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Le Verre delivers a sip of old Hollywood to downtown Spokane’s Bennett Block

By Cynthia Reugh For The Spokesman-Review

As you enter the doorway of Le Verre, a wall-length, black and white mural with prodigious images of Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren, Bing Crosby and other legendary showbiz icons beckons you farther inside. Vintage chandeliers and Rat Pack-era music add to a sultry, retro atmosphere which seems to invite patrons to relax and enjoy a trip back to yesteryear.

Nestled within the heart of the historic Bennett Block in downtown Spokane, Le Verre, which means “the glass” in French, gives off glamorous nightclub vibes.

“People are into nostalgia and I think that is kind of what we pay here is nostalgia,” said Jessica Moseley, who owns and operates the wine and cocktail bar with her father, Joe Ruddach. “You walk in and you are transported to a different time and you can kind of forget about things and enjoy yourself.”

Their quaint North Howard Street space is familiar.

The pair once managed the Wet Whistle Coffee Shop in the same location. They decided to shift gears last summer.

“With the Wet Whistle, I was trying to incorporate my first love of coffee and to kind of segue into this,” Moseley said. “I always kind of had a vision of more of a bar-type setting,” she added.

This father-daughter partnership has a long history.

In addition to serving spirits at Le Verre, the dynamic business owners also dole out lattes and mochas to caffeine addicts at the Spokane Valley Whistle Stop Coffee Shop. It is a business they established 20 years ago while Moseley was in high school. Ruddach had hoped to launch his daughter into a career where she could make her own hours without going to college to learn a trade.

Moseley ended up becoming a nurse.

She now “runs off the adrenaline” of her busy schedule.

“I’ve always been one that kind of runs well high-stressed,” Moseley said. “A lot of coffee and then some wine: my two favorite things mixed in one kind of get me through the week.”

Brick walls and copper bar accents add to the old-school charm of Le Verre.

The wine menu boasts a blend of local favorites as well as rare selections from Argentina, Portugal and New Zealand. Moseley and Ruddach sampled many of the labels together during their recent business transition phase.

“I want to say we tasted thousands of wines,” Moseley said. “We try to hit everywhere and kind of just have a really good variety that rotates constantly.

For indecisive drinkers, Le Verre bestows an Enomatic, a self-serve machine which allows customers to sample and choose their own wine adventure.

Cocktail names pay tribute to old Hollywood.

Selections include Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Ol’ Blue Eyes and Rosie the Riveter.

“We kicked them around. We also do drinks (tied) with what they’re playing at the opera house,” Ruddach said.

Another hit with regulars is the espresso martini. It is crafted with DOMA coffee from Idaho, chocolate liquor and vodka. Le Verre serves six different varieties of champagne.

The food menu features shareable appetizers and flatbreads crafted with locally sourced ingredients. The Sinatra consists of a garlic-herb base, mozzarella, prosciutto, fig jam and bleu cheese.

“We like to support local,” Moseley said. “Support your neighbor and they support you. We work together to build business.”

Happy hour runs from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Le Verre also hosts a monthly book and wine club. For Moseley, Ruddach and the other family members who keep this intimate wine and cocktail bar thriving, a special treat awaits downstairs.

“There’s a lot of history to this building,” Moseley said. “If you go into the basement, it’s pretty cool. They did have an underground tunnel system in downtown Spokane and you can see where part of the tunnels were because it’s all bricked up down there.”