Sapporo's rose roll.

Here is the sixth of seven installments about South Sound maki sushi.

Sapporo Sushi & Roll Teriyaki Restaurant
Where: 4803 Pacific Highway E., Fife; 253-922-5656
Price: $ (Entrees under $14)

Be prepared to wait for a table at Sapporo. Judging from the hundred or so boxes that hold the chopsticks of restaurant regulars -- labeled, even, with their names -- this is a restaurant that does a lot of business, and has a lot of regulars. We met one diehard regular (the kind with his own chopsticks box) in the lobby of the restaurant while waiting for our table. He's a well-traveled sushi lover and Sapporo is his favorite for maki. We knew we had landed in good sushi terrain after hearing that.

It’s a small place, with seven tables that seat about 26, and a seven-seat sushi bar. Hanging paper lanterns and a few other decorative touches make it an attractive restaurant, although the cases of beer in the corner could use a shielding screen. Wood-enclosed booths provide some degree of privacy for diners.

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Pictured here: Happy Bento's spider roll.

Here is the fifth of seven installments about South Sound maki sushi.

Happy Bento
Where: 9909 168th St. E, Puyallup; 253-445-7909
Price: $ (Entrees under $14)

Happy Bento attempts to please everyone with its menu of ubiquitous Japanese and Chinese dishes. It doesn’t matter who is in your group –grandma or a toddler– they will find something to like on the menu.

You might not even guess the restaurant serves sushi until your server hands you the sushi ordering sheet. There, you’ll find 23 maki, including a few signature house specials. But the real specials are listed on a daily white board. Warning: you may have to search for the whiteboard, which was tucked next to the small sushi counter on my visit (I was chagrined I didn’t see it until after ordering, and my server didn't mention it).

=> Read more!

Pictured here: Tama's Dragon roll, salmon hand roll, ika ume shiso roll, spicy tuna roll. Also pictured, salmon and tuna nigiri.

Here is the fourth of seven installments about South Sound maki sushi.

Sushi Tama
Where: 3919 Sixth Avenue, Tacoma; 253-761-1014
Price: $ (Entrees under $14)

Sushi Tama seems one of those mysterious restaurants that looks deserted often enough that one wonders if they’re still in business. Sushi Tama may not do the bustling business of TwoKoi or Sushi Town, but the Sixth Avenue restaurant does have a steady stream of customers and fans aplenty. Ask an experienced sushi eater around town and they’ll probably tell you they’ve feasted on Tama’s sushi.

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Pictured here: Sushi Town's rocky, Mt. John, Timmy and spicy tuna rolls.

Here is the third of seven installments about South Sound maki sushi.

Sushi Town
Where: 20649 State Route 410, Bonney Lake; 253-891-2046
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sundays.
Prices: $ (Entrees under $14)

Sushi Town’s chef-owner Trapper O’Keeffe has two sushi approaches: Contemporary and accessible.

He said his niche is with maki rolls for the average sushi diner. “A lot of traditional sushi can be intimidating for first-time (sushi eaters). In Bonney Lake … there’s not a traditional Asian population. I’m catering to the people who haven’t had sushi.”

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Pictured here: (left to right) Gari's complex, mango, electric samuri and spicy tuna rolls.

Here is the second of seven installments about South Sound maki sushi.

Gari of Sushi
Where: 1209 S. 38th St., Tacoma; 253-475-3456
Hours: Lunch served 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Dinner served 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday.
Price: $-$$ (Entrees under $30)

Gari of Sushi chef-owner Kazuya “Kazu” Kamada calls his Osaka style sushi more assertive than other styles, which he delivers in the form of bold ingredients and custom sauces with secret ingredients.

In Kamada’s sushi universe, rolls are more fish than rice and sauces add dimension that renders soy sauce unnecessary. However, should a diner want a drizzle of soy, Kamada blends his own custom soy sauce at Gari. His other sauces also are custom blends. He won’t divulge ingredients, but said he has several sauces that serve as base sauces -- ranging from mild and creamy to zippy and flavorful -- and he can add or manipulate ingredients to change the character of each sauce.

