Seattle’s Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant will prepare and serve African food today at the University of Washington Tacoma as part of Black History Month. The event — 12:45 to 2 p.m. and 6:45 to 8 p.m.– is free for UWT students and $3 for non-students.

Food will be served in the Mattress Factory Building, Room 153. Fitting, since injera, the spongy-sour Ethiopian flat bread that serves as plate, bread and utensil, fills me up and makes me sleepy. In a good way.

kenshannon3 writes in The You Plate Special:

Is there a restaurant out there with a decent children’s menu? My daughter, who is 9, has gone far beyond grilled cheese and corn dog bites (she would actually prefer sushi or grilled salmon). I am sure other children would also like to explore more interesting foods as well, but the portions on the adult menu are too large, not to mention the larger price. Most restaurants are reluctant best, to allow half orders, and charge for shared plates. Are there any places out there with a menu

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Journalist Hunter S. Thompson paid his final tab two years ago today, in his kitchen. Here’s a quasi-local remembrance, thanks to South Sound chef Gordon Naccarato, who recalls feasting his eyes upon Thompson’s addled acrobatics in his own Aspen restaurant years ago:

To my horror I saw a male customer doing somersaults — one after the other — throughout the dining room.

Even more amazing than that — I noticed my manager standing in the dining room, watching and doing nothing.

I ran up to him and asked, “What in the

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Doggone, that was good dim sum.

I pigged, ducked and goosed out on dim sum in Richmond, B.C., recently. If you don’t read Chinese, here’s what I ate:

Braised duck webs with sea cucumber

Steamed spare ribs with preserved vegetables

Braised pork rind and fish balls in curry sauce

Baked BBQ pork pastry

Sesame cake

Steamed beef rice rolls

Steamed scallops and pea tips rice rolls

Salty fish and

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The proprietor of Proctor’s Rosewood Cafe is still planning a pub. Just not at South Union and South 13th.

“We have pulled out of the project on 13th and Union,” Barry Watson said. “Unfortunately, the sub-divided space was just not going to meet our needs for the long haul. It was a very difficult and disappointing decision. We are very actively seeking a new location for the pub.”

Need space, Barry? There’s plenty in the former Columbia/Heidelberg brewery on C Street. But I digress…

My real plea today is this: Restaurant people, please share the

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I cleaned out my files and found something I thought I’d lost. I wrote it at Fumy’s Teriyaki in Sacramento. Fumy had the softest hands of any man I’d known who worked with his hands. Fumy always asked, “Gravy on the rice?” One day Fumy’s granddaughter was in the restaurant …

she giggles & clears

“these are heavy”

bottles of

empty sapporos

in each

tiny hand



waddling

singing

happily

mumbling

to grandpa’s kitchen



waitressing’s

a pretty cool gig

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CORRECTION 2/21: I incorrectly reported the location of this new “smoking bar.” My original post stated the “smoking bar” was opening where a defunct bar and grill with a similar name resides.



UPDATE 2/21: North Point Bar & Grill is now looking for cocktail waitresses.

If you see smoke at 6210 29th St. NE in Tacoma, don’t call the fire department. Call all your cancer-craving buddies.

A “smoking bar” is about to fire up at that address. Here’s North Point Bar & Grill’s job ad on

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The pride of my cookbook collection.

It’s packing days at Casa Murrieta. Asbestos removal for the downstairs remodel starts Monday. My office — computer, guitar, shotgun, books, Oly keg — is going into storage.

I packed 74 food books this morning — cookbooks, wine books, baking books, cake decorating books and one that contains nothing but recipes for dog treats. All the out-dated Zagat guides? They make great kindling.

Some, like “Larousse

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