Spokane Food Blog

Think the west side is only Seattle and Portland? Swallow your pride and give Tacoma a chance; you might be surprised.

Downtown Tacoma is strange. While the city is the size of Spokane, the core feels more urban, buildings wise. This can possibly be attributed to the lack of surface level parking lots, which I am just OK with.

On the flip side, the town feels deserted. Empty. Abandoned. Give Spokane this; you rarely feel alone there anymore, which you couldn’t say was the case just five years ago. I attribute the relatively good selection of restaurants we have downtown to this influx of people. Yes, many prefer to go to The Melting Pot, but to have spots like Mizuna, the .com, and even Neato after the less than stellar years Spokane has seen… Hey, knock on wood, good stuff.

That’s not to say Tacoma is a complete culinary wasteland. Take Pacific Grill for example, a place very much like Mizuna, both inside and out, and not a million miles away in terms of food quality either. I got a perfectly cooked sliced lamb flank in red wine sauce with a goat cheese mash. Awesome. My dining companion, meanwhile, had a filet mignon that looked equally nice.

The only issue with Pacific Grill was the prices. I mean, had Tacoma been New York, then fine, but come on… It’s Tacoma. Go outside of downtown or Old Town, and you’re borderline having bullets whizzing over your head. (Some might call that hyperbole.) For two meals with an appetizer and half a bottle of wine, I would have expected to pay $20-$30 less at a comparable restaurant in Spokane.

Still, you only live once, and you know what they say. “When in Tacoma…”

Recommended Tacoma blogs:

• Pacific Grill’s blog
• Exit133
• Tacoma Sun

I lost my meat-virginity at Luna almost one year ago to a tablespoon of salmon. Ever since then I have not eaten fish.

I went to Latah Bistro last week and ordered my second piece of salmon since childhood, and it was wonderful. The cherry sauce over the fish and vegetables added a great blend to my uneasy feeling about trying fish again. The flavor was so intense my taste buds were blasting off.

Overall, the whole experience was very unusual to me, particularly the complex texture of the fish. I managed to work up to eating about 2oz. Chef David Blaine did an amazing job.

I certainly am adding Latah Bistro to my list of places I am willing to experiment with meat eating again.

Why buy a chocolate bar when you can drink this instead?

When fall kicks off and the darker beers replace the refreshing grip of the hefeweizen, I always kick off the season with Rogue’s Chocolate Stout. Fall can’t start without it.

This is a dark beer, and I truly mean dark. Pitch black. Shine a flashlight on it, and it won’t penetrate the beer. Even the head has a tan tint to it. The color alone is enough to make your Miller Lite enthusiast take to the hills.

And when it enters your mouth. My god. So thick and creamy you might fear it’ll choke you for a second, a choke that would have been the choke of a lifetime. Should the bitter taste of dark chocolate with a hint of caramel-y sweetness be the last thing you taste, then so be it. It’d be a good way to go.

Rogue Chocolate Stout is like a thick winter blanket. It warms you and makes you feel oh so safe. I love it.

Ferrante’s single occupant women’s bathroom should not be missed. A calm feeling surrounds you as you first walk in. Beautifully lit and decorated. Simple objects placed with obvious intentions. Of course it comes fully stocked with all of the essentials. Wash your hands before you dive into your slice of pizza and take a look.

Walking into the market. I discussed my day and unintentionally used the idiom, “running around like a chicken with its head cut off,” to describe my feelings. I stopped. Hum, I am actually at the store to purchase ingredients for my first chicken salad (my second attempt at eating chicken.)

Thinking about the origins of this idiom reduced my enthusiasm to eat chicken – poultry may sometimes run around frenziedly for several minutes after decapitation. Oh well, I was determined to try this American fad: chicken on every salad.

The trend has hit all walks of American restaurants; from the upscale bistros to drive-through McDonald’s. In the past I have ordered the Oriental Chicken Salad without the chicken, or I would go to low quality restaurants and order the Chicken Cesar Salad without the chicken, making sure they were low grade enough to leave the anchovies and fish juice out of the dressing.

Forging ahead I am going to eat a chicken with its head cut off, and make sure it is plated over a nice green salad. Earlier in the day I checked my favorite blog group, *sugar, and found a great fall salad on Yumsugar. Butternut squash and pomegranate with toasted pecans over greens. Yum indeed.

A bit turned off by the plastic wrapped chicken I decided not to meet my meat face to face in its raw form. After the chicken miraculously landed cooked on my salad I skeptically geared up and took a bite. Not bad.

I just might try chicken on a salad again next month.