It's not a restaurant, but I've bought seafood there, so here it's noted: Johnny’s Ocean Fish Co. on Ruston Way will close for good today. Johnny's Dock Street and Lakewood locations continue.

UPDATED Another fish monger will take over the 74-year-old over-water fish market building.

A reader sent an e-mail asking about handicapped access at Satellite Coffee, a new java joint in Tacoma on the north side of Wright Park. Satellite's in an upstairs location; stairs are the only way to get there. The reader wondered how Satellite could be in business without handicapped access. Satellite owner Pat Brown told me his building is grandfathered, as Satellite's location was formerly another coffee shop.

And to the woman whose piece of fruit bread I accidentally ran over in the parking lot Marlene's Market: Sorry 'bout that, lady.

One of Tacoma's breweries gone by.

Did you work for one of the major breweries in the Puget Sound? Columbia/Heidelberg in Tacoma? Olympia in Tumwater? Rainier in Seattle?

Do you know someone who worked for one of those breweries?

I'd like to talk with you or them.

I'm researching a story/oral history/multimedia shebang about ghost breweries of the Puget Sound before one of them gets torn down to make way for Holiday Inn.

If you've got stories to share (or just know someone with stories to share) about working for Columbia/Heidelberg, Olympia or Rainier, please contact me by e-mail (ed.murrieta@thenewstribune.com) or by telephone (253-597-8678).

Several months back, after I'd written about her gravy and chicken-fried steak in a breakfast round-up, the owner of The Buttered Biscuit asked me how her restaurant could get reviewed.

I said, half joking, two eyes fully on my mileage expenses, that she should move to Tacoma.

The Buttered Biscuit has met me half way, having recently opened in downtown Sumner, in the location formerly occupied by The Bread Box.

The Buttered Biscuit's former location on Main Street in Buckley was quaint and old-timey. Its new digs are bright and colorful, modern.

The Buttered Biscuit bills its food as "authentic gramma food." Oh, that we should all have living grandmothers who make chicken-fried steak that's crusty and tender and flavorful, smothered in gravy that's not your standard S.O.S. -- hamburger gravy that’s almost as creamy and tangy as stroganoff, thanks to a dose of heavy whipping cream, onions and garlic.

Both were served as part of the $10.95 "Chicken Little" breakfast -- a 6-ounce cut of chicken-fried steak, smothered in gravy, with eggs any style, home fries (beautifully browned, with red onions and green peppers) and meaty, succulent corned beef hash. A side of corn bread, dusted with powdered sugar and plopped with butter, was like dessert -- intensely corny and cakey, fluffy and crumbly and sweet.

I overheard a couple of lunching ladies rave about the Reuben. They're right: It's a triple-decker layered with hunky corned beef, Provolone, spicy Thousand Island, kraut, sauteed red onions and a little Fuji apple-pineapple slaw. It's $9.25. It's a mouthful. It's delish.

The menu also features Benedicts, scrambles, griddle cakes, burgers, sandwiches and salads.

I'll be back.

The Buttered Biscuit: 1014 North St., Suite 1000, Sumner; 253-826-6099. Hours: 7 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Sundays.

Here's something from The You Plate Special:

tuddo, a regular and patron whom I've never met but have seen dining in the same restaurants at the same time as me, writes:

I heard from a friend that a favorite Chinese restaurant is considering options, including closure if business doesn't pick up. It is a rare Szechuan (Sichuan) restaurant, rare, that is, for Tacoma and the NW where the blander Cantonese reigns. In Texas, where I used to live, Szechuan suits the spicy pepper-loving crowd to a "T".

Ed reviewed it favorably a month or so after its opening, and its just gotten better. The three sisters who own it have adjusted some of the heat levels to NW tastes and now offer different spice levels like most Thai and Vietnamese places do. Friends who don't like heat on their tongues have enjoyed some of the milder dishes greatly, but I like to crank up the spice level. My friend who travels quite a bit thinks it is the best Chinese restaurant north of SF.

I would sure hate to see this jewel leave Tacoma and take their treats to Bell Town or some place where they will charge twice as much.

