A Note From the Editor

There are few things more important %u2014 in the long run %u2014 than how we eat. And over the last few years, how we eat has begun to shift. People are demanding that our food %u2014 from school cafeteria to gourmet restaurant %u2014 be fresh, humanely treated and locally grown. Cutting corners, culinarily speaking, isn't cutting it anymore.

The shift away from Big Macs and Big Gulps has become more apparent in the Inland Northwest dining scene recently. We're seeing ethnic cuisines emerge %u2014 Indian, Korean, more pho than one could possibly need. We're seeing chefs take risks and go rogue, opting for pop-up restaurants and food carts instead of traditional kitchens. Hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches are coming back. We have foie gras on our plates. We're giving tofu a try.

But all this change and creativity can be confusing: What the hell is confit? Do I really want to try lengua? Or bibimbap?

Because we had no idea what makes pork belly so special, or what the difference was between a gastro-pub and a regular pub, we decided to make this year's Dining Out issue more like an encyclopedia for our local dining scene.

And when you see all the culinary options laid out on paper like this, we hope you'll be as excited as we are about how our little corner of the universe is eating.

— LEAH SOTTILE, Dining Out Editor