Tag Archives: downtown

Happy Teriyaki #4

25 Dec
We hit Teriyaki #4 (twice) for what may be the best endless sushi in Tacoma, and definitely the sexiest. 

Our first restaurant visit by request, we hadn’t even considered visiting Teriyaki #4 before a tweet convinced us otherwise. A bit isolated from the rest of downtown, Teriyaki #4 sits on 22nd and Pacific Ave, a location that – assuming you are a large carbon-footprinted commuter like us – requires you to overshoot the address by two blocks, dodge the link, make a U-turn and return to some free parking in the rear. That alone is certainly enough to ward off the laziest of us, but we were more deterred by the name and pop art posters of glazed chicken and bubble tea plastered on the store windows.  Thinking it would be decent to good teriyaki and a short menu of run-of-the-mill sushi, we were pleasantly surprised by the classy decor and lengthy inventive menu where for a mere $14.99 (after 3:00 it’s $17.99) you have unfettered access to the full roll menu and a considerable sampling of nigiri.

Enough to warrant two trips, a gazillion photos, and a couple busted guts.

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Dinner With Sandy: Maxwell’s

28 Nov

Our second installment of our Dinners With Sandy. This time we get swanky at Maxwell’s

Maxwell’s Speakeasy. Did you know we had one? Nothing seemed illicit, but maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. Despite its central location Maxwell’s seems to be fairly isolated on its corner at 6th and St Helens, apparently enough to once host a very exclusive, although legal drinking club. Walk in any direction and you’ll hit a great food joint – Corina’s, Stink, Puget Sound Pizza, Doyles, The Tap Room, and The Hub are all within a block or two – but the only immediate neighbors of Maxwell’s are an inordinately elaborate intersection and The Fabulous Fifties Hall, which is quite a conversation piece. What’s the deal with that place anyway? Maxwell’s is a place Adam and I probably wouldn’t have made it to if not for our lovely host Sandy. Not for the overt swank, or the equally swankily priced menu, but for the simple “removed from everything else” feel the place has. Dunno, maybe it’s just me.

The restaurant is classy. It feels like the lobby of an upscale hotel circa 1920, complete with chandeliers and sepia-toned walls. The wood is dark and the lighting soft. They definitely nailed the rat pack vibe. Above the dining room the careful eye will notice a small set of windows which apparently once housed the now defunct drinking club. For a mere $1000/year you too could have been an exclusive drinker. I wonder what it’s like up there? I imagine a smokey room full of tuxedos and girls selling cigarettes on trays. I predict a sweet theme party!

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GRITTY CITY SHOWDOWN: Reubens

17 Sep

Our first ever showdown! For this maiden voyage, our mission is to find the best reuben in Tacoma, and we think we did. Hit “continue reading” to read the full write up!


This post has been a long time in the making. The brilliant idea of a showdown-style no-holds-barred food battle struck us very early on, we just wanted to wait for the right moment to tackle such an epic undertaking. We settled on the reuben partly from an earlier post about the MSM Deli, in which I get carried away about the reuben, suggesting that maybe it was one of the best in town other than perhaps The Swiss. I spent some time thinking about that statement, and realized how incredibly naive I was being. I hadn’t tried every reuben in Tacoma.  How could I even begin to suggest it might be one of the best? Turns out it’s not. I am a dick. Simple solution: we needed to find the best. Ladies and gentlemen, this post is my redemption.

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Tacoma Craft Beer Festival

5 Sep

For those visual learners, we present our first ever video segment! Give us feedback. We are hoping to move the blog in this direction. To more of a vlog…If that’s even a thing. 

Write Up

September 3rd 2011 was a gorgeous day in Tacoma. The sun beat down on the new 21st street park as thirsty Tacomans gathered thick as ants to a ripe peach, all to sample an enormous selection of fine craft beers from over 40 different brewers. In addition to local brewers like E-9, Silver City, Harmon, M-T Head, Seven Seas, and newly unveiled Wingman Brewery, breweries came from California, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Alaska, even as far away as Alberta Canada (Unibroue) to help support the Boys and Girls club and our taste buds.

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STINK

26 Aug

Welcome to the first ever Gritty City Food blog banter!  Yay you!  For our first foray into this dialogue-styled post, we chose Stink – a deli/meat and cheese shop on 628 St Helens Ave.  It seemed only fitting.  Tacoma is so well known for it’s aroma, and Stink is the perfect example of how that aroma is shifting toward a more delightful odor.  We’ve traded burnt socks and rotten eggs for aged cheese and cured meats.  I think we got the better end of that bargain.  This post features both Adam and I in our most robust and finest – instant messaging over Facebook, typing between mouthfuls of inspiring drink.  Enjoy!

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PHO 701

22 Aug

#26 - Vermicelli Rice Noodles...lightly glazed with crack sauce

In the not so distant past, it seemed like pho places were popping up like weeds.  They each took on punny names like “Pho You” or “What the Pho?”  This of course is due to the fact that “pho” rhymes with a favorite curse word – unbeknownst to many city commerce officials – making it rife with immature possibility.  Each of these places followed roughly the same business model: strip mall, tile floors, formica tables, hermetically sealed chopsticks, and monstrous bowls of salty broth filled with meat and noodles.  Pho 701 may not get top honors in the name department, but this place far surpasses your typical noodle house.  You better pho king believe it!

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TWOKOI

18 Aug

TwoKoi Japanese Restaurant is exactly what you expect as you walk in the door: clean, fresh and obviously Asian inspired decor. What attracted us today was their Monday-Thursday lunch special: all you can eat sushi rolls. You must sit at the bar to get the deal, but it’s fun to spy on the chefs as they skillfully cut and wrap the fantastic ingredients together to create your sushi desires. The rolls span anywhere from $5-15 per roll, but when you have the special you only pay $19 for all that you can stuff into your body. We must have put away $80 worth of sushi today which was well worth the price! Read on to see the exciting rolls we had and to read our final thoughts on TwoKoi in Tacoma.

Look at that master roller!

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