First stop: Ferdinand’s.
“Has to be,” says Jaymee Sire (’02 Comm.), heading out the front doors of Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport in the first episode of the limited web-based series Back Home with Jaymee Sire.
Sire, host of Food Network’s weekly podcast Food Network Obsessed, guides viewers through Pullman in the three-part show posted on YouTube in late 2024. Watch as she eats her way through her “beloved college town,” visits with a few Pullman VIPs, and more.
She introduces herself as “a TV host with an appetite for adventure and good food.” The former ESPN SportsCenter anchor has appeared on several Food Network shows, including Beat Bobby Flay, Food Network Star, and Iron Chef Showdown.
Back Home with Jaymee Sire is produced by Dryland Media in collaboration with CougsFirst! and Visit Pullman. Dryland Media is owned by Tony Thompson (’09 Soc. Sci.) and former WSU videographer Josue Schneegans (’13 Dig. Tech. & Cult.)
In the first episode, Sire, now based in North Fork, Long Island, enjoys a Cougar Gold cheese-making tour followed by a huckleberry “ice cream for breakfast” cone before heading to her next stop: Crybaby Café in Adams Mall, where she tries a strawberry-red apple canned cocktail from Paddock Spirits Co. Both Crybaby and Paddock are co-owned by Blake (Loos) Preston (’14 Wine Busi. Mgmt.). Sire notes she lived in the Kappa Delta sorority across the street from Adams Mall during her WSU days.
After an electric scooter ride around campus and a visit to the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, she stops at The Coug, which she calls “a must-visit,” to hang with owner Bob Cady (x’00 Hosp. Busi. Mgmt.) and Tony Poston (’08 Poli. Sci., ’11 Crim. Just.), former CougsFirst! executive director and Paddock co-owner.
In episode two, Sire visits with Grant Schoenlein (’16 Finance), co-owner of Kamiak Coffee Company and Knead Café and Pâtisserie. She eats Cougar Gold mac and cheese at South Fork, co-owned by Jim Harbour (’99 Hosp. Busi. Mgmt.), then dines with Jack “The Throwin’ Samoan” Thompson (’84 Busi.) and former WSU head football coach Jake Dickert.
In episode three, she samples Miss Huddy’s Barbecue, owned by Molly (’05 Comm., ’08 Sport Mgmt.) and Tim Schotzko (’14 Math.), with her mentor, retired WSU broadcast professor and former Pullman mayor Glenn “The Voice of the Cougs” Johnson. Sire then tries the pottery wheel at Terra Cotta, owned by Candace Baltz (’02 Comm.). The pair served as teacher’s assistants together for Johnson’s class.
After more fun stops, it’s time for dinner at James Beard Award semifinalist Black Cypress with then-owner Nikiforos “Nick” Pitsilionis (x’07), Poston, Johnson, and a few others.
Says Sire, “Pullman will forever hold a special place in my heart.”
Find all three episodes on the Visit Pullman YouTube channel at youtube.com/@VisitPullman.