I've received a query that I can't answer, so I'm throwing it out to all of you.

A TNT reader grew up in the Midwest. At Mexican restaurants there, white queso sauce was everywhere. (It does make a tasty complement to chips.) Out here, she can't find it.

Any ideas?

A tall order for Tall Ship sailors: Pizza delivery.

My colleague Kathleen Merryman has some hungry Tall Ships sailors on her hands. They'll be in Tacoma next month. They'll probably want pizza. Merryman recently sailed aboard The Eagle. She noted sailors' struggles to get pizza delivered in Astoria, Ore.:

... other cadets in uniform shared pizza parlor flyers. The dialed their cell phones and tried to negotiate to have pies delivered to the city dock. It was surprisingly frustrating. They were assigned to the ship for the evening. They could not just wander off in search of a Hawaiian with extra Canadian bacon.

“Pizza is a big thing cadets are fans of,” [one sailor] said. “We don’t get it on ship.”

Within blocks of where The Eagle will dock on the Foss Waterway for Tall Ships week are a handful of pizzerias and restaurants that make pizza: Here are some, in alphabetical order: Abella's, Alfred's, The Harmon, The Hub, The Rock. All of these are within walking distance.

But, as Merryman noted, logistics will be a problem:

"When they dock in Tacoma, they said, it would be a fine thing to have great pizza readily available, a great thing to allow pizza delivery people access to the ship."

Some lucky sailors will get to leave their ships. Others will be bound to ship-board duty. Merryman asked me to come up with a list of places from downtown Tacoma to the Dome district to Sixth Avenue where young sailors on budgets (ages 18-20, mostly) can enjoy their time in port. I'm working on my list. Got any suggestions for young sailors?

Hey, pizza delivery lady: Some Tall Ships sailors want to meet you.

Breakfast, at Alfred's Cafe.

Over in The You Plate Special, Ed's Diner regular cking9900 asks:

Ed, Will you do a write up or start a blog on places around town for Breakfast and/or brunch? Will be entertaining out-of-town company soon.

I wrote an A-to-Z round-up of breakfast favorites in January. That one took about a month's worth of morning-meal research, so I'm not sure I'll make cking9900's out-of-town-guest deadline.

I can't vouch for everything on the menu, but in a first bite of Carr's Restaurant in Lakewood last month, I was impressed with the beautifully browned hash browns, along with the chunky sausage gravy that smothered golden chicken-fried steak. The few times I've had it, Paddy Coyne's toast with orange butter brightened my mornings.

Got any recommendations for cking9900? I'll gladly check them out and let you know what I think.

Mmmmmm, seafood.

I'm researching a GOEAT cover story about great seafood meals in the South Sound.

I'm curious to know:

Who makes your favorite salmon entree?

How about halibut?

Or any other seafood dish.

Oysters. Clams. Mussels.

Chowder. Cioppino.

You name it.

I welcome your recomendations from Anthony's to Xinh's.

Ed: Since tiny family owned restaurants are both our passions, let me recommend ...

I've got an e-mail thing going on with an elected state official who prefers not to make culinary comments in public forums. I don't vote for him, but I respect his tastes.

So, in the interest of democracy, I'm asking you to lobby for your favorite restaurants. If you recommend interesting places I haven't been, I'll check them out and publish my reviews side-by-side with your comments.

Try out our new restaurant guide

• Search location, cuisine and more
• Find my recommendations
• Write your own reviews and star ratings

Like the South Sound's dining scene itself, this restaurant guide is evolving. Know of a restaurant that's not in there? Tell us. Got technical questions about the database? Our interactive staff is standing by to answer questions. Got questions or comments about the reviews themselves? I'll answer what I can. Enjoy, and happy eating.

Do you know this guy? Pierce County prosecutors issued a warrant for Jack Hannah's arrest on two counts of first-degree robbery at fast-food restaurants.

You may work in a fast-food joint. You may frequent fast-food joints. Help my fellow TNT bloggers (and law enforcement) find the perp who's robbed a Subway, a Dairy Queen and other fast-food joints in Pierce and King counties.

While we're getting all law-and-order: Do you work in the food business? Have you ever been robbed?

Diners: Have you had your purse or other valuables stolen at a restaurant?

Are there any cops here on an Ed's Diner donut break? What incidents and rates of crime in restaurants will I find when I crunch law-enforcement databases?

