Bloglander

One proposal to save the old YMCA building in Riverfront Park may not be about saving the building.

“I’m not commenting on that,” says Mark Pinch, one of the three people who submitted plans for the site, when asked if he would renovate the building or tear it down. Pinch has been involved with the controversial site since 2006, when his $5.4 million bid to build a 15-story condo there launched a battle culminating this month, when the city decides whether to keep the building or convert the location to park space.---

Pinch has gone through the back-and-forths with the Y, the city and the city’s Park Board. But it’s the controversy Pinch says he wants to avoid.

“We have to look at this as a community,” he says. “I’ve got a real aversion to us versus them. It’s all us.”

Pinch wouldn’t release any details on his plan, other than to say it would “still be basically residential.”

Ron Wells, another bidder on the site, was a bit more forthcoming. According to the Spokesman, his plan would also be mainly residential — the top three floors of the existing building would be made into apartments. The ground floor, Wells told the paper, would be for Spokane Public Radio, though the station hasn’t signed on to the deal.

A third proposal comes from Jennifer Childress, who’d like to see the site become a Museum of Native American Cultures (MONAC). In her proposal to the city, Childress says she has no funding for her proposal, or the qualifications to pull off such a feat, but would like to “to plant the seed of an idea for the building.”

I know what you’re thinking: Any restaurant with “Express” as part of its name can’t possibly be authentic or local. However, SAVANNY FOOD EXPRESS is both. Opened in January by husband-and-wife team Savann and Ny Ratahnahk (hence the name), Savanny Food Express serves up a wealth of traditional Thai dishes.

Originally from Cambodia, the couple escaped to Thailand in 1980 and has since lived an odyssey, moving from Thailand to California to Michigan to Bellingham to Spokane.

The team’s cooking reflects the geography of their lives. “Some we learned in Thailand, some in the United States,” says Savann.

And the food is mouthwatering. First up was chicken satay — tender white meat marinated with garlic and curry powder, then skewered and grilled and served with peanut sauce. It’s the perfect appetizer for those who come in starving.

For dinner, we tried the popular sweet, creamy, spicy yellow curry; one of Savann’s personal favorites, savory basil chicken; and a dish that, according to Savann, isn’t found at just any Thai restaurant: the Thai Angel, made with the most delicate pan-fried noodles, chicken, prawns and veggies.

Despite the great food, Savann says, “Business is still slow — a lot of people in the neighborhood don’t know about us yet.”

He shrugs and laughs, “But we haven’t done anything much to let them know we opened.” Still, people keep trickling in based on word-of-mouth recommendations.

Savanny’s also boasts an occasional all-you-can-eat Thai buffet.

“We like to do things a little bit different from other restaurants,” says Savann with a grin. “Sometimes, people want options. They want to try different things, especially [if it’s their] first time for Thai food.”

Savann would like to do the buffet every day but currently conserves food and costs by offering the buffet only on specific days, advertised on flyers in Savanny’s windows.

With great food and service, the one drawback to dining at Savanny’s (for those over 21, at least) is the lack of beer — Savanny’s is still waiting for its liquor license. — CAREY JACKSON

Savanny Food Express, 11808 E. Sprague, is open Mon-Fri 11 am-8 pm, Sat-Sun noon-8 pm. Call 443-5037.

The first aisle I walked down at the recently opened ASIAN WORLD FOOD MARKET transported me to Thailand, with shelves of canned jackfruit, pickled eggplant, curries and coconut milk. I pick another aisle, and I’m in ramen heaven, with more instant Asian noodle soups than I ever knew existed.

“We want to help all of the Asians living here looking for their foods,” says Joy Kang, who owns the market with her husband Young. “Many Asian ingredients are hard to get and expensive.”

Asian World Food Market carries food items from Korea, China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and India. Joy says she and her husband are in business not just to make money but to serve the community by offering hard-to-find items at reasonable prices.

