![]() “We’ll keep some of them because they’re funny,” he said. Hegsted also ditched most of the tapestries that hung in the old eatery. Much of the smaller kitchen equipment that remained had to be thrown away. ![]() There was much work to do: replace sinks, buy a new dishwasher, add a fryer. Cobwebs clung to the ceiling and the stairs descending to the basement. Tables, chairs, benches and wine glasses left in racks above the bar gathered dust. Parmesan, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper remained in shakers on shelves. He and chef Matt Mayer, who manages the kitchen at Gilded Unicorn, spent weeks cleaning up the space, which sat largely untouched for the past 2 1/2 years. Still, “I try to get to all of them every day,” said Hegsted, who expects to visit Gilded Unicorn a bunch in the beginning. “This was way harder because you have to envision something totally different,” said Hegsted, who lives in Coeur d’Alene and creates the concepts for his restaurants but doesn’t do the day-to-day cooking and managing. But building two restaurants from the ground up wasn’t as difficult as this project. Unlike Yards Bruncheon and Wandering Table, which both got help from a Kickstarter campaign, Hegsted fronted the money for Gilded Unicorn – about $60,000 in all, he said. Hegsted also owns Yards Bruncheon in Kendall Yards, Eat Good in Liberty Lake, The Cellar at 317 Sherman in Coeur d’Alene and a catering company called Le Catering Co. That’s similar to its sister restaurant, Wandering Table, in Kendall Yards. Sit around it and sip on whiskey, the spirit at the heart of the Gilded Unicorn’s craft cocktail menu. So does the fireplace that anchors a short back wall. Despite the lofty ceiling, the long, rectangular main room somehow feels cozy and intimate. Hegsted was taken with the space’s soaring ceilings, which make the location feel less like an old boiler room and – with its rough-hewn rock walls – more like some kind of sitting room in a medieval castle. While Catacombs closed, the hotel continued operating. Rob Brewster filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in February 2013. The previous owner bought the hotel in 2004, when it was run-down and mostly vacant. The 116-year-old building belongs to Spokane developer Jerry Dicker, who bought it last summer in a foreclosure sale. “I’ve always liked this spot.”Ĭatacombs shuttered in spring 2013 after more than a decade of serving wood-fired pizzas and German food in the hotel basement. ![]() “It’s an amazing space,” said Hegsted, who signed the lease in September. He also named his newest restaurant for the specialness of the spot, which he sees – like a unicorn – as a wonder-filled rarity. Hegsted took inspiration for the name from old British pubs that tend to have names such as the Prancing Pony, Drunken Duck, White Horse, Three-Legged Mare or – and this is real – Swan with Two Necks. “It’s going to be so funny and tacky,” he said. In a word, it’s “ridiculous,” said Adam Hegsted, who dreamed up the concept and owns the restaurant. The atmosphere is equal parts old-timey and whimsical – with a side of downright goofiness. The theme is carried out everywhere – in metallic unicorn busts that watch over tipplers from the walls, in paintings of the magical woodland beast and in spray-painted gilt frames that hold 19th century paintings, etchings and prints of art works by Diego Rivera, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Salvador Dali. The Gilded Unicorn is a speakeasy that doesn’t take itself too seriously, an underground haunt done in natural rock and wood and faux gold – lots of faux gold. The new craft cocktail bar with re-imagined American eats is going for a particular look: gaudy. That could just be the unicorn talking, though. The subterranean space feels a bit magical and otherwordly, or at least Old Worldly, like an ancient European wine cellar but without the wine barrels and low-slung ceilings. ![]() The Gilded Unicorn lives in the old Catacombs underneath the Montvale Hotel. ![]()
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