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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kendall Yards adds brunch to menu

Chef Adam Hegsted has opened the Yards Bruncheon, a breakfast and lunch diner-style restaurant. (Jesse Tinsley)

Midcentury modern meets breezy, contemporary style at Adam Hegsted’s new light-filled eatery in Kendall Yards.

With its large-windowed walls and black-and-white, chrome-trimmed tables, the breakfast-and-lunch spot serves classic diner fare as well as re-imagined takes on traditional brunch items.

Yards Bruncheon, which opened Wednesday, is no greasy spoon.

Hegsted, owner and chef, describes it as “a very approachable, casual spot with higher-quality ingredients and Northwest-style entrées.”

It’s the first of his two restaurants planned for the development just north of the Monroe Street Bridge. Wandering Table, an American-style tapas place, is slated to open next door in April, serving dinner and late-night bites.

And construction has started on two more eateries in Kendall Yards: Brain Freeze Creamery, scheduled to open next door to Wandering Table in April, and Veraci Pizza, set to open across the street by early summer.

They all join Central Food, chef David Blaine’s restaurant which opened in 2012.

“The idea is to create this full spectrum of things to do here,” said Hegsted, 34. “You have different layers of restaurants. We want to complement each other.”

A Spokane native, Hegsted graduated from University High School and has a culinary arts degree from Spokane Community College. In January, he left his position as executive chef at Coeur d’Alene Resort and Casino to come to Kendall Yards.

Hegsted wanted distinct looks and menus at each of his two new eateries, which both got help from a $34,000 Kickstarter campaign. The forthcoming Wandering Table takes its name from the nomadic, monthly, 12-course dinners Hegsted has been executing throughout the Pacific Northwest since 2010.

The permanent location will feature wood-fired fun and experimental foods – like Chicken-Fried Garbanzo Beans, Spaghetti-Stuffed Meatballs and Bacon-Wrapped Bacon Sliders – sourced within 500 miles. Dessert includes Olive Oil Gelato, Roasted Dates with Bacon Ice Cream and Maple Salt, and Custom-Made Ice Cream, created at your table.

“Basically, you get a bunch of appetizers, and everybody shares everything and has a good time,” Hegsted said. It will be “funky” and “rustic,” with “more wood and stone, and more of a European feel” than Yards Bruncheon, which will hold a grand-opening celebration Wednesday.

Accented with beachy hues – like aquamarine walls and driftwood-colored countertops –the newly opened diner seats 70, including eight at the bar overlooking the open kitchen.

At the walk-up window, located next to the front door – a stone’s throw from Centennial Trail – passers-by can order pastries, tea and espresso. Yards Bruncheon exclusively uses coffee from Roast House, which recently won a national Good Food Award recognizing its sustainable practices.

It also serves breakfast classics like eggs Benedict, bacon and eggs, biscuits and gravy, and a ham-and-cheese omelet. But there are more modern and interesting selections, too, like hoisin-braised short ribs with cucumber sauce and a poached egg or pan-fried breakfast tacos with eggs, chorizo and cotija cheese.

Lunch includes a beet burger with grilled beets and goat cheese, kale and parmesan salad with lemon vinaigrette and pine nuts, and turducken sliders, grilled duck-chicken-turkey burgers with cranberry mustard.

Pair them with handcrafted cocktails and accoutrements, like house-pickled asparagus spears in the Bloody Mary, made from scratch.