Tacoma Szechuan
9601 S Tacoma Way (In the Paldo World Strip mall) Kitty-corner from Pierce Transit building
Lakewood
253-581-0102

Additional parking in back of Paldo World

I found this on the state liquor license application database. Looks like the rumors are true:

WINGS, PIZZA, N THINGS SPORTS AND GRILL
Business Location: 13802 PURDY DR NW, GIG HARBOR, WA 98332-8641
Applicant(s): JONES, NATASHA LOU-ANN; JONES, JAMES THEODORE
Liquor License Type: SPIRITS/BR/WN REST LOUNGE +
Application Type: NEW APPLICATION
License Number: 358577

What I do is subjective. My official job title is Columnist, not reporter. That frees me from the usual constraints of journalism -- chiefly, that every assertion be backed up by precise, incontrovertible facts.

We're thinking about some changes in Go, the News Tribune's entertainment guide. I'm chewing on stars, and I really want to spit them into the trash.

I'm the guy who assigns star ratings to restaurants that I review. Know what? I have no scientific method. It's all subjective.

Is a four-star restaurant really good because 80 percent of the food was good (we use a five-star system here)? Not necessarily. If the restaurant is clean, if the staff is friendly, if the music doesn't drown out dinner conversation ... those are all factored in, too. Many variables affect the final verdict.

If I had my way, I'd eliminate the star-rating system. I think stars are lazy, arcane and arbitrary. Want to know if I like something? Read the review. My opinions -- good, bad, indifferent -- are in there. Nuance cannot be translated via stars.

But my opinion of star ratings flies in the face of "newspaper industry research" that says readers love star ratings because they help them easily gauge the quality of a restaurant or movie or whatever is being reviewed. "Readers" like Ziggy, Mary Worth and The Amish Cook, too. So, really, let's admit that all tastes are subjective.

I go into most restaurants ready to grant three stars. Ratings go down or up from there, depending on the variables I mentioned: cleanliness, attitude, atmosphere, quality of the food, and whatever crops up along the way.

This is life, people, not a journalism lab.

Here's how the San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic calculates his four-star system:

In assigning stars, I try to start with a fairly objective procedure. Food is the most important component -- in fact, it counts twice as much as everything else. In figuring the overall score, I double the rating for food (3.5+3.5=7 stars), add the ambience (2.5) and the service (3), which gives a total of 12.5 stars. I then divide by 4, which means it comes in a little over 3 stars. While it's the reviewer's decision to assign the final number of stars, when the food is higher than the other elements, we tend to bump up the stars ...

His readers were quick to trash his system, noting it's "as convoluted as how your credit card's interest rate is figured out."

Out of deep respect for Canadians and Canada, Ed's Diner observes Boxing Day today.

Feed the poor? Feast with family and friends? Purchase presents at discounted prices?

Count me in like a Canadian.

Meantime, serious restaurant issues are cooking here.

For something more heart-warming on the day after Christmas, here's my song about tamales.

And it's never too soon to talk about lucky foods for New Year's. Black-eyed peas, anyone?

My first e-mail Christmas card of the year.

I wish I didn't have to file two stories today. I'll post other wishes when I'm done with deadlines.

What's on your wish list this year? What are you cooking for Christmas dinner? Are you going out? Where?

ED'S NOTE: Today's guest blogger is rivitman, a Tacoma cook and frank patron at Ed's Diner. Regarding a story about kitchen health hazards (and more), I give rivitman the keys to Ed's Diner today. His opinions are uniquely his. They originally appeared in the comments of other posts. They're something to chew on.

UPDTED I've asked Anthony Anton, president of the Washington Restaurant Association, to offer his organization's perspective (or rebuttal) to rivitman. I'll post his response here if and when he replies. -- Ed Murrieta.

=> Read more!

I'll be on Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen radio show today, from 4:30-5p.m., KIRO 710 AM. The topic's farming. You may even hear my song about tamales.

Here's a story Editor & Publisher magazine wrote about "My Lady of Tamales".

Santa's not going to bring you a fake ID, but if you're over 21, local brewpubs have presents for you: winter warmers and other seasonal beers.

