TNT Diner readers have asked that I start a new You-Plate Special thread. It's the place where (almost) anything goes. Scan previous threads to see all kinds of interesting fodder. It's pretty engaging stuff.

The rules: No smack talk, unless it's really entertaining (kidding, really). No promoting your restaurant or your kid's restaurant. Trolls, you know who you are. Stay away. Dining criticism, commentary, questions and observations only, thankyouverymuch.

What's simmering, people?

Vegas Mike, head chef at Iron Chef Japanese Restaurant in Puyallup, entertains and cooks for customers (from left) Phil Mitchell, Sophie Mitchell, Michael Cassimore, and Egle Kupstyte. Peter Haley/The News Tribune

Iron Chef Japanese Steakhouse
Where: 4301 S. Meridian St., Suite A, Puyallup
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. for lunch and 5-10 p.m. weekdays for lunch; 2-10 p.m. Saturdays and 2-9 p.m. Sundays.
Phone: 253-848-3759
Online: ironchefsteakhouse.com.
Price Range: $15-$50

Editor's Note: Here is today's Drop-In Dining Report about a new or new-to-us restaurant. Reporters drop in unannounced and sample the food, on TNT’s dime, then report what the scene and food was like. Have a suggestion for a drop-in dining feature? E-mail us at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

By Craig Hill
craig.hill@thenewstribune.com

The scene: If you lived on South Hill five years ago, you might have shopped for your produce where the Iron Chef is now located. The restaurant is in the corner of what used to be a Safeway. With its high coffee-brown walls and exposed-beam ceilings, not only does the building no longer feel like a grocery store, but inside you barely feel like you’re in Puyallup. The waitresses are dressed in sandals and kimonos and the chefs are also adorned in Japanese garb.

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Your Thanksgiving dinner may be done, or perhaps in progress now. Now what to do with all that turkey? Well, other than sending it home with your freeloading cousin, I have one suggestion: flaky, delicious pot pie. Click "read more" for a recipe I just lifted from our Los Angeles Times wire service.

This leads me to my next pondering ... I usually dine out with a friend for lunch the day after Thanksgiving (pot pie for dinner, though). So how will you fuel yourself during your shopping frenzy tomorrow?

Any dining out plans, or just sticking with the fridge leftovers?

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. You've got the turkey ready to go, right? The sides started? A pie already made?

Then it's time to reward yourself for your labor. Here, a drink crafted for us by Denise Tempest of Tempest Lounge. Enjoy.

The Tempest Pumpkin Pie Cocktail
1 ounce Crown Royal
1 ounce half and half
Pumpkin syrup, to taste
1/2 cup crushed graham crackers
1 tablespoon raw sugar (or substitute granulated)
Nutmeg, a dash
Cinnamon stick garnish

Combine crushed graham crackers and raw sugar in a shallow bowl. Wet the rim of a cocktail glass and dip into graham cracker mixture. Set aside. Shake the crown royal over ice with half-and-half and pumpkin syrup. Strain into cocktail glass. Sprinkle with nutmeg and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Last minute turkey advice and tips can be found here.

Carol Saynisch, of Steilacoom, wrote to us about her daughter's web site. It's an interesting collection of recipes featuring sustainable ingredients.

The website is here. Some thoughts from her mother:

I wanted to share my daughter's culinary Web site, http://www.brooklynfarmhouse.com, with you. She's a graduate of the French Culinary Institute – and even though she creates her site from her Brooklyn, N.Y. kitchen, the products she's using can be found at South Sound natural food and farmers' markets.
Maybe your Web/blog readers would like to see some of her unusual recipes for Thanksgiving side dishes.

Her apple pie with boiled cider sounds pretty tasty to me.

Burkhard Bilger captures the "extreme beer" movement quite exhaustively in a New Yorker article this week (although the article is w-o-r-d-y.... you must read a few pages in to really get it).

Our resident beer geek, John Henrikson, wants to write about extreme beer here in South Sound. We're looking for high octane supremely crafted beer – something that will really knock your palate. (Confused by the term? Click the read more button to see a definition of extreme beer.)

So worshipers of the frosty mug – extreme beer... where? Bottle stores? On tap? Where do you get it?

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Thanksgiving is Thursday and TNT Diner readers are looking to avoid cooking a bird (you know who you are).

From the TNT Diner reader e-mail bag:

What restaurants in the Tacoma area will be offering a special Thanksgiving menu on Thursday? Which ones are most recommended?

I know of just a few restaurants serving Thanksgiving dinners (click the read more button to see the list).

Your mission:

Readers: Tell us where you've eaten out for Thanksgiving. Was it any good?

Restaurant owners/chef types: Post your menus, hours and prices for Thanksgiving dinner. Tell us what you'll be serving.

