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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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Next week, I won't be blogging much, but I've invited guest bloggers from local high schools to post on the TNT Diner.
From this Friday to next Friday, I'll be teaching and mentoring student journalists from Puyallup, Gig Harbor and Auburn at Seattle University's Summer Journalism Workshop. I'll be working with students to write stories we'll publish in the SoundLife and news sections. Students also are interested in learning how to write blog posts. I already have one student interested in writing for the TNT Diner blog. She wants to write a chef Q&A, or write a restaurant profile of some kind.
Question: Which chef would you want the student to interview? Any suggestions? Any chefs want to volunteer to have a student interview them? It's great training for high school journalists -- so if you're a willing participant, please email me at sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com or comment here.
Chilled blueberry soup from Babblin' Babs. Photo courtesy of William Mueller.
Blueberry season will be here shortly, but if you can't wait, pick up a bag of frozen blueberries at Terry's Berries on River Road. (Berry caveat: I also saw she was selling fresh strawberries at the Terry's Berries booth Saturday morning at the Sunrise Village Puyallup Farmers Market.)
I picked up some frozen blueberries a few weeks ago, the last time I was at the farm store at Terry's Berries. They are sitting in my freezer, still, which is a small miracle they haven't yet been devoured. I wasn't sure what to make with the blueberries until I heard what Chef William Mueller of Babblin' Babs in Proctor served at the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra dinner Saturday night – chilled blueberry soup. The farm-themed dinner paired chefs with local farmers. Mueller and Terry's Berries were a match made in blueberry heaven. Click the read more button for details on how to get blueberries from Terry's Berries, and for Mueller's blueberry soup recipe.
The (coffee) buzz around the newsroom and blogosphere today is the unexpected closure of Tacoma's Black Water coffee, which recently moved to the St. Helens neighborhood.
TNT business reporter C.R. Roberts asks readers here where they will go for their coffee fix. Visit this thread to spread the buzz about places that can help fill the void Black Water leaves. I didn't get to Black Water more than once or twice a month, it was on the wrong side of town for my morning coffee fix. I've always been and always will be a devotee of Commencement Bay Coffee Company – mostly because of its proximity to the News Tribune office (it's at 25th and Jefferson, just down the hill), but also because I like their roasts and they serve a mean quiche. There's always a table open after the early morning rush and they have free wi-fi. The location is odd, but if you're in that part of town, it's a great morning stop.
Things I will miss about my occasional trips to Black Water: rich coffee that never tasted over-extracted, and Rachel, the owner who I remember fondly because of her gracious smile. I always wanted to sit down and clack-clack-clack on the manual typewriters at the old Black Water location. I'm fond of the old relics, and have an old Olympia on my desk here at work (if I could blog from it, I'd use it more).
Sorry to see you go Black Water.
Pacific Grill's happy hour menu includes grilled oysters with pancetta, left, meat candy, top, and cheeseburger sliders with garlic fries. Photo by Janet Jensen/The News Tribune.
Let's end our week a little more happy, shall we?
Earlier this week, I took you on a tour of El Gaucho's happy hour. Yesterday, I wrote about Merende. Today, I offer you a report of happy hours at three more Tacoma restaurants that serve noshable eats at bargain bar prices: Pacific Grill, Stanley & Seafort's and Duke's on Ruston.
Don’t think of happy hour as a time to swill the drink of your choice. Think of it as a time to graze. Cheaply.
Here, then, a look at happy houring on the cheap...
The hummus dip at Merende.
Here's another dose of happy hour. Today, my happy hour stop is Merende. Yesterday, I toured El Gaucho's happy hour menu. Tomorrow, come back for thoughts on happy hours at Pacific Grill, Stanley & Seafort's and Duke's.
Now for today's offering....
Il Trattoria di Merende
Five dollars makes me happy at Merende. It’s all I need – five bucks – to enjoy a plate of hummus with pita, or a helping of mushroom risotto, from the "everything five bucks" happy hour menu at Merende. I appreciate a menu full of $5 options. Here’s what I ate:
The Bates Technical College’s Culinary Arts program will open its first ever student-run fine dining service June 16 at the downtown campus.
Roger Knapp, a culinary arts instructor at Bates, said the fine dining service will be one more level of training students need. He’s tweaking the menu, but entrees will include things like grilled sea scallops, stuffed lamb chops and wild salmon. Knapp described the menu as classic cuisine with a modern twist. A sample menu is included below.
“We’re making it like a real restaurant,” he said. “Students will be out front, taking orders.”
The El Gaucho burger, priced $8 on the happy hour menu. Photo by Peter Haley/The News Tribune.
It’s happy hour week at the TNT Diner blog. Why? Because we can all use a dose of happy. I’ll have reports of five happy hours around town this week. Today, read about El Gaucho. Tomorrow, you'll hear about Merende. Friday, you can read about Pacific Grill, Stanley & Seafort’s and Duke’s.
Now for today’s offering….
El Gaucho
El Gaucho’s happy hour usually makes me happy as a clam. Or at least that was the case before I sampled El Gaucho's clams. I’ve given them my designation as “Tacoma’s grittiest.” But the sand-laden clams at El Gaucho were just one of a few problems with their happy hour eats. Mostly happy hour there is a guaranteed good deal, and well executed - and the snazzy appeal of the deeply sunken dining room, a handsome room, tuxedoed servers and live piano music makes it a must-stop for any late night wooing you might need to do. Happy hour bar eats are half off during designated hours. A taste of what I sampled during two happy hour visits:
I'm just back from a Portland cheese eating tour. I've returned with a cheeseworthy appreciation for Oregon artisinal cheese. One of my favorite stops was a cheese shop called Steve's in a small neighborhood in Northwest Portland. I also developed a major addiction to Juniper Grove chevre and Willamette Valley Cheese Co. smoked fontina. I'll be writing more about Oregon cheese later in the summer. Stay tuned.
Now that I'm back from my cheesy detour, I thought I'd do a quick check-in on what's opened, or opening soon. Let's take a look, shall we?
Lisa Owen, owner of The Mark restaurant in downtown Olympia. (Steve Bloom/The Olympian)
By Craig Sailor
The News Tribune
The scene: Four dining rooms create intimate spaces in this richly appointed restaurant in downtown Olympia. The front room, combined with the bar, is paneled with dark grained wood, giving it a swanky old club feel. Black leather booths contrast with leopard print chairs. Framed work by talented Olympia paper artist Nikki McClure hangs on the walls. A spacious, plant-filled outdoor dining area at the rear of the establishment makes for a convivial dining experience on nice days.
People in the kitchen: Owner Lisa Owen is the driving force behind the 8-year-old restaurant. Owen says she strives for a balance between health and decadence in the design of her menu, which has a decidedly Italian streak. That influence comes from the formative year Owen lived in Italy and her subsequent stateside stints in several Italian restaurants.
A consultation with
Seattle chef Tom Douglas persuaded Owen to install a wood-fired grill. “It keeps (the food) lean and clean and gives it a lovely flavor. I can’t imagine cooking meat otherwise,” she says.
The food: Owen’s philosophy is based on simple, high-quality, locally produced ingredients – and organic when possible. “I want to know where and how the food was produced,” she says.
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.
Over at the GO Arts blog I have post up about The Green Spot, a new tea house on Bridgeport Way. It's having its grand opening Saturday.
