To find it, you'll have to descend flights of stairs, then meander down a hallway until you reach a large wooden sliding door with deep purple velvet curtains teasing the swanky restaurant inside.
Chef-owner Juli Norris, a longtime Spokane restauranteur, first opened Kasa Restaurant and Taphouse on the building's first floor at 908 N. Howard St. However, the family-focused, casual atmosphere didn't quite fulfill her passions.
"My vision was I wanted to create a place that shined in the food that I was trained in and wanted to be a little bit of an escape for people when they come here," Norris says. "It's like something Spokane didn't already have. I wanted it to feel very special, I wanted it to feel very secluded."
She hit the mark, transforming the dark underground space from scratch before opening Lorén in 2023. Unlike Kasa right upstairs, Lorén is a 21+ space illuminated by tea lights and soft lavender fixtures. The history of the building can be found in the thick stone walls, but is balanced with modern touches of marble and violet accents, like the gold-encrusted purple geodes that trail along a wall.
Norris used her classic training in French cuisine to create a menu that would live up to the upscale space.
"I work with chefs that have the same dedication to the level of food, the freshness of the food, the locality of the food and as well as that consistency and that quality. But we all kind of have that same vision," Norris says.
Each dish reflects the time and dedication Norris, Executive Chef Stephen Rinaldi and Chef de Cuisine Sebastian Zowal have put into their craft.
I wanted it to feel very special, I wanted it to feel very secluded.
Looking back, Rinaldi thinks that he's been destined to become a chef.
"There's a picture of me when I was I think 3 years old, and I'm on a fake little burners that I drew, a stovetop on a cardboard box, and I'm playing with pans and acting like a chef," he says.
Rinaldi grew up cooking with his parents, but says his most formative inspiration was visiting and helping cook at a family friend's rural home.
"I was just always fascinated watching her and doing her farmstead thing and cooking with those fresh ingredients," Rinaldi says.
While he dabbled in food service jobs growing up in Spokane, his goal to become a chef was cemented when Rinaldi moved to the Virgin Islands at 19 years old and worked in the kitchen of an eco resort for three years.
"I just learned to love cooking down there. I had a lot of freedom to write the menus, and the menus always changed," Rindali says.
After his time working at the resort, Rinaldi had plans to co-open a brewery on the islands. However, Hurricane Irma literally swept those dreams aside in 2017. Luckily, he was vacationing when Irma came through, but he lost his apartment and all of his belongings.
"I wasn't even able to go back," Rinaldi says. "I haven't been back since."
Rindali has since racked up culinary experience working locally at Cochinito Taqueria, Gozzer Ranch Golf and Lake Club, and Dry Fly Distilling as a sous chef.
Looking to continue to advance as a chef, when he saw that Lorén was slated to open, he worked at Kasa briefly before moving to the basement restaurant.
"It's something I've always been striving for, to get to this point, and now I can only just go farther," says Rinaldi about working in his first executive chef position.
Influenced by his time on the islands, Rinaldi always enjoys putting a Caribbean flair to his cuisine.
"I like to use a lot of citrus, exotic fruits and that kind of stuff. I like a lot of fish dishes, which I also incorporate those things into," he says.
When coming up with new recipes, Rinaldi tries to draw from local, seasonal ingredients. Sometimes, dish ideas will come to him in a dream, like a handmade fettuccine with black garlic pesto cream sauce, snap peas and preserved peppadews that was previously on Lorén's menu.
Though life has taken Rinaldi in various directions, partially chased by hurricanes, the Spokane food scene is glad to have him.
To ensure Lorén's menu remains consistent, high-quality and creative, Zowal — the chef de cuisine — backs up Rinaldi in the kitchen.
Zowal's first job in the food industry was serving brunch items at Frank's Diner when he was 16 years old. He dedicated seven years to the diner, working in every position and learning the ins and outs, before attending culinary school at Spokane Community College in 2016.
"One of my co-workers at Frank's Diner, she went to culinary school at SCC, and she recommended it to me," Zowal says. "She's like, 'Hey, I noticed you're really passionate about cooking and working in a restaurant, you should try to excel your skills and learn more about the industry."
He did just that, going on to work at Italia Trattoria in Browne's Addition for two years before meeting and following chef Philip Stanton to Park Lodge along the western end of Kendall Yards. Zowal worked there for six years, working his way up to a sous chef position until the lodge closed.
"After they closed down, Juli was a frequent customer at Park Lodge, and she was like, 'I can tell you're really talented, and I love the food that you cook. How about you come cook for me?" Zowal says.
Lorén was right up his alley, working a lot with classical French cuisine, but then also with the restaurant's creative flexibility to incorporate other cuisines like Italian food. One of his favorite dishes at Lorén was a Valentine's Day special of pasta stuffed with a crab and ricotta filling, cut and folded to look like a rose.
While shows like The Bear and Hell's Kitchen paint the restaurant industry in a chaotic, stress-filled light, cooking is almost therapeutic to Zowal.
"It's just really relaxing for me, just building a recipe from start to finish," He says. "Just the whole cooking process, it amazes me how you can just take all these different ingredients and bring them together into a composed dish."
