My colleague C.R. Roberts knows a lot of people in this town, and because a lot of people know him and know where he works, my editors have advised me not to risk being seen with him when I’m eating in public.

I’d like to add one more bit of advice: Anyone who claims to do my job should not do so while sitting next to C.R. Roberts, who watches my back and shares this story:

So I’m at the Hob Nob on Saturday morning. I’m sitting beside two twenty-somebodies and the one next to me orders coffee

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It wouldn’t be the holidays without the gelatinous cod creation lutefisk. Anthony’s HomePort in Gig Harbor is offering South Sound diners their Scandinavian holiday fix through Dec. 31.

Rudy Peterson of Gourmet Whole Foods in Ballard is preparing boiled Alaskan cod lutefisk with cream sauce or drawn butter. It’s $16.95 for adults and comes with chowder and veggies. There’s also a kid’s serving.

Anthony’s HomePort, 8827 Harborview Drive N, Gig Harbor; 253-853-6353.

Have you done all of your Christmas hopping? It’s still cold outside and there are still plenty of winter warmers to be enjoyed.

Doyle’s Public House of Tacoma and Elysian Fields of Seattle will both serve tasty Belgian holiday beers next week.

Doyle’s winter tasting takes place all day Thursday. Here’s what’ll be on tap: Gouden Carolus Noel, Achouffe N’Ice Chouffe, Scaldis Noel, Saison Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux, Grimbergen, Delirium Noel and (if available) Samichlaus.

Elysian Fields’ runs Monday through Saturday. Elysian will pour everything

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It’s not quite Pick Quick and it ain’t Frisko Freeze (a good thing), but there’s a new place to satisfy your old-fashioned burger jones.

12th Street Diner opened Dec. 6 at 4008 S. 12th St. in Tacoma (253-752-8100). There are 16 seats inside and a walk-up counter outside. Its sign says "Burgers, Fries and Shakes." That’s just what I had.

Burgers are thin-patty, drive-in style, served with lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, mayo and mustard. The meat is ground fresh every other day, said Ken Wolfe, one of the owners.

Fries are hand-cut, with some of the skin

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On Tuesday, Tacoma’s Harmon Brewing Co. and Restaurant opens the pasta trough. For $9.95, you can have all the pasta you can eat. You can load up, leave and work up an appetite, and return for more.

"We thought of the free-loader angle," bar manager Bob Casey said. "We wanted to do it for college students, even downtown businessmen. And if we make money selling beer, that’s good."

Depending on how much you eat and how many times you go back, $9.95 could work out to pennies per bite, about the same as The Harmon’s maccaroni

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Dan Voelpel, my colleague who is on the business beat, is beating the drums for creating a brewfest in the South Sound.

“We have a void that needs filling,” Dan writes. “The idea came to me after hearing about the Washington Brewers Guild’s second annual Winter Beer Fest. I drove to Hale’s Ales in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle for the festival last Saturday. I thought the festival experience would inspire ideas for us. My review in a word? Lame-o.”

Some prominent people and associations dig Dan’s let’s-do-it-better-let’s-do-it-right idea.

I dig it, too.

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The family of a man killed in a car wreck involving a drunken driver says a Parkland restaurant helped cause his death by serving the other driver alcohol after he was already drunk. The drunken driver’s blood alcohol was .5 above the legal .8 limit, according to charging documents in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed Wednesday. Attorneys say they’ll seek as much as $8 million in damages. TNT reporter Karen Hucks has the story here.

Sixth Avenue scenesters (and restaurant critics) who crowded Masa in its first two days of operation this week have to wait to eat at Tacoma’s not-your-mama’s-Mexican restaurant. Masa is closed for fine-tuning.

"It’s just for a couple of days," Masa partner Troy Christian told me this morning. "We have some bugs to work out. We’re perfectionists."

Bug No. 1 was the first thing I noticed when I sat down in the dining room: It was pretty dark in places. I had trouble reading the menu in the shadows where I was seated.

"It caused quite a

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