and between your knuckles.
And taste? That’s the whole idea!
That’s the experience at Scott Ja-Mama’s B-B-Q at 206 N. Fourth St. in Coeur d’Alene. The place opened last week in the space most recently occupied by Idaho’s Ruby’s.
The mainstay of the menu is pork baby-back ribs. They come in full, half and quarter racks. Other choices are chicken and pork-chicken combos with twice-baked potatoes, coleslaw and rolls. Also on the menu are pork and steak sandwiches, burgers and chicken Caesar salad with additional sides of beans, garlic cheese-bread, chips and sodas. Beer and wine will be added later this summer.
The key to success, say owners Jeff and Stormie Woolsey, is the sauce, a recipe from his grandma with connections to the barbecue-famous Waikiki Room of the old Nicolette Hotel in Minneapolis. His Uncle Scott merchandised the name to sell the sauce and has had a Scott Ja-Mama’s B-B-Q restaurant in Minneapolis for many years.
Jeff came to North Idaho 10 years ago and married Stormie, a Kellogg native. His brother Alex and two other employees help run the place, where renovations will be complete with the addition of a sign and awning this week.
The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. weekdays, 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 8 p.m. Sundays. Take-out and delivery are available. Phone 765-4383.
Cafe Chulo emphasizes ‘Fresh-Mex’
Fantastically fresh ingredients, sauteed meats, a pleasant atmosphere and a variety of ways to get your food will boost Cafe Chulo, says owner Sean Myers, a Coeur d’Alene native. The Mexican restaurant will open Friday in the Kmart parking lot at Highway 95 and Neider Avenue, Coeur d’Alene.
A Spanish-Guatemalan word for “handsome,” Cafe Chulo will have a menu that includes traditional Mexican dishes and salads, with all ingredients, including the tortillas and picos (salsa with fresh tomatoes and onions) made daily. The building, which started several years ago as a Boston Market, has been renovated and has table seating for 80 customers inside, with a drive-through and take-out. It has 20 to 25 employees.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, to 10 p.m. weekends. Myers says he plans to expand Cafe Chulo to other locations.
Frontier Motors service center
Frontier Motors & Leasing is adding a service center in the large facility that had been the Coeur d’Alene Animal Shelter on Fourth Street. Previously the complex was the home of Ponderosa Motors. The animal shelter has moved to Hazel Avenue.
With the opening about two months away, the service center will add four to six employees to the business, which now has about 20 at its facility at the confluence of Fourth and Third streets. The used car outlet for Dave Smith Motors of Kellogg had recently expanded south on Third Street.
Odds and ends
“Grand opening is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday for PostNet Postal & Business Services at 217 W. Canfield Ave. (in front of Michael’s Crafts and south of Silver Lake Mall). Services include packaging, gift-wrapping, shipping, mailbox rental, digital copying and printing, desktop publishing, worldwide fax, laminating, rubber stamps, business cards, notary, resumes and passport photos.
“Dispel the rumors that George Gee Motors bought the former Highway 41 Suzuki Motors facility in Post Falls. It ain’t happening, according to Ryan Gee.
“Mike Brockhoff has joined Family Values Barbershop at 3655 N. Government Way. Brockhoff comes from the Gentlemen’s Quarters shop, owned by Gussie O’Connor. That’s in Harbor Plaza on Northwest Boulevard.
“The proposed Highway 95 bypass of downtown Sandpoint has divided the community. However, rerouting the highway into the lake would do more than “divide” the waterfront; it would ruin the special qualities of the town (and maybe its future).