STEPH DEROSA: SLOW BURN >>>

Spicy Chicken and Mushroom
Gikan Teriyaki #7
Price: $8.95
Burn Factor: Three out of four Molotov cocktails

So I ventured to Gikan Teriyaki #7 for this week’s Slow Burn. What’s funny is trying to imagine the Gikan Teriyaki #2, #3, or #5.  Are they all the same? Is the original Gikan Teriyaki #1 all uppity because it was the original?  Do they really own seven of them, or is it because six other Korean couples took the name “Gikan Teriyaki”?  Questions like these haunt me at night as I try to sleep.  Yes, that’s how lame my brain is.  Look, yours would be drained as well if you had to work amongst men who wear pajamas to the office and overuse played-out pop-culture phrases like “You go girl!” Ugh.

Gikan Teriyaki calls it like they see it.  Their dish “Spicy Chicken and Mushroom” is exactly that.  For those of you who have already checked out for your Memorial Day holiday, let me explain: It is nothing but chicken pieces, mushrooms, and spicy sauce.  None of that bullshit some other competingteriyaki joints might put in the dish as fillers, like water chestnuts.  Water chestnuts in a teriyaki dish are like croutons in a salad â€" cheap, tasteless, and utterly useless.

As for the slow burn factor, and as with pretty much any spicy Asian dish, the sooner you eat it before it cools down, the fiery the pepper heat.  As it filled my belly, the Spicy Chicken and Mushroom plate from Gikan Teriyaki set a quaint blaze to my mouth and kept me happy. 

[Gikan Teriyaki #7, 900 Meridian E., Milton, 253-952-3473]

MICHAEL SWAN: SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009 >>>

1. The staff at Hell’s Kitchen has given bowling a new name and the first annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Bowling contest kicks off at 1 p.m. inside Pacific Lanes Bowling Center. DOA and others rock Hell’s Kitchen at 9 p.m.

2. Rich Wetzel's Groovin Higher Jazz Orchestra, Michael Powers, Darren Motamedy and others perform this afternoon at the Tacoma Jazz and Blues Festival in downtown Tacoma.

3. The Tacoma Dance Collective, Tacoma City Ballet, MLKBallet The Company, Harbor Conservatory, Joel Myers, and many more will bring their own works to the stage, a tiny four-foot by four-foot platform, raised for your viewing pleasure, during Ten Tiny Dances at Annie Wright School at 8 p.m.

4. Walk by any roofing crew today and you’ll probably hear some Lonely H. It might be a Doobie Brothers song. It might be Marshall Tucker. It might be The Band, Pure Prairie League or Skynyrd. But it’ll be Lonely H, because Lonely H is all of these bands. Check them out tonight at the Eastside Club Tavern in Olympia.

5. Based on Vashon Island and the purveyors of some of the freshest yet familiar, ’80s-molded electro pop you’re liable to come across, VV brings new wave to Bob’s Java Jive tonight.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Arts and entertainment calendar

NIKKI TALOTTA: FIRST BOWL, THEN ROCK >>>

The cheap beer, the crash of pins, the dorky shoes. A reason to cuss and brag, a game for friendly competition and the preferred sport of The Dude from The Big Lebowski.  Aah, sweet bowling, one of America’s favorite pastimes. And Hell’s Kitchen is bringing us reason to love it even more.

That’s right, the staff at Hell’s Kitchen has given this old game a new name and the first annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Bowling contest is on its way.

Pacific Lanes will host the first part of the event â€" the contest. A handicap will be established based on what the teams bowl for the first three games and added to the score, so it will be fair for all levels of bowlers. The top eight teams after the qualifying round will go into bracket finals, explains Flash. The top three teams get paid. First place team will get a trophy and bragging rights.

Naturally, Hell’s Kitchen will be hosting the second part of the event â€" the after party. Legendary punk rockers DOA will be tearing it up with the help of Neutral Boy (who are rumored to be bowling) and others.