The former St. Helens Cafe will become ... St. Harmon's? St. Helens Speakeasy?

Pat Nagle said he doesn't know. Nagle, the restaurant-and-real-estate guy who owns the Harmon brewpub on Tacoma's Pacific Avenue, is the guy who's bailing out St. Helens Cafe and building out a "neighborhood restaurant" in the 6,000-square-foot former fish-and-chippery above Doyle's Public House and Stadium Bistro.

From Nagle, we know this much:

Nagle likes Tom Douglas' seriously good pizza at Serious Pie. He'll install a fiery pizza oven.

He wants to do breakfast.

He wants to do sit-down dining.

He foresees doing delivery in the neighborhood. He wants to do take-out, too.

He wants to "warm up" the cavernous space.

He said he'll install flat-panel TVs.

He said it won't be a sports bar.

He said there'll be a bike rack out front.

He wants to expand the bar and do 25-30 percent beer-and-liquor business.

Harmon brewmaster Mike Davis' beers will be served at the new place.

Nagle said he doesn't have a name in mind.

That's where you come in:

Name Nagle's New Neighborhood Restaurant

Please leave your suggestions in the comments section. It's free to enter. There's nothing to win.

I'm not sure if this is the dog wagging the tail or what, but: I'm looking for 2-for-1 specials, buy-one-get-something-free deals and the like. Eligible promotion dates: Feb. 29, 2008 through ... as long as you can afford to offer the deal. My request is tied to a Leap Year edition of the GO section. We get an extra day this year, so I'm looking for extra things. Promotions that start on Leap Day, Feb. 29. Not a day before, please.

One of Tacoma's breweries gone by.

Did you work for one of the major breweries in the Puget Sound? Columbia/Heidelberg in Tacoma? Olympia in Tumwater? Rainier in Seattle?

Do you know someone who worked for one of those breweries?

I'd like to talk with you or them.

I'm researching a story/oral history/multimedia shebang about ghost breweries of the Puget Sound before one of them gets torn down to make way for Holiday Inn.

If you've got stories to share (or just know someone with stories to share) about working for Columbia/Heidelberg, Olympia or Rainier, please contact me by e-mail (ed.murrieta@thenewstribune.com) or by telephone (253-597-8678).

Driving around, I see of signs of "coming soon" that seem to take forever to come together. I also see a lot of signs of "come and gone."

Did you ever wonder what happened to that restaurant that abruptly closed? What about that one that never opened? What's going on inside that one that's taking forever?

When I worked as a fixer-cum-gofer for Restaurant Ray, I had a 20-point list tacked to a wall in my office. It listed a bunch of things that needed to happen in order to start a restaurant. The first dozen or more tasks involved permits, red tape and contractors.

So here's what I'm after today: I want stories from restaurateurs, bar owners, soup kitchen magicians, five-star pizza pushers, anyone who's opened a place, closed a place, canceled plans for a place, or is working hard, hungry and happily on places to eat and drink in the South Sound.

What's the funniest, most frustrating or most rewarding moment or experience in opening (or closing) an establishment?

What hurdles arose when the name you chose for your new eatery/drinkery turned out to be spoken for?

State liquor law says you must brew beer in your new place. How micro will microbrewery be?

Did you scupper a bistro in the 'burbs because the grease trap that the county required would have eaten too much of your budget?

What did you do when you inherited 18 pounds of deep-fried chicken grease from the previous tenant?

Why is your French bistro still without signage on the building?

Inquiring diners want to know. I wouldn't mind knowing.

Restaurant folk, your blog is ready. May I start you with a link to Ed's Diner comment section?

Everyone should read about what's going on at Heads Up Brewing, a microbrewery/brew-on-premises/beer geek clubhouse in Silverdale, in the words of ale conner Ted Farmer. Click below.

=> Read more!

Would you like to help make the News Tribune's GO section even better? We're looking for focus group participants.

Do you live in Pierce County? Do you read GO? Are you between the ages of 18 and 35? Even better, but all ages are welcome to participate.

We'll ask you questions about what you like and want from GO. One question I'm itching to ask is, "Do star ratings in restaurant reviews mean anything to you?"

Contact entertainment editor Craig Sailor.

And while I've got the call out for help, please share any info you come across about restaurants that are open Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's day.

Some of you already have sent your info. I'll publish a list in the GO section in early December, to give diners time to make reservations.

Thanks.