Lucky "Clover"

 When I tell people that I'm from Spokane, Washington, I'm always surprised  by the number of folks who respond, "Oh, I was there once." It's not exactly a hot spot - but it is one of the only dense population centers between Seattle and Minneapolis-St. Paul, so it's a jumping off place for folks to access the outdoorsy activities of northern Idaho and eastern Montana, as well as a shopping hub for folks throughout that part of the U.S. and Canada.

I have a recommendation for you, if you're ever in Spokane: a new restaurant called "Clover."

Of course, I'm biased. The executive chef is my brother-in-law, Scott.

It's a great place, even if you're not related to the chef.

The bar.
Many of the drinks were created by
Paul Harrington, the author of Cocktail.

 Clover is in a refurbished house, and it's exactly the kind of restaurant that a greenie might enjoy - all of the food is "sourced" (that's chef-talk for "knowing where this food came from.") Eating with Scott, I enjoyed hearing him tell us about the farmers who grew the tomatoes we were eating. How often can you say that?

We ate dinner there one night, and breakfast a few days later (the fluffy pancakes with Tahitian vanilla syrup, mocha scones, and powdery biscuits were all out of this world).

Here are a few pics from the Clover dinner experience:

My sister and nephew peruse the menu,
though they both knew
 what they were having before they
sat down.

The chef himself ate with us - beef
Wellington. They dry age the beef in-house.

My dinner - halibut with pineapple salsa.

My sister had chicken breast stuffed with fontina cheese, red peppers, and
pesto, all wrapped in bacon.

The evening's special: a caprese salad with toasts. The tomatoes were
candy-sweet and locally-grown. Even my nephew, a "meatafatarian" tried a tomato.

Here's the chef! He's showing us the habanero
plants that they grow in their on-site greenhouse.
It doesn't get fresher than that!