Tony Ferraro's Burgers and Italian Bistro

To contact us Click HERE
I was introduced to this place when a friend of mine was very excited to celebrate her birthday by having lunch here with friends.  She told me, (and she's Italaian,) "Tony makes the best lasagna!"  Appararantly, she and Tony are on a first name basis; He came over while we were there and chatted for a bit.

This friend of mine, who is quite keen on Spokane history, was excited to show me and tell me a little bit about the history behind Ferrarro's Italian Bistro and his family too.  Adriano Ferraro, Tony's son, is quite the musician.  He has been on  and plays live music here on Thursday nights.  My friend's birthday was fun and the food terrific... so.....on a recent trip down Market Street, in Hillyard, Geo and I steered into Ferrarro's for a dinner out, and I got to introduce him to the uniqueness of this place.

Ferraro's used to be a "Steer Inn"... now it's got an Italian accent!

 And, if you don't want to go in and order (to eat your food indoors,) you can use the drive-thru!
However, if you go in, you can get a little bit about the history behind this place and Tony too.


We went in, up to the register and placed our order.   Then we settled. 

What did we order?  Well, it was not a Tuesday, so sadly, we missed out on lasagna,  Geo's favorite Italian food.  (That was depressing.)  The story is that Ferraro's only makes lasagna on Tuesday...  and it was not a Tuesday.  So if you like lasagna, remember, Tuesday at Tony's is the day for you.  They only make it on TUESDAY... and they like to serve it fresh.  Missing out on lasagna was a disappointment, as you might can tell, but there was a lot of other good sounding stuff on the menu.

 I  ordered Chicken Parmigiana, which came with a salad and bread.... and spaghetti.
 Geo went with Chicken Alfredo.  Instead of a salad he ordered bread... meanwhile, the pasta already came with some bread, so he had two.
 The food was yummy.  The atmosphere was comfortable and quaint.


 I enjoyed the memorabilia, which could be found all around the room.  I enjoyed reading about Tony's family and how it took them 11 days to travel across the ocean via ship when they immigrated to the US.  I found myself wondering what this place is like a Thursday night when Adriano comes in and plays his music on the piano.  I think it must be pretty special.

I like the idea that Tony is such a big part of the heart of Spokane.  On my friend's birthday, everyone in attendance knew who "Tony/" was.  I am impressed at how he and his family have an open heart to share their lives with and serve the people of Spokane and how they take care and pride in their restaurant's Italian food. 
 




Though I have never been there, I have learned that Ferraro has another restaurant on Sprague Ave...  we might have to try that one too.

Jimmy John's

To contact us Click HERE

I have driven past for month's, each time reading the neon sign outside that says, "FREE SMELLS." This alone is rather funny to me.  But, oh my!  I just got back from Jimmy John's and I am still smiling!  The sandwiches are great and all the other signs around the place, hilarious!

 


But first the food.




Jimmy John's is pretty much a sub and sandwich joint with an extensive repertoire.  They are pretty much ordinary, bread is either white sub or whole grain sliced, and then their is a vast array of condiments whereby your sandwich, sub, or not, is made just the way you like them, and they are good!  What more could you want?  A pickle?  They've got them too.

My boy loves pickles!  Geo too.

We got two!
The boy ordered bacon lettuce and tomato sub with extra bacon.  He really liked it.












Geo and I tried something new to us... the UNWICH!  Yes, we just could not resist.

What is an Unwich?  It's a sandwhich without bread.  Instead of bread your sandwich makings are wrapped with lettuce. 



Here is a Classic Italian.















Here is a Tuna, adorned with sprouts.









These specially wrapped Unwich beauties come with special instructions.  You must slowly and carefully, unroll the paper as you eat.  Eating an Unwich was rather fun (Maybe should be called Funwich?) and eating it made me feel like I was cutting a calorie corner by not having high carb bread.