The market opened Feb. 18, and there’s still some unpacking going on. But the pile of empty cardboard boxes outside the front door is evidence that there’s plenty on the shelves already.

Sushi lovers will find a whole aisle devoted to seaweed — roasted, shredded, pressed and seasoned. And starting next week, Asian World will sell fresh sushi-grade fish for one-stop sushi shopping. You’ll find pickled ginger, wasabi and 50-pound bags of rice. (You’ll find smaller quantities of specialty rice, also). Need a rice cooker or some extra chopsticks? They’ve got those, too.

I love stores that carry ingredients I don’t recognize. I’ve never tried boiled lotus root, but it sure looks pretty. Pickled plums, golden ginger and salted radish are intriguing, too. Next time I need some quail eggs, I’ll know where to go.
The Kangs will continue to stock the shelves with special requests from customers, and when everything settles, they plan to add a food court with a small number of popular Korean and Chinese American dishes.

Asian World joins nearby El Mercado del Pueblo as a welcome addition to the ethnic food scene in Spokane. Let’s hope this is a continuing trend.

White,dark, milk, toffee-coated — there is no age limit on chocolate. That’s why the goods from the Flour Mill’s Chocolate Apothecary will be tasted during a gourmet luncheon at the Southside Senior Center, 3151 E. 27th Ave., on Friday, Feb. 26, at 11:30 am. Tickets: $25. Call 535-0803.

The bubbly will accompany this same ageless ambrosia, also on Saturday, during a benefit for Lutheran Community Services at Mirabeau Park Hotel, 1100 N. Sullivan Rd. At one of the best galas in our region, not only will the champagne and chocolate be pouring, but fine espresso will topple into cups and melt the chocolate in your mouth. Tickets:$50. Call 343-5053.

It really is about quality. A tomato grown from nutrient-dense soil,fresh-picked and warmed from the late-summer sun — there’s nothing like it.

The people of Slow Food Spokane River know this as well as anyone. They’ve dedicated their gardening careers to the encouragement of locally grown food. They’re currently prepping their “2nd Chance Kitchen &Garden Sale,” a fundraiser to be held on Saturday, March 6, from 9 am-3pm. Right now, they’re seeking donations of not-totally-beat-up utensils for growing, preparing and serving food.

Your donation will go to slow-food projects around our area. Last year’s fundraiser provided a scholarship to a slow-food workshop for youth — which means that’s one less unfortunate soul never to have tasted a tomato straight from the vine. Bring your donations to Peters &Sons Flowers and Gifts, 512 E. Pacific Ave. Call 209-2851.

Somewhere in a parallel universe, we consider Greek food an American tradition, as inherent to our way of eating as pizza or tacos. As evidence, we submit Santorini’s newest restaurant in Idaho (literally the parent company of the Santorini’s in Spokane).

Consider the following:Greek food comes from a culture whose ancient roots laid the foundation for Western civilization, including our American political, legal and other systems.

Second,it’s humble yet hearty food, the Mediterranean equivalent of meat-and-potatoes, with lamb instead of beef and orzo (ricelike pasta) replacing the potatoes (and waaaaaay more garlic!).

Finally, it is prepared by people like Dino and Fotini Tsakarestos, who embody the Horatio Alger attitude of our immigrant past. Nearly 40 years ago, they arrived from Crete, and they have since spent a lifetime building restaurants and relationships throughout the Northwest — including Coeur d’Alene’s Olympia restaurant, which they sold a few years back.

Their new restaurant is located in an unassuming strip mall across from Kootenai County Fairgrounds, home of horse shows and the annual demolition derby (doesn’t get much more American than that). With scant attention to ambience, Santorini’s offers plentiful portions of good food at extremely reasonable pricing (and menus you don’t need a flashlight to read).

Make a meal of appetizers like dolmades — grape leaves stuffed with ground beef and rice ($6.75). Hummus is traditionally made with ground garbanzo beans and a sesame paste called tahini, but it’s also available with roasted red pepper ($5.50-$6), smeared thickly over warmed pita bread, sliced veggies and fabulous with a glass of Kretikos wine ($6).

