Izzy’s Comfort Kitchen owners Jason Keene and his wife, Reannan, think they’re on to something just three weeks after opening their restaurant in Coeur d’Alene.

Jason Keene says that not long after opening, a family visiting from Kentucky told him they needed to “come down there” to teach people how to fry chicken.

Days later, a man told the Keenes that he hadn’t had grits that good since he was a boy at his grandfather’s house somewhere in the south.

“We’re comfort food with a southern twist,” Keene says.

Business has been strong and sentiment even higher at izzy’s, located in 1,500 square feet of space at 726 N. Fourth.

Each armed with at least 20 years of restaurant industry experience, the Keenes decided it was time to make a go of it on their own. The couple opened izzy’s on Sept. 16; the restaurant employs 20 people, he says. 

Minus the exceptions of hamburger buns and tortilla shells, everything on the menu is homemade, he says.

“Something that is very important to us is that all of our protein is sourced from within a 200-mile radius of Spokane,” he says.