Our guest for this episode is Stephanie Forrer. Steph is the host of the “Eat, Drink, Travel, Y’all,” podcast where she has delicious conversations with the most intriguing industry professionals in the culinary world. Steph also is a active food and travel writer, photographer and social media marketing consultant.

Originally from Alabama, Steph decided to move west. Her three choices were Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Tacoma….. find out why she chose the Seattle/Tacoma area over LA or San Francisco.

Great stories about food, drink, and travel across the State of Washington. My list of must try places continues to grow.

Stephanie is now living in Walla Walla and we spend a lot of the episode talking about food and wine in Walla Walla. It is obvious that she is happy to be living in Walla Walla and loves to share places to visit, and things to do.

Stephanie Forrer Episode Transcript

Scott Cowan [00:00:00]:
Almost all his life, and he can say it. I try to say it, and I sound like an idiot.

Steph Forrer [00:00:21]:
Welcome to the Exploring Washington State Podcast. Here’s your host, Scott Cowan.

Scott Cowan [00:00:28]:
So So my guest today is Steph Forrer of the website Eat Drink Travel Y’all. And if that doesn’t give

Steph Forrer [00:00:37]:
you a clue that this

Scott Cowan [00:00:38]:
is all about Washington, the y’all, which I can’t even say. I just can’t. I have a friend from, who grew up in New Orleans and he’s lived in Washington state almost all his life and he can say it. I try to say it and I sound like an idiot. So, Steph, Steph, I’m going to ask you to give me a little bit of background because we’re going to go in three different directions here. First off, you’re from Alabama. I’d like to hear a little bit about that. Then you went to Seattle.

Scott Cowan [00:01:02]:
So I’d like to hear some about that. And then we got Walla Walla. So we’re going to talk there too. So why don’t you introduce yourself? And then how about how’d you go from Alabama to Seattle? What was the what was that journey?

Steph Forrer [00:01:15]:
Yeah. So well, thanks for having me, Scott. I’m so excited to to be on the podcast today. So I moved from Alabama to Seattle in 02/2013. Really, the the catalyst there was a was a divorce, was a was the end of was the end of something, and I wanted to start over. I got in my car. I knew I wanted to be in the West Coast. That was just after my 20 birthday.

Steph Forrer [00:01:43]:
I had never really wanted to be in Alabama for my whole life, but there was always a job, a boy that just bought a home. You know, there was always something keeping me there. And, when my marriage ended, got married early, really, really young, and, you know, left at 28, also pretty young. Got in my car, drove west, had had a friend in Tacoma, had a friend in LA, had a friend in San Francisco, and I just knew I’m going west. I’m going to the West Coast. I didn’t even know where I was going when I left. And, Tacoma ended up being the first place I landed. Spent a few weeks there, went down to LA, spent a couple months there with some friends.

Steph Forrer [00:02:26]:
Actually thought I might move to Los Angeles for a little while, realized, didn’t really like Los Angeles. It is beautiful and sunny, but the traffic is horrible. And I, well, I flew back up to Seattle where my car was with another friend of mine after I spent some time in LA. And this was in October, late October two thousand and thirteen. And I just stepped off the plane, and I just knew that Seattle was my new home. I didn’t really I didn’t know anyone in the city. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have a place to live.

Steph Forrer [00:02:56]:
But I had some savings. I recently finished my master’s degree in Alabama while I was working previously, in nonprofits, mostly in development and some public relations. And I had started to get into social media back in Alabama because my ex husband was a a very talented woodworker, and he was one of the first, one of the first people to really attack the Etsy platform, if you’re familiar with Etsy selling. Mhmm. And I ran all his social media. So that’s how I kind of got again, as I said, I have a master’s in marketing, but when I was in school, they didn’t have social media classes. Now you can go take analytics social media classes, content creation social media. You can major in social media now at many schools, which is very cool.

Steph Forrer [00:03:44]:
But I just got, you know, experience in it, kind of running the the businesses that he was doing on Etsy. At the time, Instagram was not even a thing. This was probably 02/1989. So it was, you know, Facebook and Twitter were king. And so, anyways, when I got to Seattle, I was looking for a job. And, I had kind of a weird, professional background having worked in nonprofits. I was trying to transfer over to, like, an Amazon or Starbucks. You know, I thought I’d go into something more in tech with, you know, what I, you know, what I had studied in school and, was having, again, a little bit trouble finding a job right away.

Steph Forrer [00:04:21]:
And I was I was sitting at a restaurant, Vons one thousand Spirits in Downtown Seattle. The owner was sitting down beside me with his accountant and his manager, and we started chatting. And they needed help with their social media, and I said, oh, sure. I can do this. Look at all the the social media I’ve done for you know, showed about my ex husband’s businesses. They were super impressed. We started working together, thought that would be a part time thing while I was, you know, until I found a job, but it actually led to just more work. Started working with other restaurants, Floss Football and Pike Place Market.

Steph Forrer [00:04:57]:
And then that led to a job with a company called the Where to Eat Guide, which was, a popular public publication. I think they’re all digital now, but worked with them for about two and a half, three years. They were in multiple cities in the Northwest and got to travel, really introduced me to a lot of different restaurants because they worked with, you know, anywhere from 50 to 80 restaurants in all the markets they were in. So it was just a great way for me to connect with the restaurant community in the Northwest from Seattle to Portland to Napa to Bend. And so kind of freelancing as a social media specialist, became my full time job. I consider myself a writer, by really at my core. That that’s what I love to do. That’s what I’m good at.

Steph Forrer [00:05:43]:
That’s what I can always fall back as I could sit down and I can I can write something that I feel like is is very readable for for for people? That’s just what I feel very comfortable doing. I was not a photographer. I used to have friends in Seattle that did photography that would come in and help me shoot with clients. Shout out. Thank you, Jason Trinkle, for helping me do that for for the first year and a half. And then finally, in February I think early two thousand fifteen, I picked up a camera. I just ordered the the the basic, you know, the starter DSLR for $500. And I just started shooting.

Steph Forrer [00:06:20]:
And, that’s that’s where my photography that’s where my photography started. And so spent almost eight years, seven, seven and a half ish years in Seattle living downtown, a couple blocks from Pike Place Market, which I loved, worked with some incredibly talented chefs and restaurants, you know, lots of names that you would know, worked with Pike Place Market, visited Seattle, worked with Adana and Shosho de Nakajima, worked with a beloved restaurant, Pincho, and and and Belltown that’s no longer there. Worked with some breweries, some wineries. Had a really just had a wonderful time doing social media, consulting. Started getting you know, as I was working on the back end of social media, helping restaurants and businesses, this is kinda when influencers became a big thing. I was very taken with that and started, you know, kind of sharing my own journey. I launched a blog in 02/2015. That became an additional, source of income for me.

Steph Forrer [00:07:23]:
And then in 02/2020, as we all know, COVID hit. I was working pretty much only with restaurants at this time, and all of them either closed or slashed their marketing budgets. My boyfriend was working at very, very, critically acclaimed Sushi Kashiba at Pike Place Market at the time, had been in restaurants his entire life as well. And, you know, they closed. All the restaurants closed. And so I got a job opportunity in Walla Walla to come work for a small creative firm, and we we could not afford the lifestyle we were living in Downtown Seattle without very much income. So we moved and that’s kinda what brought me here.

Scott Cowan [00:08:13]:
It’s alright. So as always, I have questions after guessing.

Steph Forrer [00:08:19]:
Sorry, that was a super long answer to

Scott Cowan [00:08:21]:
It’s okay. So here’s my question. So if we were handicapping your story and you said you were driving west and you had friends in Tacoma, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, Tacoma would not have made the cut, in my opinion. I grew up in Tacoma and I’m like, there’s no way she’s going to land and end up in Tacoma. And truthfully, you didn’t. You ended up in Tacoma.

Steph Forrer [00:08:42]:
So I’m teaching I didn’t, but I will tell you it was really more about the timing of my friends, my best friend in San Francisco. Was it the right time? I had a friend in law again, it was more about timing. Like, could it kind of take me? And to be to be honest with you, at the time, leaving, I’d never having really spent much time on the West Coast driving to Tacoma, I really thought that was Seattle. You know? I mean and come on. If you’re not from this if you’re not from this area, like, let’s be real. They’re thirty minutes away. The airport’s right in the middle. You’re you’re you’re pretty close.

Scott Cowan [00:09:16]:
Well, they’re not thirty they’re only thirty minutes away about 3AM to 03:15AM nowadays. Traffic has gotten so Yeah.

Steph Forrer [00:09:23]:
Traffic is And that’s

Scott Cowan [00:09:24]:
and I grew up in Tacoma, so I can I can pick I

Steph Forrer [00:09:27]:
can Well, I I love Tacoma, and I wanted to say, I think that Tacoma gets a bad rap? You like, I remember, you know, when I lived in Seattle, people would just, you know, talk down on Tacoma. I’m like, you need to go to Alabama and then go to Tacoma, and then you’ll think it’s really nice because the museums are amazing. The downtown, the waterfront, there are some great great restaurants in Tacoma. So just all you Tacoma people out there, I give a shout out. I’m a big Tacoma fan. I I I can always find a good restaurant. I love I love the parks there. I love the waterfront.

