sparkrobot

Wild Orchid is one of our favorite Asian Cuisine restaurants in Tacoma. Certainly, I’d admit we’re fortunate. There are a number of good, local Asian restaurants in the area. Wild Orchid sits on the northwest corner of 6th Avenue and Cedar streets, convenient from any address in Tacoma, and serves a variety of entrées with a Southeastern Asian theme.

We’ve visited Wild Orchid many times, and always have a great experience — this time was no exception. We ordered fried wontons to start things off along with a lemon basil martini for myself and a Saporro for my wife. My martini arrived ungarnished without frills. I found quite a bite to this one, a piquant basil tone on the first sip but finishing nicely with a lingering citrus and herb-infused flavor. There is nothing quite like fried cream cheese to augment such a sophisticated flavor. I’ll leave it there.

I ordered a Green Curry Chicken (four star spicy) and my wife, the Three Flavor Beef. Both arrived shortly and our server constructed our plates at the table. The Green Curry Chicken was an enchanting arrangement of red bell peppers, bamboo shoots, fresh green beans, mushrooms, eggplant and basil in a green curried coconut milk and served over steamed jasmine rice. Though the Three Flavor beef was served to my wife, her thoughts were spicy, sour and sweet. Mmm, Delicious.

For just under $50, we had dinner with appetizer, two beers and a fancy pants cocktail. We brought home enough food to serve as lunch today.

This outing also provided occasion for me to put to work my new Nikon D300, which is incredible and shoots in the dark with reckless abandon. I would totally make out with it if it were a person and not a camera. (My wife knows, okay? It’s cool.) Check out the photos. Hover over the image to move forward or back through the series.

Side note

We finished of the night with a first visit to the new Crown Bar where we were served by Dino, a very knowledgeable and friendly bar keep who served me my first made with Bookers Manhattan. There’s a first time for everything.

My first thought on entering the Crown Bar was, if you’re going to serve $10 cocktails, there should be a “we don’t have televisions” rule. I know everyone doesn’t, but I LOATHE the people who feel like they have to yell at televisions when their sports team is winning. It’s stupid to pay good money for a drink and have to hear a group of dicks screaming at the TV. I can go to the RAM for that.

Who doesn’t love beer and hot dogs? The Red Hot, a place specializing in sausage and brews is slated to open on 6th Avenue later this year. The ink on the lease has yet to dry, but the wheels are in motion. Earlier, I asked the proprietor of The Red Hot and author of the recently minted blog Beer and Hot Dogs a few questions about The Red Hot.

Some Questions. Some Answers.

SR = sparkrobot.com, TRH = The Red Hot

SR: What is The Red Hot?
TRH: “Your new favorite Tacoma hangout”

SR: Where is The Red Hot?
TRH: 2914 6th Ave, Suite B, intersection of 6th and Junett. It used to be the old dollar store. 1 block away from 6th and Pine (E-9, masa, Asado, etc.). Across from Schucks.

SR: What’s the deal with Beer and Hot Dogs?
TRH: Whats not to like?
SR: touche
TRH: Theres wine, pinball, tv, and atmosphere, natch. And nachos. And no lame jukebox
SR: that’s key
TRH: If you want to take your girl out, eat a legit dog, listen to T. Rex, be surrounded by Tacomacentricity, maybe catch a game on the tube, not listen to the horrible sound of a pool cue slapping the ground, and not be surrounded by knuckleheads all at the same time, you will like The Red Hot. Oooooh, and play pinball.

SR: 10-4. Sounds like it will be cool, unpretentious… Tacoma. So, why Tacoma?
TRH: Why not. It’s the city I live in, the city where I’ve decided to stay. There’s not a lot of suburban guilt that you find in Seattle, where a lot of bars tend to preach the blue-collar lifestyle. People who are blue-collar do not need to be reminded they are blue-collar. They just want a cool spot to hang out. And there’s hot dogs there. Whats not to like?
TRH: I. Heart. Tacoma.
SR: Nice. Good idea for The Red Hot teeshirts. I want a 60% cut. We’ll talk about this later.
TRH: what idea
SR: I. Heart. Tacoma.
TRH: thats my idea
SR: not anymore!
TRH: you get a free one, thats it

SR: When do you expect to unleash The Red Hotness on the Tacoma?
TRH: Hopefully mid-summer. I’d like to say end of July, but with waiting on paperwork to be processed, it could be August.

