Dine the night away

In the eyes of the local last-call crowd, the concept of late-night dining traditionally involves a drive-thru window, a pizza delivery guy or a long wait for a table at The Satellite Diner.

That seems satisfactory until you consider that other restaurant and bar scenes around the world keep later, longer hours.

The notion hit me on the last night of a 2007 trip to Scotland, as I sat down with university students in an Edinburgh hipster hangout called Monster Mash, soaking up the day’s single malts with glorious bangers and mash.

This was well after 2 a.m.

Someone needs to do this in Spokane, I thought. Sure, a mashed potatoes and sausage joint may not be the ticket, but our scene was in dire need of late-night dining options.

Notice I say “was.” That’s because a handful of forward-thinking insomniacs in the past year have decided to champion the cause of the midnight tummy-grumblers.

First came Tim Lannigan and Patty Tully’s decision to keep the counter open at Neato Burrito, 827 W. First Ave., until 2 a.m. most nights, after they took over and changed the format from its Slick Rock Burrito beginnings.

Then chef Jason Rex developed a killer late-night menu in the kitchen at his upscale dining destination, Scratch, and recently transferred the menu to the restaurant’s new lounge side, Rain (1009 W. First Ave.), serving Duck Lettuce Wraps, Grown-Up Grilled Cheese, Calamari and Frog Legs to the vampiric masses.

After lamenting the lack of late-night options in an interview for a 7  cover story, chef Alexa Wilson at Wild Sage American Bistro, 916 W. Second Ave., created a new small plates menu to serve from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Sounds like a trend to me. Are Spokane’s dining habits changing?

Not quite, says Misty Straley, general manager at Monterey Café, 9 N. Washington St, which opened earlier this year.

Monterey offers specials on pizza by the slice on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., and as Straley says, it’s a matter of restaurant owners adapting to growing demand in a market that’s pretty thin on options.

“I don’t think there’s a lot to choose from, but there’s definitely customers for it,” she said. “If you’ve ever been out at about 2:30, or if you’ve ever been to The Satellite, you know.

“We know the bar life, and we’ve all worked in bars and nightclubs, so (Monterey Café owners Ray Wilson and Roger Villarreal) wanted to capitalize on the late-night business.”

Up the block from Monterey Café, Fernando Escamilla opened a taco truck, Tacos El Sol, in the parking lot at the corner of Sprague Avenue and Washington Street, and immediately started getting requests for late-night tacos.

“A lot of the people who come in here in the morning to eat asked us to do it,” Escamilla said.

So he decided to stay open until 3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Keeping with the spirit of competition, Tacos Tumbras recently started carting its trailer down to the parking lot next to The Blvd. (333 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.) on Wednesday nights, serving tacos from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., and fills the same time slot in the parking lot across from Envy (which is in the Ridpath building, 515 W. Sprague Ave.) Thursdays through Saturdays.

To paraphrase the tongue-in-cheek words of a newsroom colleague, selling tacos to drunk people at 2 a.m. sure sounds like a risky business plan. No wonder it took so long for someone to do it.

Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing what other midnight-munchie shacks will open in the coming years.

My wish list would include a noodle shop and a truck specializing in Indian curries.

Ooh, and good barbecue. Seriously, imagine how packed Chicken-n-More would get after 1 a.m.

Until other restaurant owners witness success at the city’s current late-night eateries, the options likely aren’t going to get astronomically better.

For instance, we may never come close to being as sleepless as Seoul, a 24-hour South Korean city where the restaurant and bar scene never closes.

But hey, you know what they say about baby steps.

Having The Satellite, Monterey Café and the Tacos El Sol truck open until at least 3 a.m. on the same block – with other late-night options peppered around the downtown core – seems like a good start.