We love Greek appetizers so much that we had the sampler: roasted potatoes, Kalamata olives, spanokopita (phyllo pastry with spinach and feta cheese), dolmades and hummus ($12).

Other temptations include the kabob platter ($12.50-$15), gyros — sliced meat served on a pita with tzatziki sauce ($5.25-$5.85) — and moussaka, a casserole of potatoes, eggplant and ground beef ($12.50).

Save room for dessert like baklava ($3), made with butter, phyllo pastry dough, crushed nuts and honey. Since America is the land of milk and honey, consider it your duty to try some.

Latah Bistro’s Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta was born out of necessity, “a byproduct of having too much Greek yogurt in the house” after breakfast service was over, says chef David Blaine. He needed some way to use it all.

When editors at Bon Appetit first approached Blaine about submitting a recipe for the panna cotta, he was flattered but taken aback. By that time, Latah Bistro wasn’t doing breakfast anymore, and thus didn’t have the vast Greek yogurt supplies that had facilitated the dessert.

This was roughly two years ago. He agreed to give the recipe to magazine editors and waited to hear back. A year later, they called again, this time to fact-check. Blaine says he assumed they’d killed the story, but the editor assured him, no, no, it’d run in December.

December 2008. It just came out in the January 2010 issue. It’s a fast-paced food world swirling around us, but stories like this show that a good recipe is timeless. Or, at least, it has a shelf life of somewhere between one and three years.

Since publication, the panna cotta has experienced favor outpacing its original run. “It was not a terribly popular desert then,” Blaine says, but now people are out for it. The panna cotta doesn’t need a ton of yogurt, so it doesn’t make sense to buy bulk. Blaine was planning to just pick it up at the grocery store.The only problem: it’s hard to find full-fat Greek yogurt in this town.

Traditional Greek yogurt, says Blaine, is “a high-fat yogurt, like a tangier cream cheese.” All he found in area stores — marketed as healthy alternatives to Yoplait — was “nonfat Greek yogurt … which baffles me.”

Because of these logistical hurdles, Blaine seems to wish the panna cotta would just die. He had it as a special through January, last put it on the Valentine’s menu, and planned to leave it at that. But writers keep calling to ask about it — like us, asking to hear the story and then wondering when people will be able to find it on the menu again.

Blaine responded with a hint of resignation. “I’ll do it again this week,” he says. “I’ve got a couple tubs of yogurt left. I was just going to eat them.”

Two weeks ago, student protesters roused themselves at local public universities to decry tuition prices and state budget cuts. Their ire was directed at Olympia. After all, at Washington public universities, it’s the state, not the individual university, that sets public tuitions.

But a bill in Olympia has just passed the state Senate giving three state universities — Washington State, Western Washington and University of Washington — the power to set their own tuition (though they’re limited to a 14 percent yearly increase).

Notice anybody missing from that list? That’s right, Eastern Washington University.

Part of the reason for the omission, bill sponsor Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor) explains, is that EWU didn’t ask to be involved. The change is a six-year experiment, and the big agitators for the bill were the three included in that experiment.

Dave Meany, spokesman for Eastern Washington University, says that having the power to set tuition wouldn’t solve Eastern’s major financial problems. Many Eastern students need more financial aid, not higher tuition.

Last week, the state Department of Ecology took one more step toward cleaning up the Spokane River by submitting a cleanup plan 12 years in the making to theEnvironmental Protection Agency. Officially called the Spokane River/Lake Spokane Dissolved Oxygen Water Quality Improvement Plan (referred to as the TMDL report on the street), the plan would bring our local bodies of water into compliance with allowable dissolved oxygen levels. When all is said and done, it calls for reduction of municipal and industrial phosphorous pollution — which leads to dissolved oxygen — by more than 90 percent. The EPA has 30 days to review the plan.