=> Read more!

Pictured here: Two Koi's lava roll

Here is the first of seven installments about South Sound maki sushi.

TwoKoi Japanese Restaurant
Where: 1552 Commerce St., Tacoma; 253-274-8999; www.twokoi.com
Hours: Lunch served 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday; Dinner served 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday
Price: $-$$ (Entrees under $30)

Jackie Young Koh always wanted a fusion restaurant. And now he has that in TwoKoi, where he merges his Japanese and French culinary training with his native Korean palate.

“There were no fusion restaurants here, and I really wanted to try it,” said Koh, who previously worked at Tacoma’s Fujiya.

Add one more culinary twist to Koh’s repertoire: Midwestern.

=> Read more!

Pictured here: TwoKoi's salmon lover's roll. Janet Jensen/The News Tribune.

Welcome to my week of sushi. I'll write about seven South Sound sushi restaurants this week.

Much can be written about the vast sea of sushi. Nigiri, sashimi, maki – all command volumes about individual styles and Japanese regional influences.

But when I consider complexity and interest in texture and flavor — the components that draw me to food of all cultures – I think of maki rolls, those cylinder shaped rice rolls stuffed with fish and vegetables. So my series this week focuses on maki. Maki appeals to neophyte and expert sushi lover alike because maki can be simple and accessible to most palates (think shrimp tempura roll), or complicated and challenging (think unagi roll with a double dose of eel).

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Maxwell's executive chef Matt Colony. Lui Kit Wong/The News Tribune.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Drop-In Dining is a restaurant dining report where reporters drop in unannounced and sample the food, on TNT’s dime, then report what the scene and the food were like. Have a suggestion for a Drop-In Dining feature? E-mail us at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

Maxwell's

WHERE: 454 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma (Walker Building) 253-683-4115

DETAILS: Major credit cards, www.maxwells-tacoma.com

HOURS: 4-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 4 p.m.-midnight Fridays-Saturdays (closed Sundays in winter)

By Craig Sailor
The News Tribune

The scene: Open since last April, Maxwell’s is a dining destination where both the menu and the setting exude loads of style. A dramatic entrance quickly scales to an intimate, inviting dining area. Completely remodeled from its former self, it’s now tastefully decorated in muted tones and well-directed lighting. A bar and lounge area are slightly separated from the main dining area.

People in the kitchen: Matt Colony, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in London, heads Maxwell’s kitchen. A veteran of Gordon Naccarato’s Pacific Grill in Tacoma and Beach House in Purdy, Colony says his style can best be described as rustic. He eschews complicated presentations in favor of comfort food and simple flavors.

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I drove by the Giggling Greek a month or so ago and noticed the downtown Puyallup restaurant was closed on a night when they should have been open. There was a note tacked on the window saying there had been an emergency.

I drove by again, during the December storms –closed again. The streets were crummy, so that explained it. Another drive by after the ice mostly cleared, but they were closed again.

I dropped in again last week and found them open – and surprised at a new, lower-priced menu and a scaled-back Greek approach. Tacos, steak and meatloaf are daily specials. Probably half the menu is still Greek, but items like burgers and nachos also now are offered.

What gives?

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Gloria Martin, owner of Tacoma’s Southern Kitchen, is worried after she dished to local bloggers and news outlets that the television crew from "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" will be filming this weekend at her restaurant. (You might recall the producers of the show called me in November, asking TNT Diner readers for possible locations).

“It’s been really exciting and also kind of confusing,” said Martin. She’s worried that her Sixth Avenue restaurant will be mobbed, which will interfere with the filming of the segment for the Food Network show.

=> Read more!

In case you missed it, John Gillie of our Business team wrote that Fujiya Japanese Restaurant is for sale.

