Restaurant opening at Highlands Day Spa

Our area has been blessed with pleasant people opening good restaurants in the past few months. Another new one, a Mediterranean-influenced Fleur de Sel, will open in September in the bistro section of the Highlands Day Spa in the Highlands between Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene.

Owners Laurent and Patricia Zirotti, who came to the U.S. from France, explained Fleur de Sel means “flower of salt,” a very expensive, French, hand-harvested sea salt sold in jars as it is slightly damp.

Influenced by his French mother and Italian grandmother, Zirotti was educated in France’s culinary arts and hospitality programs since age 15. He worked for famous hotels in the French Riviera where Patricia Zirotti was a special events coordinator. They opened and operated a French restaurant in Billings for 10 years and decided to come to North Idaho after visiting here.

Patricia Zirotti said they will focus on a neighborhood atmosphere and that the restaurant will be more of a passion than a business. They’ll use fresh local produce for French bistro and northern Italian dishes.

The restaurant will seat about 40 customers in the dining room and bar overlooking the valley and on a patio. With about 10 employees, they’ll be open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Reservations will be accepted starting Aug. 15 at 777-7077.

Realtors (re)settle on Sherman

Re/Max and Select Brokers real estate companies are both settling into new offices on Sherman Avenue – but it could be confusing.

Re/Max left 221 Sherman Ave., and Select Brokers, a new Coeur d’Alene company, moved into the location last week. Meanwhile, Re/Max will return downtown to 311 Sherman in mid-August.

John and Karen Corcoran will emphasize “resort feelings” in the new Re/Max office with concierge services for visitors (such as booking dinner reservations and airport commuting) as well as offer vacation rentals, property management and home care. The 311 building now houses Simple Pleasures, a unique home decor and gift business from which owner Marilyn Cooper is retiring to become a grandmother.

Now it gets a bit more confusing. The Select Brokers business is owned by Kim Cooper (no relation to Marilyn). He stresses the higher brokerage education to give clients less risk in a transaction. Raised in Orient, Wash., he came in 1983 to North Idaho, where he managed K-103-FM radio and started American Sales College.

Select Brokers is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and by appointment at 415-0636 or kim@selectbrokers.com.

Mutual Materials opens in Hayden

Masonry and hardscape/landscape materials are offered at Mutual Materials at 30 W. Orchard Ave., Hayden. The 2,800-square-foot store and display/storage area on 1.76 acres is the former home of Masonry and Hardscape Center, which has moved its store to the Design Center across the street and its yard to four acres north on Government Way.

With natural and manufactured pavers and stone, Mutual Materials has 19 branches in the Northwest with its headquarters in Bellevue, Wash. Its products from 13 manufacturing facilities also are available in building supply centers.

Hours are from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and may add Saturdays in early August. The Hayden store has seven employees. Phone 762-3230. Check www.mutualmaterials.com.

This week’s tidbits

•Businesses closing near the end of the month include 2nd St. Deli at 403 N. Second St. and Feels Like Home antique and decor shop at 2112 Government Way. Both Coeur d’Alene stores are having special sales.

•Learning more from our young British guests this summer, our English vocabulary now includes “kit” for uniform, “butty” for a laborer’s sandwich, “toff” for a wealthy person and his “Chelsea tractor” (large, expensive SUV), “tip” for garbage dump and “prang in the bonnet” for a dent in the car’s hood. We’ll miss those kids.

•The ruts in the Spokane freeway have to be dangerous to a person caught unaware or an elderly or inexperienced driver. Of course, warning signs can’t be posted because that would be admitting there’s a problem and opening lawsuit possibilities. The officials blame tire studs, but you don’t see these road problems in Montana where there are many more tire studs. Hmmm.