SR: Killer. Your family is to blame for creating the successful martini lounge concept, the One Ten Lounge out in Port Orchard. That’s really cool place. Will there be similarities?
TRH: Yeah. Our family doesn’t take shortcuts in our business. We don’t rip people off, or pretend to be something we’re not. It will have some of the lounge characteristics that are not common with “taverns” or “taprooms”. We try to create something that we would go to. It will be a comfortable place to go to, with atmosphere unlike any in the area. Plain and simple.

SR: So, what are we talking about? ballparks and pbr? let’s talk about beer and hot dogs, let the people hear a little bit more about what they can expect to eat and drink.
TRH: Street style hot dogs…not blistered up tough tubes of meat like at convenience stores. Chicagos, Coneys, Veggies, etc. Natural dogs, and skinless for aficionados of every ideal. Homemade chili (NO BEANS!!!), and homemade southern slaw will be in house. Cheap eats for the lunch-time crowd. Cheap eats for the anytime crowd.

TRH: Yeah, PBR will be on tap, but so will Fish Organic IPA. And other local breweries will be represented. It’s looking like 8-9 handles, with some bottles. It will absolutely have Rainier on tap, ice cold (it should be a requirement for every bar in Washington to serve it, even though it moved away…a matter of principle!), as well as a cider. Wine to be served in glass tumblers, because really…who else in the world serves a drink in a snooty piece of stemware besides America? I hate snooty.

SR: What’s the deal with roller derby in Tacoma?
I’m coach for the Homewreckers, a team on the Dockyard Derby Dames Roller Derby league. We have a exhibition going on during Art on the Ave, I believe, in July. We just had tryouts and got some more talent and fresh faces on the league. My team is now a 15 person squad. The next bout should be going down end of July or August. The Homewreckers are 1-0 so far and I think we’re also sending a League squad down to Vegas for a big derby event.

SR: Rollerderby. Beer. Hot Dogs. What else does Tacoma need?
It needs to keep building its communities like it has been doing…it needs for some people to get the idea of competing to be another Seattle or Portland out of its minds…it needs Girl Trouble to be played out of every church tower on the hour…and it needs for everyone to come down to the Red Hot and hang out.

SR: cool. anything else?
TRH: i dont guess so. my blog is blowing up
SR: i’ll drop that too

TRH: can i read it before you post it?
SR: why? are you my editor?

### end ###

Man, After all that, I’m ready for a beer and a hot dog right now. “It’s so damn hot… milk was a bad choice.“

After allowing the tax return preparation to come down to the wire, essentially not leaving the house for an entire day, I was not really in the mood to prepare food at the house. Looking to get out of the house, I hit the Google Map of Mexican Restaurants in Tacoma, WA in search of something to get my mind out of Schedule C mode. Ugh.

Deciding we were going to head to Titlow Beach for sunset, we happened upon El Jimador at 6409 6th Ave. Located in a strip mall just past the Tower Lanes bowling alley, the exterior of the building was unassuming and upon entry, the interior was similarly humdrum with a commonplace color scheme and glass block walls last installed in abundance when Duran Duran was huge (the first time).

Appending the customary chips and salsa rojo brought to the table, we ordered a side of guacamole, a Negra Modelo ($3.75) and a Corona ($3.75). The guacamole ($3.95) had good flavor and texture and the beer was — well — deserved. (I mentioned tax preparation right?) The entrees ordered: Tacos Al Carbon and Tacos Adobado, both entrees priced at $13.55. While ordering, our server asked my wife if she spoke Spanish. He mentioned that we had used the proper pronunciations. “Poquito. We’re from Tucson.” This happens from time to time.

I found the Tacos Al Carbon were tasty, the flank steak was prepared perfectly and stuffed in corn tortillas with pico de gallo and garnished with queso blanco (Mexican white cheese). The Tacos Adobado (chile-marinated pork tenderloin) were served in corn tortillas and garnished with sliced lime and a marinade on the side. The dishes were both served with rice and beans on colorful 14″ inch plates, every inch filled with food.

In my opinion, pretty spendy for tacos, but the food was good and there was PLENTY of it. We ended up with two to-go boxes which will be great come lunch time tomorrow.

We’ve visited most of the Mexican restaurants in Tacoma. And a couple of months back, had a discussion with some friends about the best Mexican food in Tacoma. If you ask me, it’s up in the air and really depends on what type of Mexican food you’re looking for, but El Jimador is on the “will return” list. Not to mention on the way out, I spied a Barbwire pinball machine. Now I have to return simply to play some super classy pinball.