Bill Mertz enjoys a Miller Lite and a conservation with the bar tender during happy hour at Game On Sports Grille on Sixth Ave. S. in Tacoma, January 13, 2009. Janet Jensen/The News Tribune

EDITOR'S NOTE: Here is today's Drop-In Dining, a restaurant dining report published Fridays where reporters drop in unannounced and sample the food, on TNT’s dime, then report what the scene and the food were like. Have a suggestion for a Drop-In Dining feature? E-mail us at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

Game On Sports Grille
Where: 6409 Sixth Ave., Tacoma; 253-460-1400
Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. most nights, closed early when slow
Price range: $-$$ (Entrees under $30)

By Ernest A. Jasmin
ernest.jasmin@thenewstribune.com

I’m a hopelessly addicted NFL junkie. And with the playoffs in full swing, I had the perfect excuse for both scoping out a new sports bar and for spewing out all those color commentary clichés I’ve soaked up from years of vegging out in front of ESPN.

So I dropped in on the new Game On Sports Grille, which kicked off its first season in Tacoma in late 2008 at 6409 Sixth Ave. S. But honestly, this is a restaurant that didn’t bring it’s A game to the big dance.

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Tiffany Adamowski wants you to have your cake and eat it too – with beer.
She and husband Craig, who own the 99 Bottles beer store in Federal Way, will have their second annual Beer & Cake fest Jan. 20 (details on the "read more" button).
Stop rolling your eyes and shaking your head. Beer and cake do so work. So there. I buy it. Tiffany does, too. Customers, however, were skeptical when she hosted the beer and cake pairing/tasting last year.
“Beer? With the cake? Oh my god. Everyone was scoffing at me. They said, ‘I’m not sure about beer with cake.’ By the time they had the hazelnut (Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar), they said I’m never having milk again with my cake,” said Tiffany.

Photo by Drew Perine/The News Tribune

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A few months ago, a reader of this blog asked where he could get a decent gluten-free meal at a South Sound restaurant.

So many of you responded to the post, that we turned the idea into a story in today's SoundLife food section.

We're wondering if you know about any gluten-free restaurants, or restaurants with gluten-free menus, that we haven't written about.

Comment here if you do.

After reading Sue's post on cheese this morning I ran out to chat with the folks at the same wine and cheese shop. They were great. Paz Morris told me about her favorites and pointed to some good cheese for beginners to try.

The cheese case at Vinotique has between 40 and 50 imported cheeses, and a few domestics.

I lamented in my good, bad and ugly list of 2008 that Tacoma needs more cheese stores. TNT Diner reader Mandy Kaplan suggested I pay Vinotique Wine Shop in Lakewood a visit.

Wine shop? With cheese? I'm there.

With a selection that fluctuates between 40 and 50 imported cheeses (and a few domestics), Vinotique caters to cheese enthusiasts. Manchego, aged gouda, aged cheddar, English stilton – the cheese case at Vinotique is intensely interesting. And Paz Morris, co-owner with husband Thom Morris and Christian Rubio, is the woman behind the counter, eager to slice off a sample of whatever you eye in the case.

=> Read more!

In case you missed it, here is a story C.R. Roberts had in yesterday's TNT about the Northwest Regional Barista Competition.

Alex Pond of Fresh Pot in Portland took top honors at the competition, held this weekend at Temple Theater. Kevin Fuller, of Portland's Albina Press, took second. Robbie Britt of Zoka in Seattle took third.

Congrats to Zachary Marvick, who competed in his first coffee competition. Marvick's creations can be found at Satellite and Black Water.

Culinary arts students from Bates Technical College will prepare at least 5,000 hors d’oeuvres for the 2009 Governor’s Inaugural Ball on Wednesday.

They're among the more than 360 chefs, culinary arts students, and others from across the state who are helping feed hungry revelers at the event that rings in Gov. Chris Gregoire's second term.

