By Sue Kidd and Craig Sailor

Freighthouse Square is a microcosm of what’s good about the culinary landscape in Tacoma: It’s big on variety. Lots of it.
Gyros, fish and chips, bubble tea, lumpia, fried chicken, bulgogi, curry chicken, burritos, Chicago-style hot dogs and scratch-baked cookies all can be found under one roof.
Save for one chain restaurant – Subway – Freighthouse Square is an incubator for small, family-owned and operated restaurants.
Freighthouse Square restaurants are a sincere reflection of Tacoma – a little big gritty and worn around the edges, but with hard-working people at the core. And there is quality noshing to be found there at fair prices.
As much as there are success stories, there are failures, too. Restaurants come and go: Sushi, Italian, Belgian and German eateries have all cycled through in recent months. The only positive of that failure is there always seems to be something new.
Restaurants thrive there, too. Wendy’s Vietnamese, Mediterranean Palace and Paya Fish and Chips have called Freighthouse home for about 20 years each.

Here, a look at 10 (and a few more) restaurants, all under one giant roof at Freighthouse Square.

Editor's note: This is the third installment of Ten-in-One, where we eat at 10 restaurants grouped in a compact area. Read our South Tacoma Way Ten-in-One report, published last October, and our McKinley Ten-in-One report, published in February.

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Jaime Beltran the owner of Taqueria La Fondita holds a plate of pork tacos in front of his taco truck on the corner of South 38th and South G Streets in Tacoma. Janet Jensen/The News Tribune

Editors note: Come along as we eat our way through the heart of Tacoma’s Mexican food neighborhood in another installment of our 10 restaurants-in-1-mile series where we visit 10 restaurants in a compact area. This week, we eat our way around McKinley and Pacific.

By Sue Kidd and Craig Sailor
sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com
craig.sailor@thenewstribune.com

Over the years, we’ve beaten a well-worn path from The News Tribune headquarters to Mexican eateries, such as Vuelve a la Vida on Pacific Avenue, the taco truck on South 38th Street and the old El Compadre on McKinley Avenue.

After countless burritos we began to notice something: When we said, “Let’s get Mexican!” we always headed to the same places. That’s not to say you can’t get a good south-of-the-border meal elsewhere in our area, but there is a clear concentration of Mexican restaurants in East Tacoma.

For this edition of our 10-in-one restaurant series, we look at Mexican eateries in the area from South 38th to South 56 streets, and from Pacific Avenue to McKinley Avenue. Okay, we had to stretch our 1-mile radius to snag a couple of other restaurants, but we’re hoping you won’t call us on that.

(Read our last installment of Meals by the Mile, the South Tacoma Way edition, published in October)

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Yumi Seo of Nak Won Korean Cuisine in the food court at Paldo World serves lunch to Kimberly Kwon of Lakewood (left) and Amy Lee of Lakewood. Peter Haley / The News Tribune.

Editor's note: Today we launch a new series called 10-in-one. In this series, we'll write quick dining observations of 10 restaurants located in a concentrated area. Today, we take to South Tacoma Way. Future visits include the Pacific/McKinley neighborhood along 38th, Freighthouse Square and Proctor. Have a 10-in-one neighborhood suggestion? E-mail us at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

By Sue Kidd and Craig Sailor
sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com
craig.sailor@thenewstribune.com

It started as a mission for a midday meal and wound up a dining project. We took to South Tacoma Way one September afternoon with a simple mission: What’s for lunch?

For this edition, we chose a section of South Tacoma Way between Highway 512 and the B&I shopping center. This part of town offers a variety of eateries from Korean barbecue to pho to sushi. In these restaurants you’re as likely to sit next to an off-duty performer from Déj Vu (it happened to us twice) as a family out for a weekend meal. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

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