Latah Creek gets its very own bistro

A new restaurant flew in under the radar in the Latah Creek area on Oct. 20.

Well, at least that was the plan when Latah Bistro opened a couple of days ahead of schedule at 4241 S. Cheney-Spokane Road.

“We just opened on Wednesday and got slammed on Wednesday and Thursday,” said owner Dave DuPree. “I think we’re going to be run over by a train here in a couple of weeks. And no one even knows we’re open yet.”

DuPree co-owns the new restaurant with his wife, Heather, who has previous experience as a catering director for a local hotel. Neither has owned a restaurant.

“My wife and I lived in this neighborhood, and we were waiting for a restaurant-bar,” DuPree said. “We just got tired of waiting, so we opened one up ourselves.”

DuPree gives his wife the credit when it comes to the atmosphere of the place. He’s just the workhorse.

Head chef David Blaine created a traditional bistro menu with a Northwest flair, DuPree said, adding that Blaine is not a magician.

Check that. He’s not a card-

tricking, levitating, fasting-for-weeks magician.

“His grill does say ‘magic kitchen’ on it,” DuPree said.

Blaine’s menu offers variety in price and flavor. The appetizer menu, which ranges from $5 to $9, is one indication, Dupree said. It sports some Mediterranean and Italian ideas with other influences thrown in, with items such as Seared Ahi with a Bloody Mary Cocktail Sauce and Grilled Ginger Beef Ribs, which Dupree says are popular.

Latah Bistro also sports a big stone wood oven, where pizzas are forged in the flames. Dupree says one of the more interesting specialty items is the Duck Pizza.

The kitchen staff yells out “Duck Pizza” every time one comes out of the oven, and he’s been hearing that particular, um, duck call quite often since the restaurant opened its doors.

Many of the ingredients the restaurant uses are local, including produce and dairy from area farms.

Entrees range from $12 to $23 and include Prime Ribeye Steak, Five Spice Crusted Ahi Tuna, Grilled Cumin-Fennel Pork Tenderloin and Porcini Mushroom-Crusted Alaskan Halibut. The restaurant also serves liquor, wine and beer.

The menu is listed at www.latah

bistro.com. Call 838-8338 for reservations.

New chef at 9th Street Bistro

That popular little corner of Huckleberry’s on the South Hill scored itself a new executive chef at the end of August.

Jamie Lombardi graduated from Inland Northwest Culinary Academy in December 2002. She worked a couple of gigs in the area and even spent some time, well, way out of the area.

“After I graduated, I went to Alaska for three whole months and worked at a private lodge as a chef,” Lombardi said. “It was the best experience of my life. It was amazing. I mean, I’d walk outside my cabin door and there’d be a moose right there.”

It’ll be a heck of a commute if she wants the same experience working on the South Hill, but she’s not worried about that.

She’s occupied with adding new breakfast items, salads and sandwiches to the menu, including more vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free items.

Huckleberry’s is at 926 S. Monroe.

Germench or Frerman?

So, we’re not well-versed in Deutsch slang.

In the Oct. 8 review of Chic A Ria German Inn and Pub, the current owners told us that the restaurant’s name was a quasi-French label intended to mean something like “elegant,” but we were lost as to why the original owners would use it to name a German restaurant.

A colleague who lived in Munich a few years back lent an answer. Apparently, “chic-a-ria” is a common slang term in the German burg used to poke fun at the high-fashion, high-rolling elite. You know, the “fancypants crowd.”

There’s also a music label in Germany named Chicaria Records.

So there you go. Of course it’s a moot point, since the new owners plan to change the name anyway.