Bates students will prepare roasted vegetables and Washington apple on endive, Dungeness crab crostini, and chicken-stuffed Yukon golds.

I wrote about the Northwest Regional Barista Challenge earlier this week. It starts this morning at the Temple Theater. If you attend, comment here and let us know what the competition was like. A News Tribune reporter is scheduled to cover the event tomorrow.

Another coffee event happens today. Brad Carpenter of Forza Coffee welcomes Oscar and Francisca Chacon from the Las Lajas coffee growing estate in Costa Rica. The Chacons supply coffee to Forza and will be at the Pearl Street Forza from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. tonight to talk about their farm and coffee, as well as their sustainable farming practices.

Writes Carpenter, "The Chacon family has been producing specialty coffee in the fertile volcanic soil of Alajuela, Costa Rica for over 80 years. ... Over the years Las Lajas has survived the ups and downs of the global coffee market through dedication, determination, and a focus on always producing a high quality product."

Details:

Forza Coffee Visit by Las Lajas Coffee Growers
When: 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. today
Where: Forza Coffee, 2209 N. Pearl St., Tacoma
Info: 253-759-9320

Northwest Regional Barista Competition
When: Today through Sunday. Doors at 9:30 a.m., baristas will compete from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and Saturday. The top six will compete Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The awards ceremony is 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Temple Theater, 47 Saint Helens Ave. Tacoma
Details: Free and open to the public

This is my third and final First Bite report of the week. All will be published in Friday's GO section.

Il Trattoria di Merende Restaurant
Where: 813 Pacific Ave., Tacoma
Phone: 253-722-1993
Web: www.merenderestaurant.com
Menu overview: Flatbreads, full dinners and a small-bites menu.
Price: $-$$(entrees under $30)

The small-bites restaurant may be new, and the owners, new to the restaurant business, but the kitchen is manned by Jeff Bishop, a recognizable toque from around town – formerly of Il Fiasco on Sixth Avenue and Brix 25 in Gig Harbor.

You can go big or small at Merende – a great strategy to attract all kinds of diners. The menu features flatbreads, full dinners and a small-bites menu.

=> Read more!

This is my second First Bite report of the week. Check back tomorrow for a report on Merende. All three First Bites will be printed in this Friday's GO section.

Sumay Fine Indian Cuisine
Where: 12623 Meridian Ave., Puyallup
Phone: 253-770-6276; www.sumaycuisine.com
Menu overview: Solidly northern Indian, heavy on Punjabi dishes.
Price: $ (Entrees under $14)

It's a dining miracle when a maki sushi restaurant AND an Indian restaurant open in the same week in Puyallup. The Puyallup restaurant scene always has been a market ripe for culinary interest. An Indian restaurant, especially an upscale one like Sumay, is exactly what Puyallup’s South Hill has needed.

Sumay is located in the old Noodle Corner Thai restaurant in the same strip mall as a martial arts school (foodie shopping note: Pepe’s, a grocery store that carries Mexican groceries is nearby behind the 7-11). Sumay opened just before Christmas.

=> Read more!

Baristas will brew their finest this week in the ultimate coffee comp – the Northwest Regional Barista Competition, Friday through Sunday at Tacoma’s Temple Theatre (details on the "read more" button).

It will be the first coffee competition for Zachary Marvick, a local artist and barista at Tacoma’s Satellite Coffee. He also brews at Black Water in Tacoma, but for this competition, he’s representing Satellite.

“I just hope to do a good job,” said a Marvick, who has crafted espresso and coffee drinks since 1999.

=> Read more!

For the first week of the New Year, we thought it appropriate to have a week of First Bites.
Here is my first report. Watch this week for reports on Sumay, an upscale Indian restaurant in Puyallup's South Hill, and Merende in downtown Tacoma. Know of a new restaurant someone from the TNT Diner crew should check out? E-mail tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

Sushi World
Where: 729 River Road, Puyallup
Phone: 253-445-5260
Menu overview: Heavy on maki, more than 50 rolls.
Price: $ (rolls and entrees under $14)

A sushi restaurant with a menu of 50-something maki in Puyallup. "Finally." It was my first thought when sitting down at a deserted Sushi Town. The restaurant was on its third day of business when I ate there early last week. The manager told us they are still tweaking things, including the menus.