In Tacoma, The Harmon (1938 Pacific Ave.; 253-383-2739) has two versions of imperial stout, including one aged in an oak barrel that previously contained rum, plus a malty American-style red ale on nitro ("It cascades like Guinness," brewer Mike Davis said.) and an English mild session beer (4.7 percent alcohol) with a touch of silky oats.

The Ram (3001 N. Ruston Way; 253-756-7886) has maple vanilla brown, mocha stout and a strong ale. Engine House No. 9 is serving a smooth brown ale.

In Puyallup, The Powerhouse (425 East Main St; 253-845-1370) is all out of winter warmer, but roasted porter and clean kolsch fill the seasonal void. The Ram (103 35th Ave. SE; 253-841-3317) has malty pumpkin ale with cinnamon and nutmeg, and a big-bodied red ale.

In Lakewood, The Ram (10019 59th Ave.; 253-584-3191) features a chocolatey nut brown ale aged in bourbon barrels, and an imperial stout with flaked oats.

In Lacey, The Ram (8100 C. Freedom Lane; 360-923-5900) WinterBrew, a brown ale goosed with clove, orange and cinnamon.

In Olympia, Fish Tale (515 Jefferson St. E, Olympia; 360-943-3650) brewed a light version of its Leavenworth specialty beers, plus a porter and a pilsner.

Diacetyl is a chemical additive found in butter-flavorings for products like PAM cooking spray, popcorn topping and the stuff that fry cooks probably pour on the grill when you order eggs at your local diner.

A story in today's Seattle P-I says diacetyl vapor could pose a significant risk to professional cooks who use and are exposed to large amounts of these butter substitutes. Diacetyl vapor, when inhaled, has been linked to a rare, sometimes fatal respiratory disease called bronchiolitis obliterans.

Then the story asks, "Where are the sick cooks?"

Then it says:

One problem in determining the extent of the problem, according to union health officers, is that kitchen workers often are underinsured or uninsured and frequently conceal health problems because they don't want to anger their employers. The pressures on the line cook or the line chef are significant and the turnover rate is high, making occupational disease hard to identify.

Dr. Allen Parmet, a Kansas City occupational medicine physician who first identified the disease among popcorn plant workers, calls it "the healthy worker effect."

"People work until they're too sick to continue work, and they come in with their cough, because they can't breathe, and they think it's because they were smoking while they were cooking," Parmet said. "They have no reason to suspect they're being made sick because of the products they're using."

Now I ask: Fry cooks, line cooks, food-service distributors, what's your experience with diacetyl?

Restaurant owners: Please tell me whether you buy this stuff. Why do you buy it? Why do you expose your employees to it?

Diners: Gimme an "Ewwwwwwwwww" ...

If over the river and through the woods is inconvenient for you, try these South Sound restaurants and bars for meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Some restaurants have posted their Christmas Eve menus here (Pacific Grill) and here (Stadium Bistro).

=> Read more!

Jake's Bar and Bistro opened Saturday in Steilacoom. It closed soon after. It's supposed to re-open Friday.

From: Jakobe and Amy Steilacoom Wine and Brew
To: Ed Murrieta
Subject: Re: Jake's Will Open At 11am Friday!

Thank you for such strong support on Saturday! We realized then that we have alot of details that we need to iron out so we are closing for the midweek. We should open @ 11am on Friday!

Thanks for your patience...

From: Ed Murrieta
To: Jakobe and Amy Steilacoom Wine and Brew
Subject: Re: Jake's Will Open At 11am Friday!

Overwhelmed by success?

From: Jakobe and Amy Steilacoom Wine and Brew
To: Ed Murrieta
Subject: Re: Jake's Will Open At 11am Friday!

Ed, Hi!

I'm sure you have seen it a million times, but we had 90 people in the first hour... and we were able to see what needed work and now... we are doing it. Jake

Doyle's Public House welcomes the winter solstice on Saturday with sample-size pourings of Belgian and Belgian-style winter beers.

