Sushi chef gears up mobile operation

Travis Whiteside, a longtime Coeur d’Alene sushi chef, has launched his own venture, Raw Dead Fish LLC.

Whiteside runs the operation with three part-time employees out of a colorful food truck parked at 514 Best, in Coeur d’Alene.

He claims sushi started out as a street food in Japan before it became popular at trendy restaurants.

“I’m bringing it back to the street,” he says.

Whiteside says Raw Dead Fish is his first venture, although he’s been preparing sushi at restaurants for 17 years.

Whiteside says he was trained at Takara, a Japanese restaurant that was one of the first in Coeur d’Alene to offer sushi. He says he also helped to open the sushi bar at Bonsai Bistro in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

Raw Dead Fish is open 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and Whiteside says he’s considering opening for shorter hours on Sundays.

Typical sushi roll prices are $6 to $8, although they range from $3 for a veggie roll to $15 for a deluxe sushi roll.

While the Best Avenue site will be the Raw Dead Fish’s regular location, Whiteside says he also plans to set up the mobile-vendor truck at Coeur d’Alene-area events.

—Mike McLean

Accounting concern relocates in Valley

Total Business Concepts, a Spokane Valley accounting firm, has leased 800 square feet of office space in the University Place building, at 210 N. University Road, and has moved there from smaller quarters at 2312 N. Cherry.

Total Business Concepts, which is owned by Gaylene Lewin, specializes in tax services, business consulting, and QuickBooks accounting software support and training.

Lewin says she’s been in the accounting field for nearly 30 years. She has been an enrolled agent with the Internal Revenue Service since 2007, meaning she’s approved to prepare tax returns and advise and represent taxpayers in all IRS proceedings.

Lewin also works with certified public accountants to assist their clients in matters of internal controls, record retention, QuickBooks applications, and compliance issues.

She says the new office location has more conference space for meeting with clients.

“We’re also want to expand our bookkeeping service, and we wanted a place that’s a little more visible,” she says.

The firm has three bookkeepers on staff in addition to Lewin.

 

—Mike McLean

Republic Pi pizzeria opens on South Hill 

Jonathan Sweatt, co-owner of Downriver Grill and The Flying Goat eateries in northwest Spokane, and co-owners Jodi and John Stejer and Darrin Gleason have opened a new restaurant called Republic Pi, in about 3,000 square feet of leased space at 611 E. 30th, on Spokane’s South Hill.

Sweatt says he and the other co-owners wanted to open an upscale pizza and pub restaurant that offered different types of pizza than those served at The Flying Goat. Sweatt adds that he’s always wanted to own a restaurant on the south side of town, where he grew up. 

When it’s fully staffed, Republic Pi will employ about 25 part-time workers, Sweatt says. 

The restaurant will feature pizza with several types of sauces including a Sicilian tomato-based pesto and a crème white sauce, with toppings that are mostly made in-house. “Everything will be fresh, made from scratch, and we’ll buy everything that we can locally,” Sweatt says. 

The restaurant cooks the pies in a wood-fired oven, he adds. 

Republic Pi’s menu also includes what Sweatt calls shareable appetizers, unique salads, and soups all named after Spokane neighborhoods and local streets.

The pub offers 21 beers on tap and wines from the Pacific Northwest and Italy, as well as cocktails. 

Prices for the food run from about $5 for appetizers to about $16 for a pizza, he says. 

Sweatt says the building where the restaurant is located has undergone both an interior and exterior remodel. Vintages@611, a wine bar and restaurant that closed in December 2013, formerly was located there.

Republic Pi will be open seven days a week; from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays; on Friday and Saturday the restaurant and pub will stay open until midnight. 

 

—Judith Spitzer

Breakfast House opens along Sprague 

The Breakfast House, serving both breakfast and lunch, has opened in Spokane Valley, say owners Jonell and David Lawrence. 

Located in about 1,600 square feet at 11516 E. Sprague, just east of the Sprague Avenue-Bowdish Road intersection, the new restaurant has two employees—one waitress and one cook—in addition to the owners. 

David Lawrence says with his 25 years of experience in the back end of the restaurant business and Jonell’s 10 years of waitressing experience, they decided they had enough experience to open their own business. 

“And it was just time to do something. We also live in this area, and there was nowhere here to eat breakfast,” David Lawrence says. 

The Breakfast House menu offers standard breakfast fare, such as steak and eggs, home-style potatoes, and bacon and eggs, as well as the option of “building your own pancakes or omelets,” Lawrence says.

“The kids love to add cookies and candy to top off the pancakes,” he adds.

The lunch menu features salads, hot and cold sandwiches, and soups, including some gluten-free items. 

The restaurant serves both breakfast and lunch from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week.  

Lawrence says the Breakfast House also offers a senior menu for those 55 and older with some less expensive dishes. “We really want to make sure seniors who can’t always afford to eat out can come and enjoy breakfast,” he says.

 

—Judith Spitzer