It’s time to take a new look at the Observatory

The Observatory, recently reopened with streamlined ownership and a new chef after a short closure, has an all-new menu focused on rice bowls and share-ables.

They’re the creation of Joseph O’Neal, who came to the Observatory from Ruins. O’Neal, 27, cooked at Ruins for three and a half years before taking over the kitchen at the Observatory. He started “right when it closed,” he said.

The Observatory shuttered at the end of July for three weeks, reopening in mid-August after reorganizing. Tyson Sicilia, who also owns a local wholesale jewelry business, Icona Jeweler, bought out his business partners in the music venue, bar and eatery and is now the now the sole proprietor of the Observatory.

About a third of the staff stayed on. The rest are new.

The drinks are new, too. So is the food menu. And, Sicilia said, a few others things, too.

Let’s start with the libations. Specialty drinks are now named after local bands.

The Fat Lady features bourbon, amaretto and lemon juice on the rocks, garnished with two cherries on a pick. Summer in Siberia is vodka lemonade. The recipe description calls, also, for “1 part Communism and a splash of Novichok Nerve Agent.” Maybe ask for it without?

The Itchy Kitty is gin, Chambord and Champagne on the rocks in a Collins glass with a lemon twist. And the Indian Goat is a twist on a classic boilermaker: a shot of tequila with red dye and a Rainier beer.

The back bar has been reorganized with efficiency as the goal. Each half mirrors the other in terms of bottle selection so bartenders don’t have to cross each others’ paths.

Hopefully, Sicilia said, that translates to “no more waits on drinks, for more than a couple of minutes anyway.”

Wells feature premium spirits. The bourbon is Old Forester. The rum is Bacardi. And, during happy hour, well cocktails are $5.

The exception is the $6 Old Forester Fashioned. Otherwise, consider the $5 Lunazul Howl with Lunazul 100-percent agave blanco tequila, orange juice and club soda or the $5 New Amsterdam Tonic with gin, tonic and a splash of grapefruit juice. The $5 Bacardi Cuba Libre features Bacardi Silver Rum, lime juice and cola. And the $5 Epic Mule features Epic vodka, lime and Goslings Ginger Beer.

Plus, there are classic gin or vodka martinis for $7 and a dollar off all draft beers.

Happy hour is 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and all day Sunday.

The Observatory opens daily at 4 p.m. The bar is open until 2 a.m. And one of the best parts about this pace, the food is served until 1 a.m.

The menu is, Sicilia said, “a whole different thing now.”

The Observatory has moved away from a menu of mostly sandwiches to a streamlined selection of share-ables and hearty, flavorful, belly-warming rice bowls.

This is ambitious considering the kitchen. It’s tiny. Equipment is lacking.

O’Neal sees this as a challenge. He aims to use the compact space as best he can, make “delicious food” at reasonable price points for the happy hour, dinner and late-night crowd.

He also plans to change his menu frequently – perhaps not as frequently at Ruins, but maybe once a month or so. Things he’s considering: pho, ramen, curry mac and cheese.

“I’m just trying to do what’s not being done here in town,” he said, noting it can be difficult with only four rice cookers, two slow-cookers, “a tiny oven for bread” and one induction burner. There’s no microwave, no fryer, no gas stove top.

“It’s all about prep,” he said.

This fall, the happy hour food menu – $6 to $9 – included grilled cheese, pumpkin hummus, chicken liver crostini, summer sausage with cheese and stone fruit, and barbecue chicken flatbread as well as O’Neal’s specialty rice bowls. There are four. They range from $8 to $10.

Vegetables come from the local Ace of Spades Farm. Spices come from Spokane’s Spiceology. And O’Neal makes his own curry powder mixture, toasting the spices himself.

“Tony trained me very well,” he said.

Tony Brown’s North Monroe Street restaurant, Ruins, is known for its ever-changing menu and popular McRuins nights on Mondays with gourmet takes on fast-food fare. It was a great place to hone his skills, O’Neal said.

“I think food should be fun,” he said. “I’m going to stick to that: hand-helds and food in bowls. All the best foods are in bowls.”

Expect a vegan offering as well as vegetarian or an “almost vegetarian” option, such as the yellow curry bowl with a soft egg, tofu, kimchi and coriander leaf (aka cilantro). Of course, you can ask for it without the perfectly jammy egg.

Sicilia admits he’s not the biggest fan of tofu. Actually, “I hate tofu,” he said. “But in that dish in particular is what I order every time I come in. I go home dreaming about that curry bowl. That’s my favorite.”

The vegan option has featured “all the vegetables” as well as tahini barbecue sauce, pickled ginger and sesame. The current vegan offering is pumpkin hummus with chai carrots, mizuna and a tahini dressing.

Look, also, for a salmon bowl with fish that’s brined in tea from Atticus. Also included: tomato, Thai basil curry, Vietnamese pickles with daikon and carrot, plus shrimp and crispy shallot.

The chipotle chicken includes Gorgonzola, nightshade (aka tomato) salsa with heirloom peppers and tomatillos, toasted pepitas and caraway.

To share, there are cheese-puffs. A basket – sharp cheddar, Pecorino and cool ranch – is $7. Another basket – with pickled onions and tajin – is also $7.

The cheese puffs, gougères in French cuisine, are made in-house with choux pastry and Pecorino Romano cheese.

“It’s basically just a tastier bun,” Sicilia said.

O’Neal uses them for his sliders, too. Offerings rotate. Look for sharp cheddar sliders with black pepper aioli for $7 and BLT sliders with crispy prosciutto, iceberg lettuce and roma tomato.

Recently added to the menu are steamed, house-made gua bao buns, or as he puts it, “basically the Taiwanese hamburger buns.” They are “made fresh and fluffy every morning.”

There are four varieties: curried tofu with Sriracha, pickled cucumber, cilantro and sesame for $7; barbecue pulled pork with apple slaw, pickled red onion and “baconnaise” for $8; smoked paprika chicken with pickled peppers, blue cheese aioli anc curled celery for $8; and a bao banh mi with chicken, pate, Vietnamese pickled veggies, aioli and cilantro, also for $8.

The Observatory opened in late 2015 in the space that was once home to the short-lived Underground 15, but more famously – and for much longer – housed the Blue Spark.

Sicilia frequented the spot back then and harbors a nostalgic love of the place, telling The Spokesman-Review in early 2016, “Everyone has a Blue Spark story if they’ve been around Spokane for awhile. It’s a great space. It’s got a lot of potential.”

He said he doesn’t have just one Blue Spark story, but “I’ve got a million of them,” recalling one New Year’s Eve in particular when he waited outside – “it was like 20 degrees” – to see the band the Flying Spiders perform in the intimate stage area.

In early October, he added a new take on Whiskey Wednesday, offering break-even bottles of rare and high-end whiskeys. The idea is to offer 25 one-ounce pours at cost with a limit of one pour per customer until the bottle is empty.

Sundays from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., there’s karaoke with professional sound and lighting. And Tuesdays, from 9 p.m. to midnight, there’s a musicians’ open mic. Sicilia is also considering adding a comedy or variety show to the line-up. Meantime, newly installed screens in the bar area allow patrons to watch what’s going on in the adjacent performance area.

Also new, Sicilia said, is “hopefully, a new attitude.” He’s emphasizing customer service with his staff and making an effort to lessen wait times. “We want,” he said, “everyone to feel welcome.”