Zagat gets Mike Fagan's thoughts on Spokane's bikini baristas

Last time Zagat took notice of Spokane it was for the city’s burgeoning food scene. Now, the publisher of restaurant guides has posted a video (that could be NSFW, depending on where you work) that has little to do with food and drink in Spokane. But it does have nearly three million views to date. 

Instead, Zagat wades into the hot-button topic of so-called bikini barista stands, drive-through coffee shops that are staffed by scantily clad women (and men) and drawn the ire of more socially conservative Spokanites, including City Councilman Mike Fagan, who prominently appears in the video.

“It should be all about the coffee and not about the body,” Fagan, who has unsuccessfully introduced ordinances to put limitations on bikini barista stands, tells Zagat. Fagan also notes that he’s visited every bikini barista stand in Spokane just to see for himself how they operate and found that some employees skip the bikini part. Instead of a bikini, Fagan says, “we’re talking about three stickers strategically placed, and I’ll leave that up to everyone’s imagination where those stickers are placed.”

Zagat also talked to Kimberly Curry, a Spokane mom who unsuccessfully sponsored an initiative seeking greater restrictions on the stands, as well as conservative activist Cindy Zapotocky, before taking a trip to check out stands in Western Washington — never once commenting on if the coffee's any good.