Mediterrano opens in Saranac Commons

Shahrokh Nikfar has opened a Mediterranean restaurant called Mediterrano in the same 7,000-square-foot Saranac Commons building at 19 W. Main where he also recently opened an Italian-inspired coffee, tea, and ice cream shop called Caffe Affogato. 

Mediterrano takes up almost 500 square feet in an open space there, while Caffe Affogato occupies about 275 square feet. The restaurants share the space with Black Label Brewing Co. and Common Crumb Artisan Bakery. All four businesses use the same customer seating, which is sprinkled throughout the space and includes front and back patios. 

The building is one of three adjacent structures owned by Spokane property owner and entrepreneur Jim Sheehan. 

The new restaurant, which has been open for a little over a month, features a menu with offerings such as gyros, falafel, hummus, Greek salads, and other Mediterranean types of dishes for lunch and dinner. 

Nikfar, originally from Iran, says his love of food inspired him to open the restaurants on the same city block where he spent the last 12 years working for the nonprofit Northwest Fair Housing Alliance, which is in the Community Building, at 35 W. Main. 

“We make our own hummus here just about every day from scratch,” he says. “Our menu combines lots of flavors from the Mediterranean regions of Europe.” 

With about 15 full- and part-time employees at both restaurants, he says that just about everything in the restaurant is made from scratch, even down to fruit-infused waters and chicken roasted there and pulled from the bone for use in traditional lemon chicken dishes.

—Judith Spitzer

Companies create motorcycling show

Two Spokane-based businesses, motorcycle rental provider Classic Rides Inc. and media company Case 42 Media, are collaborating to create a documentary-style TV motorcycling series called Classic Rides TV that will launch next month, initially as a Web series.

The first episode is expected to be filmed May 22-25 during the 72nd Swiftsure International Yacht Race at Victoria, British Columbia. It will air on the show’s website, classicridestv.com, around mid-June, says Classic Rides owner R.J. Sarber. 

Sarber says Classic Rides will have a variety of hosts and will chronicle the various travel experiences of a group of motorcycling enthusiasts throughout the Northwest and Canada. 

He says he’s had the idea for a TV show for many years, and when Case 42 became involved, he knew the show could be a reality. He adds that the collaboration with Case 42 has been a “wonderful harmony.”  

Each episode will feature tips about motorcycle travel, packing light, and road safety, says Sarber. The planned destinations for the first few episodes include parts of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, and U.S. and Canadian parks, and the show also will spotlight U.S. coastal rides, he says. 

Each episode will run about 30 minutes, says Sarber, and he says he expects to broadcast at least 12 to 15 episodes this year. Sarber says that although Classic Rides TV will debut online, he expects it eventually will be broadcast on television once it has gained substantial support. 

 

—Kendall Heintzelman

Large-format printer moves to bigger space

B.P. CAD Inc., of Spokane, which does business as BP Color Graphics & Beyond, has moved to 1130 E. Sprague.

The large-format printing business now occupies 3,400 square feet of leased space on the main floor of the two-story structure at the southwest corner of Sprague Avenue and Ivory Street, having relocated there from smaller quarters at 801 E. Second.

Bill Pinkerton, who founded BP Color Graphics in 1992, says the business specializes in making high-resolution enlargements of digital images for a number of display purposes, including museum exhibits, tradeshow booths, table-top displays, banners, and bus wraps.

BP Color Graphics also provides mounting, finishing, laminating, and graphic-design services.

The company currently has two employees, and Pinkerton says he anticipates hiring four additional employees within 18 months.

 

—Mike McLean

Spokane Carpet One plans new showroom 

Spokane Carpet One plans to open a new showroom, its third overall, at 9719 N. Division, on Spokane’s North Side, says owner Mike Dobson. 

That store is expected to open June 1. 

Dobson says the 2,000-square-foot space will serve as a designer showroom for Carpet One’s high-end products. He says he has been working to bring new products and ideas to this planned branch of Carpet One. 

“We’ve gone all over the country looking for new products,” says Dobson.

He says he has hired two interior designers, both with four-year degrees in design, to help achieve his goal of catering to builders. He adds that he hopes to better service the designer and builder trade with Carpet One’s flooring and countertop services. 

Dobson says eight employees in all will work at the showroom, five of whom have been hired and trained recently. 

Preparations for the showroom are about 90 percent complete, he says.

 

—Kendall Heintzelman

Art co-op opens on North Monroe

Urban Art Co-op, a nonprofit art studio, has opened at 3017 N. Monroe, offering classes and workshops mostly in pottery and wheel throwing, says John Newman, a board member and pottery instructor at the new studio.

Wheel throwing is a basic term for forming clay on a pottery wheel.

Located in about 1,600 square feet of leased space, the co-op is an open studio where artists of all levels can participate, Newman says. 

Currently, seven volunteer instructors teach at the co-op, and several of those instructors are artists-in-residence. 

Costs for evening quarterly classes are $125. 

Eventually, the co-op plans to add workshops in other art forms, including jewelry making, wool felting, and acrylic painting, as well as other art workshops using mediums such as glass and metals, Newman says.

 

—Judith Spitzer