Four years ago, I did not know Spokane, Washington existed.  Three years ago, I sent in my acceptance letter to Gonzaga University and that August, I started a new chapter in my life as a freshman in college.  Two years ago, I drove from my hometown, just south of San Francisco, to Spokane.  My car allowed me the freedom to explore and experience Spokane in a whole new way.  One year ago, I had the month of August to just be in Spokane before the school year started.  There was a random night that summer when Christian, Mary, and I did not know what to do with our selves.  We had already had dinner, were not all 21, and just knew we needed to get out of the house.  My parents had been in town the week before and we tried out Latah Bistro off of Highway 395, so I suggested that we go there for dessert because I could not stop thinking about their pumpkin bread pudding.  Once we got there, every item on the menu was making our mouths water and no one could make a decision.  In the midst of trying to make one decision, we made a different decision to have a dessert tasting, so we could all three different items.  We did not just nibble off each other’s plates, but we broke out our inner Iron Chef judge.  We went through the desserts one by one judging them on Presentation, Creativity, and Taste.  The scores ranged from 0-10 and we recorded them in our phones.  Once we all took our first bite, we discussed the dessert and revealed our rating.  This critique made us look at our plates in a whole new way.  Our plates were filled with more than just a dessert; it was an experience.   We laughed and felt like snobs as we tried to find the most pretentious words to describe the dollop of cinnamon ice cream on top of the pumpkin bread pudding or just how that unique caramel cake tasted despite its presentation.  As we continued on with this food critique, we talked more about other aspects of food.  We all appreciate a good meal and find ourselves in Spokane, so the conversation led us to discussing the idea of a food blog about Spokane.  We threw around some ideas that we could write about and places we could review, but within a few days, it sort of fizzled.   I think we all kept the idea somewhere in our minds though and thank goodness for that. 

I studied abroad in Florence, Italy this past January through August.  While I was there, I kept a little blog of pictures and travel experiences.  I wanted to share what my weekend trips consisted of since they could not be conveyed through a Facebook album.  It was important to my family to hear the stories and they enjoyed hearing all of the ups, downs, and various aspects of traveling throughout Europe.  I did my best to keep it updated and enjoyed recapping my travels by making it my journal.  When I left Italy, I knew my travel blog was over, but I was not ready to give up blogging.  I remembered our night at Latah Bistro when we brought out our inner foodies and convinced myself that this summer, a Spokane food blog was going to happen.  I posted “imagine this summer food blog… Dine.In.The.509. just saying. see you soon!” on Christian’s Facebook wall and his response was “Let’s. Do. It.”. 

And here we are.  We are doing it.  We are sharing our dining experiences, exposing the Inland Northwest culinary gems, favorite happy hours, and letting our readers know what Spokane has to offer.  We all come from different parts of the West Coast and appreciate a good meal, but right now, Spokane is our home.  When I first got to Spokane, 99% of my meals were at the school cafeteria and other various on-campus dining locations.  If there was a meal out, you could count on it being at Red Robin.  I did not think there were any nice, ethnic, or quality places to go to. When my parents came in town, we just stayed near campus and even found ourselves eating at the food court inside the downtown mall because we did not even think to make reservations beforehand.  As the year went on, I got to go to Clinkerdaggers, Anthony’s, and a few other places with my new (at the time), seafood-loving boyfriend.  I slowly started researching places to go, but without a car, the culinary adventures were limited.

That changed once my car was up here and I could drive wherever I wanted to get a good meal.   I soon explored just a fraction of Spokane’s restaurant world and learned just what it had to offer.  I cannot pick of a favorite and I have a hard time not wanting to go somewhere I am familiar with, but I have a list of 40 places in Spokane I need to try. 

FORTY?!

Forty.

Let’s do this.  Let’s make Dine in the 509 happen.  Lets dine and make it matter, make an effort to experience a meal that will do more than just fill us- make it fulfill us.  Let’s invite someone special or different to join, let it delight every taste bud, savor every bite, take in the ambiance, try something new, ignore the price, go to the other side of town just to see why everyone has been talking about that one restaurant, know where our food is coming from, get to know our waiter, not say ‘no’ to taking a look at the dessert menu, say ‘thank you’ every time our water is refilled, let’s leaved fulfilled. Let’s do this. Let’s Dine in the 509.