On a Saturday morning in late September, the scent of simmering herbs mingled with the buzz of festivalgoers crowded into a Mediterranean cooking class inside Wanderlust Delicato in downtown Spokane. Among the tables, guests sipped on tastes of Romanian wines and freshly brewed Kenyan Coffee.  

The scene captured the spirit of the inaugural Pacific Northwest Food & Wine Festival: more than showcasing fine dining, the event was meant to bring people to downtown Spokane and provide a platform for small businesses whose stories stretch far beyond the city’s borders.

Organized by Davenport Hotels in partnership with the James Beard Foundation and more than 30 wineries and regional chefs, the festival set out to spotlight Spokane as a culinary destination, says Melissa Green, vice president and area managing director of the hotel collection.

Over the course of three days, from Sept. 26-28, guests sampled local dishes paired with regional wines, joined cocktail classes, and wandered between tastings and talks, all while boosting the local economy. 

The event was designed to strengthen community ties and attract outside recognition, says Green.

“We really wanted to shine a spotlight on Spokane as a culinary destination,” Green says. “There’s so much here … and we also sit in the heart of a region where there’s so many wineries, chefs, and innovation. Coordinating this event was about bringing all those pieces together.”

The weekend-long festival was an overall success, she says. The kickoff event on Friday night drew 250 guests, while Saturday’s lineup of events was all sold out. Saturday night's six-course dinner served 210 guests, and Sunday’s jazz brunch also served about 210 guests.

In its first year, Green says she and her colleagues are hoping to break even. Davenport Hotels made a significant investment in terms of talent production, staffing, décor, and logistics, she says. She declines to share financial details but says the scale is comparable to other large-format destination events.

“From an economic impact standpoint, we’re anticipating a strong impact,” she says. “Our goal is truly not just to create value within our hotels, but to generate awareness that benefits the broader Spokane economy, and for people to come back for future years.”

For small beverage upstarts operating in Spokane, it was an opportunity to showcase their product to a wider audience.

Coffee

Kahawa Direct LLC, a coffee company specializing in importing and roasting East African beans,  set up its tasting table inside Wanderlust Delicato at 421 W. Main, marking the young company’s first event demonstration, says owner Aleni Kambona. Founded in 2023, Aleni runs the company with his two younger siblings, Ellena and Mose. The trio operates out of a small space inside River City Kitchen, at 221 W. First.

Kahawa, meaning "coffee" in Swahili, offers three roasts in their Tamu — or “sweet” — line from beans cultivated in the Aberdare Mountain Range, north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.

Aleni and his siblings moved to Spokane from the Midwest in 2021 to be near family and were immediately captivated by the Pacific Northwest’s coffee culture, which does not have the same presence back in the Midwest, he says.

“There’s all these independent spots on every corner. … Coffee stands are definitely part of people’s morning start,” Aleni says.

At the same time, he began to notice African coffee from Kenya and other East African countries that was sold in stores and coffee shops, but not African-owned. He and his siblings wanted to change that. Their grandfather grew coffee on a farm in Cankuzo, Burundi, in East Africa. Cultivating coffee is an essential part of the region’s culture and economy and has been done for hundreds of years, he says.

However, Aleni, who is now 27, says he is part of a new generation that wants to celebrate the beauty and culture of his homeland. He and his siblings traveled to Kenya when they started their company and established relationships with farmers in the Murang’a region of Kenya. Kahawa Direct is part of the cultivating process from planting until it reaches the ports in Seattle, he says. Kenya, he notes, has a port which makes it easier to export crops rather than trying to export beans from his family’s home in Burundi.

“We can be part of this (industry) too,” Aleni says. “We have beauty we can be proud of.”

The Tamu line is mostly sold online, but the siblings are working to get their coffee into more stores and restaurants, Aleni says. They are also keeping a watchful eye on tariffs and trade agreements that could destabilize their imports. For the moment, they’ve stockpiled a good amount of raw beans that they can use for the foreseeable future, Aleni says.

Wine

Teodora Bernadeta Baba, president and owner of Teinnovadora LLC, doing business as Teinnovadora Wine Co., also had a table at the Wanderlust event. Baba poured samples of Romanian wines to event guests while describing tasting notes and history from the region. Her company’s tagline is 'culture in a bottle,' and she enjoys sharing interesting details from the wines she sells, she says.

Baba founded Teinnovadora in 2019 after noticing a niche in the market for Romanian wines. Locally, Baba focuses on representing her native country’s wines, while representing Washington state wines at the international stage, another niche she encountered while doing her research. Internationally, U.S. wines are typically represented by California, with little representation for Washington and Oregon wines, she contends. 

While Baba is based here, her wine warehouse is located in Seattle, she says. 

Teinnovadora currently imports over 45 Romanian wines locally, and exports over 100 Washington wines internationally, including Spokane-based Townshend Cellar. In Spokane and Spokane Valley, Teinnovadora's imports are sold at Wanderlust Delicato, Vino! A Wine Place, Nectar Wine & Beer, Rocket Market, Bottles, Gander & Ryegrass, and Hay J's, in Liberty Lake. On Washington's West Side, Teinnovadora's imports can be found in over 50 shops and restaurants. In the future, she hopes to add more wines from other Eastern European countries to her portfolio, she says.

Like Western Europe, Eastern Europe has a rich history of winemaking, with Romania as its main producer of wines, Baba says.

“Growing up in Romania, I used to help my grandfather crush grapes in the backyard,” she recalls.

Romanian wines are slowly gaining acclaim through prestigious awards and recognition from respected organizations in the industry, she says.

Baba, who started her company right before the pandemic, is well versed in shipping delays and supply chain issues, having encountered and survived them, she says. Now, she is faced with a new set of challenges due to the ongoing tariff war.

While trade wars and tariffs are posing challenges, Baba says she’s holding steady, leaning on her previous experience during the pandemic.  

Green, of Davenport Hotels, says showcasing businesses like Kawaha Direct and Teinnovadora is exactly the outcome she was hoping the PNW Food & Wine Festival would have: activate downtown and highlight local businesses.

“Amplifying these types of businesses is exactly what we wanted to do,” Green says.

In future years, she hopes to make the festival bigger, involve more downtown businesses, and increase event marketing. Next year, the event will be held Oct. 9-11 to accommodate winemakers as they reach the end of harvest season in September.

She says she hopes the festival will become an anticipated annual event in years to come, and that downtown businesses, whether they choose to officially participate in the event, can also take part in their own way. Rather, like big events that come to town, businesses can prepare specials and gear up for an influx of out-of-town guests.

“This was a learning experience for many of us,” she says. “Hopefully, next year we can get more partnerships and bring more people in who can generate new ideas.”