Steph Forrer [00:10:00]:
It it really is a beautiful place.

Scott Cowan [00:10:02]:
I think, and this is just my opinion. So if somebody’s gonna make a nasty comment in the comments, because I’ve gotten nasty comments because I talk down about Spokane. I don’t. I did one time make a comment about

Steph Forrer [00:10:12]:
how

Scott Cowan [00:10:13]:
I was a kid, and look at me, I’m older than dirt. So a long, long time ago, covered the wagon to Spokane. Spokane wasn’t a great place and somebody just got really persnickety with me that I said something disparaging about Spokane. I will say that in 2021, Spokane’s a great place. I love going to Spokane.

Steph Forrer [00:10:32]:
Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:10:33]:
I left Seattle or, well, I left the Tacoma area in 2017 mostly because of traffic. I just got

Steph Forrer [00:10:39]:
caught up

Scott Cowan [00:10:40]:
with the commute. But Tacoma, I think Tacoma actually plays up its little brother, red headed stepchild reputation between Seattle, because everything you just said, the parks are awesome. There’s great restaurants. There’s, there used to be a lot of music clubs there. COVID’s changed a lot of things for every city. Yeah,

Steph Forrer [00:11:00]:
of course.

Scott Cowan [00:11:01]:
So as much as I pick on Tacoma, actually, it’s got a special place in my heart. So then the other question, so what I was saying is handicapping, I would not have picked Tacoma out of San Francisco. Sorry, which one doesn’t look like the others? Are you a Crimson Tide fan?

Steph Forrer [00:11:21]:
Oh, he no. Of of course. Of course. Well, I went to the University of Alabama for my undergraduate degree. My sister went to Alabama. My brother went to Alabama. Oh. Most of my hey.

Steph Forrer [00:11:32]:
Come on now. Like, my dad says everybody hates the University of Alabama. Everyone except half of the state of Alabama hates the University of Alabama.

Scott Cowan [00:11:45]:
So here’s here’s my question about the University of Alabama. And I and I delicately am going to phrase this. All I know about the University of Alabama is that they’re running an NFL franchise disguised as a college program. Well, what else is what else is the school? I don’t know anything about and I don’t mean this disparaging, but what else is the University of Alabama good at? Because football is what gets the publicity.

Steph Forrer [00:12:13]:
Football is definitely king there. We did have a very, very tough loss to Texas a and m this past weekend. It was heartbreaking. My brother and dad just both text me about how depressed they were the next day. But the University of Alabama is one of those beautiful college campuses you will ever see gorgeous old oak trees. It is absolutely stunning. They have been a fantastic communications, program, and they have a fantastic law program. Those are two of the things that that that they are also very well known.

Steph Forrer [00:12:41]:
But it is it is a great school. Definitely, the football overshadows everything else, but I definitely got a wonderful education there. My sister got a degree in environmental a master’s degree in environmental science there. They have some really, really great programs.

Scott Cowan [00:12:55]:
Yeah. And I just don’t know. I mean, I all I know is what I see as a sports fan. You know, I they’re like an NFL franchise. I mean, they they just are. I mean, half their team ends up in the NFL every year. I mean, it’s

Steph Forrer [00:13:10]:
They they are. It’s a it’s a it’s a force. I mean, we I’m telling you, if Nick Saban ran for governor of Alabama, he would win.

Scott Cowan [00:13:18]:
Not after last week.

Steph Forrer [00:13:20]:
God, that was, let’s not go into it. That was absolutely, that was brutal, Scott.

Scott Cowan [00:13:26]:
Come on now. I mean, come on. You have to understand that for everybody else, but an Alabama fan, that loss was amazing.

Steph Forrer [00:13:31]:
I know. And that’s what I’m going to do.

Scott Cowan [00:13:33]:
Because it’s all a glimmer of hope.

Steph Forrer [00:13:34]:
Texas and Arizona, that was such a great, those young kids, that was so great for them. I’m like, don’t talk to me. I’m like, you don’t know, like when you don’t lose, it really hurts when you lose. Okay?

Scott Cowan [00:13:45]:
Right. But but, you know, yeah. Anyway. Alright.

Steph Forrer [00:13:47]:
I know. I sound like yeah. That’s my dad always said too that Alabama doesn’t have a lot, but we have we have pretty girls and the best football. That that is the University of, you know, at Alabama. Okay. That’s so that’s my dad for you.

Scott Cowan [00:14:05]:
Perfect. So before we go before we start talking about Washington, I’m gonna break my rules. We’re gonna I’m actually gonna ask you a couple of things about Alabama. Okay. As far as food goes, so and I’ll tie it into Washington. Okay. What do you miss from home food wise, here in Washington?

Steph Forrer [00:14:27]:
What do I miss from home? You know, I mean, as far as, you know, obviously, southern cooking, I, you know, I miss the things that my mom would make. I miss my mom’s fried chicken is definitely, like, probably the number one thing. There are some places doing some decent fried chicken in in Washington state, but not a lot. I would definitely say southern cuisine is lacking here. I miss grits. No one here really does grits. Anytime I see grits on a menu, I’m definitely getting it. I miss Waffle House.

Steph Forrer [00:15:00]:
Do you know what Waffle House is?

Scott Cowan [00:15:02]:
Only from the news where people get beat up or and it’s that kind of it kinda got a

Steph Forrer [00:15:08]:
bad reputation. Wobble House a bad rep. Okay. I that shocked me when I moved to the West Coast, and I was like, I swear to God. I thought Waffle House was worldwide. Like, where do you go at two in the morning if you need cheese eggs and, like, and and cheese grits and toast and and and a stack of waffles, like, and and it’ll cost you $8. Like, where where do you go? Like, IHOP is not the same. Charities or fair that that is not the same.

Steph Forrer [00:15:32]:
Denny’s is not the same. I’m just I I am telling you. I have I have had people drag me to that. Like, no. We can get grits here. Like, no. Do not take me to a Denny’s and get me these grits and tell me that it is on par with Waffle House because it is not. At a Waffle House, you sit down.

Steph Forrer [00:15:47]:
It’s all open. You see them cooking your food. And, I mean, it is just you know, you get your your breakfast special, and then it’ll be, like, $4. I’m not exaggerating. So I I didn’t I didn’t see Waffle House coming out in this podcast interview, but I just because you asked me. I will tell you that that was a big that was a big shock.

Scott Cowan [00:16:09]:
So so let me let me tell you my and now now I can’t compare this place to Waffle House. I don’t mean it like that. But back in the day for late night, food up in Seattle was Best Cafe. Have you ever been to Best Cafe?

Steph Forrer [00:16:23]:
You know, I haven’t, but I am familiar with it. I’ve I’ve been

Scott Cowan [00:16:26]:
aware of it. Yeah. It was just this spot you would go, and I will just leave it at that.

Steph Forrer [00:16:33]:
Well and you know that we used to have Moody’s in Downtown Seattle, which was actually Filipino owned. And they did, like, some Ubi pancakes and things like that, but they also just that that was kinda like the closest I was getting. I don’t were they open? You know, they closed. They had a fire and closed before COVID. Actually, it was really actually very sad for the community. It was really, staple downtown, but I would I would say that that was, like, as close. They were open very late. I don’t know if they were open.

Steph Forrer [00:17:01]:
I can’t remember if they’re open twenty four hours, but till two or three in the morning. That I would go there when I first moved to Seattle when I needed that kind of Waffle House esque experience, but I miss that place. I think a lot of other people do too.

Scott Cowan [00:17:14]:
Alright. So the last question about Alabama is how’s the coffee in Alabama?

Steph Forrer [00:17:20]:
Scott, you know, I I can’t imagine that it is fantastic, but I will also tell you, I didn’t really get into coffee until I moved to Washington state. But that is part

Scott Cowan [00:17:32]:
of the requirement to be allowed to be a resident here. You have to be fluent in coffee. Okay.

Steph Forrer [00:17:38]:
Absolutely. So, but I just judging on going back, you know, and I lived in, I grew up in in Montgomery. Actually, my parents lived about half an hour outside of Montgomery, but that’s where we went to school. That’s where my mom worked, because I’m from a teeny tiny town without a stoplight. And I will say that since, now that I’m going back and have had a lot more experience in the food, coffee, hospitality industry, there are some cool, really cool, impressive coffee shops that have popped up, not a lot, two or three, in at least the Montgomery area, you know, the capital. Gosh. Now I can’t think of the the the name. It’s, like, escaping me, but, like, cafe Luisa is an amazing bakery with good coffee in the Cloverdale area.

Steph Forrer [00:18:20]:
There’s there’s, another great coffee shop. Yeah. There’s about three, at least in that area. And I would be willing to bet that there is some pretty decent coffee in Birmingham, which, I have several cousins that live there. And I haven’t been there in a couple years, but it is it is really evolved that food scene and they’ve gotten a lot of tension nationally, just from different chefs and restaurants in the last few years. So I think especially like the Birmingham area has has really come a long way.

