Cantonese cafe Tasty House opens on Trent

A small cafe that serves Cantonese dishes with a sizzle recently opened at Trent and Argonne.

“We are pretty much just Cantonese, but we also have some choices for Szechwan,” said Jimmy Lo, an owner of Tasty House.

Dishes are seasoned to the customer’s preferred spiciness and served on hot plates and in hot pots. Recipes are created and prepared by Jun Wei, Lo’s cousin and business partner. Wei cooked in eateries throughout Seattle’s Chinatown, while Lo managed restaurants in that area.

The restaurant has a hint of New York-style cafe and offers cozy seating for 40.

“It’s not big but it’s pretty neat,” Lo said.

Popular items include honey-glazed prawns, ginger and green onion oysters, Mongolian beef and Szechwan chicken.

Seafood items are prepared with white or brown sauces and Asian-style pork is also available. Entrees are accompanied by rice.

Menu items range from $5.50 to $6.50 for lunch and $6.50 to $10 for dinner. The restaurant has applied for a license to sell beer and wine.

Tasty House, 8901 E. Trent Ave., is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday, noon to 9:30 p.m.

For more information, call 891-6333.

Cutlery store opens at Spokane Valley Mall

A new cutlery store is scoring points at Spokane Valley Mall.

Spartan Cutlery, on the second floor next to J.C. Penney Co., sells an assortment of fine pocket knives, kitchenware and swords.

“It’s kind of a men’s gift, cutlery store,” said Cyndy Koures, an owner of the store.

The family-owned company also has a store at NorthTown Mall and in Kennewick in addition to Internet operations.

Visitors to the store will find high-end cutlery by Wusthof, Kershaw Shun, J.A. Henckels and Messermeister – a brand made for gourmet cooks.

French iron-clad cookware by Le Creuset is available and the store also carries knife sharpeners, scissors and gadgets.

“We try to be the best educated, the best priced and have the best customer service,” Koures said.

Ninja and Lord of the Rings’ swords are included in the unusual product mix, something that draws a younger crowd. However, the store declines to sell swords and knives to those under age 18.

So far Spartan Cutlery has signed a one-year lease, but Koures said if business continues growing they’ll consider staying long term.

“So far we’ve been pretty pleased it has been steadily increasing.”

For more information, call 926-5228.

Napa moves store to Pines and Sprague

Napa Auto opened a store at 12107 E. Sprague Ave. two weeks ago.

The store moved from the Dishman area into a larger location that doubled its retail area.

“It’s twice as good as what we had,” said Doug Oliver, store manager.

Napa Auto has 11 stores in the greater Spokane area that sell tools and parts for cars and trailers. They also have wholesale operations catering to car dealers.

The new store is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For information, call 928-8080.