Enjoy the Best of the Palouse

Alison Meyer

The best way to get to know a place might be to pick the brain of someone local to find out the top choices to have dinner, grab a coffee, take a hike or even watch a sunset.

Stefan Yauchzee moved to the Palouse region in 1999 to attend the University of Idaho and stayed. He is the owner and operator of Pour Company, a craft beer taproom and bottle shop in Moscow, Idaho.

Fun Things To Do in Moscow and Pullman

As a longtime resident, he’s an expert on the region. For residents looking for fun things to do in Moscow and Pullman, here are recommendations for some of his favorite places to:

Eat breakfast with friends: “The Breakfast Club [in Moscow]! It’s been here since 1998. They have great breakfast and lunch. My favorite thing to order is the stuffed biscuits. It’s biscuits and gravy with an egg on top, plus bacon and sausage. Get there early to get on the list because they get very busy.”

Order a coffee: “In the heart of downtown Pullman, Washington, Roost Coffee has a walk-up window and patio, great coffee and pastries, and great lunch options. In Moscow, One World Cafe is a great choice. They have a great coffee selection, light meals, and they host music in the evenings.”

Meet colleagues for drinks: “I have to self-promote on this one. Pour Company is one of the few bars in town that’s not a college bar, so we see a diverse mix of university staff and local professionals throughout the day.  It’s like the local Cheers, where people come for a good laugh and friendly conversation.”

Enjoy a dinner: “For dinner, I would go to La Casa Lopez in Moscow. It’s a staple in our community. They’re very active in the community and are so great – everybody loves them. It’s a large space, and they serve great Mexican food with large portions.”

Go on a date night: “Lodgepole is right on Main Street in Moscow, and they have a great patio for the summer months. They have a great wine selection and a rotating beer selection, and they also do wine pairing dinners where they’ll bring in different wineries and pair the meal with the wines.”  

Take a walk: “The University of Idaho Arboretum is one of the major arboretums in the Pacific Northwest. They have plant life from all over the world, trails and a couple of ponds. It’s just beautiful. You can bump into a moose every once in a while, too!”

Go shopping: “Walk Main Street Moscow. There are amazing shops like Revolver, Intrigue, Ampersand, and a little outdoor shop that’s been around since the ’70s called Hyperspud Sports. There are tons of coffee shops and restaurants – you could fill a lot of bags and or get a bite to eat.”

Enjoy the water: “Chatcolet Lake is 45 minutes north of Moscow at the base of Lake Coeur d’Alene. It has great flat water for kayaking, paddleboarding or swimming. There’s a campground and group picnic areas. It’s the start of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, a bike and walking path that you can take almost all the way to the Montana border.”

Watch the sunset: “We’re surrounded by rolling hills, so whenever we want to watch the sunset, we just drive outside of town on a country road. You’ll have an amazing view from really anywhere. That’s the perfect place to do it. My wife is really into astrophotography, and we have dark skies here, so you can see the Milky Way and constellations and the Northern Lights sometimes.”

Have a relaxing Sunday: “In Pullman, the Palouse Ridge Golf Club is a great place to play golf while taking in the views on the Palouse. Afterward, you can enjoy a meal at Round Top Public House, which is also in Pullman.”

Exercise: “On Main Street in Moscow is North Idaho Athletic Club, and they’re really popular. They host special events for CrossFit, Strongest Man and the Special Olympics, and that sort of thing.”

Grab a beer and watch sports: “The Corner Club has been around since 1948. At night, it turns into kind of a college club dedicated to the Vandals, the University of Idaho’s team, but during the day, it’s old school Moscow residents. I had friends who were from here, and her parents would go there. I would watch March Madness there during the afternoon with a bunch of old guys. They’ll have any football game you want to watch on a Sunday; they have a fantasy football league that they do every year. It’s full of cool memorabilia, has 14 beers on tap, and on Vandal game day weekends, its wall-to-wall with renditions of the Vandal fight song being sung regularly by everyone in the room.

Entertain family when they come into town: “June through October, my suggestion would be the Moscow Farmers Market. They get thousands of people that come through it every Saturday. They sell stuff from all over the region – produce, gifts – it’s highly curated. Another thing to do is to go to Idler’s Rest Nature Preserve [in Moscow], which is just a 10-to-15-minute drive and has lots of trails and things to explore.”

Have a “me” day: “In Pullman, Sunnyside Park has beautiful views with plenty of places to relax and read. They have a really fun disc golf course and beautiful pond to take in the sun. In Moscow, BookPeople of Moscow on Main Street just celebrated its 50th anniversary. It’s a staple here. They do a Where’s Waldo all over town for kids to go find and get a prize. It’s a great place to browse for books or get gifts. Wild at Art is a paint your own pottery place and they just got a liquor license so you can do a paint and sip, which has been huge for them.”