Local Cuisine Inspired by Social Media

Ten years ago, if you were to tell me that my phone would one day give me a front seat to some of the best restaurants in the world, or help me to know exactly what is being made in a local restaurant kitchen down the street, I would never have believed you. With unprecedented access to information, and a myriad of new ways to express creativity and experience effortless global connectivity, social media has changed the way we cook, how we get recommendations to restaurants, and the way we think about food. It has even changed demand for particular ingredients based on current food trends.

Many of us are still unaware of the profound effect technology is having on our choices, and how chefs are being influenced by culinary personalities on Instagram, Youtube and Facebook. More than 87 percent of people surveyed indicated that they use social media to determine where they are going to dinner, and local social media accounts focused on food are wildly successful–the group Spokane Foodies on Facebook has more than 5,000 local members that reach hundreds of thousands of people with content shared from its platform. That’s powerful. Individual chefs can be launched from obscurity to the world stage just by sharing their latest creation with just the right hashtag, and it can even catapult them to the television screen, as many local chefs have proven, to successfully elevate their brands. 

Just ask Linda Miller Nicholson of Salty Seattle—she has crafted a widely engaged global following of hundreds of thousands of people from her vibrant, technicolor pasta in every shape you can imagine. She is passionate about sharing her deep knowledge in the craft of pasta making, as well as the history behind some of the most obscure and challenging shapes. On December 15, Santé hosted Linda and the Spokane Culinary Arts Guild for a rainbow farfalle pasta demonstration and an inside peek into Pasta Pretty Please, her first cookbook with her best recipes taken straight from the inspired images on her Instagram profile and prolific YouTube videos.

Do you want to eat some absolutely delicious handmade pasta locally? You can find it at just a few restaurants—Italia Trattoria (the BEST lamb ragu with pappardelle), and Vine and Olive, which features a variety of fresh pasta features including a wonderful ravioli. Other area chefs have been directly inspired directly by her savant-like talent and vivid use of color (thanks to the power of the internet), and they have dishes you can simply enjoy—no of slaving away in your own kitchen necessary.

Chef Joe Morris of Luna was particularly enthralled with the work Linda has displayed on social media, and he created a dish especially for Luna’s 25th anniversary featuring sage, goat cheese and butternut squash ravioli with fried sage, basil tuile, spiced pumpkin seeds, palouse greens and a browned butter and squash jus. Working with his team, Howard and Carly, they collaborated to create this work of art that you can see and taste at the restaurant.

Jeremy Hansen of Inland Pacific Kitchen and Santé (which will soon be rebranded with a new focus) features housemade pastas at both establishments.He showcased this colorful spinach linguine with roasted corn sauce that was as delicious as it was vibrant for his lunch with Salty Seattle, available on the menu for a limited time.

Spokane boasts numerous restaurants on the cusp of the latest culinary trends, and we are here to help you discover them. Do you have any tips for exceptional local restaurants preparing handmade pasta? Send us an email at [email protected] so we can share your food finds using the hashtag #spokanefood.