The music was loud and fun, the signs all over the place were just the right kind of "wacky." We even liked the way that some of their tables were designed.

One of my favorite signs, (on the upper right hand side of this photo,) read, "If walls could talk we wouldn't need all these signs." The sign was shaped like a mouth.  

Maybe it was just my mood- o- de-day, but I thought that even the napkins were funny.



They even have a drive thru.


There is another thing that made me smile about this place, and this had to do with another neon sign on the outside of the storefront that read:
Extremely Fast Delivery!
I had to smile, because I think it's true.  There I was eating my food, sorta minding my own business, reading the signs.... taking a bite of my Unwich, unwrapping my Unwich and taking another bite.  Every so often a delivery person would run...literally run...around the corner and out the back door,,,, box of deliverables in hand.  I was impressed.  I also liked the sign they had that said:
NO SHIRT
NO SHOES
NO WORRIES.... WE DELIVER

(And you can bet it is probably be delivered extremely fast!)
Eating at Jimmy John's wasn't just delicious, it was rather FUN.
In Spokane, they are located at 105 E Mission Ave.... at least that is the one I visited.  I read though that one is located at 601 W Main Ave, too.  Jimmy John's is a franchise, so you can buy a store instead of a sub if you are so inclined to do so.  (I know this only because I read the sign on their wall that said so.... HA! )
Preview the Jimmy John  menu here.

Buck's Pizza

To contact us Click HERE
I was planning for a pizza party gathering over in the valley and needed some gluten-free pizza.  Bucks offered it, so off we went.... to 13221 East 32nd Ave.  Gluten-free pizza is not on their menu, and they do not make it in house, but it's advertised on a reader board on the side of the road.  It's certainly a great option when it comes to people sensitive to wheat, because pizza is such a social food.



Buck's is actually a large pizza chain, popular in the south eastern U.S.  I would have never known unless I checked out their website.  Tucked in a little strip mall in a rather obscure part of town, I was surprised how busy the place was... for the location.  As we were going in to pick up our order, the delivery guy was heading out the door...


... with one of the largest pizza boxes I have ever seen.  It was for a 24"" pizza pie.  That is one big pizza!


It's not a sit down pizza place.... just take out.  I failed to see any dining area.

Gluten-Free

As for our pizzas', they were pizzas.  nothing out of the ordinary, excepting that one was gluten-free.  Nice!  We pretty much ate it all too.  there were only a couple of pieces left, of which some lucky person can have pizza for breakfast.  Yum!

Pizza is just plain like able and appreciated...

 

Classic Cafe' (Deer Park, WA)

To contact us Click HERE
Just north of Spokane is a little town called Deer Park, and on a recent rainy day, I got to drive there with some friends.  The drive was so pretty.  Our destination was to be a little cafe/coffee shop that we had just heard about, called the Classic.  It is located at 502 S. Main Street.



The place was packed, but not at first.  Apparently, a lot of folks thought it was a nice spot to visit on a rainy day.  They have both indoor and outdoor seating and a drive-thru window.
 At the Classic Cafe, they serve breakfast, ice cream, sandwiches of all kinds, soup and coffee/espresso type of things.  In addition, there are lots of flavors for shakes and Italian sodas too.
Some of us in my group of four had lunch.
This is chili... served with these really interesting "garlic rounds."
Two of us shared a spinach Greek Wrap.  Yum!
Here is only half.

Wraps are served with chips and a pickle, though I read in the menu that you can substitute a small salad for the chips if you'd like.  This wrap was delicious.
We also had coffee, (no photo) and we sampled some treats which we shared.

Below you see the Monkey Bread and an Espresso Brownie.


See the t-shirts on the wall?  Apparently, they make a humongous breakfast platter that they challenge individuals to "master," and whereupon mastering you are entitled to flaunt the feat with a T-shirt.  Our lovely waitress informed us that she had tried it once, and only once.... because it was really really big, but she did it!