Latin American cuisine is just about as American as apple pie by this point – ever heard of Taco Bell? It’s obviously not authentic by any means, but its widespread presence of more than 5,000 locations across the United States goes to show that the taco, along with other Latin American staples, has had a profound influence on what foods are popularly eaten in the United States.

This is likely the first and last time I will use lyrics from Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried” for a headline and story, but it is appropriate for the topic at hand this week: fried chicken. Lacy Muszynski, writing for MSN.com, recently named Park Inn as one of the best holes-in-the-wall for fried chicken in America.

Seattle-based Ethan Stowell Restaurants is opening its first Tavolata restaurant in Spokane. Tavolàta will be the new anchor tenant in the Old City Hall Building at 221 N. Wall St., occupying more than 5,000 square feet on the first floor that formerly housed an Olive Garden.

Hard seltzer was the defining drink of the summer of 2019. Demand for the bubbly, low-calorie quaff is showing no signs of going flat, and 2020 has seen a flood of new brands hoping to get in on the party. The category is still dominated by White Claw and Truly.

Josh West of Elephant Seven Wine in downtown Walla Walla has a pretty good idea what he’ll hear from vineyard manager Kenny Hart when the news breaks about the best wine at the 2020 Walla Walla Valley Wine Competition.

My husband had just finished roasting summer squash from our garden. As he spooned the squash into a storage dish, the alarms blared: carbon monoxide, aka “the silent killer.” He called 911, evacuated the house and waited for the firefighters to show up.

These are not typical flapjacks with bits of apple and carrot mixed in for seasoning. Here, the produce leads the way with mounds of shredded green apple and carrot bound into tender, lightly browned skillet cakes with just enough egg and whole grain flour to hold them together in pancake form.

Prohibition Gastropub's John Leonetti announced on Prohibition Gastropub's Facebook page on Thursday that chef Michael Wiley will assume ownership and operation of the restaurant on Oct. 1, as Leonetti and his family are moving to Phoenix after operating the business located at 1914 N. Monroe St. for five years.

Fried chicken is my all-time favorite food, so it’s no surprise that I’ve tried dozens of recipes looking for that perfect batch. While some were OK, others produced overcooked – er, burnt – crusts and dry meat or delectably crunchy crusts with pink, undercooked meat.

When buying chicken at the grocery store, most people purchase a specific cut. Buying a whole chicken probably doesn’t appeal to most as a lot of us save cooking a whole bird for that one special annual occasion – Thanksgiving. OK, maybe you do it twice, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If the coronavirus pandemic was not already enough (and it really is), this last weekend’s record-setting hazardous air quality in Spokane made me give up (for the most part). Like much of the population, I have become a shut-in now to keep myself and others safe.

Eating vegetables raw fits not only our summer mindsets but also the produce available. Radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, celery and lettuces: Take a bite from your market bag, and if they’re ripe, they’re pretty good. Snappy-sweet. Crunchy-crisp. And we didn’t have to do anything to get there.

When it comes to Rosh Hashanah desserts, apple cake or honey cake might sound most familiar to Ashkenazi (Eastern and Central European) Jews celebrating the Jewish New Year. But the Jewish diaspora is as wide as its global recipe box, which boasts other sweet delights.

Sometimes a serendipitous food discovery can send you down a delicious path. I’ve always loved shrimp. My husband, who grew up on Bayou Lafourche in South Louisiana, likes to say his family was so poor they had to eat shrimp every day.

During the course of four weeks, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the United States will toast Hispanic Heritage Month, a celebration and sign of respect that began with President Lyndon B. Johnson as a week but was expanded two decades later by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.

OK, readers, this is one of those recipes – one of those recipes that you must make. I mean, you should be making all my recipes, but life happens. I forgive you. However, you can’t live your life another day without having these sopapilla cheesecake bars.

As I write this Running Tab column on deadline on the late Friday afternoon before the Labor Day weekend, my mind keeps wandering to my only plans for the next three days: salmon fishing on the Columbia River about two hours outside town on Saturday morning.

We have a motto in our family: “Moderation is not our forte.” We go big with most things we do. When we start a TV series, we binge it until it’s done. When we go waterskiing, we go multiple days a week all summer long.

Here's a chance to taste history in an unusual red wine from southwestern Spain, as well as the future in a pinot noir from a cutting-edge, high-altitude winery in Patagonia. We round out our late summer wine list with a rosé, a hearty white Rioja from Spain and a juicy red from Northern Italy.