There just was one thing missing: customers.

I bet it will catch on soon, though, once Puyallup diners find that they can get maki galore.

It’s unusual for Puyallup to land a sushi-centric restaurant – especially one that has no teriyaki on the menu.

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We are planning a week of first bites next week – writing about restaurants that have opened within the last few weeks.

Last week, I ate at Sushi World, a sushi restaurant that opened on River Road in Puyallup last weekend that features a nearly all-maki sushi menu. Also, I visited Sumay, an upscale Indian restaurant that opened last week on Puyallup's South Hill. I also dined at Merende, the small bites Italian eatery that opened Dec. 11 in downtown Tacoma.

Want a nibble? For a preview of each of the first bites we'll publish next week, click "read more" for a first nibble of my first nibbles.

A question: What's opened since Dec. 1 that we should go sample for a first bite report? Your suggestions? Note: the restaurant must have opened since Dec. 1 to meet our "brand new" standard for first-bite reports. If it's new, but over a month old, we may do a Drop-In Dining report later, however.

Please comment away.

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Thinh Nguyen, the owner of Kim Anh, shows off a Vietnamese Crepe at the restaurant. Joe Barrentine/The News Tribune

EDITOR’S NOTE: Drop-In Dining is a restaurant dining report where reporters drop in unannounced and sample the food, on TNT’s dime, then report what the scene and the food was like. Have a suggestion for a Drop-In Dining feature? E-mail us at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

Kim Anh Vietnamese Restaurant
WHERE: 1620 S. Mildred St., Tacoma; 253-460-7200
HOURS: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays (open only until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays), noon-8 p.m. Sundays.
DETAILS: Cash, credit cards and debit cards
PRICE RANGE: $

By Craig Sailor
craig.sailor@thenewstribune.com

When it comes to Asian restaurants, one can get weary of cookie-cutter Chinese, formulaic Thai and the teriyaki joint on every corner. So I often ask servers what sets their restaurant apart from the others. When I broached that question to a Kim Anh server, he told me he didn’t know. “We don’t link to them,” was his response. At first I took his reply for haughtiness but then realized that Kim Anh does things its way and is proud of that, thank you very much.

The scene: In the same strip of businesses that houses I Love Bento and across from Tacoma Community College, the brightly lit eatery has 11 tables that feature ready-to-pour pitchers of hot tea.

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Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Cranberry Glaze and Couscous. Pic by me.

I went in search of harissa this week to make a dish we published in yesterday's food section - pork tenderloin and couscous with cranberry-harissa sauce. It made for a fine New Year's Eve dinner last night.

My Tacoma harissa mission took me to two stores, both with international inventory.

My first stop was Daniah's International Market and Deli on Sixth Avenue (we wrote about Daniah's about three years ago, but I don't think we've revisited). Right there on the second shelf of the grocery section, I found the can of harissa I needed to make the pork dish. And it was bargain priced at $1.49. Harissa, in case you've never tasted it, is a spicy red sauce used in Moroccan and North African cooking.

Even though I had harissa in hand, I was curious about another store where I never have shopped. I was pretty sure they didn't carry harissa, but thought I would pay a visit to the European Deli Romka on Pacific Avenue anyway. I was right, no sign of harissa there – the inventory is centered pretty strictly on European groceries (Eastern and Central European, but no straying to Morocco). But if Ukrainian and Latvian soda pop and Russian cheese is what you seek, this is the store for you.

Click "read more" for the pork-harissa-cranberry recipe, and to see more about the groceries and takeout food I found at each store.

=> Read more!