Scott Cowan [00:18:47]:
And here, I thought you were

Steph Forrer [00:18:48]:
gonna say Waffle House had good coffee. You know, they have black coffee. I mean, I would drink it. I don’t know if I would drink it now. I need I I haven’t I haven’t been to a Waffle House in a couple years. It’s it’s been a minute. Maybe I need to start opening a Waffle House in. Maybe I need to start the Walla Walla Waffle House.

Steph Forrer [00:19:06]:
I don’t know.

Scott Cowan [00:19:06]:
Maybe. Yeah. Walla Walla Waffle House.

Steph Forrer [00:19:08]:
I feel like I feel like Walla Walla would be a good place for Waffle House. I feel like that would fit the demographic here. People would love it.

Scott Cowan [00:19:16]:
I I think you’re probably onto something.

Steph Forrer [00:19:18]:
That’s not my job. That’s what I’m doing now.

Scott Cowan [00:19:21]:
There you go. We’re done. We’ve just we can you can hang this this episode on the wall as an inspiration to your wall to your Waffle House journey. Okay. Well, let’s just talk Walla Walla because I’ll tell you what I think about Walla Walla. And so four years ago, we moved from the Tacoma area over here to Wenatchee. And three years ago, I went to Walla Walla for probably the well, absolutely the first time as an adult, maybe as a young kid. So, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I went to Walla Walla.

Scott Cowan [00:19:56]:
And, wow, the best way I can describe it is like I told you on the phone, I mean, the one thing for me is Walla Walla seems a little isolated for me personally. That’s just that’s just the one thing. But if I could take Walla Walla’s downtown core and shove it into Wenatchee, I think I would have perfection.

Steph Forrer [00:20:17]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:20:17]:
Absolutely. And so I really love, what I’ve seen about Walla Walla, the people I’ve met, talked to, not terribly many, but you know, the, the people I’ve met and talked to. So what was the motivation to go from Seattle? So you you got offered a job in Walla Walla. So that was the motivation. So

Steph Forrer [00:20:41]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:20:43]:
But walk me through. You left Seattle’s a big city, vibrant on its good days, rainy, the other three sixty four days a year.

Steph Forrer [00:20:57]:
Lots of traffic,

Scott Cowan [00:20:58]:
I mean, to me, lots of traffic, but a lot going on, a lot of cool things going on in Seattle. And so you’ve left. So how much research did you do about Walla Walla before you you got in your car and drove east?

Steph Forrer [00:21:09]:
Well and I guess I didn’t preface this by saying I had been to Walla Walla, at least two or three times before. So I think it was 02/2016 or ’17, I was brought over by a PR firm to, stay at the Marcus Whitman Hotel who had just undergone a a renovation, and they toured us around the city. And I think that was, a project with the Marcus Whitman Hotel that the PR firm was representing. They brought several writers and influencers over from the Seattle area. I immediately loved it the first time that I visited. I loved wine. There’s a lot of good food here. Then I got invited back by by the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance in 02/2018 to write about a promotion that they were doing.

Steph Forrer [00:21:53]:
So came back for a second visit. Again, just loved it. And then then it was the summer the February. Last year, we were coming my boyfriend, Marcus, and I came over for another project. We were working with, The Finch, which is a hotel downtown, and Aratage, which is a resort about twelve to fifteen minutes from downtown. Both beautiful, beautiful properties, very different. Coming to write about them and work with, two different PR firms that we work with a lot. And while I was here, I had a friend that was, that has this, like I said, a small creative firm here.

Steph Forrer [00:22:31]:
We went over to his house for and this was COVID. So it was outside, you know, all around the fireplace and grilling and stuff. And, he had a very again, it’s just a few people that worked with him, maybe two or three employees, not a not a big firm. But, one of the girls was leaving and he was like, well, if you, you know, if you need a job, if you wanna wanna work for me, like, let me know. And we were driving back, like, the next day, and we’re like my boyfriend was like, we’re not moving to Walla Walla. And then, like, within a week, we’re like, do we wanna move to Walla Walla? Because I again, I’ve always loved it. And I think for my boyfriend, at first, he was like the same as you. It’s like it’s isolated and also it’s like there’s not we love being by the water.

Steph Forrer [00:23:11]:
And so we are kind of more in a desert climate almost. There is water around. There’s little rivers and streams and stuff, and we’ve definitely found places that we enjoy. But just as I said, we lived two blocks from Pike Place Market in the middle of Downtown Seattle. If you have not been to Seattle lately, it is not the same city that it was two years ago. I thought that I would buy a condo in perhaps the Belltown, Capitol Hill downtown area in the next, you know, you know, in the in the next few years. And Seattle would be, like, that would be my forever home. That’s what I thought.

Steph Forrer [00:23:43]:
That’s what I was on track to do. But with all of just 2020, with the I saw downtown get destroyed. I saw it burn during the protests, right, like, I’m like, three blocks from my apartment. I saw Mhmm. Everything graffitied and shut shut down and and boarded up from, you know, Capitol Hill to Belltown to Pioneer Square. I mean, go walk around Pioneer Square. It’s still everything’s still boarded up. The the you know, it’s just it’s it doesn’t feel safe in that area.

Steph Forrer [00:24:13]:
The the feel of Seattle has changed, and we were paying just, you know, my apartment, our one bedroom apartment in Downtown Seattle was $2,800 a month. And, you know, it may be worth it to pay that to live downtown when you have the art museum, the Seattle Art Museum across the street, when you have the symphony a block away. All that stuff’s closed. All the restaurants are closed. You’re paying so much to live in this place that you can’t you’re not getting any of the benefits. You couldn’t use the gym if you if I’m paying $2,800 a month, I can’t go to the gym. I can’t use any of these amenities. You know, I can’t you know, I you know, the market thankfully, Pike Place stayed open and kept me sane.

Steph Forrer [00:24:51]:
But so many things just closed and just really seeing the city just get torn apart. It it broke my heart because I love Seattle. And again, always thought I would be ever since I got there, thought I would kinda be there forever. And, you know, who’s to say I won’t go back? We did buy a home here, so we’re here for a while at least. But on that note, we could have never bought a home in Seattle. You know? And we were both making very good money and but we could have never afforded to buy a home, you know, a house in the Seattle area. So, you know, my mortgage is a thousand dollars less a month than my apartment was here, and I’m living in a beautiful, you know, home that’s eight years old. So, you know, there was many reasons just, you know, getting older and sick of throwing money away on rent and sick of paying for you know? Again, it was worth it to me to live downtown where I could watch a coffee, walk to the museums, things like that.

Steph Forrer [00:25:43]:
But when you’re just trapped in your apartment, you know, and you’re downtown and it feels almost dangerous, like, it just it was a really sad time, and it definitely it’s definitely coming back. And I’m so happy to see that things are reopening. And every time I go back, you know, it’s it’s it’s a it’s a little better. And this that city has my heart. It’s I always say that the city of Seattle, it saved me from a really bad relationship that I was in. It was just my solace when I when I when I moved there. I fell in love with it. And it is a it is a wonderful, beautiful place, and I’m I’m excited to see it just continue to rebuild.

Scott Cowan [00:26:22]:
And I do think it’s going to, course correct.

Steph Forrer [00:26:26]:
I think ultimately it will course correct and things will take care of itself.

Scott Cowan [00:26:32]:
So, you’re in Walla Walla?

Steph Forrer [00:26:35]:
Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:26:38]:
And so I have a schoolboy crush on Walla Walla. Let’s call it that. I am very enamored with Walla Walla. But first off, let’s talk about, we’re gonna talk about Walla Walla, but we’re gonna, we’re gonna, there’s a really important question I have to

Steph Forrer [00:26:56]:
know the answer to. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:26:58]:
And it’s, what’s the best coffee in Walla Walla?

Steph Forrer [00:27:02]:
Oh, well, that is a very easy one for me. I can tell you the best coffee is Carte Coffee, c a r t e coffee. And it is, it’s a mobile coffee kind of food truck. It’s a cutest little cart that, gosh. I don’t know Josh’s last name, but Josh is the owner. He is this young kid. He has gotta be maybe 25. I believe he went to school here.

Steph Forrer [00:27:28]:
You know, we have several we have three different colleges in in Walla Walla. And Right. I am telling you, he makes coffee as good as you will find anywhere in Seattle. His everything that he and his team do are amazing, and, he just parks his his little cart. It’s right downtown on Spokane and Main Street, the corner of Spokane and Main Street. He’s there, right now, he’s there Thursday through Monday. His hours just changed for fall. And I’m telling you, I’ve never had coffee so good.

Steph Forrer [00:27:58]:
Like, I wake up in the mornings, and I’m like, I need Josh coffee today to my boyfriend. I’m like, I had to, like, drip coffee will not do. And it’s it’s it’s just a great he’s like I I was telling you a little in our pre interview. Like, you you walk up, he knows your name. You stand there and you wait for your coffee. Every person that walks up, he knows them. He knows it’s just he’s he’s so community focused, and it’s just such a a fun, good person and just really I don’t know how the coffee is that good. I will say we we we do have another good coffee spot, the Wall Walla Roastery, which is out in the airport district.

