Dining with Dave and Dan: Favorite haunts don’t disappoint
Sometimes you just don’t have time.
There’s yard work, fussing with the hot water heater that went out, or you simply aren’t in the mood to cook and do dishes.
When that decision is made for us, our location usually sends us to the closest place that fits our criteria of service, cleanliness and value – and on these trying occasions, a cold one.
Fortunately we have two places that get us out of the potential kitchen disaster for a quick burger and beer, Dave’s Bar and Grill and O’Doherty’s, both located on Sprague between Pines and Bowdish in the Valley.
It takes a lot angst to come away from either one unhappy.
We refer to both O’Doherty’s and Dave’s as burger-and-beer spots, but in reality they’ve become more of what we expect from a first-rate saloon – options.
Great fish and chips to go with a pint of Guinness or a pulled pork sandwich are two of our favorite options at O’Doherty’s. And if you’re looking for a pasty that is almost as good as you can find in Butte, stop by.
At Dave’s, the burgers with steak fries and sandwiches are good, but maybe there’s no greater bang for the buck than T-bone Tuesday. The popcorn is a perfect appetizer with a cold beer.
Recently a dozen of us watched a Gonzaga NCAA tournament game at O’Doherty’s (which handles a larger group better than Dave’s, though neither place is particularly big). We had no trouble seeing a television from any angle (the same is true at Dave’s). What matters to us is that the crowd (usually in both places) is pretty mature, compared with some spots helping the just-turned-21 crowd discover how much they can drink in one sitting.
Breakfast at Dave’s is so good, someone very close to us requested a Mother’s Day breakfast there (I’ve always said I married a special lady).
O’Doherty’s only has breakfast on weekends, 9 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., and the lunch/dinner menu kicks in at 11:30 every day. There is also catering, and we can attest to the quality of the off-campus spread. That’s also a great excuse to stop off to take care of a parched throat while picking up an order of ribs for a quick, delicious meal at home.
Every neighborhood has similar places and we’ve been to a few. These two happen to be in our neck of the woods (and we have several others) and have only disappointed us when it’s too crowded to get in.
Recently we’ve received a bonus location, Brother’s Office Pizza on 32nd Avenue just west of Highway 27. Located in a strip mall, Brother’s sports a menu with mostly gourmet pizza, good wine and only craft beer.
There are no black marks on our checklist, and the brothers are maestros at the service game – to the point that we have received calls that basically say, “You have got to write about this place.”
Even without a nudge from us, this place has proven widely popular in the south Valley area of Veradale. So if there is a downside, it’s that Brother’s can be hard to get into and there is always quite a din.
We certainly get a sense that this place is a keeper.
We’re not the only ones
The feedback from last month’s review of Fleur de Sel in Post Falls were positive with a twist: Apparently we’re not the only ones put off by ball caps and T-shirts indoors when having a high-end meal. A typical comment was: “It seems this uniform has permeated our culture and has visually dumbed down our collective experience. And, so true, unfortunately the offenders don’t get it.” Well said.