This Saturday, March 24th, Mosey on over to Georgetown (SOSODO (South of South of Downtown) and catch a foot-stompin’ good show with our good friends, the brothers Cortese of Electric NoNo, as they put on what the kids these days call “a show” (I’m 40 years old, I have no idea what the kids these days call things).
Here’s an official Electric NoNo video. Partake and enjoy!
Also at the show will be Stereo Creeps (I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never heard them) and Suitcase (neither).
Details:
Stereo Creeps, Suitcase, & Electric Nono (Bandsintown Event)
@ Slim’s Last Chance Chili Shack & Watering Hole (website)
5606 1st Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108 (map)
Saturday, March 24th 9:00 PM
$??, 21+
Slim’s Last Chance, by the way, was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (presumably in the “Dives” category). Also, Colin Farrell really liked it there:
We are fortunate to live within easy distance of many great Tacoma restaurants on 6th Ave: (from East to West) Dirty Oscar’s Annex, Gateway to India, Shakabrah, Medi’s, Marrow, Asado, Masa, Primo Grill, El Guadalajara, & The Red Hot. And, of course, Engine House No. 9 (or “E9” as it’s commonly known).
E9 is a restaurant and brewpub that is built into an historic firehouse, one that is so old that it used to house a horse-drawn fire engine. In fact, the interior of the restaurant still has the stalls where the horses were kept, with the horses’ names still affixed to each stall. E9 also has an excellent trivia night every Wednesday. There are several rounds, and the winner of each round gets a gift card that can be used at E9, Masa, or Asado.
Well, for the past long, long while a small group of pals have been gathering at E9 (almost) every Wednesday evening to partake of the trivia night. And (almost) every trivia night we have won a gift card in one of the rounds. Carrie & I didn’t go very often in 2013 because of a for-reals pregnancy and then a wee beb. But we’ve gone a few times since the beb was borned. And last week we decided that we didn’t want to cook, and we didn’t want to pay for food. So it was time to cash in some of those gift cards. So we small group of pals gathered and out came all of the gift cards we’d collected over the many, many weeks of victories. It was pretty spectacular:
Pick a gift card, any gift card…
Needless to say we ate for free that night. And needless to say we will be back, because the food there is really, really good!
Will we be going to E9 again tonight for trivia? Who knows? We’re playing it all by ear right now, depending on how we and the wee beb all feel. But maybe we’ll see you there sometime soon…
Did you know that Frank Herbert is a native of Tacoma? Most people don’t. Actually, most people probably don’t even think about or wonder where Frank Herbert is from. But ’tis truth. Throughout his life he lived all over the Pacific Northwest, from Tacoma to Oregon and Seattle to Port Townsend.
But he was born on October 8th right here in Tacoma. So why shouldn’t Tacoma celebrate?
Frank Herbert is, of course, most known as the author of the Dune series of Science-Fiction novels. And Chris Keil, the owner of Tacoma’s Hilltop Kitchen bar/restaurant, also just happens to be a huge Dune nerd. He has named several cocktails after characters & groups in the long series of novels.
Comic Illustration of Hilltop Kitchen’s Dune-Inspired cocktails by RR Anderson
So it seems only fitting that Hilltop Kitchen should serve as host to a celebration of Herbert’s day of birth.
The event is being organized by local entertainment blog Post Defiance and being called “Cocktails Through a Stillsuit,” which is a reference to the waste-recycling and environmental suits that the “Fremen” people wore in the Dune novels.
Here are the deets:
Cocktails Through a Stillsuit: A Toast to Frank Herbert (Facebook Event) Tuesday, October 8th 7:00 – 10:00 PM Hilltop Kitchen 913 Martin Luther King Way Tacoma, WA 98405
There’s very little chance that I will go myself, due to the facts that (A) I am not currently imbibing alcohol, and (B) I am prepping for a wee beb. But if’n you like Dune and/or good drink, you shouldst probably check it out for yourself!
(Yes, I know that the title of this post is “Draw a Glass” and not “Raise a Glass” — you’ll see why shortly).
Last week was an important anniversary that I missed: One year since the opening of Tacoma’s Quite-Quite-Fantastic taproom, Pint Defiance.
It is an excellent place to pick up some bottles, have a pint, or fill a growler with a rather tasty beverage. Before Carrie caught the preggers (and before I stopped drinking out of solidarity) we tended to go there whenever we needed to bring good beer to a dinner or party or what-have-you.
