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 »

Look out Pick Quick, you have some competition.

That Fife drive-in burger stand long has been my go-to fast food burger of choice. Burgers with a from-scratch edict that extends to delicious hand-cut fries is the lure. But I always have had one quibble: The burger patty is too small.

Now enters the quarter-pound, juicy, meaty burgers at Lefty’s Burger Shack, opened July 23 by first-time restaurant owner Pam Hubert in a partially vacant University Place shopping center in need of crowds. And the crowds did come. Like the lines at Pick Quick, the 20-minute wait is worth it. Read more »

A month delayed by electrical and plumbing issues, but Massimo, University Place’s newest restaurant will open Sunday.

The restaurant, which I previously wrote about here and here, is the new tenant for the building that formerly housed Captain Nemo’s on Bridgeport Way. Massimo is a sibling restaurant to the Purdy Italian eatery of the same name that Massimo and Cindy Terracciano opened in 2009. They previously owned Terracciano’s in Gig Harbor at 3119 Judson (that restaurant now is Il Lucano) Co-owner Rich Johnson, who has worked with the couple since their first Gig Harbor restaurant, will manage the restaurant.

For those who recall the 80s decor of Captain Nemo’s, wipe that memory because the restaurant has been stripped and rebuilt. Read more »

For six months, Pam Hubert has told curious passersby that she’ll be opening Lefty’s Burger Shack in “two weeks.”

This time, she means it.

The University Place burger restaurant has been Hubert’s working dream for two years, and all she needs now is health department approval to open. She expects that will come this week or next. The burger restaurant will serve Read more »

The owners of Massimo Bar and Grill in University Place were hoping to be in business this week, but electrical wiring in need of some updating will delay the opening of the family friendly Italian restaurant. Read more »

Full Sail Brewery and Chambers Bay Grill in University Place will team up for a beer dinner this Friday. Click “more” to see the menu and more details. Read more »

I didn’t want to finish this dining report.

Sorry again, boss, for blowing the deadline. Twice.

I wanted to keep visiting the hidden treasure that Chambers Bay Grill is just one more time. Also, I don’t like fighting people for tables. Or at least I don’t want to for the next week or so. Like the rest of the grounds around Chambers Bay, the Chambers Bay Grill will be closed for the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship Aug. 20-29. After that, we can duke it out for that sweet table in the left corner of the patio.

Chambers Bay Grill, if you didn’t know already, is a Northwest spun restaurant that sits atop a bluff that yields awe-inspiring views of McNeil, Anderson, Ketron and Fox islands. Read more »