We went downtown last night to meet some friends for dinner downtown. Their suggestion, the relative newcomer Two Koi Japanese Cuisine on Jefferson around 9 pm. Two Koi opened in September and I’d been looking for an excuse to check it out. When we were pulling up on Jefferson, I got a call from our friends. They were canceling. Fine. Whatever jerks.

The restaurant has a nice open and contemporary atmosphere. There’s a large dining room and a sushi bar to the right on entry. The lighting was moody and featured the entire front features windows looking out directly at the Tacoma Art Museum. Inside there were a few flat screen televisions, one of which featured an aquarium screen saver thereby qualifying as best use of a televison I’ve seen since last Thursday’s airing of The Office. Non traditional music was in the air. As I recall, ol’ Blue Eyes among other loungey classics.

I had read a few comments about Two Koi that suggested the service had not yet worked through the kinks, but this was not our experience at all. Our server was attentive, friendly and “totally adorable” according to my wife. Who am I to argue? From the window seat, we were able watch people stirring about the snow-covered plaza and participate in a favorite pastime; pointing at people and making fun of them. (Oh come on, you know you do it too.)

My wife is not a huge fan of raw fish, or anything from the sea for that matter, so we started with an order of edamame and some California Rolls. A pretty safe bet no doubt. I ordered Yakisoba Chicken plate and Dionne the Tonkatsu. Both were promptly prefaced by miso soup and house salads with a lemon ginger dressing. My dish arrived sizzling on a skillet. The presentation was well arranged and garnished with seaweed. I might add it was among the best Yakisoba I’ve tasted. A lot of places have a penchant for delivering a ginormous greasy plate o’noodles and calling it Yakisoba. Thankfully, this it not the Two Koi approach. The Tonkatsu plate served with white rice was also well garnished and tasty.

Though we did not have much sushi or sake, Two Koi is open late (2am) on the weekends for late night sushi fix and features 40 varieties of sake for the binge-drinker deep inside you.

With one glass of Pinot Noir and a Sapporo, we dined for $52 sans tip. We’ll definitely be back.

Two Koi Japanese Cuisine - 1552 Jefferson Ave, Tacoma (253) 274-8999

I made mention of a series of recent articles in The News Tribune regarding the opening of a Carl’s Jr. stirring up quite a bit of attention in Tacoma to my friend Kevin who authors Guilty Carnivore and lives down in Portland, OR. Our instant messenger conversation prompted him to offer this particularly astute summary of the breaking “news”.

Bounced into the Parkway Tavern on Saturday afternoon to check out the IPA Festival their blog post described as “An all-day celebration of hops featuring 18 of the finest regional IPAs.” Who doesn’t love India Pale Ale? There was a crowd of already quite rowdy people in the Parkway when we popped in about 5 in the afternoon. India Pale Ales are notorious for being just chock full of alcohol, up to around 10%. The Parkway was bumping. I picked up the scent a block away, there was a bbq out front and kielbasa sausage was being grilled. I haven’t been there in quite a long while, it’s all been redone inside and it looks great. On our first trip to the bar, an outwardly lit older woman instructed me to “try the erection beer”. Okay, guess I will.

She was talking about the Walking Man Homo Erectus Imperial IPA brewed in Stevenson, WA by the Walking Man Brewery. The brewery describes the beer as “An Imperial IPA brewed in celebration of being erect for two million years.” I ordered a 6 ounce glass. This was a bold IPA containing 10% alcohol by volume. Very nice. Even after several libations and cloudy judgement, she had recommended a stellar beer.

I sampled two more IPAs before leaving, the Bend, Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery’s Inversion IPA and Denver, Colorado’s Great Divide Titan IPA. Deschute’s makes killer beer. Already a big fan of their beers, especially the excellent Mirror Pond Pale Ale, it came as no surprise to me that this was my favorite of the afternoon. The Great Divide was also very tasty.

My faves in order:

1. Inversion IPA
2. Titan IPA
3. Homo Erectus Imperial IPA

Eavesdropped the table behind us: “I’ve been listening to Dead Kennedys again recently. I haven’t listened to it since I was about 13 years old, but I realized their musicianship was amazing”. To which I leaned over and injected “Welcome back.”.

The Parkway was still going strong when we left around 6:30. They were giving out tickets to win novetly bar prizes (tee shirts, hats, etc.) and the boisterous crowd roaring and cheering with every glass broken behind the bar. Like I said, IPAs are strong as hell. Better to leave early in the evening than be that guy at the bar who’s lost his pants and is crying uncontrollably at 9:30 PM. You know? Not like I’ve ever done that. I’m jus’sayin’…

In spite of a recent slaughter by The Tacoma New Tribune food critic, Ed Murietta, I’ve found Varsity Grill to be good spot to grab a bite to eat.

