JAKE DE PAUL: STARTING YOUR DAY IN A HOTEL >>>

The Hotel Murano describes the breakfast it serves at its Bite restaurant as "traditional fare with an elegant twist." In practice, its breakfast â€" as well as lunch and dinner â€" finds a happy medium between the two aspirations â€" its food and décor are interesting and pleasing without being demanding.

The breakfast menu offers twists like a Northwest Benedict (cured salmon with poached eggs and a plugra hollandaise), gingerbread French toast (with crème fraiche), “b&g” (cheddar biscuits, thyme white gravy, softly scrambled eggs and sausage), pigs in a quilt (smokehouse bacon baked in a Belgian waffle), eggs Benedict Royal (with prosciutto di parma and plugra hollandaise â€" on the salty side but delicious) and a tofu scramble.

Of course, standards like buttermilk pancakes, Western omelet, oatmeal and steak and eggs are also available.

Of special note is the “Breakfast Club”: toasted ciabatta with fried egg, Oregon sharp cheddar, smokehouse bacon and black pepper aioli served with skillet browned potatoes. It's tasty.

Prices range from the $6 oatmeal to $17 for the 7-ounce New York strip and eggs. Most items fall into the $10 to $12 range, which might be $2 an entree more than locals are willing pay.

Service during my last three morning visits has been attentive and friendly.

This is comfort food with one eye on greatness â€" and it just might be one of the best breakfasts in Tacoma.

MICHAEL SWAN: TUESDAY OCT. 20, 2009 >>>

1. Saxophonist Kareem Kandi hosts a jazz open jam at 9 p.m. inside Sax on 6th.

2. Love Tacoma social organization meets for dinner at 5:30 p.m. inside Minoela followed by a movie at The Grand Cinema.

4. Annie Sprinkle, Ph.D., prostitute/porn star turned sexologist/performance will lecture on My Big Fat Queer Sexy Artist Activist Life at 7:30 p.m. inside The Evergreen State College Experimental Theater.

5. Hell’s Kitchen hosts Freedom Records’ Lost & Found Open Audition and Band Networking Open Mic, hosted by Resdeus, with Toby Roberts, Ed Rubin, Travis Simmons, and Susan Jones.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

MICHAEL SWAN: GO USA! >>>

"Rhapsody in Blue" is much more than a jingle for United Airlines. George Gershwin’s piece of music screams American optimism. If you close your eyes as it’s performed you can kind of see the Chrysler Building.

OK, try again.

Hear that American style of crossover between jazz and musicals and songs? It’s singing music, and very colorful. Gershwin wrote “Rhapsody in Blue” in 1924, the same year Fletcher Henderson and Louis Armstrong were kicking ass and taking names. Yet, you can sense the French Impressionists in the piece. Dubbed the world’s first crossover piece, it’s a great combination  â€" American culture and Western European culture.

“Rhapsody in Blue” will be the highlight of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra’s season opener when American piano soloist Andrew Armstrong performs it before the Pantages crowd Saturday night. Although Google search results tag Armstrong â€" who first turned heads at the 1993 Van Cliburn competition â€" with the Gershwin song in numerous major symphonies, Armstrong tackles the song for the first time in this neck of the woods.

TSO titled opening night “American Rhapsody,” adding all-American ditties such as Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from West Side Story, Aaron Copland’s World War II tribute “Fanfare for the Common Man” and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” which the Czech composer wrote while hanging out in the States during the 1890s.

So grab an American flag, and a glass of wine and salute Armstrong and the Tacoma Symphony Saturday night.

[Pantages Theater, Saturday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m., $24-$62, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5894]

JAKE DE PAUL: FOOD MATTERS >>>

Captain’s List: Toscanos Café and Wine Bar is giving away their $10 gift card with every bottle of wine purchased off their Captain’s List.

New Brewery: Trade Route Brewery and Taphouse has opened in Pacific, Wash. â€" just south of Auburn on Highway 167.

Food For Thought: Mini Coke cans â€" the new light cigarette?

LINK: Weekly Volcano’s Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: South Sound Dive Bars

RON SWARNER: IT’S RECORD RELEASE DAY >>>

Flight of the Conchords, I Told You I Was Freaky

Lyle Lovett, Natural Forces

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, Audacity of Hype

Creed, Full Circle

Tim McGraw, Southern Voice

Rammstein, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da

Train, Save Me San Francisco

SUZY STUMP: DEATH ON TWO WHEELS >>>

The concept is simple: Pick an area of town and patronize as many bars as you can in the allotted time (that is, before last call has passed and a angry bartender swipes the final drink from your lips). Pub crawls, with their chug-and-run near-athleticism, are almost a drinker's triathlon - events requiring endurance in walking, drinking and remaining standing - except the payoff is sheer fun rather than gold medals. Don't expect to get your face on ESPN, though; if you're not careful to stay within limits, you may end up in the Weekly Volcano's Ragnet crime column instead, especially if you're dressed as a skeleton on a bike.