In addition to a Methuselah of La Fin Du Monde, these beers will pour from 3 p.m.-6 p.m.: Delirium Noel 2006 and 2007; Gouden Carolus; Scaldis Noel; Avec les Bons Voeux; Young's Winter Warmer' and St. Feuillien – Cuvee de Noel.

Doyle's Public House: 208 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma; 253-272-PINT.

Ranch House BBQ pitmaster Amy Anderson, peering into her her old smoker.

Ranch House BBQ has picked itself up, dried itself off and accepted the kindness of strangers. Now it's working on recovering its business and customers following a mudslide that destroyed the barbecue palace on the outskirts of Olympia.

Owners Amy Anderson and Melanie Tapia and their staff have been cleaning up the restaurant space in downtown Olympia's Governor Hotel. The space was donated to Ranch House by the vice president of the hotel.

"They've offered us free rent and free utilities until we get back on our feet," Anderson said.

Anderson said she hopes to open on Jan. 4.

After the mudslide, Anderson and Tapia closed their 6-month-old take-out-only satellite location up the street on Capitol Way. They'll focus on the new location, which the Southern Kitchen restaurant vacated earlier this year. They're busy cleaning and installing new equipment.

The Dec. 3 mudslide demolished Ranch House's 4-year-old location.

"It's a disaster," Anderson said. "It's very depressing."

She estimated damages at $4-5 million. None of it is covered by insurance. She's not getting federal disaster assistance either.

Some things were rescued: Ranch House's barbecue trophies and ribbons ("They were on a higher shelf," Anderson said).

There's also good news for 22 Ranch House employees: they're all coming back to work, and they've received state unemployment and federal disaster assistance.

But bad news for barbecue lovers in Grays Harbor County: they'll have to drive farther for the finest barbecue in their part of the 360.

"I'm gonna lose about 50 percent of my Grays Harbor business," Anderson said. "So I'm adding a steak program – porterhouses and things, like a real steakhouse. We're in a hotel. The prices will be a little higher. I think Olympia will support that."

Anderson ordered her new $10,000 smoker yesterday. It should arrive before Christmas.

Ranch House BBQ: 621 Capitol Way S, Olympia. Target opening: Jan. 4.

Ranch House BBQ co-owner Melanie Tapia, right, is consoled after a mudslide hit her restaurant. Associated Press photo.

In tomorrow's GO section, I'll tell you about some terrific tamales in Tacoma. (I'm also scheduled to go on Tom Douglas' Radio Show on Saturday, 4:30-5 p.m., KIRO 710 AM, to talk about tamales, but more about that soon.)

I'll tell you now about the tamales at Aroma Cafe in downtown Tacoma. Not because they're the best tamales in town (although they are good, and worth singing about).

I'm telling you here and now because Aroma's chicken tamales with tomatillo sauce ($8.25, with salad) are only available on Thursdays, as a lunch special.

Today is a Thursday, un dia de tamal. See those tamales in the post below? Those are Aroma's tamales waiting to be steamed. Or sung about.

Aroma Cafe: 1001 Pacific Ave., Tacoma; 253-203-0016

This song is fictional, but universally true. I wrote the lyrics and the tune. I asked Dave Barfield to sing it. He asked Bill Leach to play guitar. It's called "My Lady of Tamales." It's about tamales, and a lot more. Which is what tamales are really all about.

=> Read more!

The culture card lay at the bottom of yesterday's Seattle P-I story about King County's top 10 violators of restaurant rules.

One of those restaurants is Wild Ginger, a pricey pan-Asian place in downtown Seattle.

Cooks drawn from China, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam come from a food culture very different from that in the U.S., said the owner of Wild Ginger.

"It's still a challenge to try to get people to understand how we view what's sanitary versus (how a) culture that's 5,000 years old (does)," said the owner of Wild Ginger. "They think I'm crazy. I say this is the way we have to do it."

I almost went crazy when I worked at a Nicaraguan bakery in San Francisco.

On my first day I found a fossilized mouse beneath the mixer.

It got worse.

Bad plumbing. Burned-out refrigeration. Mold in the kitchen walls. An oven that looked like it was bought second-hand from a charnel house.

