"Third time's the charm."
That's what Spokane restaurateur Kevin Pereira hopes as he teamed up with his wife, Julie, to open Eddie's Kitchen & Tavern in North Spokane, near the North Division Y.
Serving classic American pub food like burgers, sandwiches and pasta, Eddie's is Pereira's third restaurant in the area, following Lost Boys' Garage on North Wall and Summit Kitchen & Canteen on the lower South Hill, both of which he co-owned with former business partner Jhon Goodwin.
Pereira was born in California and moved to the area with his family when he was just 2 years old. He grew up in a restaurant family, which ignited his love for the food industry. His parents, John and Sue Pereira, owned The White Horse Inn and Saloon in Spirit Lake, Idaho, Elliot's Tavern in the Garland District, and Derringers in Spokane Valley.
While pizza has always been Pereira's passion, life has taken his three establishments in different directions.
"I always kind of wanted to open my own place," he says. "I've worked in just about every pizza place in town. My original goal was to open up a pizza place because I just love pizza, but with Lost Boys', we pretty much made the menu to what we could do" in the space, he adds.
Inside Eddie's, hand-drawn pictures of music icons like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra line the walls, all art that once hung at Pereira's parents' restaurant, Derringers. He'd always wanted to use an old Hollywood Rat Pack-era theme, but it never fit with his other ventures.
Leaning into it now, Eddie's American comfort foods are not the only element playing to people's nostalgia. Rich blue highlights are sprinkled throughout, in the booth seats and the restaurant's logo, combined with a soundtrack of 1960s jazz standards.
Eddie's Kitchen & Tavern — named after Pereira's uncle, also his own middle name — is an amalgamation of the things that worked in his two other businesses, including many past menu favorites. The most popular item so far is Eddie's Signature Burger ($17), a half-pound Angus beef patty with gouda cheese and thick-sliced crunchy bacon on a brioche bun.
"At Lost Boys', it was the bacon gouda burger. At Summit, it was the Summit Signature Burger. It's been on our menu for 10 years now at one of the restaurants, so that's definitely our most popular," Pereira says.
A close runner-up is the fish & chips ($16) made with amber beer-battered Alaskan cod fillets, which also has a gluten-free variation. Other sans-gluten dishes include appetizers like the mozzarella sticks ($12) and jalapeno poppers ($12.50). There's even gluten-free pasta varieties, and Pereira says diners can't get enough of the lasagna ($17) and mac and cheese ($9).
"A lot of the restaurants in town kind of change a little something to make it gluten free, but a lot of our items are made that way," he says. "They're more like a comfort type of food."
Pereira's personal favorite is the Cuban sandwich ($15.50) with thick-sliced honey ham, shredded roasted pork, Cuban relish and chipotle aioli. A new customer favorite on Eddie's menu, and that's never been served at Pereira's other restaurants, are the hand-cut fries ($5.50).
Resembling a potato chip, the fries are crispy like the shoestring fries from Lost Boys' but with a soft interior akin to a potato wedge. Not to mention the chip shape allows for great dipping.
Grab a seat at the bar and order your beverage of choice. With large-screen TVs mounted in the corner, Eddie's bar is a great place to watch the game or news, or to get that social connection with the wait staff. While you won't find crazy craft cocktails, there are plenty of classic cocktails like a martini ($12) and whiskey sour ($11).
"I'm a real stickler for sticking to the roots of a drink," Pereira says, adding that Eddie's front-of-house manager, Justin Winkler, strives to ensure the drinks are true to original recipes.
Opening Eddie's was not on Pereira's 2024 bucket list. He immediately regretted selling Summit Kitchen & Canteen, but there was no going back — he could only move forward.
Pereira's first eatery, Lost Boys' Garage, opened in 2015 in what was originally an auto transmission shop. He and Goodwin then opened Summit Kitchen & Canteen in the old Lindaman's Gourmet-to-Go spot in 2021, but didn't anticipate the extensive renovation costs required to return the building, once a grocery store, to its former glory.
With his attention then divided between the two eateries, however, Pereira says they made the decision to close Lost Boys' Garage for a number of reasons in 2023.
"Lost Boys' was doing well for a long time, just some outside circumstances and then just taking my eye off the ball basically — I was focusing on Summit," he says.
Summit Kitchen & Canteen closed in May of this year after only two years of operation due to the extensive renovation costs, which created a snowball effect along with rent and other bills. The space is now home to the newly opened Little Euro.
So, Pereira set his sights on the next business venture: Eddie's.
"As soon as we had sold it I started looking for another place. Just looking for a place that we didn't have to do like Lindaman's," he says.
Months ago while scrolling through a local food group on Facebook, Pereira saw posts about Mac Daddy's North Division location closing (the restaurant is still open inside River Park Square). He dug a bit deeper and found out that it was about to be listed.
Most importantly, the location wouldn't come with renovation nightmares like Summit Kitchen.
"This space already had the tables and chairs, the kitchen equipment was here, the bar was here. So we pretty much came in and put a new coat of lipstick on everything in our own theme," Pereira says.
In an area of North Spokane saturated with chain restaurants, Pereira knows Eddie's needs all the buzz it can get. So far, he's already seen an influx of regulars who've missed his past two spots.
Living up to the "tavern" part of its name, Pereira hopes Eddie's can soon host regular events like karaoke and trivia nights.
"In the first of the year, we're going to start doing karaoke Friday and Saturday nights, and we're really kind of focusing on classy karaoke to go with our theme," he says.
Pereira's vision for the space is summed up nicely on Eddie's Tavern & Kitchen's socials: "A tavern is more than just a place to eat — it's a place to gather. Come for the food, stay for the friendships."♦
Eddie's Kitchen & Tavern • 10115 N. Newport Hwy. • Open Wed-Sat 11:30 am-9 pm, Sun 11:30 am-8 pm (Starting Jan. 10, Fri-Sat 11:30 am-midnight) • Instagram: @eddieskitchentavern • 509-329-6781