You see, even though there's nearly two weeks until Halloween hits, the undead will be starting the party early, as peddling and mumbling stiffs will take over the streets of Tacoma this Saturday. The Reaper Ride, a costumed pub crawl on bikes - a spooky peloton if you will - will begin with drinks at 6 p.m. inside the TenTwentyTwo South bar on Hilltop Tacoma. At 7:30 p.m., riders dressed as skeletons - costumes are strongly encouraged - will peddle to the next bar - which is a mystery as the bar route will not be exhumed until just before the ride.

As you can probably guess, tucking your skeleton pant leg into your sock has never been more important.

[Tentwentytwo South, Saturday, Oct. 24, 6 p.m., no admission fee, 1022 S. J St., Tacoma, knystrom2@comcast.net]

MICHAEL SWAN: TODAY’S HAPPY HOUR DISCUSSION TOPIC >>>

Strawberry Swing from Matt Clark on Vimeo.

Discuss the above video over happy hour at:

Vinum Coffee and Wine Lounge
1001 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.8215‎
Happy Hour: 6-8 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday
Drinks Specials: $4 glasses of wine, $3 micro brew pounders, $2 domestic pounders, $6.50 pitchers
Food Specials: $1 off appetizers

LINK: More South Sound happy hours

MICHAEL SWAN: WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21, 2009 >>>

Sleeve facing - the international trend in which a person covers a part of their body with a record sleeve and takes a photo - will be taught in the Olympic Room at the Tacoma Public Library Main Branch from 4-6 p.m.

2. The Tacoma Dome opens its doors at 10 a.m. so you can buy It's Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas Tree fragrance at the Tacoma Holiday Food & Gift Festival.

3. Uncle Sam's American Bar & Grill in Spanaway hosts "Harmonica Dave" aka David Brian Erwin at 7 p.m.

4. Maia Santell & House Blend perform before dancers at Studio 6 Ballroom from 8-11 p.m.

5. It's Masa's College Night with "Your Girlfriend's Favorite DJ" spinning at 9 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

JAKE DE PAUL: FOOD MATTERS >>>

Elysian Pumpkin Night: Elysian Brewing Company will unload a bunch of Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale, Dark O’The Moon Pumpkin Stout, and Hansel & Gretel Ginger Pumpkin Pilsner tonight at The Red Hot. Check it at 2914 Sixth Ave. in Tacoma.

Science!: Dr. Mark Thomson from Ferris (can we get a Bueller?) State University will give a free lecture on “The Role of Chemistry in the Development of Regional Styles of Beer and Ale” tonight at 6 p.m. at The Evergreen State College’s Seminar II Building. Admission is free.

Grove Street Brewhouse: The Washington Beer Blog has the scoop on Shelton’s new brewery.

Plan Ahead: Minoela Wine House will pair fruits and cheeses with wines from Chandon Winery Thursday, Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m. The cost is $20. Reserve your spot at 253.503.1460.

Food For Thought: How to become a Top Chef.

LINK: Weekly Volcano’s Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Wine and beer tastings

RON SWARNER: COCKTAILS WITH A NUTRITIOUS TWIST >>>

Thursday, Oct. 22, 1022 South â�" a craft cocktail lounge in Tacomaâ��s Hilltop neighborhood â�" will throw a party to celebrate its new menu featuring more than 40 innovative, and in some cases, curative handcrafted cocktails. Beginning at 4 p.m., drinkers will be able to sip the new concoctions for $6 a pop.

Since this lounge opened in March 2009, bar manager Chris Langston and crew have entertained drinkers with discussions ranging from fermentation yeasts to ice density â�" offering a vibe and drink menu that suggests a throwback to the pre-Prohibition era when tempting cocktails and stimulating conversation highlighted a cosmopolitan American nightlife. With ingredients such as housemade bitters, botanical infusions and herbs including yohimbe, damiana and tulsi gracing the stemware, itâ��s safe to tag the folks behind 1022â��s bar as apothecary rather than bartenders.

What peaks piquesmy attention most regarding the new menu â�" since my daughterâ��s school is all but shut down due to the flu â�" are the quasi-elixirs Langston and crew have invented. Are prune-tinis on the menu? Will the glasses be rimmed with wheat germ?

Whatever exotic ingredients swirl I�m sure they�ll bring longevity, energy, and an exceptional buzz.

[1022 South, Thursday, Oct. 22, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., no cover, 1022 S. J St., Tacoma, 253.627.8588]

LINK: Previously on Spew