It was my job to clean it up, or work around it. The owner didn't seem to care which.

One day, the health inspector arrived on his regular rounds.

He looked around the kitchen for about 45 seconds.

I counted up the critical violations in my head.

The health inspector scribbled on a form.

He handed me a copy.

See you next time, he said.

I looked at the form: the violations I knew existed were not noted on the form.

I called the San Francisco health department. My efforts to reach the inspector's boss failed. Same with the inspector's boss' boss. They were on vacation. I left messages. Nothing happened. I still had a filthy bakery to fix.

It was a moment straight out of Roman Polanski's "Chinatown."

"Forget it, Jake," I heard that voice say in my head, filled with defeat and grudging acceptance. "It's Chinatown."

Actually, in today's polite world, Chinatown is the International District. Shouldn't we all get along in the global kitchen?

Hey, Food Network, how about a show about food safety, in 10 different languages?

UPDATED Here's an e-mail I received shortly after I posted this. Kids today -- God bless 'em.

I am a 12th grade student and Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma. As part of a student group for an American Government class, we are interested in the potential hazards of the substandard conditions of some Pierce County restaurants. After meeting with Mike Davis of the Tacoma Pierce County Healthy Department, we believe that public perception of food safety regulations may be skewed and are hoping to correct this inaccuracy. Our group would like to speak or meet with you to discuss the feasibility of publishing an article addressing food safety and what to look for in a restaurant.

Turkey and cranberry sandwich at Capers Downtown, where lunch goes on.

Tonight will be the last night for dinner at Capers Downtown, the sixth-month-old spin-off of Capers Take Home Eatery in Tacoma’s Proctor District.

While owner Eve Hewitt said family issues are involved –- “I have a 14-year-old son who’s raising himself,” she said –- lack of parking and lack of those fabled downtown condo dwellers are also driving factors.

“I have a lot of older customers and they complain that they can’t find parking downtown," Hewitt said.

(Even during the day, Hewitt said, parking is a factor. “The meter people are horrible,” she said, referring to enforcement inside the city’s 1-hour and 30-minute parking zones.)

As for those well-heeled urbanites who were supposed to move into the nearby condos and provide a customer base for businesses that staked investments on downtown Tacoma’s renaissance, Hewitt said:

“It was depressing to see two (occupied) tables in the restaurant at night. That’s why I’m putting the kibosh on dinner.”

Hewitt noted that nearby condos are now being offered as rentals.

“I bought into a false sense of comfort seeing lines out the door at Paddy Coyne’s and The Matador,” Hewitt said of two nearby “destination” restaurants.

Capers Downtown will continue serving lunch, which Hewitt said “is doing great.” Hewitt said she’s planning to add take-out entrees, like she offers at Capers Take Home. She said she’ll also do special event dinners, such as wine-maker dinners.

Capers Downtown: 701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma; 253-272-2240. Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Fridays.

The only people outside The Bair Drug & Hardware building these days are repairmen.

That 180-day time frame for repairs on Steilacoom’s historic Bair Drug & Hardware building is approaching. But for the people who ran the restaurant and catering operation in The Bair for seven years, it's over.

"We are done with it," said Ed Lintott, who with his wife, Martha, ran The Bair.

Lintott is now in charge of research and development for Valley Harvest Products, a Tukwilla spice company, which supplies Tacoma restaurants like The Lobster Shop, Anthony's and Duke's Chowder House.

"I've used their products for 15 years," Lintott said. "I told my wife if I ever get another job, I'd work for them."

Martha Lintott is also working for the company.

I spoke with another local restaurateur today who said he might be interested in opening a breakfast place in The Bair. Ed Lintott said whoever eventually opens a restaurant in the 100-year-old building will need to bring their own stove, refrigerator, table, chairs, plates -- because all of the restaurant infrastructure has been removed.

That post-Asado/Masa restaurant that Troy Christian and Sean Quinn will open -- the one in the under-renovation Walker apartment building near downtown Tacoma -- will be called Maxwell's. The theme will be "Northwest comfort food."

Maxwell's will seat about 130 people in the dining room and lounge.

Target opening: March 2008.

