Here is my third dispatch from the land of sandwiches. I’ve been exploring new sandwich shops in Tacoma and Bonney Lake. Have a new sandwich shop you want me to scope for you? E-mail tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

The sched:

Sept. 25: Jimmy John’s in Tacoma

Sept. 29: Jersey Mike’s in Bonney Lake

Today: Puccini’s Venetian Subs in Bonney Lake

Thursday: Midtown Deli & Espresso in Tacoma

Now for today’s offering: Puccini’s Venetian Subs

The scoop: What? Have I stumbled into Subway? I thought this restaurant was an independently owned outfit? Or at least that’s

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Here is another dispatch from the land of sandwiches. I’ve been exploring new sandwich shops in Tacoma and Bonney Lake. This is day two of my four-day sandwich inquest. Have a new sandwich shop you want me to scope for you? E-mail tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

The sched:

Sept. 25: Jimmy John’s in Tacoma

Today: Jersey Mike’s in Bonney Lake

Tuesday: Puccini’s Venetian Subs in Bonney Lake

Thursday: Midtown Deli & Espresso in Tacoma

Now for today’s offering: Jersey Mike’s Subs

The scoop: Clean, friendly chain sandwich shop. It doesn’t appear they are

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Editor’s note: Here is today’s dining report. Drop-In Dining is a report about a new or new-to-us restaurant published in the TNT’s Friday GO section. Reporters drop in unannounced and sample the food, on the TNT’s dime, then report to you what the scene and food was like. Have a suggestion for a drop-in dining feature? E-mail us at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

The Poppy Seed Cafe

Where: 616 Regents Blvd., Fircrest; 253-460-4101

Hours: 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays

Price Range: $ (entrees under $14)

By Jeffrey P. Mayor

jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com

The scene: The

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I’m back from a monster illness that kept me out of the SoundLife pod for the last several days. I ate copious amounts of soup while I was down for the count. So what pairs well with soup? Try sandwiches.

Yes, for you dear readers, I scouted sandwiches at four new sandwich joints in Tacoma and Bonney Lake. I’ll post over the next several days what I found

The sched:

Today: Jimmy John’s in Tacoma

Monday: Jersey Mike’s in Bonney Lake

Tuesday: Puccini’s Venetian Subs in Bonney Lake

Thursday: Midtown

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I love being in the right place at the right time. Especially when the right place smells like coffee beans.

The right time was Tuesday afternoon at Tacoma’s Satellite Coffee Co. As I slurped my Americano, a gray Stumptown Coffee van pulled up and out clamored a dozen coffee farmers from Costa Rica.

Stumptown, the revered Portland coffee roaster, organizes its “meet the producers” events a few times a year, says Satellite owner Pat Brown. Satellite, in the cat-bird seat above Wright Park at Division and North I Street, is the only Stumptown purveyor between Seattle and

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Editor’s note: Here is today’s dining report. Drop-In Dining is a report about a new or new-to-us restaurant published in the TNT’s Friday GO section. Reporters drop in unannounced and sample the food, on the TNT’s dime, then report to you what the scene and food was like. Have a suggestion for a drop-in dining feature? E-mail us at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

Cork! Wine Bar

Where: 3012 Sixth Ave., Tacoma; 253-212-1492; www.corkwinebars.com

Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 4 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday hours are listed as "4 p.m. to close."

Price Range: $ (under $14)

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Geoff from Tacoma wrote us to ask what restaurant has the best breakfast burrito in the area. Now be warned — Geoff and I both worked in New Mexico for a while, so we’ve got high expectations of the early-morning hangover cure.

TNT Diner reader Olemag e-mailed the Diner crew last week and asked us to look into a newish African restaurant called Nelshil in University Place.

So of course I dutifully went to dine there Saturday. (Yes, indeed, our TNT Diner bellies are at your disposal. Make a note of it.)

The restaurant is cute and sweet in a mom-and-pop sort of way. I loved the black and white cotton tablecloths and light pink walls – a really adorable place. It also was, sadly, empty on a Saturday night.

The

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