I got an e-mail from Gordon Naccarato, owner of Pacific Grill, announcing he’s hired Ian Thompson, formerly of Asado and El Gaucho, to be the newest executive chef at Pacific Grill.

Naccarato told TNT Diner readers a few weeks ago that Jason Moses would replace Aaron Valimont, who left to work at Oceanaire in Seattle. Moses, who was the sous chef at Pacific Grill before briefly becoming executive chef a few weeks ago, has left the restaurant for personal reasons.

Ian Thompson, former chef at Asado and El Gaucho, will join the kitchen at Pacific Grill.

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Pictured here are Pat and Kim Nicholl, owners of Amici in Graham. Photo by Joe Barrentine/The News Tribune

EDITOR’S NOTE: Drop-In Dining is a restaurant dining report where reporters drop in unannounced and sample the food, on TNT’s dime, then report what the scene and the food were like. Have a suggestion for a Drop-In Dining feature? E-mail us at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

Amici Italian Eatery
Where: 9807 224th St. E., No. 100, Graham
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays
Price range: $-$$ Entrees up to $24
Contact: 253-847-1500, www.iloveamici.com

By Craig Hill
craig.hill@thenewstribune.com

It’s probably a safe bet that Graham is one of the few places in the Northwest where you can find Italian cuisine with a taste of Alaska.

At Amici Italian Eatery, tucked away in the Graham Town Center shopping plaza, you’ll find everything from brick oven pizza to pasta to prime rib to fish and chips.

That’s right, fish and chips.

"I know, fish and chips isn’t Italian," owner Pat Nicholl said. "But there’s a reason we serve it."

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My post from Tuesday about Chef William Mueller’s Guinness ice cream just wasn’t enough Guinness for the week, I don’t think. Now I’ve got a recipe for a Guinness-based Irish Stew that will be served at Primo Grill and Crown Bar for St. Patrick’s Day events Tuesday at both venues.

At Crown and Primo, both owned by Charlie McManus, a beef and potato stew powered by Guinness will be featured on the menu — his mother’s recipe. Click “read more” to learn how to make it at home.

At Crown, which McManus says was inspired by the Crown Bar in his hometown of Belfast, McManus will serve shepherd’s pie, oysters on the half shell, pints of Guinness and a selection of top-shelf whiskey, including Powers, Jameson and Redbreast 12. At his restaurant Primo, McManus will serve Guinness braised lamb shanks, his mother’s Irish stew, and more.

WHERE:
Primo Grill: 601 S. Pine St., Tacoma; 253-383-7000
Crown Bar: 2705 6th Ave., Tacoma; 253-272-4177

Know of any other restaurants hosting St. Patrick’s Day events? Please comment here, or e-mail me at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com. Send recipes, too, I’ll post them if I get them.

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The new World Café in Puyallup’s South Hill is a dual-purpose food destination. For the drive-by eater, it’s a fast, casual café with a limited menu of wraps, soups, salads, a few grain-based entrees, and a small breakfast menu of oatmeal, paninis and nutritious pastries. For the time-pressed cook (aka my fellow Puyallup moms), the cafe is a pickup place for Day By Day Gourmet, a meals ready business where frozen dinners can be picked up and stashed in a freezer until dinner is needed.

The company’s mantra is healthy food – nutritious ingredients, prepared with a nod to ethnic flavors. And the concept is helped along by a Northwest healthy eats pioneer – former public television cooking host Graham Kerr, who helped develop the menu (other credentialed culinary professionals also helped with the concept, check the website for details).

Shown here: A Thai chicken wrap, called a trumpette, comes on a sundried tomato tortilla with a smear of garlic scented bean spread, coconut, curry and cilantro marinated chicken and fresh greens inside, and on the side.

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Chef William Mueller’s Guinness ice cream combines the stout beer with cream, sugar and vanilla. Photo by Jeremy Harrison/The News Tribune

You have to be a gutsy chef to serve your diners something like Guinness ice cream. Gutsy is a good description for Chef William Mueller, who owns Babblin’ Babs Bistro in Proctor with wife Shannon.

Mueller is the chef who last year gave chocolate covered bacon a shot, after all. Last St. Patrick’s Day, he served the Guinness ice cream.

I could see how an ice cream made with a stout beer like Guinness could work. A bitter beer, mixed with rich cream and sweetened with sugar, is akin to a popular ice cream that also employs a bitter ingredient as a foundation – coffee ice cream. But a problem with using a bitter flavor base is achieving balance between bitter and sweet. Ice cream with a bitter bite doesn’t suit most palates.

I asked Mueller for a recipe, and I tested it over the weekend.

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Lim Po An and Jurirut Krong Krajonsuk, from left, the owners of Oriental Noodle and Grill Thai Cuisine hold a bowl of Tom Yum Noodles one of many Thai dishes available at the Tacoma restaurant. Janet Jensen/The News Tribune.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Drop-In Dining is a restaurant dining report where reporters drop in unannounced and sample the food, on TNT’s dime, then report what the scene and the food were like. Have a suggestion for a Drop-In Dining feature? E-mail us at tntdiner@thenewstribune.com.

Oriental Noodle & Grill
Where: 1620 S. Mildred St., Tacoma
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Phone: 253-565-1921
Price Range: $-$$ (prices under $30)

By Sue Kidd
sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com

Just when you thought Tacoma couldn’t support one more strip mall Thai restaurant … surprise! And welcome to Oriental Noodle & Grill.

But what sets this Southeast Asian eatery apart from its kin is a beautiful interior, although you might never guess from the generic strip-mall exterior.

The dark, wooden tables are dressed with linen napkins, handsome dishes and substantial flatware. The walls are layered with floor-to-ceiling, richly colored wood paneling accentuated by interesting artwork, bamboo floors and muted lighting.

Oriental Noodle & Grill caters to the same kind of diners who appreciate higher concept Thai cuisine found at South Sound bistro-style restaurants like Galanga Thai, East & West Café, Indochine and Wild Orchid.

If Oriental Noodle & Grill reminds diners of Wild Orchid, that’s because the restaurant’s owners are one and the same – Lim Po An and Jurirut Krong Krajonsuk. They opened Oriental Noodle & Grill Sept. 28.

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I found burger goodness at Flip-N-Out Burger, which opened today in the building that the 12th Street Diner once occupied (across the street from Mandolin Cafe).

Flip-N-Out is an independently owned restaurant that seems as if it could hold much burger promise. Along with Burgerville and Sonic, I can see Flip-N-Out Burger becoming one of my go-to burger places if my first impression holds steady. It might even join the burger ranks of locally revered burger places like Friesenburgers and Pick Quick and Little Holland.

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The co-owners of the Harbor Greens market in Gig Harbor are expanding their love of wine a few doors down from their upscale grocery store.

Chad Roy and Scott Teodoro will open the Harbor Greens Wine Bar at 3 p.m. today in the Forza Coffee Shop.

Roy and Teodoro opened Harbor Greens Market in June 2007. The store has an extensive wine selection, and selling wine at the market really is what set the duo on a path to opening a wine bar.

"Customers kept saying, ‘I wish I could try this before I buy it,’" said Teodoro. How convenient that customers will be able to sample the wine at the bar, then walk a few doors down to buy the bottle. Or at least that’s what Roy and Teodoro hope will happen.

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