Steph Forrer [00:28:34]:
And they were my go to before I found before I found Josh. And he they do roast their own beans there, and he actually, uses a lot of their their coffee for his drip stuff and, and different things. Sometimes has them on espresso and things like that. So he’s a big fan of theirs. So they’re they’re also another good one, but I will say that cart coffee is definitely my favorite. But on that note, you know, it is a mobile food truck type of thing. So it’s not like you can go sit down and, you know, work on your laptop for two hours and and have a coffee. Like, if you wanna do that, I would say, you know, go to the roastery or, I hate to say the Starbucks downtown too.

Steph Forrer [00:29:15]:
I will be honest, you know, it’s not Seattle. Like we are limited with there’s not there’s there’s not 20 coffee shops in town, but, but yeah, those two cart coffee or wall wall roastery are are both fantastic.

Scott Cowan [00:29:29]:
So one comment I made one time, I think probably the first or second time I went to Walla Walla, and as I had told you before, whenever I stay in Walla Walla, I almost always stay at The Finch. I just, I found The Finch, I stumbled across The Finch, and it’s just a comfortable place to stay, close to town. I mean, I can walk where I want to go. It’s just a great spot to land for the evening. And as I was walking through downtown, the thought hit me was wine is to Walla Walla what coffee is to Seattle. In other words, I don’t think you could if you could walk around the city of Walla Walla with a wine glass in your hand, I think that they have strategically figured out how many steps it would take you to complete drinking your glass of wine, and then immediately there is another place for you to get another glass of wine. Just like in Seattle, you can have a cup of coffee and then just when you’re finished, there’s another coffee shop. So Walla Walla has done that with

Steph Forrer [00:30:28]:
wine. Oh, absolutely. I’m I just and I do my own podcast, and I just had, the marketing director for the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance on, and we were talking all things wine here. And I I I might not get the number exactly right, but I think that there are over a 50 wineries in Walla Walla. And I think, that she said that about a 30 of them have actual tasting rooms that you can walk into. So, I mean, Walhalla itself has 30,000. The collective two counties that really make up this area is 60,000 people. I mean, that’s not very big.

Steph Forrer [00:31:02]:
And we have, you know, 120 to 140 wineries that you can walk into and taste wine. So, yeah, there’s definitely I mean, if you walk downtown, I mean, forget about finishing your coffee or wine before you could I mean, you step out and they’re right next to each other. I’m I’m not sure. There’s gotta be at least 20 wineries in that tiny downtown corridor, if not more.

Scott Cowan [00:31:25]:
If not more. And I think what I had read one time was, like, there was a 20 wineries. So the fact that it’s still growing.

Steph Forrer [00:31:32]:
Oh, it’s growing so fast. And I mean, it’s it’s been it’s been exponential. I mean, because I think that the wine boom really started here, like, in the late nineties, early ‘2 thousands, and it’s just it’s it’s grown so quickly. I wish I had those statistics for you. But if you if you do the homework, it has been it has been crazy just how how much wineries have just blown up in this area. But it is. It’s a great wine. It’s a great, great growing region.

Steph Forrer [00:31:59]:
It’s a rich agricultural hub. There’s a great viticulture school here. So a lot of people come here to go to school to learn how to make wine.

Scott Cowan [00:32:08]:
Which school is that? Can I interrupt you and say, what school is that? Is that are you talking WSU?

Steph Forrer [00:32:13]:
No. I’m talking about the there’s a viticulture college in in Walla Walla. So it’s a college to learn yes. And so they teach you all about and I’m blanking. I don’t know if it’s just called the Walla Walla Viticulture School. If you just typed in wall if you just typed in Walla Walla Wine School, it would pop up. My brain is not working right now. But a lot of people come here to go to school.

Steph Forrer [00:32:34]:
And from what I understand, the curriculum is, I think, two to two and a half years long. And the first half, you learn all about grape growing and the the science of it and the farming of the grapes, the weather patterns, you know. And then I think the last half of it is about actually the wine making, what goes into that, like the process, you know, the, you know, the chemicals, the things you put into it, the science behind it in that way. And then a lot of people, I think, fall in love with it when they come here to learn how to make wine. And I’ve had many winemakers, in the area on my podcast. And I think all of them went to school here to learn how to make wine.

Scott Cowan [00:33:10]:
Interesting. Very interesting. There’s a and as I told you before, my palate, I do not have a sophisticated palate for wine. It’s not that I appreciate it, but I don’t I mean, I don’t appreciate it because I’m not nuanced. I’ll either, you know, if you were to pour three glasses of wine and say, tell me which one you like, you might not like, you know, I might go, oh yeah, that Franzia is pretty good, if I didn’t know it was Franzia. It’s just, I’m not the guy you want blind taste testing your high quality wines. But I will say I have a friend down in, Texas who, not really a big wine place either, but he’s passionate about wine and he’s passionate about Napa Valley.

Steph Forrer [00:33:59]:
Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:34:00]:
Okay. And I saw something online, I don’t know, probably on Pinterest or something. I saw a t shirt and I want to find this shirt. I’ve scoured the t shirt shops in Walla Walla, nobody currently has it, but the shirt that says Napa is for auto parts, Walla Walla is for wine.

Steph Forrer [00:34:17]:
Oh my God,

Scott Cowan [00:34:18]:
that’s amazing. It’s absolutely brilliant. I think, you know, Walla Walla, you know, I think from a marketing standpoint, I default to sarcastic. I just thought that was an amazing shirt. I must find one and send it to him just as a

Steph Forrer [00:34:34]:
Well, send one to me too if you find one because I love that. I just thought it was awesome. And so, I’m going to

Scott Cowan [00:34:42]:
ask you to talk about wine in Walla Walla, and I’m not going to have anything really to contribute.

Steph Forrer [00:34:49]:
So, what I do here, I’ll tell you what

Scott Cowan [00:34:51]:
I know about wine in Walla Walla. The Bledsoe family has a winery, and Drew Bledsoe grew up in Walla Walla, played football at WSU, played for the New England Patriots in the NFL. There. I’ve exhausted my wine knowledge of all of it. And all of it’s football. It’s all football.

Steph Forrer [00:35:09]:
It’s all football related, but that but it’s accurate. You you got all that right. Yes. He does. He has, a winery here that have a tasting room downtown. I actually have that’s one of the ones I haven’t visited. I I’m a bit of a Well, because you

Scott Cowan [00:35:23]:
won’t got a hundred to go through.

Steph Forrer [00:35:24]:
50 to go through. Right? I know. I my boyfriend and I keep saying, like, we’re just gonna get an alphabetical list, and we’re just gonna go one a week. Like, we’re not gonna but we we have Three years later. Yeah. Yeah. We’ll have more. We can literally do that for over two years and and and you wouldn’t be done.

Steph Forrer [00:35:41]:
But, yes, the the it’s it’s an incredible it’s an incredible wine region. So many wineries and, we’re very close to Oregon, actually. So the Walla Walla Valley AVA actually includes part of, Oregon. So one of the wineries that I work with, as a social media consultant is, Roti Cellars, and they are in the Rocks District, which is a very special, like, subregion of the Walla Walla AVA. It was I don’t know how many years ago. I’m not a scientist. I I should know this, but it’s, I don’t know, let’s say 10,000 years ago. There it was a river there.

Steph Forrer [00:36:16]:
There was a big flood, and it created just this very, unique environment where it is it’s just it’s like a two by two mile area or something. It’s very, very small, but it’s just covered with rocks. And, it actually is very, similar to one of the wine growing regions of France. Because at first people were like, you can’t plant grapes there. It’s rocky. It’s, you know, vines are not gonna grow. Well, some you know, and I can’t think of his name, but someone came to Wawa and was like, this is like France. Like, we should plant grapes here.

Steph Forrer [00:36:49]:
And now the The Rocks District is one of the the most special and one of the most interesting unique that’s where people wanna go. One of the top things they wanna do when they come to Walla Walla is go to the Rocks region, and there are only a few wineries out there and not too many wineries that are able to source grapes from that area because, again, it is very small. But, ROTI sellers who I work with that I just kind of I’ll save you the long story, but I kind of just fell into working with them. I got very, very lucky, and they are one of the most prestigious wineries in Washington state, definitely in Walla Walla. And they have a stunning tasting room out in the Rocks region overlooking the vineyards. It’s absolutely beautiful. My boyfriend also works with them, so I’m out there a lot several times a week. I always say he has the best office because he gets to go out there and just look out to the blue mountains and over the vineyards, and it’s just gorgeous this this very special area.

Steph Forrer [00:37:46]:
And it produces just like a very different kind of funky kind of wine. And I feel like I kinda trailed off from your question because instead of talking about the wine region as a whole, I I narrowed in on on the Rocks region, but it is a very it is a very special, it’s it’s a very special small, like I said, subregion of the Walla Walla AVA.