[Pacific Lanes Bowling Center, Saturday, May 23, 1-5 p.m., 7015 S. “D” St., Tacoma, 253.474.0594]

[Hell’s Kitchen, DOA, Neutral Boy, The Insurgence, Red White and Die, Saturday, May 23, 9 p.m., $10-$12, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

MATT DRISCOLL: VENUS VERSE IS NOW VV AND AT THE JIVE TONIGHT >>>

Based on Vashon Island and the purveyors of some of the freshest yet familiar, ’80s-molded electro pop you’re liable to come across, for Venus Verse, the name became a problem (what? Penis Purse?) â€" so they were forced to make a change. The band now goes by VV, and things have been a lot less confounded ever since.

Why should you care about VV’s new name? Well, if you’re not into new wave, or thinking outside the drum, bass, guitar, vocals box, or getting to know a seriously talented band from a place you have to ride a ferry to get to, then, really â€" you shouldn’t.
But if you are interested in any of that read the full story here.

[Bob’s Java Jive, VV with Blicky, Amy Bleu, Thought Bandit, Saturday, May 23, 8 p.m., $5, 2102 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.475.9843]

MARK THOMAS DEMING: LONELY H AT THE EASTSIDE >>>

Walk by any roofing crew today and you’ll probably hear some Lonely H. It might be a Doobie Brothers song. It might be Marshall Tucker. It might be The Band, Pure Prairie League or Skynyrd. But it’ll be Lonely H, because Lonely H is all of these bands.

Hailing from Port Angeles, these boys look like they were lifted from the cover of the Allman Brothers’ Live at the Fillmore East, circa 1971: long hair, staches, bellbottoms, boots. And they sound like it too.

Three quarters of the quartet can’t legally belly up to a bourbon, but they’ve got that whiskey-soaked Southern rock thing down pat. 

Lonely H breaks no new ground with their new record, Concrete Class, but they take good care of the old. They’ll swing by Olympia’s Eastside tonight. Make that the Fillmore Eastside.

[Eastside Club Tavern, Saturday, May 23, 9 p.m., $5, 410 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.357.9985]

MARK THOMAS DEMING: HANG JONES AT LE VOYEUR TONIGHT >>>

One of the records I worry most about my kids using as a Frisbee is Willie Nelson’s classic 1975 LP Red Headed Stranger. Especially side one. Beginning and ending with the theme “Time of the Preacher,” and climaxing with the title cut, it tells the story of a drifter who kills his unfaithful wife and then kills another woman for coveting his dead wife’s horse. Red Headed Stranger is arguably country music’s first concept album, paving the way for future artists like San Francisco singer-songwriter Hang Jones.

The 12 songs on Jones’ new album, The Ballad of Carlsbad County, tell the tale of the fictional New Mexico outlaw William Bishop. I’m not sure yet whether Jones is an innovator, imitator or ironist, but I know it’s worth finding out.

[Le Voyeur, with David Bavas, Saturday, May 23, 10 p.m., no cover, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.5710]

ALEC CLAYTON: LAST CHANCE TO SEE THE BETTER THAN YOUR AVERAGE BIENNIAL >>>

The 9th Northwest Biennialat Tacoma Art Museum is too heavy on the conceptual; there’s too much photography, and it would be nice if there were at least one South Sound artist in the show. But it’s one of the more impressive biennials they’ve had, with a wide range of very intriguing art. Read my full review here.

The show closes Monday, May 25. The museum is open today from noon to 5 p.m. and tomorrow, Memorial Day, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for military, students and seniors. Children 5 and younger are free.   

The Tacoma Art Museum is at 1701 Pacific Ave. in downtown Tacoma. For more information, call 253.272.4258, or visit their Web site.

