Spokane restaurateur Evan Armstrong dies at 88
(Courtesy, Olan Mills)
Evan Armstrong, an entrepreneur who opened Spokane’s first Taco Time in the 1960s and opened other notable restaurants in the Inland Northwest and across the country died Saturday. He was 88.
In all, Armstrong took part in more than 60 restaurants and employed more than 500 workers under his umbrella company Omni Foods, according to his daughter and business partner, Candace Mumm.
As early as the age of 9, Mumm manned the till, washed dishes and bussed tables at many of her father’s restaurants.
“He would take me out of school to work but I enjoyed it and the school didn’t mind,” Mumm, who went on to serve as a Spokane city councilwoman, said. “I learned a lot.”
Decades later, the two created Daughter and Dad Inc., which opened Rice Time Express in June 1993. The popular healthy fast-food restaurant was located in the Crescent block downtown.
Armstrong created other popular local eateries including Casa Blanca, one of Spokane’s first sit-down, Mexican-style restaurants; Rocking Horse Saloon in downtown Spokane, home to the “Honey From the Sky” in which a wait staffer would stand atop a ladder to pour honey onto a customer’s breakfast biscuits; and Captain’s Kettle Fish and Chips.
Armstrong possessed a fervor for life and a personality unlike anyone Mumm has met. Perhaps this is best portrayed by the many racing trophies in the basement of their family home.
In the 1950s, he raced stock cars near the Idaho-Washington border, Mumm said. He specialized in figure-8 racing, which is done on a track that intersects itself, increasing the risk of collisions.
He was never seriously injured in his ’57 Chevy, but the risky hobby shows how he lived, according to his longtime accountant William Simer.
“He was a serial entrepreneur always looking for new projects,” he said. “He pursued them at high speeds, and if you wanted to take part, you had to work hard to keep up.
“It was a lot of fun.”
The two worked together more closely later in Armstrong’s restaurateur career, when he began selling his business. Some of Simer’s fondest memories of Armstrong were during important business meetings with bankers who were considering buying the properties.
Armstrong would often host at Casa Blanca and buy many entrées to share amongst the table. This communal-style eating practice was foreign to the formal professionals.
“I think he wanted to make them a little uncomfortable,” Simer said. “And even at those important meetings, he carried his big personality – no matter what.
“You just can’t make a mold for a guy like Evan.”
Anytime the two would dine together at one of his restaurants, Armstrong would pay for the bill. To Simer, that said a lot.
“It showed the rest of the staff that it’s important to pay for your own meals, and your friends’ when they come in and so on because the boss did, too,” Simer said. “He was ahead of his time.”
Simer is nostalgic of his time spent with the restaurants’ staffs.
“I can’t overemphasize how fun his teams were,” he said. “They were always having fun and playing practical jokes on one another – and on me.”
Armstrong was introduced to Mexican food in the 1950s, when he worked as a picker with migrant workers in southeastern Washington. There, he developed a deep appreciation for his colleagues’ culture and cuisine.
In the 1960s, after graduating from North Dakota State’s pharmacy school, he helped run his father’s Model Pharmacy in Spokane’s Logan neighborhood. He was exposed to the service industry through the malt shop that operated at the pharmacy.
Later, he won a Chevrolet Corvair in a national drugstore magazine contest. At age 30, he sold the vehicle and used the proceeds to open his first Taco Time on Monroe Street in 1965.
He went on to open Taco Times throughout Spokane, North Idaho and beyond, developing new menu items and perfecting his special Mexi-Fries recipe.
Following Expo ’74, Armstrong opened Casa Blanca Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, on the site of Expo’s amusement area. The iconic white stucco building was taken down in 2004 for the expansion of the Spokane Convention Center.
Armstrong served as president of the Spokane Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Upon retiring, he sold his restaurants to various partners and returned to medical work. He volunteered for years helping seniors with their prescription drug insurance coverages through Washington State’s Health Insurance Benefit Advisors (SHIBA).
One of his greatest passions was employing young people in the food-service industry, especially helping them achieve their dreams of attending college, Mumm said. Other restaurants he had ownership in include Smitty’s, Perkins, Arby’s, N’Rico Chicken, Amigos, Taco Mejico, and the Omni Restaurant in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Armstrong is survived by three children: Candace Mumm and Joel Armstrong of Spokane, and Kristin Armstrong-Orozco of Tucson, Arizona, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Services are pending.