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Fans of Ruins (and its merged, former sister restaurant Stella’s Cafe) can rejoice over this bit of exclusive news: Ruins’ chef-owner Tony Brown recently signed a lease for his latest culinary creation, and has given us the scoop on what he’s currently planning.

To be located in an 1,800-square-foot space at 225 W. Riverside (the first floor of the Bickett building, recently renovated for second and third floor living units; also located across the street from Garageland bar and restaraunt), Brown’s vision for the space is “a more polished version of Ruins.” That translates to frequently changing menus and a “big” weekend brunch program, he says.

Planned hours are 11 am-9 pm Monday through Friday (and maybe a little later on Friday) and from 9 am-9 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Brown’s tentative name for the eatery is Eyvind, a nod to early Disney background artist/animator Eyvind Earle, whose elegant artistic style is perhaps most famously featured in Disney’s 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty.

Brown is anticipating an opening later this spring, in March or April, and construction on the space is set to begin soon.

The post-holiday lull is coming to an end, at least when it comes to food and drink-related events happening across the region, starting this week. Let’s get into it.

If you’re reading this on the day Entrée goes out (Thursdays), consider attending a special event honoring the late Iron Goat Brewing co-founder Paul Edminster. This Thursday, Jan. 11, from 5-10 pm, Iron Goat and downtown beer bar Community Pint are co-hosting a release event for Paul’s Pale Ale, the new name for Iron Goat’s Garbage Pale Ale. A portion of proceeds from the evening will be donated to the American Cancer Society. (If you missed this event, the beer is also on tap at Iron Goat's downtown Spokane brewery and tasting room, at 1302 W. Second.)

Keep some good vibes going through the weekend and head to the Lantern Tap House’s 5th Annual Winter Beer Fest, this Friday and Saturday (Jan. 12-13). The two-day event features 27 seasonal and special-release ales from Washington and Oregon, with live music each night starting at 9:30 pm. Tickets at the door ($15) include a tasting mug and five 4-oz. tasting tokens (presale tickets are $20 and includes a commemorative beanie). Beer flows both inside and out, in a heated beer garden tent with fire pits. Head to the previous link for the complete tap list and other details.

WHERE TO DRINK & DINE THIS NEW YEAR’S EVE

Don’t wait until the last minute to make plans for how you’ll ring in 2018, or you’ll probably find yourself out of luck. For a few suggestions of where to start, here’s a short (and by no means comprehensive) round-up of some events around the region to close out the new year in a festive spirit.

Head to Coeur d’Alene for an intimate New Year’s Eve Dinner at the Greenbriar Inn’s 315 Martinis & Tapas. The restaurant is opening at 4:30, and suggests that guests make reservations as soon as possible to secure their preferred dining time.

Make a night of it at the Coeur d’Alene Casino and start the 1990s-themed evening with a special dinner at Chinook Steak, Pasta & Spirits. A three-course dinner for two is offered at $65, and the menu features grilled flatbread, a surf ’n’ turf entree and eggnog pie for dessert. Reservations are recommended. Other festivities throughout the evening include costume contests, giveaways and dancing to music from live DJs.

Go back in time a little further to the disco decadence of the 1970s with Mirabeau Park Hotel’s themed shindig, offering a dance party, special NYE dinner in Max at Mirabeau (happy hour runs from 3-6 pm, with dinner served from 5 pm to close). Tickets to the festivities are $30/advance and $35/door, and gets you entry, party favors, raffle entries, access to a nacho bar and a champagne toast at midnight.

For a quieter, classy evening out, consider reservations at Santé Restaurant & Charcuterie. The esteemed restaurant’s chefs have created two tasting menus ($95/person) of six courses each, with a glass or wine or cocktail and a glass of champagne. Call 315-4613 to make reservations.

If you're a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, chances are you've got at least one person you plan to make something for this holiday season.

The hope is that these gifts from the heart and the labor of our hands really mean something to the folks we share them with.

And we benefit in turn. Homemade gifts save us from many painful hours of shuffling between cranky, last-minute shoppers, trying to drown out the bad Christmas songs playing on repeat as we find ourselves staring for far too long at inspirational mirror art that says "You have so much to live for," and for a brief moment in that shopping purgatory think, "Do I, though?"

A good bake can save lives, people.

But sometimes, when the pressure is on, despite our best efforts, everything can go wrong.

Take macarons.

I made these notoriously difficult, crunchy egg-white meringues for the first time a few months back, and despite my dread, they turned out pretty much perfectly:


But that was when I had no plan for them.

It’s time for another round-up of the latest comings, goings and happenings in the Inland Northwest’s culinary community!

First up, we’ve caught wind of the projected opening for the latest project of one local chef who seems to never rest. Chef Adam Hegsted’s forthcoming downtown burger joint IncrediBurger & Eggs is slated to debut sometime in January, according to a post shared earlier this week on his Eat Good Group’s Facebook page.

IncrediBurger will be located in the former home of Dempsey’s Brass Rail bar on West First Avenue. The new eatery adds to Hegsted’s growing collection of regional restaurants, which includes The Wandering Table and The Yards Bruncheon in Kendall Yards, along with Gilded Unicorn in downtown Spokane, Eat Good Cafe in Liberty Lake, and two recently-opened spots in North Idaho: Republic Kitchen + Tap House in Post Falls, and Farmhouse Kitchen and Silo Bar in Ponderay.