Photo: Ross Sawyers’ Untitled (Blue, Sky 2), 2007, inkjet print, 30 x 60. Courtesy of the artist and Platform Gallery, Seattle

JENNIFER JOHNSON: STATION 56 OPENED IT'S SUSHI BAR >>>

Station 56 in Tacoma has now joined the ranks of South Sound nightclubs with a sushi bar. After two false starts, the sushi bar in the balcony officially opened Friday, May 15. Walking into the nightclub just off South Tacoma Way on 56th Street, one would never imagine sushi chef Yung waited above to expertly slice raw maguro (tuna), sake (salmon), and ika (squid) or lay barbeque unagi (eel) over rice drizzling sweet teriyaki-type sauce and wrapped tight with a seaweed band.

Curious, but not an experienced sushi eater? Hit up the new addition during sushi happy hour from 4-7 p.m. when selected maki-zushi, or sushi rolls, are more than half off (average rolls are $10 and up). This is an almost risk free way to experience new tastes. The California Roll is the go-to roll (harmless avocado, cucumber and cooked and cooled imitation crabmeat or surimi) for those that haven’t developed a taste for the flavor nuances of the ocean’s fresh bounty.

As a general rule, fresh fish should not smell fishy, though there are some types that are decidedly pungent naturally. Be adventurous and skip the California, but do start out easy with a Philadelphia Roll â€" smoked salmon, cream cheese, and cucumber rolled up in toasted black nori (sushi grade dried seaweed) with white sushi rice on the outside. There’s a very slight sea-air essence to the Philly from the nori, but nothing in this roll is actually raw.

Kappa-maki, or cucumber roll, is one of the most common rolls in Japan due to the ease in preparation and popular for its low cost. It’s also a vegetarian option due to zero seafood content. 

Feeling brave? Order a spicy tuna roll. Chile powder-enhanced mayonnaise is folded into raw tuna and rolled in rice with the nori on the outside (considered the correct way â€" nori on the outside).

Once you’ve chosen your rolls, get your soy sauce dish ready (use the low sodium kind if available) and slowly add bits of green wasabi stirring with a chopstick until completely dissolved. Wasabi is ultra potent; remember it gets real hot real fast, so taste it often to get it just the way you want it. Feel free to use your hands to wrangle sections of maki-zushi into your soy sauce/wasabi pool if chopsticks are a hindrance, though do give them a shot. Pop a piece of gari or thinly sliced pickled ginger in your mouth to cleanse your palate between bites. Before long you’ll be a sushi fanatic knowing the difference between sashimi (raw slices of seafood without rice) and sushi (raw seafood draped over oblong rice forms).

Non-traditional sushi bars are a fun place to experience and learn to appreciate this Japanese style of food in a less intimidating atmosphere.

If sushi is simply not for you, Station 56 offers regular happy hour Monday through Friday from 3-6 p.m. with $3 munchies (hot wings, chicken Caesar salad, cheeseburger, chicken quesadilla, and more), half-price pizza, $2 draft beers and well drinks, $3 wine and free pool daily.

[Station 56, 5602 S. Washington, Tacoma, 253.474.1189]

LINK: South Sound Japanese Restaurants

RON SWARNER: I WILL MISS YOU GAYL >>>

The Swiss' staff annual weekend camp out near Packwood ended in tragedy Friday night. Gayl Bertagni, co-owner of The Swiss pub in downtown Tacoma, was tragically killed while trying to stop her truck from rolling. The News Tribune has the full story here.

I learned of Gayl's death early Saturday morning. Stunned and devastated, I was too shaken to put my thoughts into words. I still am. Gayl was my friend.

I was there when she, Bob Hill and Jack McQuade opened The Swiss in 1993. And it was at their short-lived Hotel Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue earlier this decade when I really got to know Gayl. She was hoping to let her kitchen talents run wild in the new environment. I dropped by often to chat about her food direction, and she would give me constructive criticism on the Weekly Volcano, and my clothes.

Since her tragic death, many have discussed Gayl's motherly nature, toward The Swiss "family" and friends. I concur.

On behalf of everyone at Swarner Communications, I extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Gayl Bertagni.

I will miss you Gayl. May you rest in peace. 

Photo: A shrine has been errected outside the front door of The Swiss. The Swiss is closed today and tomorrow.