Let’s face it — there aren’t many restaurants downtown. Varsity Grill opened quietly early this year in the space that the former billiards/burger joint Jillian’s used to occupy filling a void left in the heart of downtown. VG is about a block from the new bazillion dollar convention center and basically a quick walk from most anywhere in downtown Tacoma. Recently while fulfilling my civic duty I made the walk there nearly every day to grab lunch and take advantage of the free wireless internet. (’sup Tacoma? Where all the internet at?) I’ll admit, there’s no stunning beacon of creativity beaming from the kitchen, I have to disagree with Mr. Murietta. Though Varsity Grill has an upscale atmosphere, the food is what it is. It’s comfort food. It’s not pretentious — it’s burgers & steaks. It’s ribs & chicken. It’s entree sized salads and soups & fresh-baked bread. Always enough to take home a bit for a snack later.

There is technology wired throughout the restaurant. In addition to the aforementioned free wi-fi, Varsity sports a ton of plasmas screen televisions usually broadcasting sports games. From any angle in the restaurant, chances are stellar you’ll be able to watch the game you’re looking for. Now, I’m not big on TV sports, but here’s why I like it: the sound is off. If you’re into the game, that’s great. You can grab a remote Sound Dog unit from the host or up at the bar and tune into any TV you choose. If you’re not into the game. That’s also great. You won’t be blasted out by sportscasters yammering on about ERA, RBI, DNA, CIA and so on. See?

Also of note to sports fans, there’s a 17 seat theater in the center of the restaurant. It’s like your own personal home theater, except you can pay someone to bring you beer and you don’t have to sport the cash for the 120″ projector and surround sound system.

*Tangential rant warning*

What’s wrong with Ed Murrietta’s review of Varsity Grill? Lots.

First off, this is not a T.G.I.Fridays or a Red Robin or Applebee’s (or any of the other myriad of corporate franchises for that matter) moving into Tacoma offering the same vanilla experience you’ll find anywhere else in America. This is a homegrown spot, bringing an experience that’s from Tacoma. If the effort to revive the empty halls of downtown succeeds, I’d rather bet on locals to own it and drive it.

Secondly, I’ve enjoyed the food every time I’ve been in. It’s not gourmet, but that’s not why I went in there. I’ve had burgers, steaks, chicken sandwiches and salads.

Lastly… * (one star)? Come on dude. They guy recently gave the Swiss *****, The Harmon **** and Meconi’s Pub ****. Okay, I like all of these places too, but what’s with the order of magnitude here? Okay so you didn’t like it. That’s fine… I can dig it. But honestly, it’s not worth slamming them that hard…

*End of tangential rant*

My wife’s twin sister was visiting from San Francisco a while back and we stopped in for a drink. We sat in a secluded corner near the rear of the restaurant, sipped martinis and had a great conversation. There were a gazillion games on, and the place was busy with sports fans. We didn’t even hear them. Name one other “sports bar” where that can happen.

My thoughts… Try it yourself. Don’t listen to a restaurant critic. Try it out. Go downtown and grab a bite to eat. It’s a vast space with plenty of room to catch — or totally avoid — the game. Your choice. There are plenty of places to hang out and comfortably chat or simply chill. It’s moderately priced ($$) and there’s a full bar if you’re into a cocktail or two.

We arrived at around 8pm and for a Friday night, the place was relatively slow. (Though it was the 23rd of December.) We were seated right away. The decor was nice and the atmosphere inviting. however they definitely could have lowered the volume on the “background” music. With so few parties dining, Josh Groban in the air was seriously KILLING me. We ordered and the food was on the way.

We started with spring rolls, which were nice and freshly prepared. I had Garlic Chicken and Dionne had a Beef and Broccoli plate. The food was great and reasonably priced. Though the servers were friendly, they were a bit slow considering the traffic. This definitely won’t affect my decision to return however. We’ll be back. I’ve added it to the main Tacoma Restaurants post.

Moderately priced with a great menu. Two of us ate with an appetizer and a couple of beers for about $34. Check it out.

Silk Thai Cafe
(253) 756-1737
3401 6th Ave
Tacoma, WA 98406

I’m compiling a list of restaurants in Tacoma that don’t suck. Mainly so I can pull it up on my phone when nobody can make a decision, but if you get some use out of this, that’s just dandy pal.

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