Sandos drive-thru offers scratch-made sandwiches, ‘a hangover cure’

What started as a way to save a business amid the economic downturn fresh out of the pandemic turned into another business completely on its own.

Peace Pie owner Isaac Houger opened his pizzeria in the Saranac Commons downtown just months before COVID-19 hit.

“It was brutal to convince people to come into your restaurant” when restrictions were lifted, Houger said.

It wasn’t until he added garlic knot breakfast sandwiches to the menu that customers started flooding in.

“Six hundred (sandwiches) were sold in the first month,” Houger said. “It saved our business during the pandemic.”

In the first year, Peace Pie sold 3,200 sandwiches, or as he calls them “sandos,” now the namesake of his new drive-thru stand in northwest Spokane.

With longtime friend Krew Cunnington, Houger opened Sandos in January.

“It was a no-brainer for the location being a drive-thru,” Houger said of the stand, previously home to TacoVado – which recently relocated to a brick and mortar on Northwest Boulevard – and various bikini barista stands, which were long the cause of controversy in the neighborhood.

Cunnington and Houger flipped the stand in three weeks to open.

“We’ve got an absolutely killer response,” Houger said.

Since business has leveled out to a steady pace, “which isn’t bad by any means,” he said, customer wait time has diminished and more focus can be put into food prep work.

Breakfast sandwiches sell for $9. Among top-selling sandwiches is their classic breakfast sando, served on their popular homemade garlic knot bread, with fresh-cracked scrambled eggs, cheddar, arugula, sweet and spicy aioli and the customer’s choice of bacon or sausage patty. The chorizo breakfast sando is also well-loved, for those who like to spice it up a bit. Along with scrambled eggs, it comes with pepperjack cheese, pickled red onion, pickled jalapeño, arugula and a housemade chorizo sausage patty with customer’s choice of sweet and spicy aioli or Iguana Gold hot sauce.

Lunch sandwiches, $10 to $11, include chicken salad, egg salad, ham and brie, and the Italian, a top-seller that comes with housemade ham, salami and pepperoni, provolone cheese, sliced tomato, arugula salad, black olives, pepperoncini and red onion, tossed with a creamy Italian vinaigrette and piled high on the garlic knot. Tim’s Cascade chips can be added for $1.50.

Other breakfast options include fresh-baked pastries made by Houger’s sister, Aubrey. She bakes a range of pastries daily at the stand, including turnovers, scones, muffins and big and small cookies.

Thirsty drivers can order a Doma cold brew coffee with half and half or Oatly milk and a range of Torani syrups. They sell Lotus Energy drinks and Red Bull Italian sodas. Pedialyte and Liquid IV are also available to order for a very particular reason: “We’re designed to be a hangover cure,” Houger said.

“We know no one wants to get out of their car when they’re feeling like trash,” he said.

The stand offers Udi’s buns for those with gluten sensitivities or allergies, and any sandwich can be made dairy-free. The menu offers two vegetarian breakfast “scramwiches,” and while it’s not on the menu, vegans can enjoy the Italian, sans meat and cheese, plus avocado.

Sandos employs six crew members, four who run the stand, and two who prepare the food in Peace Pie’s kitchen.

“I work with my friends, making good food, which always makes me happy,” said crew member Ian Miles.

The breakfast menu is served all day, as is the lunch menu.

In fact, Houger said, “the breakfast menu sells incredibly well all day.”

Sandos is open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday, at 1602 N. Ash St.

“We just want to offer scratch-made food that’s actually made with care and heart in a convenient manner,” Houger said.