For those making turkey at home, don't forget to get recipes and advice from our Thanksgiving page here.

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Two readers e-mailed today with questions about buying prepared turkeys for Thanksgiving.

Reader 1: Where to find a smoked turkey?
Reader 2: Where to find a deep fried turkey?

I direct readers to this story about where to buy a smoked turkey. The story is a few years old, but can at least steer you in the correct direction.

As for a deep fried turkey, I haven't heard of any local restaurants or caterers selling those. Have you?

On the matter of fried, I've always fried my own. In fact, for the DIY crowd, I point you to this story about smoked, deep fried and rotisserie grilled turkey that fellow TNT staffer John Henrikson and I wrote last year (it was one of the stories that won our recent designation as one of the top 10 features sections in the country). John and I tested the recipes at my house on a rainy day in October last year. If you try our recipes, don't forget to invite extra manpower to monitor the fire and vat of hot oil. The cooking techniques are a little on the dangerous side (and precisely why we like them).

Watch for the TNT Wednesday for our annual Thanksgiving package. This year it's all about Thanksgiving with a Northwest twist. I collected recipes from Charlie McManus, William Mueller, Bryce Lamb, Diana Prine, Gordon Naccarato and other local chefs.

We spent last week eating our way around tribal casinos for today's GO section. You can read our analysis of eats at the Emerald Queen Casinos in Fife and Tacoma, the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn and the Red Wind Casino in Olympia right here.

Craig Sailor and I both noted in our reviews the pervasiveness of the cigarette smoke in the restaurants at the tribal casinos (tribal casinos on tribal land aren't governed by Washington state's public indoor smoking laws). I have been so accustomed to eating in smoke-free restaurants, it was quite a palate shock. How do you handle it when you're eating at a tribal casino? Or do you avoid eating at tribal casinos because of the smoke? We're curious.

Today in our food section, TNT staffer Ernest Jasmin had a Q&A with Thurmond Brokenbrough, owner of Uncle Thurm's Finger Lickin' Chicken and Ribs.

Ernest, or EJ as we call him, is from Kentucky and has quite a hunger for soul food. Click the read more button to read his list of favorite soul food offerings in South Sound.

Tell us about your favorite places around town to eat soul food. Where do you find the best greens? Corn bread? Chitlins?

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Kalua pork with cabbage is served with a side order of macaroni salad at Aloha Hawaiian Grill in Puyallup. Malasadas egg-sized balls of yeast dough that are deep-fried in oil and coated with granulated sugar are in background at right.(Janet Jensen/The News Tribune)

(Editor's note: The Drop-In Dining report from today's GO section)

By Sue Kidd
sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com

The scene: You know you’ve landed in the land of mahalo when you enter the door at Aloha Hawaiian Grill. If the sunny island music doesn’t set the mood, then the smoky scent of pork certainly will. This is a delightful, bright and welcomed new addition to Meridian. This place is fast – you order at the counter and wait for your food – but the food is far superior to the typical fast-food cuisine of South Hill.

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Remember the German restaurant in Freighthouse Square? The owner just called and left me a message saying they are open in their Fern Hill location on Park. I'll get out there and give you the scoop.

Funny enough, I had just stopped by B&B Barbeque in Freighthouse on Friday. They just opened in the space previously occupied by the German restaurant.

B&B Barbeque is a Texas style barbecue place with ribs, pulled pork and smoked chicken. It's also the kind of joint that is no frills – as in a menu written on yellow notebook paper taped to the counter, and rolls of paper towels on every wooden table. It may not be fancy and the German Alps mural on the wall –a remnant of the previous tenant– may not scream Texas, but the waft of smoked meat out the door creates all the atmosphere a barbecue place like B&B needs.

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Everyone in the newsroom – and anyone within earshot of me lately – already knows I spent most of October working on a project I am calling "Seven Days of Sushi." I've been eating my way around sushi restaurants to tell you what you need to know about the sushiscape here. Who makes the most interesting nigiri? What long roll is the most inventive? Which is the most ridiculous? In a few short weeks, I'll give you my answers (and tell me your sushi questions if you have any).

I'm pretty much done with my research – under the cloak of anonymity and the fear of repeated consumption of (possibly) mercury laden raw tuna – but I thought I'd ask you, dear readers, where do you like to eat sushi?

Who makes your favorite nigiri? Long roll? Hand roll? Your thoughts, please.

Maggie Sandford, a producer with the Food network show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," called this morning asking for suggestions in the Tacoma area. A visit by the show apparently is in the works.

Boy, do I have a list for her. We have no shortage of little joints with character around South Sound. Click the "read more" button to see my list.

What's on your list? Who would you want the show to pay a visit?

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