Scott Cowan [00:38:07]:
So you you keep mentioning AVA. And for those of us like myself, I know that I know what I’ve seen is there’s multiple AVAs around the state of Washington. And for the life of me, I have still yet to figure out what AVA means.

Steph Forrer [00:38:25]:
An AVA is basically just a different wine growing region. And so I can’t I cannot tell you actually how many there are in Washington. I know that we actually just designated a new one, in in the past couple. And, yeah, I’ve and I read about it. I got the press release, but I can’t tell you the name of it, but we’ve got, like, the Red Mountain ABA. We’ve got the wall wall a v a. Those are the two big ones that I think, you know, if you go to, like, if you if you go to or, you know, there’s there’s probably a hundred different a v a, just just different wine growing regions, and they produce, you know, that’s what affects the wine so much is is the soil, is the climate, is the temperature. You know, if we get smoke, you know, things like that.

Steph Forrer [00:39:04]:
And, so they’re just, like, different little areas that that make up different wine regions. I I hope that’s a sophisticated enough answer. I’m not a wine expert either.

Scott Cowan [00:39:15]:
Yeah. I know. It’s and we’ll one of these days, we’ll get somebody we’ll get a wine expert on and maybe they can tell us the technical,

Steph Forrer [00:39:22]:
of this call. Yes, I can definitely point you in the direction of some wine makers who are more knowledgeable than I am because I’m really just answering. I work kind of alongside these people, photographing them, writing about them. And now that I have been through it an entire year living in Walla Walla, I have seen the process from beginning to end, from harvesting the grapes to to pressing the grapes, to aging the the wine, to then bottling it, and then aging that if you’re going to and then distributing it. Right now, we are actually going through harvest, the very end of harvest. Harvest was very early this year because we had a very hot summer. So basically everyone here on Walla Walla right now is very, very tired because pretty much everyone is tied to the wine industry. And harvest is like seven my boyfriend worked harvest last year with a different winery.

Steph Forrer [00:40:14]:
He was working seven days a week, you know, got a day off here and there. You’re working twelve hour days, shutting at seven in the morning. You’re working till five or six at night. But it’s you know, that’s, like, that’s the time. It’s about six weeks, and it’s just you know, that’s when all the fruit comes in, and gets pressed to to start making wine, which is a really cool thing to see by the way.

Scott Cowan [00:40:37]:
So you haven’t visited every tasting room yet and maybe in three to five years,

Steph Forrer [00:40:43]:
we’ll check back and see the full Yeah. We’ll we’ll do a follow-up. Follow-up.

Scott Cowan [00:40:49]:
In your opinion, what I’m not gonna ask you what winery you like the best because that’s an unfair statement to you. But what what type of wine do you enjoy? Are you a are you a big cab fan? Do you like, you know, box wine?

Steph Forrer [00:41:07]:
They got some good box wine out there. I will tell you, my boyfriend and I are not above box wine. You will see box wine in the South from time to time. You know, there’s there’s a lot of great wine here. I will tell you, I am a huge sparkling wine fan. Sparkling wine is my weakness. If I can be drinking sparkling wine, that is that is always what I want. And very cool that right now, a lot of wineries in this area and and I think in the in the Northwest and and and maybe just in general, people are just getting more excited about sparkling wine.

Steph Forrer [00:41:37]:
A lot of natural sparkling wines are happening now, which is different from the, like, traditional champagne method, which, you know, you cannot call something champagne unless it’s made in the champagne region of France. However, you can make wine like that over here. You can make it the exact same way, but you just can’t call it champagne. So it is sparkling wine. But we have seen this really big just, explosion of pet nats, which is natural sparkling wine, which is a different way of doing it. And that that has really emerged in the last few years and gotten very popular. And a lot of wineries here are starting to do some of the traditional champagne methods, some, you know, natural wines, but it’s definitely, been a trend here. And it’s it’s really fun for me to see more and more sparkling wines come come on the market.

Steph Forrer [00:42:29]:
So, yeah, that’s that’s definitely my preference is is sparkling wine. After that, I wanna just be drinking a really, like, easy drinkable red wine. I love Pinot Noir. Unfortunately, this is not a good wine growing region for Pinot Noir. The Willamette Valley, in Oregon is actually world renowned as is a fantastic Pinot, Pinot Noir growing region. So if you’re gonna drink Pinot, you should probably get it from there.

Scott Cowan [00:42:54]:
Okay. What do you like okay. So let’s let’s go I’ll build a hypothetical scenario for you. It’s Saturday evening. You’re not celebrating anything special. It’s Saturday evening. You guys are gonna go out. Sparkling wine is what you’re gonna be drinking.

Scott Cowan [00:43:15]:
What type of food do you wanna pair it with? Let’s go with that.

Steph Forrer [00:43:20]:
And I’m at home?

Scott Cowan [00:43:22]:
No, you’re out. You’re out in Walla Walla.

Steph Forrer [00:43:24]:
Okay, well, you know You’re out Walla Walla. I can do sparkling wine with anything, okay, first of all. But I will say that I absolutely love there is a French restaurant downtown called Brasserie Four, and it is probably my favorite restaurant in town. Right now, I’m you know, I have a few that I absolutely love and it’s just that’s I I love Brasserie Port. It’s it’s it’s such a great it’s such a great spot. And, again, French, so obviously, a lot of, you know, cremeux and, champagnes on the menu. So, I mean, I love to go there. They think it is a I think it’s a rose that they have, on the menu that we it’s kind of like we’re going there.

Steph Forrer [00:44:06]:
We’re we’re getting spark we’re getting the champagne and that that’s what we’re doing. We’re getting French sparkling wine, and we’re getting cheese. And I usually get the Vichyssoise, which is a it’s like a potato leek soup, steak and reeds, what my boyfriend usually gets. But for me, it’s like, give me the sparkling wine, give me the cheese plate, give me the charcuterie, give me the salad. I like just kind of all the you know, put all your favorite things together. But that’s that is definitely definitely definitely a a good one.

Scott Cowan [00:44:36]:
Alright. So I’m on your I’m on your blog right now and I’m looking at an article and I’m glad I had breakfast kind of right before we talked because otherwise I’d be kind of quite hungry right now.

Steph Forrer [00:44:46]:
Well, thank you.

Scott Cowan [00:44:47]:
But you’ve got three delicious experiences not to miss the last week of Walla Walla Restaurant Month, which was February, but that will be coming up soon. That’s the nice thing. That’s the nice thing about restaurant month.

Steph Forrer [00:44:56]:
It Always comes back. Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:44:59]:
Right. And so I am enamored with this. I have two questions.

Steph Forrer [00:45:03]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:45:05]:
The tasting menu at is it Passa Tempo?

Steph Forrer [00:45:08]:
It’s Passa Tempo. Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:45:12]:
So I’ve driven by that place. And I’ll be honest with you, from the curb, I just kinda went, okay, and just drove by. I’m not paying attention really. I’m just like, okay. And I’m looking at this and this looks quite delicious. But before we go there, you are at the Marcus Whitman and really what I need to know, there’s a photograph of you with a dog. Yes. Is that your dog?

Steph Forrer [00:45:38]:
That is my dog, that is my child.

Scott Cowan [00:45:39]:
That is your dog.

Steph Forrer [00:45:41]:
His name is Shiso, like the Shiso leaf. Like the Shiso, if you are familiar, most people do not know what Shiso is.

Scott Cowan [00:45:48]:
I do not.

Steph Forrer [00:45:48]:
But to so to tell everyone always asks us and everyone always thinks that he’s a girl because his name is Shiso, but it’s actually s h I s o. And Shiso is a it is a it is an herb used in cooking and cocktails that comes from Asia, and it is very popular in Japan. And I traveled through Japan, by myself for three weeks in 02/2018. I worked with a very highly acclaimed Japanese chef for years in Seattle, and then my boyfriend worked with, Shiro Kishiba at Sushi Kishiba, one of the best, you know, sushi restaurants in the country for years. And so we wanted to give a nod to our love for Japanese food and culture, but at the same time, we did not wanna name him sushi or sake. So that’s that’s where his name comes from. That’s my dog. You will see him a lot.

Steph Forrer [00:46:35]:
His hashtag is she so the great. He is he is the love of my life.

Scott Cowan [00:46:40]:
Okay.

Steph Forrer [00:46:40]:
I I just had to ask too. My boyfriend and him.

Scott Cowan [00:46:42]:
I I had I had to ask if this was an actor, you know, a stunt dog or okay. So part

Steph Forrer [00:46:47]:
of the

Scott Cowan [00:46:47]:
family part.

Steph Forrer [00:46:47]:
He looks like a model, though. Isn’t he a beautiful dog?

Scott Cowan [00:46:50]:
He does.

Steph Forrer [00:46:50]:
We got kinda like on Yeah. We got him from the pound. I mean, a dog don’t chop people.

