Opening a high-end concept restaurant in Tacoma is tricky right now, especially just after we lost the best fine dining restaurant in Tacoma. Cuerno Bravo in Tacoma’s St. Helens neighborhood quietly reopened two weeks ago, six months after a tentative start that came crashing to a halt due to pandemic restrictions. This is one of […]
I Hate Goodbyes
I hate goodbyes, especially when – as in the case of my middle school – those goodbyes are final. Students and staff from Woodbrook Middle School have joined those of Mann Middle School in the Clover Park School District newest school Dr. Claudia Thomas Middle School. Woodbrook Middle School is no more. One day soon […]
Here’s what’s happening with Tacoma’s Greek Festival (and where to find baklava)
About this time every October, a volunteer army piles into St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Tacoma, armed with buckets of tzatziki, hundreds of pounds of gyro meat, 11,000 wedges of baklava, and sturdy shoes. The three-day eating event is Tacoma’s favorite food festival. And, sadly, it’s canceled this year. But I have two things […]
Across the Fence: Desert
What comes to your mind when you think “desert”? And no, American cheesecake, which I wrote about last week, is a dessert with a double “s”, stressed on the second syllable. Is it a specific place? Or a geographical concept? An experience of your own, maybe? My go-to online look-up place, Wikipedia, gives a pretty […]
Oktoberfest NW is canceled. Here’s what to do instead
Right about now every year, downtown Puyallup is a flurry of activity in preparation for the thousands of beer drinkers who usually descend on Oktoberfest Northwest, the largest pop-up beer hall gathering in the region. Thousands of pounds of schnitzel and bratwurst are ferried to the Washington State Fairgrounds in downtown Puyallup. Hundreds of gallons […]
Bacon’s Double Take – Sky
You may have realized that my other half of the Double Touble, cherished columnist and friend Joe Boyle, and I decided on a short summer break recently, but now we are back with more takes on shared topics, which we call Double Take. Joe actually inspired us both with some photos of skies shortly after […]
Boyle’s Double Take – Sky
Recently as I looked into the sky,I said to myself, oh my, oh my. I could not see a cloud because of all the smoke.And that is no joke. As I saw the flames licking after Oregon brush,I felt a kind of panicky rush. Our air quality recently zoomed through the roof.It seems fire can […]
Chinese Reconciliation Park Moon Festival Goes Virtual – October 1st
Caption #1 – A few years ago a diver found a beautiful Chinese bowl off shore from the original homes of the Chinese . . . a rare artifact of the expulsion event. The Moon Festival with entertainment, moon cakes and more to eat has been a rousing success over the last several years. This […]
Westside Story – 3 Heroes
I promise, if you read enough Westside Story today, you will experience a fantastic tale. The story embedded below is titled, A Great Story. I am not bragging. To be honest, I did not write A Great Story. My original plan to write a different Westside Story was interrupted when Angelo Scalici emailed me a […]