Twice in the past week I’ve ordered Benedicts for breakfast. Twice I have felt like the victim of some traitorious breakfast conspiracy.

Here’s what eggs Benedict is: poached egg, Canadian bacon and English muffin, covered in Hollandaise sauce.

At McMenamins Spar Cafe in Olympia, portobello Benedict included mushrooms, eggs, peppers and Hollandaise. At Affairs in University Place, crab cakes Benedict was crab cakes, poached eggs and Hollandaise.

Both of these breakfasts desperately needed English muffins — to soak up the yolks and excess Hollandaise.

One could argue that the mushrooms and crab cakes were

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Midway through telling a story about a woman who was born a man who was having sex with a man who doesn’t know she’s a man — you know, just another episode of Jerry Springer — the guy at the cafe counter, a friend of the proprietors, asked, “Is anyone back there?”

I was back there.

“Can he hear?”

Yeah, I could hear.

I was having a pancake and coffee in Spanaway. I’d already listened to the guy’s F-bomb barrage about fixing one of his vehicles. Now he was keeping the cafe up to

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Here’s a nagging nut graf from a New York Times story about discrimination in restaurants.

In an industry that relies largely on immigrants, just how difficult is it for workers who don’t speak English as a first language to get ahead? And at what point does hiring someone to achieve a certain look or style in a restaurant turn into racism?

The Times’ story Wednesday coincided with a blog post by Michael Bauer, the restaurant critic at the San Francisco Chronicle, who asked: Do San Francisco restaurants discriminate?

Although I’m Caucasian, I’ve

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Recently, a newsroom colleague asked me whether it was “safe” for her husband to visit Tempest Lounge. I replied, in humor that I’d hoped was soothing, that her husband was more likely to get hit on than shot at.

Tempest Lounge is among the food and beverage establishments that are creating a new reality on Tacoma’s Hilltop.

Tempest’s owners, Denise Tempest and Michelle Douglas, are passing out maps and promoting a Hilltop walking tour to show off what the neighborhood offers.

“The Hilltop is changing all the time and this is just the beginning of what we hope will be more maps with more and diverse business,” Tempest said.

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Three restaurants and a grocery store are on the table in the burgeoning Broadway-St. Helens neighborhood near downtown Tacoma.

My TNT colleague John Gille reports today that an Arizona-based grocer has signed a letter of intent to open a grocery store in a planned $90 million mixed-use development near Sixth and St. Helens avenues, perhaps in summer 2009. The development is also slated to contain three restaurants, several smaller retailers, a hotel, a mix of condominium and apartment units and parking for 600 vehicles.

One South Sound restaurateur who’s in discussions about opening a restaurant in the

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An Ed’s Diner reader writes: "…with all these chefs here you could ask them to publish favorite recipes or discuss cooking techniques?"

I’ll let Todd Wilbur start. Wilbur is a self-taught chef and author of "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2," which deconstructs "amazing clones of famous dishes from America’s favorite restaurant chains."

Here’s Wilbur’s recipe for Original Roadhouse Grill‘s 32-ounce Roadhouse Rita, chosen because the Oregon-based casual saloon chain known for jumbo drinks and barbecued meats just opened in Federal Way, its first location in Washington. Future openings are planned for Lacey and Everett.

I’ll spare us all Applebee’s Tequila Lime Chicken with Mexi-ranch sauce.

In the meantime, what recipes do you want from local chefs? Charlie McManus’ pumpkin ravioli? The Matador’s nachos? Place your requests and I’ll see what they’ll share.

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CORRECTION: I incorrectly credited Margarita Beach Cafe’s blog to Gordon Naccarato. Steve Naccarato is the blogging brother. Ed’s Diner apologizes for the error.

If it seems like everybody and his dishwasher has a blog, well, it’s almost like that. South Sound restaurateur Steve Naccarato blogs under Margarita Beach Café’s banner.

A vintage photo of his brother, Pacific Grill/Beach House at Purdy/Margarita Beach Café chef/co-owner Gordon Naccarato, sporting a quintessentially 1970s mustache is among the blog bits. The post on the whereabouts of former Margarita Beach/Beach House/Pacific Grill executive chef Matt Colony is as skimpy as

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My TNT colleague Dan Voelpel is one IPA closer to his dream of McMenamins in Tacoma.

Today in Olympia, McMenamins, the Portland publicans, opened McMenamins Spar Cafe, after purchasing the 4th Avenue landmark last year.

The Spar’s makeover includes a redone kitchen and the addition of McMenamins’ smallest brewery. Many of the Spar’s original furnishings remain, including the antique tobacco counter that now serves as the back bar, plus several wooden bar stools.

Right now McMenamins Spar Cafe is only brewing Sunflower IPA, using water from the aquifer beneath

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