Scott Cowan [00:46:56]:
Awesome. Alright. So let’s go back up to this this restaurant here, and back up is me rolling up, scrolling on the phone, folks. Patisa passa tempo.

Steph Forrer [00:47:07]:
Passa tempo. And out and then

Scott Cowan [00:47:10]:
I’ll I’ll in advance.

Steph Forrer [00:47:11]:
No. You’re not at Pasatempo.

Scott Cowan [00:47:14]:
Looks looks amazing. Tell us about that place.

Steph Forrer [00:47:17]:
It is amazing. And, I I will tell you, that restaurant, you could drop that restaurant in Seattle or San Francisco, anywhere restaurant, you could drop that restaurant in Seattle or San Francisco, anywhere in the country, and it would be popular and trendy. It is so well done. I think the first time I visited Wawa in 02/2017, it had recently opened, opened. So I was very familiar with it. I’ve been I’ve been to it several times before we moved here. That is probably the restaurant we go to the most. It is definitely in my top three restaurants in Wawa.

Steph Forrer [00:47:48]:
It’s just outstanding. They make all their pastas by hand. And you said, like, perhaps it didn’t draw you in from from passing by, but I’m telling you, Scott, you need to take to step foot in a new place because it is No. No.

Scott Cowan [00:48:02]:
No. No. I I will. I promise you I will. No.

Steph Forrer [00:48:04]:
No. It’s gorgeous. It’s so well done. The bar is stunning. It’s so well designed. They and when they, when they when they open and were conceptualizing it, they brought in Mike Easton to consult. Now Mike Easton is a Barry J. Mis chef from the Seattle area who had the beloved El Corvo and, Pioneer Square for many, many years, highly awarded and acclaimed, sadly, closure in COVID, but just an outstanding, very, very popular restaurant.

Steph Forrer [00:48:34]:
He also has El Nido in West Seattle, wildly popular and critically acclaimed as well. So they brought him over to consult. Jim German consulted on the bar program. Jim is, like, a famous bartender in in Washington state. He worked all over Pike Place Market, Cafe Campana, El Bistro. He is he actually our paths didn’t cross in Seattle because I believe he moved from Seattle the year I moved to Seattle. So now we know each other, but I’m just telling you, they pulled in the right people. They did it right.

Steph Forrer [00:49:03]:
Their food is absolutely that’s where I went for my birthday last month. You know, it was, you know, we’re gonna go to Passatampa, we’re gonna go to Brazary 4, or are we gonna go to the Hathaway’s or or Saffron? And those are kind of those are those are kind of my

Scott Cowan [00:49:17]:
go to

Steph Forrer [00:49:18]:
go to dinner spots. I I also love Tmax, but for me, it’s kind of I don’t know why that’s kind of like my lunch spot. I I I I just I absolutely love it it it as well. But I I think I I said this to you in the pre interview, but we have, I feel, a disproportionate amount of good food here for the size town that we are.

Scott Cowan [00:49:36]:
Oh, absolutely. No. No. See, that’s why I wanna take your downtown core and and bolt it into my downtown core because Wenatchee is improving. No disrespect to Wenatchee, but we don’t have the choices that you have within a walking distance in Walla Walla. So since, you know, eat, drink, travel, y’all, we’ve talked about travel, we’ve talked about eating and drinking, so let’s just keep going there. How about, well, let’s go breakfast.

Steph Forrer [00:50:05]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:50:06]:
What’s Walla Walla got going for it for breakfast? Or what’s your what’s what do you think about Seattle breakfast? We can talk about both because they’re both Washington state.

Steph Forrer [00:50:14]:
Well, you know, let’s let’s start with Walla Walla. I will say that we’re, you know, I would say that we don’t have a ton of options, but we definitely had some good ones. Bacon and eggs is a very popular spot downtown. Maple counter is also wildly popular and is probably my favorite breakfast spot in town or yeah, it’s probably my favorite breakfast spot in town. It’s it’s it’s really well done.

Scott Cowan [00:50:42]:
So what are you gonna order if you’re there?

Steph Forrer [00:50:43]:
I mean, you have to it’s maple counter, so you have to get pancakes, right? Like, maybe Not a can I usually am not a sweets person for breakfast? I will tell you, I definitely want savory in the morning, but usually when I go there, I have to get a little small stack of pancakes. And then I’m telling you, this place just stays packed and the owners, and I’m so sorry I’m forgetting their names, they also own an incredible ice cream shop in town that just opened last year right after I moved here. It’s called Pinecone Creamery. They do, like, 20 to 30 different flavors of ice cream. They wrote they do different things every month. They always have three different, I think, three different vegan ice creams on the menu, and they are good. Not that I’m a vegan, but I just, you know, for just to taste it, I have to I’m telling you, it is, again, pine cone creamery. It is so cute and well done.

Steph Forrer [00:51:35]:
That’s a young couple, family owned, family run, just you feel good about supporting them. So if you’re looking for ice cream, that’s a great spot to go to.

Scott Cowan [00:51:45]:
Yeah. So the reason the reason you were saying pancakes, and then I kinda went, is I I I may be I may be one of a very, very infinitesimal small slice of the population that’s not a big fan of maple syrup. Oh. Just leaves me it just doesn’t Yeah. I just it’s Yeah. And then the other thing is pumpkin. I just can’t do anything pumpkin.

Steph Forrer [00:52:12]:
Not your time of year, is it?

Scott Cowan [00:52:14]:
No, it’s really not. See, that’s kind of the yeah, this is you know, you guys are all like, Oh, it’s fall. And I’m like, Oh, it’s fall. Yay. No, just kidding. I actually love fall.

Steph Forrer [00:52:22]:
I do too.

Scott Cowan [00:52:24]:
So, I tend to pancakes, if I’m gonna do pancakes, they’re almost gonna be dry. I’m just not gonna put maple syrup on it. It just doesn’t work for me. That’s kinda my thing there.

Steph Forrer [00:52:31]:
Well, they’re not gonna be good.

Scott Cowan [00:52:32]:
Ice cream for breakfast now. Are they open at breakfast time? Because I could do ice cream for breakfast.

Steph Forrer [00:52:37]:
Oh, they do.

Scott Cowan [00:52:37]:
You don’t look like this.

Steph Forrer [00:52:40]:
I can do ice cream for breakfast too. Especially there.

Scott Cowan [00:52:43]:
Exactly.

Steph Forrer [00:52:44]:
I think they open at noon, but they, eleven or twelve. So they’re not open in the morning, but they are open pretty late. I know during the summer, I think they’re open till ten or 11:00. Again, they’re very popular. They do pints. Yeah. It’s it’s really good. I have to be I have to be careful going there, going home with with so much ice cream and you just tear through it.

Steph Forrer [00:53:02]:
It’s it’s it’s again, it is just it’s really, really well done and just the the sweetest couple that owns it. And I remember chatting with the with the with the husband, right after they opened. I did I wrote something about it, and he was I said, so what like, the like, you just always made ice cream. He was like, well, I just wanted to, so I just took this, like, ice cream class last year, and I just and I’m like and I rang this. I it just it’s it’s amazing. It’s just he he knocked it out of the park. So, really happy that we have them here in Walla Walla feeding us breakfast and ice cream.

Scott Cowan [00:53:33]:
Perfect. Well, then how about since they’re open at noon, that transitions nicely into lunch. So if if we’re not gonna have ice cream for lunch, which makes me sad. Okay. What’s what what do you got to say about lunch in the Walla Walla area?

Steph Forrer [00:53:48]:
Yeah. So, I’ll start. I I mentioned T Max earlier as my favorite lunch spot, and it it definitely is. This is if you wanna have a more kind of, like, real dining experience and you’re not in a hurry. It is a beautiful restaurant. They also do fantastic dinner, by the way, but I just I don’t know. It’s kind of my lunch spot.

Scott Cowan [00:54:05]:
You you like them for lunch?

Steph Forrer [00:54:06]:
I love them for lunch. They have a great wine list. They have a beautiful menu. They have a fantastic chef. The owner, Tom Macaroni, is just I had him on my podcast about a month ago. He has done so much to contribute to the community. His, you know, his chef is also his partner and has been with him for many, many years. It’s just it’s just really well done.

Steph Forrer [00:54:26]:
They’re they’re actually one of the few restaurants that I know after sitting down with Tom recently that are not experiencing staffing problems right now. And that’s just an attribute to the environment, how well it’s run. People want to be there and work there. But the food is just is just wonderful. And they have and I’m sure they’re about to take this off the menu because I know it was a summery dish. It may already be off the menu. But for for summer and leading into fall, they had this ahi tuna with, plantains, an avocado, and a mango salsa. And I’m telling you, I went there to get that for lunch at least 10 times.

Steph Forrer [00:55:01]:
It was it’s it’s oh my god. It just it’s so good light, but but very satisfying. So they’ve also got great pastas, salads. It’s wonderful. Like I said, it is a little fancier of an experience. It’s not a place you wanna go if you have twenty minutes for lunch. I would also say, you know, Downtown Walla Walla, did a fantastic job of starting to close off parking and having outdoor seating for restaurants. They did a way better job than Seattle.

