Exploring where well-known local faces get fed

I post an ongoing feature on the Get Out North Idaho blog titled “9 Easy Questions,” asking some well-known local faces to share their favorite spots to dine, drink and relax. Here are several recent highlights.

Kerri Thoreson (Post Falls city councilwoman/tourism magnate)

1. Favorite place to go for breakfast: American Legion in Post Falls on Sunday mornings. I like to flirt with the guy who cooks the eggs to order (my husband).

2. Favorite place to grab a sandwich for lunch: Big Bear Deli, cozy and friendly service and great variety of sandwiches.

3. Best Mexican restaurant: La Cabana. It feels like you’re in someone’s home for dinner. If they lived in Mexico, that is.

4. Best Chinese restaurant: Golden Dragon. When I do Chinese it’s usually take-out. Old habits die hard, and they’ve been around quite awhile in the neighborhood.

5. Best place to get sushi: Takara and Bonsai Bistro. I like Takara’s ambiance and Bonsai is where I always see lots of people I know. Both have elevated sushi to a fine art.

6. Best fast-food joint: Hudson’s Hamburgers. With only burgers on the menu, I don’t have to make too many decisions. Visiting with the assorted Hudsons who are there on any given day and the lunch counter conversations with old-timers are a big draw for me too.

7. Most frequented bar or nightclub: I don’t stay out late much, but the Oval Office is great place to mingle during happy hour after work.

8. Someone offers to buy you a drink. What do you order? Iced tea or Diet Pepsi.

9. If you were a flavor of ice cream, what flavor would you be and why? Baskin-Robbins chocolate peanut butter. Having consumed as much of that flavor as I have through the years, I think it might show up in a blood test.

Jesi B. Gaboury (vocalist, Jesi B. & the All-Rites)

1. Favorite place to go for breakfast: The Breakfast Nook on Fourth, without a doubt. Even when we roll in 7 thick and have to chill for an hour to get a big table, the waiting room conversation alone is enough sustenance for me.

2. Favorite place to grab a sandwich for lunch: This may surprise you, but I am not a big sandwich fan. I love getting lunch at the Teriyaki Tiki behind The Corner bar. The Musubi is to die for.

3. Best Mexican restaurant: Oh how I adore the Mexican Food Factory. Mmm, Taco Tuesday.

4. Best Chinese restaurant: Canton is delicious, but my vote is going east to the Golden Dragon in Post Falls. It can be tough to find parking, but the lemon chicken makes me dance around all happy-like.

5. Best place to get sushi: Syringa, Syringa, Syringa! Intimate dining room, edgy artwork, cool lights, great music, happy and intelligent staff, locally owned and operated. Plus my parents love it too, and Dad usually pays.

6. Best fast-food joint: I’m gonna tweak this one. I don’t usually eat fast food before 2 a.m., but I drink an astronomical amount of coffee. The Lean Bean has really good snacks to accompany my quad-shot soy caramel latte.

7. Most frequented bar or nightclub: I dig the Moose Lounge for wine, or the Cd’A Brewing Co. for beer. If you see me at Baja, I’m on a mission!

8. Someone offers to buy you a drink. What do you order? Usually whatever they are having. Shots of Jagermeister are good if they want to have a drink with me. But too many and I disappear into the night.

9. If you were a flavor of ice cream, what flavor would you be and why? These days I would be strawberry Soy Dream dairy-free/fat-free sorbet. This would be me because you don’t have to feel bad when you overindulge.

Adam Bennett (Owner of AHA! Creative graphic design studio in downtown Coeur d’Alene)

1. Favorite place to go for breakfast: Michael D’s., hands down. Their breakfast potatoes have special healing properties and the eggs Benedict never disappoint.

2. Favorite place to grab a sandwich for lunch: Caruso’s on this one. It’s the only place I can get a sandwich that tastes like something I would make at home. Eating out without feeling like I ate out afterwards is something I place a high value on.

3. Best Mexican restaurant: I love Toro Viejo. I can walk to the downtown location from our new office and Junior and his staff always make you feel like family.

4. Best Chinese restaurant: (Note: He left it blank, which kind of says it all.)

5. Best place to get sushi: I’ve been really impressed with Syringa lately. I’m not a fan of “real” sushi, but I do love a California roll every once in a while.

6. Best fast-food joint: I’m trying real hard not to eat fast food anymore. But when I do I have to go with Arby’s.

7. Most frequented bar or nightclub: I’m a huge fan of Baja Bargarita. We really don’t make it anywhere else consistently, but Baja is small enough to be comfortable with a group of people. The atmosphere there is really conducive for a laid-back night out. Enough said.

8. Someone offers to buy you a drink. What do you order? If it’s a mixed drink, I’ll usually have a Firefly and water. I love iced tea, so it’s a natural favorite for me. Sometimes if it’s a shot, I’ll take some Hornitos or Patron any time.

9. If you were a flavor of ice cream, what flavor would you be and why? I’d have to go with oatmeal cookie Ben & Jerry’s. The stuff is really amazing.