Maxwell's general manager hails from Seattle. Tewfik Boulenouar was previously general manager at Coupage and captain at Waterfront Seafood Grill.

"Our chef is close to a done deal," Christian said.

I've got my first California Meyer lemons of the season. They cost between 50 cents and 75 each. I couldn't be happier.

(UPDATED 12/20: I paid $1.29 for a Meyer lemon today. $1.29. I still love the lemon.)

Much sweeter and juicier than the commonly available Eureka and Lisbon varieties, Meyer lemons are completely edible from peel to pulp and are perfect in cooking and baking, with subtly complex hints of lemon, lime and mandarin.

I grew up eating Meyer lemons and didn't even know it. Picked off the backyard tree, quartered and sprinkled with salt, Meyer lemons were tangy winter treats on foggy days in Central California. It wasn't until I went to culinary school, studied restaurant menus and ended up paying 65 cents for a single citrus at my local yupscale market that I realized Meyer lemons were a fruit to be fancied.

Originating in China, Meyer lemons are believed to be a hybrid of lemon and manadarin orange. They're generally smaller and rounder than conventional lemons and have a softer, smoother rind that lacks the typical lemon peel oil aroma. The pulp is darker yellow and less acidic. At peak season -- January and February -- Meyer lemons contain up to 45 percent juice content.

The Meyer lemon is named after Frank Meyer, a plant explorer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture who introduced the citrus to America in 1908. A virus discovered in the 1940s restricted the sale of Meyer lemons in the United States. A virus-free Meyer lemon was developed in 1970. Even though Meyer lemon trees produce heavily, they remained pretty much ornamental until the early 1980s when California chefs put Meyer lemons on the culinary map.

Meyer lemons are grown mostly on small farms from Sacramento to Fresno and are available from November through March, and sometimes into April. Unlike their large commercial cousins from Texas and Florida, Meyer lemons don't contain color-enhancing skin dyes. Meyer lemons are greenish when immature and rich yellow-orange when fully ripe.

I got mine at Trader Joe's, a buck-99 for four. I also saw them at Metropolitan Market, $2.99 a pound (four Meyers, with leaves and stems, weigh about a pound).

Pucker up. Meyers are worth it. And, as a reader pointed out to, Meyers cost about the same as conventional lemons, whose price has been escalating these past few years. So go for the Meyers while they last.

Beer and food maven Lucy Saunders will be at The Pike Pub in Seattle on Tuesday, signing copies of her new book, The Best of American Beer and Food.

Saunders has studied America's beer and food culture for the past 20 years. She has chronicled the craft brewing movement as a food columnistweb editor (beercook.com and grillingwithbeer.com) and author (Cooking with Beer, 1996 and Grilling with Beer, 2006).

Here are the details: 5 p.m.-8p.m., Tuesday. The Pike Pub, 1415 1st Ave. Seattle. 206-622-6044.

Click below to read Saunders' take on pubs and food around the Puget Sound area.

=> Read more!

The Ranch House BBQ restaurant, which was destroyed by a mudslide in last week’s storm, likely will reopen in January at the Governor Hotel in downtown Olympia, The Olympian reports.

Sandra Miller, vice president and general manager of the hotel, confirmed the offer Sunday night.

Ranch House co-owner Melanie Tapia is expected to announce today that kitchen space at the Governor Hotel has been donated to the business, free of charge.

She said her insurance policy doesn’t cover flooding.

Meantime, a “Benefit for Ranch House BBQ” account has been set up at West Coast Bank to help Tapia and partner Amy Anderson rebuild. Donations will be accepted at any West Coast Bank branch in Washington or Oregon.

There's a lot of jawing about the benefits of eating locally grown food. Doubters, of course, need something to sow.

The director of the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program says the fact that something is local doesn’t necessarily mean that it is better, environmentally speaking, as reported in a New York Times Sunday thumbsucker:

Consider strawberries. If mass producers of strawberries ship their product to Chicago by truck, the fuel cost of transporting each carton of strawberries is relatively small, since it is tucked into the back along with thousands of others.

