Survival of the delicious: Downtown Spokane’s newest bars and restaurants
Spokane’s restaurants and bars are struggling, but that hasn’t stopped a cohort of new owners .
“I think downtown Spokane is still in its bounce-back period,” said Darin Talotti, part-owner of Pure Northwest, a restaurant and bar that opened in June at what used to be the location of the Red Lion Pub. “People are starting to realize that more and more areas are getting cleaned up and redone – they’re getting vibrant again.”
After remaining a staple in downtown Spokane since 1959, Red Lion Pub closed in December along with a handful of some of Spokane’s most recognizable dining and drinking establishments. Owners have cited high operating costs and a troubling downtown atmosphere as leading causes.
Talotti previously worked at Red Lion for about 15 years under the ownership of his father, Tony Talotti, who sold the bar and restaurant in 2020. Since then, the state minimum wage will have raised over $3 per hour come 2025.
Despite high operating costs, it has not deterred Darin Talotti and others from braving the storm of downtown uncertainty.
The issues
Between the beginning of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, 210 restaurants had opened in Spokane County, 125 of which were located within the city, according to Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Hospitality Association.
Also during that time frame, 200 restaurants closed countywide and 112 closed within the city.
Though not all closures were permanent, such as when a restaurant changed hands, Anton worries about the Spokane dining scene.
He fears closures may outnumber openings in the coming years, reversing a trend of growth that has persisted since 1994, he said.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if we just need fewer restaurants,” he said. “If we’re going to have these kinds of labor costs, it might just take fewer restaurants splitting up the pie to make that livable.”
The National Restaurant Association found that in 2023, restaurants across the county averaged about a 4% profit margin.
In Washington, restaurants and bars averaged a 1.5% profit margin.
And due to higher labor costs, Washington restaurants average 20% fewer employees than the national average.
Those higher costs are also reflected in menu prices, which up 12% in Washington compared to the national average, Anton said.
“We’re cutting labor, we’re cutting hours, menu prices are up. I’m really trying to raise a red flag that this is not a sustainable model – we have to find change,” he said. “What do we have to do to get our margins in good shape and also assure our customers that no one’s trying to gouge them?”
And issues compound for establishments located in the downtown core, according to Jeremy Tangen, a restaurateur with locations throughout the Spokane area.
“It’s going to get harder this year and into next, based on costs and the reality of working with a downtown customer base,” he said. “We are relying on the late night crowds.”
Tangen owns bars near the lively corner of Main Avenue and Division Street, including Borracho Tacos & Tequileria, Globe Nightclub, Fast Eddie’s and as of August, the Red Lion building that now houses Pure Northwest.
Different from his other locations like the Backyard Public House in the West Central neighborhood or the Red Wheel Bar & Grill on the lower South Hill, Tangen’s downtown locations are busiest late in the evenings.
Compared to before the coronavirus outbreak, Tangen said his locations serve relatively the same number of people but the amount the average customer spends is less.
“It’s younger crowds and it’s a lot more events focused,” Tangen said. “The reality is that lunch is dead in downtown.”
New in town
Rachel and Alex Tibbits, owners of Swing Lounge located in the Bank America Building, share Tengen’s grim regard for midday dining in downtown.
“One of the reasons we wanted to do a full restaurant for our downtown location is because we knew a lot of restaurants were closed for happy hour and lunch time,” Rachel Tibbits said. “We saw that as an opportunity and we had a lot of confidence in it.”
Swing Lounge is a restaurant, full bar and virtual golf course. Customers can play a full round by driving into a ball-tracking screen.
The two opened their first location in Spokane Valley in 2022, and their Spokane location in June.
Despite issues more focused to the city’s core, like homelessness and property crime, the two have long dreamed of expanding to the area.
“There are still thousands of professionals downtown that need a place to grab some quick food or a drink during their lunch hour,” Alex Tibbits said. “And a lot of professionals are golfers so we just knew downtown would be a perfect fit.”
The two say their Spokane operation has found success due to their special chicken wing recipe, robust online ordering capabilities and most of all, their atmosphere.
“People come in looking for a unique experience,” Rachel Tibbits said. “They come in because they are looking for fun and we provide that.”
Joe and Patty Seng, owners of Seng’s Asian Barbecue, have the same idea.
Planned to open around April 2025, their restaurant will look like a classic Korean barbecue. Customers are provided an assortment of vegetables and marinated raw meats that they cook for themselves on a personal grill.
“Tabletop Korean barbecue is not an easy 20 minutes, you’re in you’re out, type of thing,” Patty Seng said. “You get your food, you get cooking, you have some drinks – it’s more of an entertainment kind of meal.”
The two are currently working to renovate their location at 801 N. Monroe St., which previously housed Charley’s Catering that closed last year after 45 years.
The building will have 17 table-top grills, a full bar and a casual dining area for lunch hours.
The concept is unique to Spokane, Seng said. Its novelty is what will make their restaurant and Spokane’s restaurant scene in general a success, she said.
“Dining in Spokane is expensive right now so if people are going to spend the money to go out, they’re going to want to have an experience,” she said. “And if we can make Spokane a melting pot of different kinds of food, cultures and experiences, restaurants will thrive.”
The ingredients for healthy Spokane scene
A community of restaurant owners that were willing to help was essential to the early success of Tamale Box, which opened in February in Kendall Yards, according to part-owner Enrique Mariscal.
After spending two years selling Mexican tamales at local farmers markets, made using his mother’s recipe, Mariscal and his fiancée, Lauren Murray began work to open a permanent store.
They quickly ran into problems.
“We were struggling to find good quality corn husks,” Enrique said, referring to the signature wrapping of an authentic tamale. “We were throwing away so many corn husks – it was our biggest issue.”
That’s because their family recipe calls for a larger tamale than what is typical.
Then during a trip to Seattle, he visited Frelard Tamales, which had similar size tamales. To Enrique’s surprise, the owner was willing to share where he sourced his husks and much more.
“He broke down every year: how they’ve grown, how many employees they had and how much sales they did every year,” he said. “He didn’t have to share that information but it helped us so much.”
Spokane restaurant owners helped the couple along the way by lending advice and even offering up their kitchen when it wasn’t in use, according to Murray.
“Through a lot of the hardships that the industry is experiencing, I think that it will continue to bring restaurant owners closer,” she said. “We can only make this community successful if we do it together.”
Anton, leader of the Hospitality Association, began to see the community rally together, he said.
“In the old world, no one really wanted to share their numbers or anything, they kept those things close,” Anton said. “But because so many people are struggling right now we’re all trying to be more transparent and open with each other.”
And because they were aided by restaurateurs before them, Enirque and Lauren look forward to passing along their experiences and wisdom.
Because no matter how unforgiving the industry is, they are confident there will always be a next generation of restaurant and bar owners who want to open their doors to the community.
“I mean, we were confident in our product, and probably a little bit naïve, but we would have never gone into it if it weren’t for the people,” Mariscal said. “We’ve known people for years, we’ve seen kids grow up in front of our eyes, our customers have seen our newborn grow – we had to open a restaurant.”