Longtime dessert chef opens bakery-bistro
Gina Garcia, who has built a reputation as one of Spokane’s finest dessert chefs, is trying her hand at being a café owner.
Her new business, Bitter-Sweet Bakery and Bistro, is at 1220 S. Grand Blvd. After looking for more than a year, Garcia said, she decided on the refurbished brick building that she will share with The Urban Canine and Dog Spa. The building is across from Fiesta Mexicana restaurant.
Bitter-Sweet is set to open Monday. The hours will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“It’s going to be a French-style bakery-bistro with an American accent,” Garcia said.
Spokane’s sweet-tooth aficionados know Garcia as the owner of the cozy Take the Cake shop at 139 S. Sherman Ave. Garcia took over the business about seven years ago and developed quite a following.
She closed on May 14, although the space will stay in the family as her brother, Richard Garcia, plans to use it for his carpentry work.
Garcia, who studied at the Lane (Ore.) Community College Culinary School, was trained as a sauté chef. When she was given the chance to bake, she said she “fell in love with it.”
Over the years, Garcia has supplied desserts to Luna’s, Milford’s Fish House and several other upscale Spokane restaurants. She is hoping her regular Take the Cake customers will follow her up the South Hill, where they’ll be able to grab dessert, coffee and conversation.
“This is a big jump for me, to expand like this,” Garcia said. “I don’t want to jeopardize the product.”
Her menu will be limited to desserts, French-style crepes and salads. She also will offer a variety of coffee drinks.
Garcia said she plans on having about six to nine different desserts by the slice every day.
Although the menu will vary among about 30 desserts, customers will always be able to get a slice of her signature three chocolate mousse cake. Full cakes and other desserts to go also will be available.
Changes in store at Lincoln Heights Safeway
More specialty sandwiches, full meals to go, a more extensive wine department, and yes, a muffin bar, are all part the Lincoln Heights Safeway store’s ongoing remodel.
It’s called a “Lifestyle” store, explained store manager Dan DiCicco, a longtime Safeway employee who has managed various stores. It’s also the California-based supermarket chain’s first one in Eastern Washington.
Lifestyle-themed stores offer warmer lighting and colors, more takeout choices and organic foods and produce and more of a food emporium-type atmosphere.
The remodel at 2509 E. 29th Ave. began in May and is expected to be finished next month. Some of the changes – like adding a Starbucks – already are in place.
An olive bar has been set up near the deli department, while the tempting-looking muffin bar is near the bakery department. The pharmacy also will be getting a fresh look, while the flower department will be more open.
The store also expanded its signature sandwich department with grilled-panini sandwiches for $4.99. The full-meal program, which will include cooked prime rib, ham, turkey and other meats, soon will be in place.
Needlepointers take note
Spokane needlework enthusiasts have limited choices when it comes to in-person shopping for patterns, fabrics and other necessary items for their hobby. Now that a Valley store on North Mullan Road has closed, it’s gotten worse.
However, Brenda Jacobson, a longtime needlepointer from the North Side, added an option when she opened Haberdashery Needlework & Design Shop, 6000 W. Garland Ave., last summer.
“Our personal style features a variety of specialty stitches using a variety of fibers and fabrics,” Jacobson explains on her www.haberdasherydesigns.com Web site.
Jacobson, a Rogers High School graduate, said she became hooked on needlework as a young girl by watching her grandmother work on her cross-stitch designs. She said she always wanted to open her own shop, which also gives her a place to promote her own patterns.
There are dozens of supplies to choose from, which Jacobson buys from three distributors.
The store hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“If you like fabric and threads, whispers of color and a kind friend to share a cup of tea with, join us at the Haberdashery,” Jacobson says on one of her creations.