Today I hopped into my little blue car and flew down Highway 95 towards Moscow, Idaho. A few miles north of that hallowed town, I diverted off into the mowed wheat fields and hopped over into Washington. My nephew is currently residing in Pullman, Washington as he is in a PhD program in Quantum Mechanics. at Washington State University. Sometimes I run down the highway for a visit, and by visit I mean he does homework and lab work while I do writing work. Then we go out to dinner and discuss everything from electron behavior to matters of the heart. It's a pretty great thing.
Another fun thing we do is walk around the chem labs and he introduces me to his professors. My nephew is six years younger than me, and it is super amusing to us both when people try to cover their confusion when he introduces me as "his aunt."
Anyway, tonight we decided to go out to dinner, and we took his Sheltie dog, Ollie with us. We rolled into this restaurant called The Lumberyard, and let me tell you, I was totally intrigued by the old Quonset hut building. It had this whole hipster reclaimed post industrial vibe thing going for it. My nephew hitched Ollie to a table and we walked in the door.
The Lumberyard is definitely not your typical restaurant. Instead of someone taking your order, you walk up to a kiosk and start tapping away. You want pizza, fine, order it from the pizza section. There were burgers, salads, libations, etc. It was like a rustic cafeteria. I was beyond intrigued. Inside the building there are huge planked tables to sit at, outside there are iron tables and chairs, big cable spools scattered about, and blocks with numbers on them. When you order at the kiosk you enter your table number if you are eating at the establishment, and someone will bring your food to you. It was bananas.
My nephew and I were feeling like chicken. He ordered a chicken and biscuit sandwich, collared greens, and fried green tomatoes. I ordered chicken tenders, coleslaw, and a side of mac and cheese. We then ran into one of my nephew's friends, a lovely Laotian woman who was grading thermodynamic papers. After a short chat we both perched next to Ollie at a giant spool and waited for our grub.
When it arrived I was not disappointed! My chicken tenders were delectable. And let me tell you, the Lumberyard knows how to do biscuits and honey butter. They used bacon grease to make my biscuit. Let me just say that again, there was bacon grease in my biscuit! Yum!
The mac and cheese was also smashing. Lots of creamy garlic goodness there. The only thing I wasn't thrilled with was the coleslaw. Honestly, I think whoever made it forgot to put a touch of sweetness in it to balance the flavors. It just wasn't quite right to me.
My nephew's chicken and biscuit sandwich was a behemoth to look at. I was impressed he ate it all, that sandwich was as big as my head! Let's just say that we left full!
Just for coolness factor and atmosphere alone I would probably recommend giving the Lumberyard a try if you are ever visiting Pullman, but honestly, the food is beyond top notch. I'm still smiling every time I think about that biscuit...
And as almost always, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's honey buttered smeared and semi-revered iPhone.
