TNT Diner » Asado Tacoma

Asado branches out: Tacoma’s Museum of Glass gets new cafe called Choripan by Asado

Sue Kidd — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:27:40 +0000

The Museum of Glass will have a new cafe next month, and the operators are familiar to local restaurant watchers. By mid-January, X Group restaurants will open Choripan by Asado, a café featuring “an approachable take on Argentine street food.” The cafe will be an extension of the concept at the restaurant group’s Sixth Avenue Argentine restaurant, Asado (sister restaurant Masa is across the street, and the group also owns Engine House No. 9).

X Group Executive Chef Joel Mertens told me by email he currently is designing the menu. So far, photos of …

Cuban sandwiches, take two: Doyle’s Public House, Pacific Grill, Asado, The Ram and Sidebar Bistro put their own spins on the Cuban

Sue Kidd — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 01:49:14 +0000

Is a Cuban a Cuban if you douse it with chipotle mayo, stuff it with tilapia, zucchini pickles, or a hamburger patty? The restaurants featured here think so, or at least they bill their sandwiches as Cubans, those pork-filled puckery grilled cheese sandwiches that have been popping up on menus everywhere.

Today: I feature Cubans on the menu at Doyle’s Public House (my favorite sandwich for this report), Pacific Grill, Asado, the Ram and Sidebar Bistro. Click “more” to read about the sandwiches.

Yesterday: I bit into Cubans at Chambers Bay Grill, Blazing Onion, Powerhouse Brewery, and Panera. Read …

Pucker up: House pickled veggies at Tacoma restaurants pack flavorful punch

Sue Kidd — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 13:31:51 +0000

Pacific Grill owner/chef Gordon Naccarato recalls discovering soy-brined jalapeños while working as a chef in Los Angeles.

“I first found those jalapeños in Koreatown in Los Angeles in a run-down strip mall place that called them ‘kimchi pickles,’ and they would sell you a canning jar full of them with additional cucumbers in the jalapeño mix for only $6,” Naccarato wrote in an e-mail when I asked him about house-pickled vegetables at his downtown Tacoma restaurant.

The jalapeños were salty, sweet and satisfying, and something Naccarato enjoyed eating over a bowl of rice. “They were so amazingly good just …

Bar Burger Noshdown: The five South Sound bar, tavern and brewery burgers you’ve just got to bite into before you die

Sue Kidd — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:25:13 +0000

Thick and towering, goosed with flavor, diminutive and tasty. Today’s bar burgers were the best of the best for flavor, texture and ingredients that I sampled for this week’s 20-burger salute to South Sound bars, taverns and breweries.

Chorizo, Nueske’s bacon, arugula and Gorgonzola – today’s burgers all feature unusual twists that made them memorable. And what’s better than a burger? A burger with fries (just add beer). If you’re a fan of fries, today’s installment is devoted to you.

Today’s burgers: Asado, Maxwell’s, Pacific Grill, The Hub, The Right Spot

Thursday: Crown Bar, Harmon, Bite Restaurant, West …

Dining Out For Life: Spotlight on Asado

Sue Kidd — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:10:12 +0000

Taking a date out for Dining Out For Life tomorrow? Wining and dining doesn’t get more date appropriate than the sophisticated space at Asado on Sixth Avenue. Beef is what you should order at Asado. Steaks arrive licked from mesquite-fueled fire. Chimichurri, the Argentinian condiment similar to pesto, adds herbal dimension.

The Sixth Avenue eatery is one of dozens that will participate in Dining Out For Life, the dine-out event where participating restaurants in Pierce County will donate 25 percent of meal sales to the Pierce County AIDS Foundation. To contribute all you have to do is dine …

Happy Hours: The siblings of Sixth Avenue

Sue Kidd — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:18:42 +0000

Forget drink discounts, happy hour is about the food. Or, rather, it’s about the food if you’re a deal seeker who also happens to enjoy well-crafted cuisine.

For this installment of happy hour food deals, we headed to Tacoma’s Sixth Avenue, an eating district rich with restaurants and bars that offer deep discounts during happy hour dining.

We couldn’t write about every restaurant in that neighborhood, so we focused on just a few blocks along Sixth – from Pine to Oakes.
Within those few blocks you’ll find four restaurants with sibling connections: The first pair is Asado and Masa, …

Bacon, cheese and gravy: Gussied up fries on menus around Tacoma

Sue Kidd — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:33:40 +0000

Thin or thick, I don’t have a preference. But do make mine crunchy on the outside, creamy-unctuous on the inside. I’m picky about my fries that way.

I used to think I was a fry purist: crisp potatoes with a sprinkle of salt, please.

And then I had the garlic herb fries at Pacific Grill. Insta-fancy-fry convert. And then I had fries and gravy at Bite at Hotel Murano. And then came along the bacon cheesy fries at Crown Bar. And have you ever had the yuca fries at Asado? Amazingly good.

At Bite and Crown …