Through the winter you can fortify yourself with root vegetables and meat but when spring rolls around it’s time to lighten up with newly sprouted greens. Nature has all the answers.
Kitchen Counter in Moscow embraces nature’s routine. Its menu changes weekly based on what local, seasonal food is
available.
Located in the former New Hong Kong Cafe on Main Street, lunches are the only regular meal offered at the moment. Diners order at the counter where they can choose between four colorful side salads, two soups and a few sandwiches. A row of narrow wooden booths lines the opposite wall. Food is served vintage plates and bowls from the old Chinese restaurant.
You can order one salad or try all four ($3-$6). Maybe you’ll find beets in a French lentil salad with goat cheese and tarragon. They’ve also joined beet greens, red quinoa, roasted yams and peppers in an orange Dijon vinaigrette. Another day might be cauliflower tabouli, or lemon pesto with asparagus orzo.
Among the soups have been potato, green chili and cheese; ginger chicken and rice; and Vegetable Stew all'Arrabbiata with chickpeas and veggies braised in a spicy, garlic tomato sauce ($3 cup, $6 bowl).
Sandwiches ($5.50 each, or $7.50 with a side) are made with bread from Moscow’s Panhandle Artisan Bread Co., and meat from Hog Heaven Sausage Works. There’s also a vegetable option. Sometimes they’re simple, like ham and cheddar on a baguette. Others are more complex, like chickpea salad with freshly roasted peppers and arugula on whole wheat levain, which is a French term for sourdough.
This month the restaurant added desserts from Moscow’s Goose House Bakery to the menu. Overall it’s a simple place, like eating at your kitchen counter, if you had time to find and prepare all those vegetables.
Kitchen Counter, 214 S. Main St., Moscow, (208) 596-3042