But if a farmer sells his strawberries at local farmers’ markets in California, he ferries a much smaller amount by pickup truck to each individual market. Which one is better for the environment?

Mr. Tomich said a strawberry distributor did the math on the back of an envelope and concluded that the Chicago-bound berries used less energy for transport. Maybe.

See? It's a tricky topic. If you buy all of your produce, dairy, meat and bread from community supported artisan food networks, then aren't you hurting the livelihoods of your neighbors who work at Fred Meyer or Costco? What's the carbon footprint of a trip to the unemployment line?

I did my locavore part recently. Or did I? I drove to Buckley, a 50something-mile round trip from my house. At Elk Head Brewing Company, I refilled two medicine bottles with 64 ounces of locally brewed beer. My jalopy gets 22 miles to the gallon. The math isn't pretty. Luckily, I'll get a story out it. But I didn't drive all the way out there there for a story; I went for beer.

Elk Head brews with local ingredients. While the coffee that gives Elk Head's Royal Black its silky stoutness surely traveled thousands of miles to Buckley, it was roasted by Dillanos, a brewed-in-Buckley coffee company. Sumac honey comes from Yakima.

And those chanterelle mushrooms that give Chantrale its name and earthy, creamy texture?

"We pick 'em in the woods," said the guy who answered the phone at the best brewery in Buckley.

What kind of local food is on your plate today? In your glass? Or just on your mind? The local food comment lines are open.

Elk Head Brewing Company: 28120 State Route 410 E, Buckley; 360-829-2739

Le-Le Tran, before she retired. Her husband, Andy, still owns Le-Le’s in Tacoma.

“Everybody Comes to Le-Le’s.” That’s what Tacoma novelist-drug prosecutor Mark Lindquist said about Hilltop’s Vietnamese/Thai eatery in his latest book, “The King of Methelehem.”

It was a compliment in fiction, and true in the sense that Le-Le attracts a diverse and faithful clientele.

Now Le Le’s clientele will have to go to the seven-year-old Hilltop restaurant. That’s because Le-Le’s Lakewood location, which opened in 2006, is now closed.

Carrs Restaurant and Bar is taking over Le Le’s Lakewood location. A sign in the window says Carrs will open in January, a recording on its telephone says mid-January.

Le-Le: 1012 Martin Luther King Junior Way, Tacoma; 253-572-9491.

Carrs Restaurant and Bar: 11006 Bridgeport Way S.W., Lakewood; 253-584-4622. Opening date: January.

Meanwhile, a sign on the door of Gari of Sushi says the restaurant is closed for repairs and will re-open soon.

Driving around, I see of signs of "coming soon" that seem to take forever to come together. I also see a lot of signs of "come and gone."

Did you ever wonder what happened to that restaurant that abruptly closed? What about that one that never opened? What's going on inside that one that's taking forever?

When I worked as a fixer-cum-gofer for Restaurant Ray, I had a 20-point list tacked to a wall in my office. It listed a bunch of things that needed to happen in order to start a restaurant. The first dozen or more tasks involved permits, red tape and contractors.

So here's what I'm after today: I want stories from restaurateurs, bar owners, soup kitchen magicians, five-star pizza pushers, anyone who's opened a place, closed a place, canceled plans for a place, or is working hard, hungry and happily on places to eat and drink in the South Sound.

What's the funniest, most frustrating or most rewarding moment or experience in opening (or closing) an establishment?

What hurdles arose when the name you chose for your new eatery/drinkery turned out to be spoken for?

State liquor law says you must brew beer in your new place. How micro will microbrewery be?

Did you scupper a bistro in the 'burbs because the grease trap that the county required would have eaten too much of your budget?

What did you do when you inherited 18 pounds of deep-fried chicken grease from the previous tenant?

Why is your French bistro still without signage on the building?

Inquiring diners want to know. I wouldn't mind knowing.

Restaurant folk, your blog is ready. May I start you with a link to Ed's Diner comment section?

Everyone should read about what's going on at Heads Up Brewing, a microbrewery/brew-on-premises/beer geek clubhouse in Silverdale, in the words of ale conner Ted Farmer. Click below.

