The Ritchies, Allison, Janet, Meredith and Mike dig in to Argentine-influenced cuisine at Asado.(Peter Haley/The News Tribune/2006)

This just in from TNT editorial writer Cheryl Tucker:
 

Here's a great addition to lunchtime options on Sixth Avenue: Asasdo.
 
Starting Monday, Asado will serve lunch. According to bartender Will, it's the first time the restaurant has offered lunch service.
 
I found this out totally by serendipity Friday.  With the day off and temps forecast for the high 70s, I thought I'd see who was serving open-air lunch on Sixth Avenue. A parking spot magically materialized near Asado, and I noticed the front windows wide open.
 
Wandering in, I was told that Asado was having a reservations-only free lunch (except for alcohol) as a dry run for Monday's real start to lunch service, but that clueless drop-ins like myself would be accommodated.
 
My dumb luck translated into an excellent lunch: grilled prawn skewer on poblano polenta with chimichurri sauce. And Will fixes a great Caipirinha (a South American cocktail made of cachaca, lime, sugar and club soda). His secret, which he happily divulged, is a brown sugar/molasses mixture instead of regular sugar. That gives the usually colorless drink a nice amber hue.
 
The skewers are also available at happy hour (2:30 to 6). I'll be back for  that, and I'd also like to try the fish, beef and lamb sliders. The rest of the lunch menu looks tempting, too.

Chef Andy Kenser of HG Bistro in Puyallup offers the Halibut Bijoux-- broiled halibut filet topped with a cherry compote and lemon parsley oil over arugua, served with mashed potatoes. (Peter Haley / The News Tribune)

By Craig Hill
The News Tribune

The locals call it The Goose, but it seems more like the ugly duckling.

Not because the HG Bistro is ugly, thanks to its Tuscan style décor it's anything but.

However, sitting in front of a concrete factory and next to a bowling alley, the restaurant with a gourmet menu couldn't be any more out of place.

"We do surprise people when they come in here," owner Tim Hall said. "But that's what we want to do. We want them to forget where they are and enjoy the experience."

The restaurant is steeped in more than 40 years of Hall's family history.

It started in 1968 when his grandfather purchased the concrete factory. In the early '70s, his grandmother, Marion Pattee, turned the building that's now the HG Bistro into a fireplace shop.

In the '80s, Carolyn Hall, Tim's mom, turned the fireplace shop into the Hungry Goose Eatery, named for the geese that use to flock to the field across the street. The gift and sandwich shop quickly became a local hangout.

Hall took over as manager in 1998 and when his mom passed the company to him in 2005, he decided to convert the popular shop into a restaurant.

The change has paid off. Seafood, steak, creative presentation and live music on weekends has once again made the Goose the place to be in Puyallup.

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