We went to Coeur d’ Alene for the dog show, and part of my
assignment was to scout the area for interesting places to eat, of which there
were many, one in particular that was so good it generated this review.
Government Way is a north-south road that connects CDA, as
the locals call it, with Hayden Lake to the north as it parallels, and later
crosses US 95 on the way to Sandpoint.
95 is the multi-laned main drag, and, as such, has become the location
of choice for all the big chain restaurants and stores, which had the effect of
putting many local establishments out of business and forcing the rest of them
to survive by appealing to the local people who will know where to find them,
and providing good food at reasonable prices, which makes the best of them into
lucky finds for the inquisitive traveler who wants to get off the beaten
track. Paragon Brewing on Government Way
between CDA and Hayden is one of those.
I had driven by and marked the spot mentally because of two
things: It was a brewpub featuring their
own products, as well as other local microbrews, and it billed itself as an British
style pub, which is just enough of an oddity in northern Idaho to call for a
visit. We came back on a Tuesday night
after the dog show crowd had departed.
It’s a small place, log cabin style, with a gravel parking
lot in back and stairs up to the outdoor seating area with rickety metal
furniture and a great view of the vacant lot next door and the various auto
shops and storage yards across the street.
Inside, the single room with much wood paneling was full of people,
mostly families with children there for dinner, something we usually count as a
good sign. Typical of Idaho, the sign
said, “If you are under 21, please do not sit at the bar”. They were happy to let our dog sit with us on
the outside patio, though I had to go back inside to read the beer list, which
is written in chalk on a board above the bar, and changes every time a keg runs
dry.
We started with a What the Helles Maibock for me and a
Trickster’s Druid Stout for her, served with an appetizer of Scotch Eggs($8),
two soft boiled eggs wrapped in sausage and deep fried, then served split on a
plate with the yokes perfectly done. The
Maibock is a very nice bitter with a hint of IPA in the bite and and an ESB
aftertaste that perfectly complemented the scotch eggs. My only complaint was that the dog got too
many treats that should have come to me instead.
Her Druid Stout was a leathery mocha influenced brown ale
with perfect creamy head and wonderful quaffing ability served in a large
stemmed oval glass that reflected the nose back at you with each hoist. Then it was on to dinner.
I wiped out the Maibock, and chose a glass of Orlison’s
Underground to accompany the main course. Orlison, it turns out, is the name of
a brewery in Airway Heights, outside of Spokane. Their motto is “Brew No Evil”. The beer was a sublime brown ale, the type
that, when it is first poured, entertains you for several minutes as you watch
the cascading waves of creamy head fill the glass with golden bubbles that sink
to the bottom and raise back up to reveal the black lager behind and below them
as they resolve into a creamy head on top of your glass that still remains
after the beer is gone. Wonderful stuff.
The menu changes regularly, and each change Is reflected in
a three course special offered in addition to the regular menu, from which you
can pick and choose at will.
We regretfully passed on the Potted Trout appetizer and the
Cornish Hen entrée, but could not pass up the Dessert Flight($10), of which
more will be said later. She chose the
Pork Chop ($13), which came beer brined and Parmesan-panko breaded, accompanied
by some delicious Pear Butter and a hefty pile of braised Brussels sprouts on a
bed of barley risotto. I had the Bangers($13),
two smallish but excellent British style house-made fine grained sausages
served on a scalloped potato galette covered with mushrooms and Scotch ale
demi-glace, with a small metal pot of mushy peas on the side. We both dove into our meals and came up in
Nirvana, or some kind of foody heaven equivalent. The mushy peas, which I had not previously
encountered, were wonderful, seasoned with thyme and sage and whipped into a
pudding that melts in your mouth, and the potato was just solid enough to hold
its shape until my fork revealed its mashed intentions, as the sauce made my
taste buds sing a song.
The pork chop was likewise perfectly done, and the
combination of the risotto and the pear butter raised the overall experience to
one you would expect at one of the finest French restaurants in Paris, or New
York, but maybe not in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.
We asked our Chef, who dropped by to see how we liked his work, where he
learned his licks, and it turns out he is a veteran of a well known French restaurant
in Pend Orielle. Their loss was
definitely our gain on this night.
And then we got to dessert, or, as they call it, Afters. The flight came on a narrow plate with a
small bowl of Urfa Biber spiced chocolate ice cream on one end. In the middle was a beer-battered white
chocolate and cardamom tablet, and on the end, half of a Mick Duff’s Pale Ale-poached
Forelle pear. Words cannot adequately
express the feeling of joy that your taste buds impart when you cut off a chunk
of the pear, add a nibble of the white chocolate and top that with a spoon of
the ice cream. I swear you can actually taste
the individual grains of brown sugar as they melt into the ice cream while the
pear adds cadence to the chocolate. It
was very close to a mystical experience. The dog got none of this.
Perhaps the best part of the meal was the thought that the
two entrees were the most expensive items on the two-page menu. That fits my definition of Local and Reasonable,
indeed. So if you find yourself in Coeur
d’Alene one day, I urge you to go out on Government Way and look these folks
up. Your taste buds will be glad you
did. :-{)}
