For years, Freighthouse Square has been an incubator for fledgling restaurants. Some restaurants come and go in a matter of weeks. Some stick around for years – Paya and Mediterranean Palace, for instance. Others sprout business plans and duplicate themselves elsewhere – such as Wendy’s Vietnamese. Then there are businesses that grow so successful, they flitter off to bigger locations. Celebrity Cake Studio just moved from its longtime Freighthouse home to its own building on East 26th Street.

But what’s coming next for the mall and its collection of unusual retail shops and restaurants? That’s anyone’s guess. Read more »

Seven Tacoma area restaurants will vie for bragging rights to the best sliders in town Saturday night (March 3, 2012) at Shake, Rattle and Grill, a Museum of Glass event.

I asked participating restaurants what kind of mini-sandwiches they’d be cooking. Here’s what they reported. I also assembled my own self-directed slider competition and came up with sliders you can try anytime at South Sound restaurants. (UPDATE: The event is close to selling out, call the museum for availability). Read more »

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Three new cafes have opened in as many months.Today, I take a first bite out of Devoted Kiss in Gig Harbor, Choripan by Asado, the new cafe at Tacoma’s Museum of Glass, and Staircase Cafe, a restaurant that has replaced The Old House Cafe in Proctor. Read more »

Today I return to two restaurants for second bites: Maxwell’s Speakeasy + Lounge, a St. Helens neighborhood restaurant with a new owner, chef and menu, and Zara Mediterranean Cuisine, a downtown Tacoma restaurant newly opened in August. Read more »

Depending upon your dining preferences or the bar you frequent, breakfast at a watering hole can be a cultural odyssey or a gritty journey. I maintain that both can be equally delightful if you have a curiosity for interesting bar food that comes with a funky atmosphere and clientele. To my surprise, I had no trouble finding bars and restaurants widely known for their late-night shenanigans that also produce quality eats from the weekend morning griddle – in copious, delicious quantities. Here are five “bars” with breakfasts worth a try. I didn’t even graze the surface of what’s available for bar breakfast dining. You’re welcome to comment and let other readers know about your favorite bar for breakfast. Read more »

I’ve given the obligatory test run of Five Guys Burgers and Fries – the first South Sound stores of the national chain opened in Lakewood last week and in Puyallup in November. I realized as I was eating at Five Guys that I had not collectively written much about our home-grown burger stands since my burger-stand manifesto in 2009. So I hit the pavement and revisited some of my favorites, along with two new burger stands you may not yet know. Click “read more” to see my top five South Sound burger stand picks. Read more »

When Sidebar Bistro closed in the fall, I heard from government employees and lawyers who work around 11th and Tacoma Avenue. They called, emailed, Tweeted and Facebooked me.

What they wanted to know was this: When will we have more lunch options on Tacoma Avenue? The departure of Sidebar Bistro followed by the temporary closure of Thrill of the Grill left a dearth of eateries in a neighborhood full of police officers, jurors, lawyers, bail bondsmen and other time-pressed people in search of a decent lunch.

In December, the news got better. Read more »