Grazing around the Taste of Tacoma could cost you as much as a higher end sit-down restaurant if you put your eyes and gullet in charge of your wallet. That’s why my strategy is to graze the cheap eats. Priced $3.75 each, every booth is supposed to offer a dish of something for the reduced “Just a Bite” price. Last year, on opening day, several vendors weren’t advertising their cheap eats. So how did the vendors do this year? Read on. Read more »

Whatever your strategy for grazing your way around the Taste of Tacoma, here’s one tip to add to your arsenal: Look before you buy.

Taste of Tacoma is a visual feast with hundreds of people parading plates of every cuisine imaginable. You can predict what is worth buying from watching diners wander by with plates of food, or from listening to their suggestions. Last year, passers-by told me a restaurant was serving $2 egg rolls, while a nearby booth offered eight for $5.

My strategy was to cruise the restaurant booths first and look at the offerings before committing. Pay attention, watch the plates of food, and ignore your mother’s advice and do talk to strangers.

Click “more” for other tips and tricks for working your way through the festival. Read more »

The main event at Taste of Tacoma, of course, is the food. Here are highlights of the offerings, a partial list of vendors, and details of the healthy menu options and the $3.75 bites. A little more than 30 food booths will offer two, three, four or more menu items. Read more »

Point Defiance Park will become the South Sound’s largest food court this weekend at the 26th annual Emerald Queen Taste of Tacoma.

About 30 pop-up portable restaurants will serve everything from tacos to gyros, salmon to shortcake, alligator to piroshky. If your food tastes skew broad and you have an appreciation for festival food, this event will appeal to your eager gullet. Read more »