Cajun-inspired restaurant Ten/6 to reopen in Coeur d’Alene

Ten/6’s Cajun and Creole cuisine is returning to Coeur d’Alene.

The Alice in Wonderland meets New Orleans-themed restaurant is reopening in the spring as part of The Mill, a four-story mixed-use development currently under construction at 1705 N. Government Way.

The Mill, when complete, will span 43,000 square feet and include retail on the ground level and 43 apartments on its upper floors.

Ten/6 closed in February 2020 after the restaurant’s lease ended at its former location, 726 N. Fourth St. The restaurant had been in operation for more than two years prior to its closure.

“Even when we closed the original location, we knew we would be coming back at some point with hopefully an opportunity to have a bigger space,” said Jill Davis, who owns Ten/6 with her daughter, Taylor Jane “TJ” Taylor.

Davis and Taylor spent the past two years searching for a new location to house Ten/6 before they were approached by Coeur d’Alene-based commercial real estate firm Widmyer Corp. about leasing a space in the company’s Mill development.

Ten/6’s restaurant in the Mill development will be about 2,500 square feet – more than double the size of its Fourth Street location, Taylor said.

“We had such a fun time making everything so personal and special,” Taylor said of the restaurant’s former design. “But, I think this time we are going to amp it up a little bit more because we have a larger space.”

Taylor and Davis are retaining the restaurant’s eclectic theme that includes nods to New Orleans and Alice in Wonderland with rabbits, teapots and clocks.

“It’s going to feel very familiar to folks,” Davis said. “There will be lots of pieces that folks will recognize, and we will have outrageously decorated bathrooms.”

Ten/6’s name refers to 10 shillings and 6 pence – the price tag of the hat worn by the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.

“Think of it as if Alice went to New Orleans, what would she experience if she was eating and drinking tea in the French Quarter?” Davis said of the restaurant’s ambiance.

The restaurant space will have a private dining room and a patio reminiscent of French Quarter courtyards in New Orleans, Taylor said.

The menu will feature Cajun classics, such as beignets, red beans and rice, gumbo and a muffuletta sandwich, with some possible new additions in the works.

Other menu highlights will include the K-Paul, a breakfast burrito stuffed with smoked pulled pork, cheese, eggs and potatoes; and Miss Ella’s French toast, rum custard-soaked brioche baked bread-pudding style with cinnamon and nutmeg, caramelized in a banana rum sauce and garnished with toasted pecans.

In addition to its existing menu, Ten/6 will be introducing specialty pastries, and an espresso bar with coffee from Evans Brothers Coffee. Patrons will be able to grab beignets, pastries and coffee to go from the espresso bar, Taylor said.

“This time around, we get to partner with a good friend of ours, pastry chef Michelle Didier,” Davis said. “We are going to have a running menu of specialty pastry items that we’ll be able to offer in addition to beignets.”

Ezra Winfrey, former head server at Ten/6’s Fourth Street location, will return as general manager of the restaurant.

The restaurant is anticipated to open in the spring, dependent on when construction wraps up for the Mill development.

Benjamin Widmyer, president and owner of Widmyer Corp., said in an email The Mill project is slated for completion in spring or early summer of next year.

Commercial space in the mixed-use development is 100% leased and preleasing for apartments will be underway in the spring, Widmyer added. Widmyer declined to comment on other commercial tenants for the development, stating some may not yet be ready to publicly announce their involvement.

Taylor and Davis are looking forward to reopening the restaurant and engaging with the community again after a two-year hiatus.

“When your passion is a business like this – food and people – it becomes part of who you are, and you miss that interaction with folks so much,” Davis said.