Steph Forrer [00:55:30]:
Walla Walla jumped on that, like, right at the beginning, maybe one of the first in the state. And, the downtown area, First Avenue has been, like, a block of it is now completely it’s not you cannot park there. They’re gonna make it a permanent no parking place. It’s just

Scott Cowan [00:55:43]:
That’s that’s gonna be permanent.

Steph Forrer [00:55:44]:
Okay. It’s gonna be permanent, and it’s just and you’ve seen it. It’s it’s it’s it’s and it’s just that little area is kinda lined, with food, like little food shops, a couple of gift shops, coffee shops, things like that. And there’s a lot of fun little restaurants right there, and then you can go eat in the plaza. There’s a there’s a hot dog window called Wiener and Fun. And they I think they’re open four or five days a week, so you can go order your hot they have, like, they must have, like, 20 to 30 different kinds of hot dogs. And they’re, like, really interesting, like I mean, I’m just like a basic hot dog with, like, mustard and ketchup. Okay? I’m not, like, super complex.

Steph Forrer [00:56:19]:
And, like, my hot dogs are my pizza. I want pepperoni pizza. I wanna I wanna hot dog with mustard and ketchup, but they do all these really interesting things. I remember they had, like, a Japanese influenced hot dog and had, like, burkaki on it and just it was it it was so interesting. I I had to try it. But, yeah, you can go you can get your hot dog. There’s a great little pizza spot called Sweet Basil. There’s a Greek place that I love called Yama’s.

Steph Forrer [00:56:45]:
I’ve eaten there many, many times, too. They’re fantastic. And you can just any of those little spots right there would be super fun to just grab your food and just sit outside, especially this time of year. All the trees down there, the leaves are changing. It’s beautiful.

Scott Cowan [00:57:00]:
Absolutely. No. Yeah. Walla Walla is fun, isn’t it? Yeah. We could we could go on and on and on about it’s just it’s disproportionate.

Steph Forrer [00:57:10]:
Yeah, absolutely.

Scott Cowan [00:57:11]:
There’s so much going on in this small town.

Steph Forrer [00:57:15]:
Yeah, and I think we attribute that really to the wine community and I definitely think that’s why we have so many good restaurants here because I think people that make wine and people that love wine, love good food.

Scott Cowan [00:57:27]:
But not just that, see, one of the things you haven’t brought up, which, and you haven’t lived in Walla Walla all that long, I’m obviously much older than you, but before Walla Walla was known for wine, the Walla Walla sweet onion was kind of the calling card of Walla Walla, right?

Steph Forrer [00:57:47]:
And

Scott Cowan [00:57:50]:
the fact that you’re they have a baseball team in Walla Walla, and I love sports, baseball’s my favorite sport, the Walla Walla Sweets baseball team, but their mascot’s called Sweet Lou, which is an homage to both The Onion and Lou Piniella, who was the manager of the Mariners during their most successful time in their pathetic

Steph Forrer [00:58:09]:
existence. Okay. I didn’t know that. You’re teaching me.

Scott Cowan [00:58:13]:
Yeah. So I just thought any team, and that’s my I’m telling you, it was Sweet Lou’s the homage of those two things. I know it’s the onion because I have one of their hats somewhere around here. Anyway, I love the fact that Walla Walla, like Wenatchee, they both have teams that are both in the same league. Our Wenatchee team is the AppleSox, get it, where our thing, what we’re known for here is apples. And you guys have the Onion. And I just think what Walla Walla is doing is Okay. Have you been to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco?

Steph Forrer [00:58:48]:
Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:58:49]:
Okay. I’ve been there. I haven’t been there in a number of years, maybe ten years.

Steph Forrer [00:58:53]:
Yeah. I mean, it’s been three or four years for me as well.

Scott Cowan [00:58:55]:
It’s exceptionally touristy.

Steph Forrer [00:58:57]:
It is.

Scott Cowan [00:58:59]:
Okay. Pike Place Markets borders on that to me on being it just it’s not, but it I can see how it could go that way.

Steph Forrer [00:59:10]:
Yeah. Oh, definitely. I mean, I would say that Fisherman’s Wharf is definitely more on the touristy side than Pike Place Market.

Scott Cowan [00:59:17]:
But Walla Walla is a tourist destination now.

Steph Forrer [00:59:20]:
Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:59:21]:
But it doesn’t to me, it does not feel touristy. It doesn’t it hasn’t. And I don’t think it’s going to tip that way. I think because it’s an agricultural community. I think it’s, you know, no pun intended, it’s rooted. Or maybe I’ll pun intended. You know, it’s got its roots. It’s an ag community.

Scott Cowan [00:59:46]:
It has other, you know, the other large employer there, which seems a little disheartening, you know, the penitentiary.

Steph Forrer [00:59:57]:
Yes, we do have one of those.

Scott Cowan [00:59:59]:
Yes. I mean, you do. I mean, but I just think Walla Walla’s got a lot going for it. I really, really do. And I’m kind of jealous that you’re living your best life there from that as the home base. But that’s not all you do. So, I mean, on your website, I mean, I’m looking and you’ve got a blog, you got your podcast. Why don’t you tell us a little bit? Why don’t we just transition to you? Let’s talk about you for a second.

Scott Cowan [01:00:25]:
How can people find out more about you? What is it you’re doing? Where is it you want to go with what you’re doing? Why don’t you tell us some of that?

Steph Forrer [01:00:32]:
Yeah, well, you can find me on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok at step4. My Facebook and my website are Eat Drink Travel Y’all. That’s also the name of my podcast, which can be downloaded anywhere from any streaming anywhere you can stream a podcast, you can you can download that. We’ve done we just recorded the twenty fourth one. I just started this year. So I’m I’m in as many places as I can be. Bandwidth only goes so far.

Scott Cowan [01:01:03]:
Yeah.

Steph Forrer [01:01:03]:
But, yeah, I kinda it’s always so hard for me when people ask me what I do because it depends on what day of the week it is or what month it is. I’m doing a big project right now that I’m wrapping up with Facebook and Instagram with one of the influencers that they selected to, help promote the basically, promote reels on Instagram, helping to integrate that more into, the Instagram experience. I’m about to to wrap up a three month project with them. I am working with, a few wineries on a retainer basis as their social media manager. So social media managing and consulting was really how I got started, and it’s still a good portion of my income. I also do I do writing. I’ve written for the Walla Walla Wine Alliance. I’ve written for the Washington State Wine Commission.

Steph Forrer [01:01:54]:
I’ve written blogs for Alaska Airlines, and then, of course, write for myself as well as other, you know, one off contracts that I’ve that I’ve done different things for, guest blogging and writing and things like that. I do photography sessions if if someone needs that. I don’t consider myself, you know, I do consider myself a photographer, but that’s definitely not my primary source of income. It’s kind of a tool that I that I use. And I do think that, you know, my photography has definitely come a long way. I’m completely self taught. And, yeah, I I don’t know exactly, you know, what my goal is because I feel like it changes every day as new opportunities present themselves. We’re in kind of an ever changing world with with social media, and it’s it’s it’s evolving.

Steph Forrer [01:02:38]:
And, you know, I have opportunities today that I couldn’t even imagine two years ago and and, you know, five years ago. I do know that I love food. I love wine. I love the hospitality industry. I love, telling the stories of the individuals in the hospitality industry. I love, being in a kitchen with my camera or a winery with my camera. I love sitting down with a winemaker, a chef, a restaurateur, a food marketer, anyone that’s in, you know, the hospitality industry, learning about them and what they do and and sharing that. And I just fell in love with food when I was maybe 18 years old, and it all stemmed from wanting to cook healthy meals at home for me and my boyfriend at the time when I was in college and quickly learned it just kind of mushroom.

Steph Forrer [01:03:23]:
The healthy food was a little boring. I I actually do I I and you wouldn’t know from my Instagram, but I actually am fairly healthy. I eat a very high plant based diet, but I also indulge a lot. But that’s where my love for food started. And then I just got really into food television. Never thought that I would be somewhere where I worked with chefs that were, you know, on on Top Chef and and been to the, you know, been to some of the best restaurants in in the world. And, you know, god, getting to live by Pike Place Market. Like, I never I never dreamed, you know, ten years ago in Alabama that I could be having experiences like this.

Steph Forrer [01:03:59]:
So, you know, I it is a I I feel like my my goals are definitely evolving. But, you know, at this time, just continuing to, you know, to work on being a social media manager and continuing to, expand my presence online so that, you know, my website and my social media can, you know, generate more and more income for me. I’m really trying to get more into, like, merchandising and affiliate linking right now to, you know, create some more kind of income that’s, you know, kind of passive that I’m not having to, you know you do actual work you set up and it kinda goes. So that’s that’s one thing I’m I’m working on more right now. But, you know, any kind of social media consulting or content creation building, I work with a lot of food brands, a lot of wine brands, and that’s probably the bulk of my income right now is is is sharing different different brands online and then, you know, obviously, the social media consulting. But but we’ll see. I know that, you know, I’d I’d love to be writing for food and wine one day. You know? I you know, perhaps that’s in the cards.

