I just got this email alert from Crown Bar:

“Join us at the Crown this Wednesday (Nov. 24, 2010) night to unwind before the family gathers on the day of thanks. Dino will be mixing ‘The Waddle’ made with Wild Turkey, Wild Turkey Honey liquor, fresh cranberry juice and fresh apple cider. We’ll be serving all of your favorite street food and for blue plate special, it’s burger-rama.”

Click “more” to read about the stellar Wednesday night burger discounts (aka burger-rama), my love for the Crown’s mushroom-Swiss burger and to read about a Pimm’s rosemary cocktail and a fresh blackberry Sidecar I recently enjoyed at Crown. Read more »

Research for the TNT Diner Bar Burger Noshdown – where I’ll name the best bar burgers found in the South Sound – has been ongoing since June, but here’s your chance to pick at least one of the restaurants where I’ll dig into a delicious bar burger.

It’s a closed poll so we don’t tip off the restaurant of a visit, but we’ll alert readers which of the bars was the reader choice  when the TNT Diner Bar Burger Noshdown publishes this Fall.

Click “more” to see the nominees, and to vote. Read more »

Dave Rector’s first piece of Coca Cola memorabilia was a mirror his mother bought for him at an estate sale more than 25 years ago. That mirror hangs in the dining room of the Thrill of the Grill, the tiny walk-in burger restaurant he and wife Anita Rector opened four months ago on Tacoma Avenue. They’re just a few blocks from another newly opened restaurant, Hot Rod Dog. I’d say that block now has burgers and dogs covered.

Tucked onto shelves that span the small dining room of the Thrill of the Grill, dozens of other Coca Cola collectibles catch a diner’s eye – from old bottles of the famous soda pop to toys carrying the Coca Cola logo. The collection once filled an entire room of the couple’s Spanaway home. They sold that house to fund the Coca Cola theme burger diner. Read more »

It looks like a mid-December opening for the reincarnation of the old Little Holland Drive-In, the burger stand — famous for its creamy frozen custard and “Mikie’s Famous Burgers” — that went out of business last summer.

When it comes to the new version of Little Holland, the “drive-in” part of the name has been dropped. The new Little Holland is opening as a walk-in restaurant in a strip mall across the street from where the original drive-in restaurant opened in 1965 on Center Street. The question brewing among Little Holland fans: will the food stay the same?
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When former News Tribune business columnist Dan Voelpel wrote in February that the Vancouver-based burger chain Burgerville had its eyes on Tacoma for a location, burgervores rejoiced. The small chain has outposts in Washington, but none north of Centralia. The chain known for locally sourcing ingredients has a cult following (this food writer included).

Well, it’s October and still no word on when/where Burgerville might have its first Tacoma location. So I emailed a company spokeswoman Megan Alpers to ask. Here’s what she had to say….

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