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Sue Kidd is the Lifestyle Editor at The News Tribune and the ringleader for the Food and Home&Garden sections. She has worked as a food journalist at Northwest newspapers since 1993, most recently as a food writer, editor and restaurant reviewer in King County before joining The News Tribune in 2004. Her food obsessions at the moment are honey, cheese and oysters.
Craig Sailor is the Arts&Entertainment editor at The News Tribune. He grew up on a garlic farm near Gilroy, Calif. and now farms oysters in his spare time at Willapa Bay. He’s traveled the world from Kyoto/Kuala Lumpur/Hong Kong to Zanzibar in search of great food.
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Life is good. Two Italian restaurants have opened just in time for the holiday noshing season.
Merende opened today.
Massimo opened yesterday.
We've written plenty about Merende here, here and here, the small plates Italian restaurant with Jeff Bishop as the top toque, but we haven't reported on Massimo, which quietly took over the old Beach House at Purdy building after a short-lived wings and pizza restaurant poofed in the middle of the night.
I stopped in to talk to owners Massimo and Cindy Terracciano today, and to confirm that, yes, the view is still pretty spectacular. Click "read more" for their story.
The restaurants are located at:
Merende: 813 Pacific Ave., Tacoma; 253-722-1993,
merenderestaurant.com
Massimo: 13802 Purdy Drive Northwest, Gig Harbor; 253-514-6237, massimobarandgrill.com