Steph Forrer [01:05:02]:
You know? You know, may maybe it’s maybe it’s not. But there’s I think there’s a number of of directions I could go, and I will say I definitely I definitely like being a freelance person. When I did move to Walla Walla, I did briefly, you know, take a job here with another person, for a small firm. It was not for me. I like setting my own schedule. I like having creative control over what I’m doing. I like being very hands on with my clients, and I am very hands on. So, I feel I I I don’t wanna say I feel like I’m on vacation every day, but I really do.

Steph Forrer [01:05:36]:
I feel like since I left Alabama that I’ve never really had a real job, yet I’ve, you know, I’ve, you know, made more I’ve every year, I made much more money than I was at my at my desk jobs in Alabama. So I’ve definitely, you know, had some some success, big setback in COVID, but things have come back really well. So I’m I am just really I I feel very, very fortunate and I have worked very hard to be able to just work around, you know, the passions that I love.

Scott Cowan [01:06:04]:
That’s that’s awesome. I’m gonna put you on the spot. Okay. You didn’t know this was coming. This is putting you on the spot. Okay. How much have you traveled around the state of Washington?

Steph Forrer [01:06:13]:
I would say quite a bit. Pretty extensively.

Scott Cowan [01:06:15]:
Okay. I’m gonna put you on the spot. One tell us one off the beaten path place that you’ve stumbled across, you know, whatever. However you found it’s irrelevant. Share with us one Okay. I jokingly say when people ask me, well, what do you guys do? I said, well, we talk about Washington State and we’re kind of off the beaten path. For example, you’ll probably never see us create content about the Space Needle or the Seattle Pike Place Market because it’s been done so much. What can we really add to that that’s of value? I do have a goal, and I’ll put this out there, is that if anybody knows, if there’s anybody still alive that was working on the actual construction of the space needle, I think that’d be a fascinating conversation to have.

Scott Cowan [01:07:04]:
What was it like to be building that iconic building? But think about it, that was built in ’61 and ’62, sixty years ago. They, you know, the youngest somebody would be is 80. Yeah. So, okay. So the pool is probably shrinking. Yeah. But, so we we talk about things that are I mean, Walla Walla is slightly off the beaten path. Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:07:27]:
Dayton is a great little town. I like Dayton. Dayton’s kinda cool. Even further off the beaten path. Share something with us that you’ve found in Washington state.

Steph Forrer [01:07:39]:
Well, you have put me on the spot and I have had the pleasure of working with many small tourism bureaus in the Pacific Northwest, as being an upcoming influencer in the past few years. I will have to say off the top of my head, that it it’s definitely gonna be the Skagit Valley for me. And I don’t know how familiar you are with the Skagit Valley. That is still pretty close to Seattle, but we are looking at about an hour to an hour and a half north depending on where you’re going. But it is another like Walla Walla, it is a very rich agricultural hub. But being on the, West Side of the state and on the water, it’s a very different very similar to Seattle and the weather patterns, but just that’s where so that that’s where all the tulips come from. That’s where the tulip you know, that’s where they have the tulip festival every year. That’s they grow everything there, and there are so many small little gems of towns there, like Edison, like Beau, like La Conner.

Steph Forrer [01:08:37]:
I was in the San Juan Islands last week or a week and a half ago, and, you know, I can’t say the San Juans because everybody wants to go there. Everybody. Yeah. We were on our way back from the San Juans, and I was like, we’re stopping in La Conner. We’re going to Melthorn that is this outstanding restaurant that I had never heard of until I was working with the Skagit Valley tourism bureau a year or so ago. They sent me there. I fell in love with it. It is a hyperlocal restaurant.

Steph Forrer [01:09:02]:
I believe they told me they source, like, 90 of their everything that they’re doing within 15 miles of the restaurant because they’re right there. They’re the the water’s right. You know, you’re right there on the water. All those farms, they’re growing everything. And it is just, oh my gosh, everything there was was wonderful. And there are all these little gems like that in that little Skagit Valley area, which is kind of just like a collection of small towns around. You know, you go from, like, Leconner, Edison, Bo, like, up to, you know, like, Chuckanut Drive where Taylor Shellfish is in that northern location. That’s part of that.

Steph Forrer [01:09:37]:
It’s all that area and all these little towns. And I started working with the Skagit Valley tourism bureau, during COVID during the summer of COVID. In 2020, they wanted to promote the farms there. We’re all starting to do farm stands so that you could go and actually shop there because they couldn’t you know, people weren’t going out. They didn’t have restaurants to sell to. These farms were struggling as, you know, the restaurant industry was struggling, but they kind of had this big, like, transference, and people started doing their shopping at these stands. And so I wrote this I I wrote a blog about it last year. I wrote something about it this summer about, I called it I think I called it farm farm hopping is is is better than bar hopping or something like that.

Steph Forrer [01:10:19]:
That was that was the takeaway, the the the the farm farm hopping was the new, like, summer activity. But for someone that loves food, you go you know, like, there’s, like, a a there’s a cheese you know, you can go where they, you know, have a goat farm, and you can buy the the goat cheeses and, like, the fetters and just then you can go, you know, you go a little farther and, you know, there may be an apple farm. You go a little a little farther. There’s just, you know, they have huge farms like shoe farm out there that they’re doing everything. Just everything grows out there. If you love food, I mean, and for me, like, I do love to cook, but I Mhmm. I love to just I love to eat simply. I love to have good cheese, good honey, like, good good herbs.

Steph Forrer [01:11:00]:
Like, I love to help put dishes together with my boyfriend and being able to go to a source, which is another reason that I love Walla Walla so much because we’re also a big agricultural hub. But the scattered valley is just and and we’ve often talked about this, my boyfriend and I. I would hope that perhaps that may be, you know, down the road where we end up because it is very, very special. And now I feel like I’ve given my secret away and I want to take my answer back.

Scott Cowan [01:11:27]:
I’ve never heard of this gadget. No, just kidding. No, and that is a great area of the state too. So, I appreciate you sharing that.

Steph Forrer [01:11:38]:
Was that off the beaten path enough? I don’t know if it’s it was for me. Well

Scott Cowan [01:11:42]:
So, here’s the thing. When when I think of the Skagit Valley, Lecanter’s pops to mind because Lecanter’s been, for a long time, Lecanter’s been a kind of

Steph Forrer [01:11:55]:
a little destination to go to.

Scott Cowan [01:11:56]:
Small little, like, let’s run up there for the day type thing. You said Edison. Nobody says Edison. Bow. Yeah. We hear about Bow. Chuckanut Drive. Yes.

Scott Cowan [01:12:07]:
But you didn’t say Mount Vernon. So, yes, you were talking off the beaten path. So, yes, you were fine. You didn’t say go to the Burlington Mall. You didn’t-

Steph Forrer [01:12:17]:
No, Burlington is nice too. There’s some great memories.

Scott Cowan [01:12:20]:
You didn’t say you like to go to the Skagit Valley to go through the McDonald’s and get a number one combo. So yes, you were off the beaten path. It was wonderful. It was absolutely wonderful.

Steph Forrer [01:12:29]:
Well, it is a very special place. And those are really small, again, small towns, but they have I’m shocked at the cool places that I’ve found there. I can never name them all, but I do as I said, I have multiple blogs on the Skagit Valley. If you cruise my website, I I’m writing about them every few months because I work with their tourism bureau a lot, and it is one of my favorite things to work on.

Scott Cowan [01:12:53]:
And and we’ll put a link to your blog in in the show notes for all of this as well. So I’m just gonna say thank you so much for making the time today to to sit down and chat. Did I what did I not ask that I should have asked?

Steph Forrer [01:13:05]:
I mean, I you know, this is your show, Scott. I think I mean, I I could talk all day. Especially And who can

Scott Cowan [01:13:13]:
I? I mean, yeah.

Steph Forrer [01:13:13]:
Food, about Washington state, a place that I love so much. You know, we could talk more about Seattle. We could definitely talk more about Walla Walla, but I feel like we hit we hit all the high points. I hope that I hope I didn’t ramble on too much. I know you asked me a question. I go off for twenty minutes because I I’m I am a little bit of a talker.

Scott Cowan [01:13:33]:
That’s all good. It was a lot of fun. So thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it.

Steph Forrer [01:13:37]:
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It was a lot of fun. Join us next time for another episode of the Exploring Washington State podcast.

Exploring Washington State Podcast( Podcaster )

The Exploring Washington State Podcast is your go-to source for discovering the diverse wonders of the Evergreen State. Whether you’re seeking inspiration for your next adventure, looking to savor local cuisine, or eager to learn about the businesses and artists that call Washington home, this podcast has something for everyone. Join us as we showcase the splendor of Washington State, reminding you that “there is always more to explore!”

explorewashingtonstate.com

Stephanie Forrer is Talking About Eat, Drink, Travel, Y’all in Walla Walla. oh and her podcast too…..

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