I just got off the phone with Ian Lombardi, who with his parents Julia and Kenneth Lombardi, is opening the Italian restaurant Il Trattoria di Merende in downtown Tacoma.

He's hoping to open in two weeks, but sounded sketchy about whether that's firm.

"I wish I could, but I can't," he said when I pressed him for a firm open date. The restaurant was supposed to have opened in late September. "After the hood vents are installed, we have to do our basic training," he said.

Click here for our post last month about the new Italian restaurant that has Jeff Bishop, formerly of Il Fiasco, in the kitchen.

Merende, in the space that once housed Vin Grotto, will be a small bites place with pricing starting at $10-$12 per small plate. Pizza, entrees and a full bar also are planned.

We'll check back next week to see what's happening.

Il Trattoria di Merende
Location: 813 Pacific Ave.
Phone: 253-722-1993
Website: http://merenderestaurant.com/

I'm back this morning from the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors conference in Houston. In case you didn't hear, The News Tribune was named Thursday one of the top 10 features sections in the country, regardless of circulation category. We competed and won in the same category as the LA Times, the New York Times, the Kansas City Star and other major newspapers. It's quite an accomplishment from our features staff, really. Kudos to the hardworking people of SoundLife who won this award.

Many of our readers know we are actively interviewing candidates for our restaurant critic position. I wanted to let you know that while I was in Houston at the conference, I met and spoke with several food writers who want to come work here. The AAFSE conference was held in conjunction with the Association of Food Journalists conference and I met dozens of fantastic food writers from all over the country.

Let me just tell you that we are interviewing phenomenal candidates. I was hugely impressed with their knowledge of food and wine and their interest in Tacoma. I'm sure that working for one of the 10 top features sections in the country will help with our recruiting (Ok, Ok, I'll stop bragging...)

So stay tuned readers, we hope to have a restaurant critic soon. We are all eager to have someone on staff to cover food and dining as a full-time beat, trust me.

One final thought: I have been really impressed and pleased with all the TNT staffers who have assisted in the contributions to this blog the last few months. We all have regular jobs and lots of responsibilities and this is one more thing we've asked our TNT staffers to help with. Thanks to all our staff contributors. And thank you readers for reading us.