=> Read more!

Mmmm, lutefisk

I'm serious about learning to love lutefisk. I'm tired of hearing from lutefisk haters. Will someone please tell me something good about lutefisk?

(And I will accept answers like the following: I think lutefisk rocks because if we eat more lutefisk, there'll be less methamphetamine on the street, since sodium hydroxide is used to make both lutefisk and meth. Can you imagine methheads smoking lutefisk? Uff!)

Two Anthony's restaurants and Ikea are serving lutefisk most of this month.

Anthony’s Gig Harbor, 8827 Harborview Drive N., Gig Harbor; 253-853-6353; and Anthony’s HomePort Shilshole Bay, 6135 Seaview Ave. N.W., Seattle; 206-783-0780. Lutefisk dinners with boiled Alaskan Pacific true cod, drizzled with butter, kosher salt and pepper and served with sides of melted butter, steamed Yukon gold potatoes and carrots, salad or chowder. $16.95. Friday-Dec. 31

Ikea, 601 S.W. 41st St., Renton; 425-656-2980. Lutefisk dinners with potatoes, salad and choice of melted butter or cream sauce. $7.99. Through Dec. 23.

Send me a picture of you eating lutefisk. I'll post tasteful pics here.

I learned my best lesson in reporting in silence. That's the the way it was delivered: Chicago Dan never said a word. He just stood and listened. I read Chicago Dan's column on my friend Gene's memorial service. Chicago Dan nailed it. Ever since, I've tried to keep my mouth shut and my ears and eyes open.

Saturday night at Crown Bar, I thought of Chicago Dan. I'd gone to the men's room to wash my hands. Inside, I overheard a conversation taking place outside the door, in the back of the dining room. I listened. I heard "Gary" and "Big Bubba's" and "purchased."

Crown Bar being the former Gary's Steak Out, I figured the couple was talking about Gary Lawrence. On Monday, I called Lawrence, telling him I was on a fishing expedition and begging his pardon if I was casting my line up the wrong tree. I wasn't.

"I bought it last month," Lawrence said of Big Bubba's Burgers in Allyn. "I've been keeping it quiet."

Well, not so quiet that I couldn't hear it through the men's room door.

Thanks for the tip, people.

Keep talking.

I'm listening. Thanks to Chicago Dan.

Gary Lawrence is back behind the grill. He sold Gary’s Steak Out & Bar in June. Lawrence is the new owner of Big Bubba’s Burgers in Allyn.

“I got my own deal again,” Lawrence told me today. “Me and my wife run it.”

As for the two heart attacks and “blood pressure to the moon” that prompted him to sell his steakhouse, Lawrence said, “I’m doing good. I got away from all that stress.”

But big food followed him. In addition to refurbishing the 45-year-old burger shack on Highway 3, Lawrence added a 1-pound bacon burger ($7.99). That’s not four quarter-pound patties – that’s one 1-pound patty.

“I’ve got to keep my reputation,” said Lawrence, whose Big Food reputation stretches back to his days cooking 10-egg omelets at the Sunriser, which preceded Gary’s Steak Out on Tacoma’s Sixth Avenue.

Quarter-pound burgers start at $2.99. The halibut fillet sandwich is $5.99.

Big Bubba’s Burgers: 18471 E State Rte 3 Allyn; 360-275-6000. Winter hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays.

One more reason to curse the rain: A surge of water from a muddy creek hit Ranch House BBQ today. The restaurant didn't answer its phone when I called just now. Here's a report from the Associated Press:

In Olympia, the rain turned a normally small creek into a roiling, muddy surge of water that tore through a wall at the Ranch House BBQ. Tables and booths were strewn across the street, and a storage shed was pushed about 300 feet away.

Christy Romo, who lives just up the hill from the restaurant, said she could hear the floodwaters coming and started packing before the first floor of her cabin was inundated.

“I knew I wouldn’t have much time,” Romo said. “I heard a bang, and then saw the water rising quickly.”

As she ran out her front door, Romo found her truck blocked by washed-up logs.

“I’m worried that something is going to give way and collapse,” she said.