Clover executive chef Travis Dickinson recently announced his impending departure from the upscale Logan Neighborhood restaurant inside a converted craftsman home to open a restaurant of his own called Cochinito Taqueria, located at 10 N. Post in downtown Spokane. The taqueria is described on its Facebook page as: “Spokane’s original chef driven taqueria. Using fine dining techniques, responsibly sourced ingredients and a craft beverage program in a casual experience.”

Dickinson is joined in the project by former Clover manager Justin Curtis. The eatery is scheduled, as it stands, to open sometime in February, so make sure to give Cochinito’s Facebook page a like (see previous link) to stay up on the latest updates.

RIVER CITY BREWING TAP ROOM TO CLOSE

A new era for local craft beer stalwart River City Brewing will begin with the new year. The brewery recently announced it will officially close its downtown Spokane tap room at the end of the year, with the last day of operations on Saturday, Dec. 30.

The decision to do so is described by River City’s owners as an evolution, allowing them to focus more on special events and the production and bottling of its craft beer lineup.

“There are lots of places to drink River City beer throughout our region, so we feel as if the tap room has served its purpose as we introduced our beers, but now it’s time to re-focus our attention on making, kegging and bottling beer,” the brewery says about the changes.

“We will be changing up our core beers, introducing some new limited releases and collaborations, as well as continuing to produce award-winning beer.”

Until the final day of operations, visitors to the tap room at 121 S. Cedar can enjoy $2.50 pints of beer and $10 growler fills. And even though the space will no longer be open to the public on a regular schedule, River City plans to open its doors for First Friday events; this “garage party” series is set to begin in February. Beer production will continue at the brewery facility adjacent to the tasting room.

The progress in the region’s culinary community never stops, with new and exciting developments in the form of innovative events, new restaurants and other food-related projects always popping up. Let’s round up the latest in this week's installment of "Foodie Grab Bag."

Fans of Mac Daddy’s Gourmet Grub food truck — known for offering many tasty variations on the American classic of mac ’n’ cheese — can now get their fix of cheesey goodness year-round at a permanent location. The new Mac Daddy’s Gourmet Pub and Grill opened in Mead’s Fairwood Shopping Center, at 415 W. Hastings Rd., in late November. With a sports bar vibe, the new restaurant is open for lunch and through to the late night (also for breakfast on the weekends), and offers an expanded pub fare menu of burgers, sausages, appetizers and salads in addition to all that tasty mac.

For some reason, it seems like bananas are always associated with muffins, not cupcakes.

And to be fair, the recipe for this edition of Bitchin' Bites on a Budget won't call for frosting. But it's a cupcake, as it calls for plenty of butter, sugar, and most importantly, bacon.

And not just any old bacon. Candied. Bacon.

Please, hold your applause 'til the end of the show, folks.

Continuing on our path of making bitchin' food without breaking the bank, I give you:

MINI BANANA CUPCAKES WITH CANDIED BACON!
In the spirit of getting the biggest bang for our hard-earned bucks, I briefly want to share with you something cool I only recently learned.

For most banana recipes, you need the fruit to have already softened a bit. The riper, the better, right? But most of the time, you can't buy them that way at the store.

Enter: Grocery Outlet.

If you attended the Inlander's PowderKeg Brew Festival as part of the annual Winter Party at the Spokane Convention Center, hopefully you cast a vote for the featured beer, cider or mead that wowed your taste buds as you sampled your way through the fest's 24 participating regional beverage makers.

Now that the gold tokens have been counted, we're here to announce the winners of several categories!

Best of PowderKeg 2017 (most vote tokens received overall)
Beer: Dark Persuasion German Chocolate Stout — Icicle Brewing, Leavenworth
Cider/mead: Cranpeary Caramel Perry — Pear Up Cider, Wenatchee

Best of PowderKeg: Drink Local (local breweries with most tokens overall)
Beer: Gutter Ball Pale Ale — Ten Pin Brewing, Moses Lake
Cider/mead: Spiced Apple Session Mead — Hierophant Meadery, Mead

People's Choice: Most Ounces Poured
Beer: Dark Persuasion German Chocolate Stout — Icicle Brewing, Leavenworth
Cider/mead: Cranpeary Caramel Perry — Pear Up Cider, Wenatchee

Drink Local: Most Poured Overall Beer
First place: Big Juicy IPA — No-Li Brewhouse, Spokane
Second place: Fat Lenny IPA — Post Falls Brewing, Post Falls
Third place: Inconceivable Imperial Pilsner — River City Brewing, Spokane

Drink Local: Most Poured Overall Cider/Mead
First place: Blue Balls Cider — Summit Cider, Coeur d'Alene
Second place: Winter Lift Cider — Whiskey Barrel Cider Co., Pullman
Third place: Chai Spiced Cider — North Idaho Cider, Coeur d'Alene

We’re in the final hours to purchase tickets to No-Li Brewhouse’s FrostFest on December 9.

The annual event is centered around the release of 12 speciality beers that include five barrel-aged beers, three hazy ales and variants of No-Li staples.

This year, FrostFest is moving from the brewery to the Spokane Arena concourse. With the added space, No-Li has turned the festival into a full-fledged “winter carnival” featuring ice carving, fire dancing, a lumber jill and other performers. The concourse will be split into four sections, with each entertainment theme pairing with the beers on tap.

For $30 you get a t-shirt, tasting glass and five four-ounce pours. An additional $10 will land you a ticket to the Spokane Chiefs vs. Seattle Thunderbirds hockey game taking place after FrostFest. Ticket sales end Tuesday at midnight and are available through TicketsWest.

A portion of the ticket proceeds go to benefit the Illuminating Courage monument — a Washington State Fallen Heroes memorial for the region’s military members killed during service.