If you’ve never been there Chandler O’Leary did a couple of excellent drawings of the interior so you’ll know what to expect when you DO go there (and you should).
Chandler O’Leary, by the way, is a local Tacoma artist who has a very cool blog called “Drawn the Road Again” where she makes quite excellent illustrations of her many travels.
She also runs Anagram Press, a Tacoma letterpress printing company. You should really check that out. Chandler also just happened to design the Pint Defiance Logo. Plus, she and a friend of hers are the team behind the “Dead Feminists” series of prints.
Last Saturday Carrie & I (and two of our friends) headed out to Leavenworth for its annual Octoberfest.
The verdict? Leavenworth was awesome. Octoberfest… not so much.
We all really loved walking around Leavenworth, eating in the restaurants (we went to Gustav’s for lunch, where I had a massive Reuben, then Baren Haus for din-dins, where I had a schnitzel done cordon-bleu style), and poking through the shops (we bought many cheeses at the Cheesemonger’s Shop and many meats at Cured).
But the actual Octoberfest itself was underwhelming. For several reasons:
It was held on one of the only ugly streets in Leavenworth, right up against this depressing, concrete facade. One of us joked that this was the “East Berlin” part of Germany being represented.
It was expensive to get in, and you didn’t even get any beer tickets with admission. Those were extra.
None of the beer offerings were in any way exceptional. You could get better beers in most of the restaurants downtown.
It was kinda frat-like. Or Douchey. Take your pick from those two adjectives.
I’m pretty sure this was another “I’m too old for this” moment. We left town before 10:00 PM (we were staying at one of our cohort’s parent’s house over in Monroe). That said, Leavenworth was lovely with its changing leaves and dramatic mountain setting. The food and drink outside of Octoberfest was delicious. And the company was delightful. Of course I didn’t take any photos.
I would love to return to Leavenworth in the fall sometime again, but I would completely skip Octoberfest and just go bar-hopping in the town itself or something.
Several years ago a delightful (and very successful) little restaurant opened in North Tacoma, full of nummy sammitches and foodstuffs. It was called The Rosewood Café, and was owned/operated by Tacomen Barry & Renee Watson. And it was good.
Then in January they sold the Rosewood for apparently a rather tidy sum. The new owners said they’d try not to mess with a good thing, and so the Rosewood has continued much in the same successful vein.
The Watsons decided to relax. That lasted only a few months.
Barry, apparently itching for some action, began guest-bartending at The Red Hot on 6th Ave. And soon a plan was publicized: The Watsons were going to open a new business. Not a restaurant this time. A specialty beer store and taproom.
The place is pretty much exactly how I pictured it. There’s a wall of fridges with some 600 beers in them. Then just past that is a bar with 10 taps and a handful of tables for seating. It’s a cross between awesome and adorable.
We shared an apricot cider and a “Strong Start” Belgian beer, which was specially made as a limited edition for Pint Defiance by the brewers at E-9.
Apricot Cider & “Strong Start” Belgian Beer
The Strong Start was amazing: dark and rich but without that horribly bitter bite that I can’t stand. It was also such a limited edition that you couldn’t fill up your growler with it. So we instead filled up our growler with a milk stout (also dark & delicious) from a Puyallup brewery. The growler, by the way, was our old growler that we’d gotten at The Rosewood, complete with the little tattooed cowboy emblazoned on it. If you don’t have a Rosewood growler, though, don’t worry: they made tons of Pint Defiance growlers for the opening. We also got a handful of other beers (we’re going camping this weekend after all).
And it was good.
We look forward to getting our specialty beers (and enjoying a pint) at Pint Defiance for many years to come. So can you!
Pint Defiance
2049 Mildred Street West
Tacoma, WA 98466
11:00 AM to 9:00 PM every day
Have you ever found yourself in an inexpensive, fast-food-style restaurant and suddenly realized, “Holy crap I am not fancy enough for this place!” (don’t worry, I know we’ve all felt like that)?
Well, if you go to Monster Burger in Federal Way (just south across the street from the mall), you needn’t worry, because they have a handy free tie in the men’s room just for you!
This Tie Could Be Yours for the Price of FREE
Now you can be a fancyman in your fancy restaurant without fear of ridicule!
Seriously, though, I had never been to Monster Burger until earlier this year. It’s pretty good, and extremely reasonable for the portions that get served up. It is actually very clean and well-run. Plus instant fancyman accessory in the men’s room!
