A Whimsical reawakening of the Finedining Experience

Gander and Ryegrass has a clear mission to elevate dining—viewing the restaurant that formerly held its space, Santé, as a stepping stone—by offering diners course after course of beautiful, inventive dishes, turning dining into an experience as well as an opportunity to slow down.

“I think that some people might be oblivious to that experience missing from their lives, and then once they get it, it becomes this awakening,” Justin Helm, lead bartender, says.

When I went to Gander and Ryegrass on a smoky Saturday evening, I brought The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi as company. Looking over the menu, I felt torn. I have a personal rule that if duck is in the offerings, I order duck, but I knew that to get the true Gander and Ryegrass experience, I needed to order the “fancy menu,” or what Peter refers to as the “marathon.” I was doubly rewarded—one course featured a creamy, rich duck liver paté alongside sierra figs marinated in fermented honey and microgreens. The pesto and smoked ricotta ravioli—all pasta is made in-house daily, and it shows—featured a duck confit that melted in my mouth but had the perfect crispness on the outside. Duck, duck, gander. 

The other courses were equally delicious—I’m still dreaming about the Delice de Bourgogne cheese with bee pollen, honey comb, fennel oil, fresh fennel seed, and frond, with a mushroom puree underneath. I saw owner Peter Froese serving the same course at a table diagonal to mine, and after explaining the ingredients, he offered a joking apology for his poor French accent. Gander and Ryegrass is a fancy restaurant that knows not to take itself too seriously, evident in the whimsical artwork from Travis Chapman on its walls. One painting features the Easter Island statues with a below-ground view of them meditating in Lotus pose.

The marathon concept Gander and Ryegrass has adopted is nine years in the making. Peter had always been drawn to cooking, but when he first finished high school, he thought the path was too impractical. While attending Gonzaga University, his family was planning a sixtieth birthday party for his father, and his mother asked him to make the food. He gave her fair warning that he was planning a twelve-course meal.

For one of the preview dinners Peter hosted for Gander and Ryegrass in mid-October, he invited many of the same people who had attended his father’s birthday party.

“It was a nice thing to see my parents sitting with their good friends who were also at that dinner, which was the beginning for me,” Peter says. “It was a very nice connection. I know my parents are always going be fans, whatever I do.” 

“Well, most of the time,” he says, laughing.

Though diners might not recognize many of the items on the menu, Peter strives for his food to remain accessible to the less adventurous palate.

“We do try to build things in a way that don’t scare my mom,” Peter says. “She would come either way, but I always think about what they do when they go out for a special occasion. They usually get steak, so we’ve kept steak.”

The key for Peter is keeping these staples, but finding ways to elevate them—such as his beef fat potatoes—and present them in a way that feels fresh.

For Justin, one of his favorite aspects of his job is that it has provided a creative outlet. After bartending in New York for eight years, he returned to Spokane to work his family farm in Cheney, Wolf Moss. Justin is the fifth generation to work the land, but the land had been used for cattle and hay, and he was the first to start growing berries and herbs, part of his goal toward restaurant-supported agriculture. He experiments with his drinks, incorporating herbs from his farm such as sage and thyme. He’s especially enjoyed working with Amaro—Gander and Ryegrass has the largest selection in Spokane.

Creative solutions abound at Gander and Ryegrass. When Spokane entered phase one, Peter was able to secure a Paycheck Protection Program loan, but that just brought on a new challenge: How was he supposed to spend the loan without being open? In perhaps one of the most unique usages in the area, Peter decided he would pay employees to work the land at Wolf Moss. Seeing his coworkers on his family’s farm was inspiring for Justin, and spoke to the collaborative environment of Gander and Ryegrass where everyone was invested in the restaurant’s success.

The restaurant has an all-hands-on-deck mentality, and Peter’s biggest grievance is the wall separating front and back of house. One day, that wall come down, but until then, everyone works together. No one is above washing dishes, and tips are pooled for a more equitable split with the kitchen staff.

“We’re all in this together,” Peter says. “I give this speech all the time. Table three is maybe Justin’s table, but my paycheck is tied to Justin doing a good job at that table. Same thing for Ryan, Ryan’s paycheck is tied to him doing really well at that table, not just for this one time, but are they going to come back or not?”

The pandemic has been hard on the restaurant industry, and while Peter doesn’t feel ready to celebrate—he’s holding out for Gander and Ryegrass’s one year anniversary—he has gotten to a place where he feels like he can breathe.

“Nothing really makes sense, so you go, ‘We’ll try our best today and see what happens tomorrow,’” he says.