The first time I met Spokane, it was a surprising, full-of-energy but not full-of-itself kind of place. This eastern Washington city has a vibrant food scene and nightlife, but it isn’t shrouded in skyscrapers. “It reminds me of Seattle back in the ’80s before IKEA looking condo’s [sic] and tech took over,” Macklemore recently wrote on Instagram.
A year after that first date with Spokane, I decided to give it another. Could this unpretentious, mid-sized city surprise me again? What is it about it that I can’t let go?
So I hopped on a plane and met my always-up-for-anything Spokane friend, Kate Hudson, at the airport and checked into the historic The Montvale Hotel (built in 1899). A boutique hotel that was remodeled in 2005, The Montvale has had many lives, including once being a brothel. Rooms are small but comfortable.
Kate is passionate about Spokane, and it’s not just because she works for the tourism board. She wasn’t born there, but she’s made her life there, and the outdoors is a big part of that life. So she had a plan: introduce me to a different hiking trail every day. We’d then reward ourselves for burning calories by exploring Spokane’s food scene and drinking cocktails at a few of its coolest local favorites.
But first, there was a surprise. “I’ve got us tickets to see Adam Sandler at Spokane Arena,” she told me. Spokane has embraced live events across the city, especially for concerts. By one estimation, they’ve had the “biggest jump of any market in the country for live events from 2022 to 2023.”
So we began our week with the Gen X nostalgia of Sandler’s I Missed You Tour!, which, if you don’t count Rob Schneider’s guest appearance, was an un-disappointedly juvenile, uncomfortably funny and un-political comedy.
“A large number of the audience may not even be from Spokane,” Kate told me.
The city, I learned, is the largest between Seattle and Minneapolis — a major hub for entertainment, culture and shopping in a 250-mile radius within Washington, western Montana, northern Idaho and parts of Canada. (And with the exit of gynecologists in Idaho, Washington cities like Spokane can be one of the few options women have for reproductive healthcare.) Spokane is also very accessible, as everything is only a short drive away. So the next morning, our mission to explore everything was on.
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The Hikes
We met Kate’s running partner, Rika Ream, for breakfast at The Yards, a diner with a menu that makes return visit inevitable. We then hit the road to Mount Spokane State Park, where there are dozens of trails. Rika led the way up Mount Kit Carson Trail, a beautifully forested, roughly six-mile out-and-back trail with rewarding sweeping views of the valley below. I discovered quickly that at almost 70 years old, Rika can hike at the speed of light. “To me, the biggest attraction for the outdoors here is the lack of traffic,” she later told me.
Rika first lived in Spokane from 1968-1972 and then came back in 2011 and stayed. “This was not my planned destination,” she says. But it was that access to the outdoors that kept her here.
Spokane has a trail for every kind of hike. Palisades Park has approximately 700 acres of conserved land and trails, which includes a fantastic view of the city and access to the hidden Mystic Falls. From Indigenous Painted Rocks trail, which has 18th-century Spokane Tribe pictographs, to the nearly 9,200 acres of Riverside State Park where you can float the rapids, there is no shortage of outdoor access.
My favorite of the week, though, might have been the steep Rocks of Sharon, a five-to-six-mile loop at Dishman Hills Conservation Area. At the top, there are granite rocks reaching for the clouds, calling you to climb and take in the arresting and quiet views of the valley below. We spent some time soaking it all in.
The Eats
Like the trails, it is hard to exhaust the food options in Spokane. It is a foodie city, with restaurants from James Beard nominated chefs like Chad White at Zona Blanca Ceviche Bar, which features a coastal Baja and Mexico menu, or the creative and seasonal New American cuisine from Chef Tony Brown of Ruins. Ruins’s Bourbon Renewal cocktail — bourbon, lemon juice, creme de cassis and bitters — is fantastic after a long day of hiking.
But if you just want creative casual food after a day of trails, it’s hard to beat the craft beers and Neapolitan-inspired pizzas of The Flying Goat or the chill atmosphere of The Elk Public House, a Spokane local favorite for sandwiches and microbrews in the historic Browne’s Addition neighborhood. Similarly, Spokane’s only Indigenous restaurant, Indigenous Eats, offers comfort food like traditional frybread, a recipe that was handed down by the owner’s mother. I now dream of their frybread with huckleberry sauce regularly.
We ended our first day’s hike at Kismet in the historic Hillyard District, which has a Latin-inspired menu from chef Daniel Gonzalez and bartender Monica York. Their elote is addicting, made with fried corn, mojo verde, cotija, crema and house Tajin.
The Drinks
Hillyard is also home to The Bad Seed. Once a local library, the walls of this gothic and moody restaurant hold large paintings (including one of the former librarian) and oversized novelty human skulls. Their cocktail names come with literary allusions, like the Blood Meridian with Gunpowder Rye Whiskey, lime and Campari.
Among my favorites, though, is the city’s legendary Baby Bar. This living-room sized, dingy dive bar is immersed in red lighting and makes a very satisfying Old Fashioned. (There is also a sizable mural of a nude Danny Devito on the wall.) Not far away is Bistango Martini Lounge. They serve classic and signature cocktails; I had an original creation, the Gentleman’s Choice, made with Bulleit Rye, Luxardo Liqueur, vermouth and black walnut bitters.
Hogwash Whiskey Den, which is tucked away in the basement of the old Washington Cracker Co., is also a must. With its exposed brick, wooden beams, low ceilings and brooding lighting, it looks like the kind of place whiskey itself would go to get a drink. I ordered their layered seasonal Old Fashioned with bourbon, brandy, apple pie syrup, a spritz of absinthe, Angostura and clove bitters (brandy is usually a hallmark of an Old Fashioned in Wisconsin).
Revival Tea Company’s tasting room is actually a former speakeasy. There you’ll find tea flights, tea cocktails and mocktails. Like many other cities these days, many places in Spokane will have creative menus for zero-proof drinks.
One Last Show
We ended my week in Spokane by seeing the ever-brilliant comedian, Taylor Tomlinson, whose sets are frequently built on growing up religious and the struggle of figuring out adult life. Recently turning 30, her career is exploding, and she’s about to become the host of the upcoming After Midnight on CBS.
Like Tomlinson, Spokane is always trying to figure itself out. It isn’t a perfect city, and also like Tomlinson, it doesn’t hide it. It has its successes — like its food and bar scenes, its conservation of public lands that lifted it out of its polluted and garbage-plagued past, and this year, by launching its first of its fleet of electric buses. But its people are vocal about what needs to happen next, like continued improved relations with the Spokane Tribe and meaningful solutions for aiding the unhoused. There’s room to grow.
But Spokane remains a city that pleasantly surprises me, and I would even consider moving there one day — but I’ll definitely need a third date.
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