You can take in The Ivory Table's menu at an eye's glance — seven hot sandwiches and three cold sandwiches. That's how owner Kristen Ward wants it.
"One of the things we pride ourselves on is having a small menu," she says, because then every item is reliable.
Ward opened up The Ivory Table, a lunch café and catering company, at the beginning of June in a storefront along Spokane's International District that used to be The Flying Pig diner and pub. The space — now devoid of purple-and-green walls and pig paraphernalia — was fashioned into a chic eatery mixing distressed metals with glass-topped tables and a light blue, black-and-white color scheme.
The 31-year-old Spokane native spent the past 12 years on the west side of the state working as a musician and a cook. Ward performed in Seattle music venues, released four full-length albums and cooked at restaurants in Seattle as well as France.
She built the simple Ivory Table menu as a combination of things she likes to make and things she thought people in Spokane would enjoy. The popular meatloaf sandwich, which we tried, is a tasty, thick layering of housemade meatloaf, lettuce, caramelized onions and chipotle ketchup ($10 with choice of slaw, potato salad or chips). Other sandwiches include a Reuben, an albacore tuna melt with herbs and cheeses, and vegetarian options like a sea salt and basil caprese.
You can order from the sandwich menu all day and choose deli salads from the cold case. Sweet and savory crepes, as well as hash and eggs, are available before 11 am on weekdays and all day on weekends.
"The crepe thing is drawing on my love for classic French cuisine," says Ward. Mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, Gruyère (tastes like aged Swiss cheese) and béchamel sauce make up one of the crepes ($8) and you'll find things like seasonal berries and Nutella on the sweet crepes ($4-$7).
Drink choices, as delightfully minimal as the food menu, include iced tea, truly fresh-squeezed lemonade and coffee. But don't expect to go all mocha-and-latte crazy. The Ivory Table serves Roast House's Shadow blend either cold-brewed or purely as a cup of hot coffee.♦
The Ivory Table • 1822 E. Sprague • Open Tue-Sun: 9 am-2 pm • ivorytable.com • 474-1300
