Garden Party, a combined cocktail bar and plant shop, has opened at 107 S. Madison, in downtown Spokane.

“We sell fancy cocktails and plants at the same time,” says Kadra Evans, who owns the business with Kelly Fordice and Margaret Walser. “(It’s) a good place to hang out, do work, sit and have a drink.”

Evans, who is the chef at Garden Party, also owns Little Noodle LLC, an Asian-inspired restaurant at 713 W. Garland, in Spokane’s Garland District. Evans was recently featured on an episode of Supermarket Stakeout, a Food Network cooking competition TV show, which aired in April.

Evans and Fordice came up with the Garden Party idea together, Evans says, and the trio opened the business on June 2. The pandemic played a part in spurring Evans’ desire to blend her restaurant expertise with a plant store, she says.

“COVID really turned me into a plant person,” says Evans.

Evans had about 120 plants at her house before her boyfriend told her, “No more plants,” she says.

Garden Party is in the space formerly occupied by Two Winey Bitches’ tasting room. Walser owns Two Winey Bitches, which closed its tasting room during the pandemic, as well as Willow Wind Organic Farms Inc., of Ford, Washington, which Evans says will eventually provide fresh fruit for Garden Party’s cocktails.

Fordice owns Wood & Soil LLC, a Vancouver, Washington-based company that sells wooden plant hangers, stands, and baskets, some of which are sold at Garden Party.

So far, most of Garden Party’s customers come for the drinks, and many end up leaving with a plant, Evans says. Despite some permit-related delays, Evans says business has been strong since opening.

Garden Party’s drink menu consists of wine, wine cocktails, champagne, champagne cocktails, mocktails, and a couple of beers on tap from Spokane-area beer makers, YaYa Brewing Co. and Lumberbeard Brewing Co. 

Liquor-based cocktails will be added to the menu soon, Evans says.

“We’re almost there with our full liquor license, so then we’ll be more into the craft cocktails,” she says.

Plants sold at Garden Party include cacti and succulents, outdoor plants, starter plants, and a variety of other plant types.

The starter plants are sold in glass jars that have been upcycled into plant propagation jars, Evans says.

Garden Party also has a rotating “small bites” menu. Popular items include a grilled cheese sandwich, which is made with bread from Garden Party’s next-door neighbor, Twenty-Seventh Heaven scratch bake shop; a charcuterie board; and flower spring rolls, which share some characteristics with Little Noodle’s spring rolls.

“It’s the same peanut sauce that I have at Little Noodle that people come and buy by the quart,” Evans says.

A small room off to the side of the bar is available to rent, Evans says, and Garden Party has played host to multiple events already, with more planned.

“We get people constantly asking us if they can do bachelorette parties or business lunches,” Evans says.

There are five employees at Garden Party, all of whom are trained as bartenders and cooks. All of Evans’ employees at Garden Party and Little Noodle are cross trained between the two restaurants, she says.

Garden Party currently is open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, although Evans says it usually stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. She hopes to stay open until midnight all five of those days once the full liquor license is obtained, she says.

Small Bites

•Otis Orchards-based River City Pizza LLC soon will open a fourth location, this one at Prairie Falls Golf Club, at 3200 N. Spokane, in Post Falls. 

River City’s other locations are in Otis Orchards, Spokane Valley, and Coeur d’Alene. Prairie Falls Golf Club held a grand opening event on July 8 for its new 43,000-square-foot hotel, event, and retail facility, where River City Pizza will occupy a space.

•Riverside Powersports, a Chattaroy motorsports store located at 34610 N. Newport Highway, is now a U-Haul neighborhood dealer, according to a U-Haul Co. of Washington press release. The store will offer U-Haul trucks, trailers, towing equipment, support rental items, and in-store pickup for boxes. The store’s normal business hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

•India House Authentic Cuisine plans to open soon at 4410 S. Regal, on Spokane’s South Hill, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page. The Indian restaurant will occupy the former China Garden Restaurant LLC space at the commercial development owned by Spokane developer Harlan Douglass. India House Authentic Cuisine has two other locations—one at 740 N. Cecil Road, in Post Falls, and another in Wenatchee, Washington. 

The owners of India House Authentic Cuisine also own Karma Indian Cuisine, which has a location at 2606 N. Monroe, in Spokane, and another in Moscow, Idaho.