New Pullman restaurant has Southern flair

PULLMAN - Birch & Barley has two menus, one for lunch and another for dinner.

While some of the dishes appear on both, each one fits on a double-sided page and most customers probably won't need their reading glasses to make their choices.

"It's just not scattered all over the place," said owner Kevin Clary. "We're not trying to be everything to everybody."

The idea was to keep the food tightly focused on its theme: American cuisine with a lean toward Southern dishes, said Clary, who along with his wife, Lori Clary, also owns the Breakfast Club in Moscow.

Among the choices are lobster macaroni and cheese made with Cougar Gold cheese ($14.95), Clary said. "That's the No. 1 seller. After that, it's very evenly dispersed."

Other entrees include top sirloin steak bites that are deep fried, but not battered ($14.95); Cajun Boil with three kinds of fish, sausage, potatoes and corn on the cob ($22.95); and chicken and dumplings ($14.95).

The Southern influence comes from his travels. One of his first visits to the South was when he worked for Olive Garden and took a side trip to see Don Smith, one of his professors when he was in Washington State University's hospitality program. Smith lived on a Texas ranch. Clary found he liked the area and kept going back, sampling as many restaurants as he could.

The concept for Birch & Barley began to take shape after he was approached by the owners of the building, Tom and Ruby Stroschein. Tom Stroschein is a Latah County commissioner.

Clary brought in Josh Clark, a former Breakfast Club server, who was working for a marketing firm in Seattle. He wanted to move back to the area with his wife, Shelly Clark, who was raised in Genesee, Clary said.

Clark had clients across the country, who he frequently entertained in restaurants, Clary said.

"After 10 years of that I knew what I liked and what people did," said Clark, whose specialty is the bar. Birch & Barley's signature drink is the Moscow Mule ($8), with the name coming from the Moscow in Russia, not on the Palouse.

It's a mixture of ginger beer, essentially a strong variety of ginger ale, vodka and fresh lime juice that's served in a copper cup. The bar also features whiskey and bourbon samplers.

The building that used to house Pete's Bar & Grill, at 1360 S.E. Bishop Blvd., has been extensively renovated. Carpet was removed and new flooring was installed. Farm tools and pieces of farm implements now hang on the walls.

The kitchen is separated from the dining area with a barn door that still has penciled numbers on it that a farmer once used to help do fertilizer calculations.

Birch & Barley is open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. The bar is open later on Fridays and Saturdays.

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Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.