Business focus: Fresh convenience, gourmet taste at Mojo
New aromas are filling the former location of the Wild Noodles restaurant along North Sullivan Road in the Spokane Valley.
Restaurateur Steven Brower and his crew of about 25 have been training for the May 30 opening of Mojo, an eatery described by the owner as gourmet-fast-casual specializing in sandwiches, salads and entrees made with fresh local ingredients.
“I don’t like processed and manufactured foods,” Brower says. “I won’t serve anything I won’t eat.”
Examples of menu listings are the barbecue wild salmon and portabella Caprese sandwiches, the fat-free Green Goddess chop salad loaded with vegetables, and the Drunken Blue flat iron steak with Port wine and blue cheese butter.
Brower, who moved to Spokane from Southern California a year ago at the urging of his brother who already lived in the Inland Northwest, also equipped another section of the building with bakery machinery and specialty ovens. Brower’s Bread & Butter Bakery will supply the fresh breads and desserts for Mojo as well as to other area restaurants and caterers.
Bakery items also will be packaged for Mojo customer purchases for take home, and Brower says he plans to have a booth at the downtown Spokane Farmers’ Market in June, too.
The leased restaurant building has taken on new earth tone colors, a wave art sculpture along the entrance wall and canvas squares above head to visually lower the high ceilings. Indoor seating is available for 95 people and the patio will accommodate 12 diners.
Customers familiar with the previous restaurant will find similarities in the ordering style at Mojo and be able to watch as turkeys roast and meals are prepared in the open kitchen.
But Brower, 36, and his team say Mojo features a unique opportunity for customers to create their own meal.
Brower, who has 20 years in the business and owned two restaurants in California before relocating, teamed with Chef Charlie Connor of Spokane Valley to develop Mojo’s menu. In addition to the house specialties, a listing of ingredients will allow diners the opportunity to custom order their salads or sandwiches – something the two have coined “Make your own Mojo.”
Regular size salad and sandwich prices are $7.95. Entrees with two side orders cost $10.95.
Developing the Mojo menu was a creative opportunity for Brower and Connor because the two are passionate about food and flavors. Connor is a graduate of Spokane Community College’s culinary arts program and has worked locally at Beverly’s at the Coeur d’Alene Golf and Spa Resort, MAX at Mirabeau and P.F. Chang’s China Bistro.
Both Brower and Connor say the Spokane Valley is an ideal location to open a restaurant that offers fast service and fresh, flavorful and homemade ingredients where diners can choose to finish a meal in an allotted time or sit back and relax when they have the opportunity.