Biz Bits: Moscow’s Paradise Grill to be featured on website

MOSCOW – A spiced apple pulled pork sandwich may be one of the dishes from Paradise Grill & Cafe at the Palouse Mall featured on an upcoming episode of America’s Best Restaurants.

Smoked pork, grilled onion pickles, pepper jack cheese and Moscow-made Irish Spike’s Muay Thai Apple Curry sauce are ingredients in the dish.

America’s Best Restaurants will be filming the segment from 2-5 p.m. Friday and it will be posted about six weeks later at americasbestrestaurants.com, said Matt Plapp, founder and CEO of America’s Best Restaurants.

Paradise Grill & Cafe is one of about 1,000 restaurants that will be publicized on the site this year, Plapp said.

The locally owned restaurants are nominated by customers, themselves or employees of America’s Best Restaurants, he said.

Only about 25% of the nominees meet criteria on a 10-point checklist to appear on the site, Plapp said.

Restaurants pay to use footage from America’s Best Restaurants on their social media, but not for the coverage on americasbestrestaurants.com, he said.

The food, atmosphere and ownership of Paradise Grill match with what America’s Best Restaurants seeks for content, Plapp said.

Its name is a reference to Paradise Valley, a former name of Moscow and the tendency of the restaurant’s owner, Dave Thompson, for wearing Hawaiian shirts, according to a news release from America’s Best Restaurants.

Burgers, sandwiches, salads, soups, espresso drinks and smoothies are on its menu. Its soups and sauces are made from scratch by Thompson, a former Dairy Queen and Orange Julius manager, from his own recipes.

“It’s got to be fun,” Thompson said in the news release. “It starts with culture. It’s tasty and it’s an experience.”