Today was extra special though. We needed to stop in Spokane, WA to pick up some things we wanted to give our 1 year old twin grandchildren in BC. By the time we got to Spokane from Albertson, MT, found the necessary store, and made the purchases, it was 2:30. We'd only had fruit for breakfast so Mike was getting a little cranky. Well... a lot cranky. We had noticed a restaurant across the parking lot called, "Tomato Street" - an Italian restaurant. Both of us love Italian food - and I could live on tomatoes - so we were hoping this was a good place. I asked the sales personnel where I was shopping if they would recommend the place and got a resounding, "YES!" So off we went.
The smells as we entered were so 'fresh' and, of course, very tomato-y (Is there such a word?). Very attractive, large place that could probably seat 100 to 150. It was busy with probably 75 - 80 customers already there and more kept coming in all the time. The floors were large ceramic tiles with occasional mosaics that made huge tomatoes. There was tomato art on the walls. Empty cans of tomato products were everywhere. Juice cans were covered with notices of Menu Special items. Empty tomato paste cans held crayons for the little ones. Empty cans were stacked on shelves and wall dividers. Tomato 'art' graced the walls. Done wrong it all could have looked tacky but it didn't.
Partial Interior. On the other side of that divider was the drink station and the open kitchen.
Both were pristine and decorated as nicely as the dining room
They use brick ovens to bake. The entire kitchen and drink station are open to the customer's view - just behind that wall divider. They were just as attractive and clean as the dining room.
The menu... It was really hard to make our choices; it had a lot of variety and the descriptions had our mouths watering (prices were reasonable, too). Everything just sounded so wonderful. We finally opted to share a 10" Sicilian pizza (cheeses, mushrooms, Italian sausage, some type of Italian ham, and chopped tomatoes) and Seafood Alfredo (Shrimp, calamari, scallops, and clams in a creamy Alfredo sauce over fresh linguini). We both chose soups as our first course. Mike got Clam Chowder while I chose Creamy Tomato Basil. They make both soups themselves from scratch. The Tomato Basil was fantastic! The Clam Chowder was good but being from New England where they *really* know how to make Clam Chowder, Mike was a little disappointed in his. Good, but not fabulous. The garlic bread and fresh brewed iced tea just kept coming.
The staff were all very friendly, prompt, and courteous - and unique. All of them had on wild hats - even management had on baseball caps. There was no question who the staff members were. Most of them very obligingly posed for a picture for me.
The hats were all unique. Our waiter was the second
from the left. Didn't remember his name, unfortunately.
It might be hard to tell in this picture but his hat was a roasted chicken.
You can see the drumsticks and wings with the waiter's head
filling out the body of the chicken.
Our waiter told us that twice a year the staff makes a trip to Leavenworth, WA where there's a very unique hat shop. Looks like they have a lot of fun. Let me tell you, we never had a problem spotting our waiter!
They bake in brick ovens: most things are made from scratch. The flavors were tremendous! We left there very, very happy with our meal. We encourage everyone, if you're in the area, to be sure and look this place up. You will NOT be disappointed.
By the way....We left there at 3:30 and people were STILL coming in. All ages. Quite a place, quite a place!
Til next time,
Gloria - The Internet GADabout
