I’m sure longtime locals have fonder and more disturbing memories of The Olde Shipwreck, the Tideflats roadhouse that could be our next Kalakala.

I’ve only been in Tacoma for two years. I visited the Shipwreck about a half dozen times, including ill-fated prime rib and wet T-shirt nights.

Here’s what I remember best about The Olde Shipwreck, from my mental notebook of Jan. 1, 2005:

I walked up to the bar and ordered a burger, a Reuben and a chicken sandwich with fries.

The lady who took my order was busy eating

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21 Commerce, the downtown Tacoma martini bar and restaurant that was purchased last month by the folks who own Maggie O’Toole’s in Lakewood, will serve lunch six days a week beginning Oct. 11.

Lunch hours will be 11 a.m. -3 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. 21 Commerce’s new hours will be 11 a.m. -2 a.m. Mondays-Saturdays.

General manager Bryce Schierenbeck says chef Donnie Wong’s lunch menu will be Asian fusion with a hint of Mediterranean .

21 Commerce

2106 Pacific Ave., Tacoma 253-272-6278

www.21martinis.com

Three south King County residents are among 15 finalists who will vie for a $100,000 grand prize in Southern Living magazine’s Southern Living Cook-Off, the largest annual recipe contest in the United States.

Bryan Thomas of Kent, Maureen Tischue of Kent and Christie Katona of Renton will compete in Charleston, S.C., on Oct. 5.

Thomas entered his Caramel Macchiato Cheesecake With Caramel Sauce. Tischue and Katona entered Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls.

In a Southern Living press release, Thomas said he developed an appreciation of cooking from his mother at a young age, but she didn’t

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Morton’s The Steakhouse will host nationwide interactive dinners featuring four courses and a live performance by jazzman Wynton Marsalis Oct. 6-7.

In what Morton’s is billing as the first of its kind in the restaurant industry, Marsalis shows will be beamed in high-definition to Morton’s private dining rooms via Velocity Broadcasting‘s satellite network. Expect 108-inch high-def screens and surround sound. Morton’s private dining rooms seat 40 people each.

Tickets are $250 and include Marsalis’ performance; dinner and cocktails; an HD-DVD of the live performance, numbered & signed by Marsalis; and the opportunity to directly

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I spent 55 cents more on coffee last week, thanks to rising organic milk prices. A double Americano at my favorite coffee house rose to $1.47, with tax, from $1.36.

“Organic milk is expensive,” said Blair Thompson of the Washington State Dairy Council. “It’s up twice of what regular milk is.”

According to dairy council stats, one gallon of organic milk costs an average of $6.57 in the Tacoma-Seattle market, compared with $3.28 for all other milk products sold hereabouts. Non-organic milk prices are down: In 2002, an organic gallon cost $6.42; all other milk cost $3.65.

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My dead-fly-on-a-beer-bottle shopping trip at Metropolitan Market today did yield two tasty endings:

Six-packs of New Belgium beer are on sale for $6.49, a savings of $2.50; and I learned Metropolitan Market sells salumi, pancetta, finnocchiona, oregano salami and mole salami made in Armandino Batali’s cured-meat nirvana, Salumi in Seattle.

At Metropolitan Market, all Salumi pork products are $19.99 a pound — slightly more than ordering ordering them from Salumi.

Whatever the cost, mole salami was tongue-taking: a log of pork innoculated with chocolate, the smoky bite of ancho and chipotle

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PranQster, a Belgian-style golden ale from California’s North Coast Brewing Co., boasts “unique flavoring elements.” I’m pretty certain that doesn’t refer to dead flies.

Metropolitan Market claims it has “everything you need to cook and eat well.”

I’m sure the store doesn’t count dead flies on beer bottles among its bounty.

I found a fly on a bottle of PranQster at Metropolitan Market in Dash Point today. There was something sticky

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I wasn’t too impressed with the breaded-and-fried pork cutlets at Freight Haus German Corner — Hawaiian schnitzel with pineapple and cheese? Come now.

But Freight Haus derailed my general cynicism by giving me $1.75. No, the restaurant didn’t pay me to eat there (that would be unethical, althought not unheard of in this profession).

The restaurant refunded me the cost of what I was charged when I had to withdraw cash from Freight House Square’s money-sucking ATM.

I’d expected the convenience of using a credit card. Freight Haus doesn’t accept credit or debit cards. (those Visa

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