RON SWARNER: NEW MENU'S DEBUT TASTING >>>

In the kitchens, the end of summer is just something you have to get through, a grinding slog through the last hot days, the last slow nights. Everyone's eyes are on the approaching holiday season â€" distant but just visible over the horizon. Chefs are dreaming of potatoes, of pork loins and root vegetables, of pumpkin and cinnamon and apples and winter stews.

Primo Grill, celebrating its 10th anniversary this week â€" Chef Charlie McManus left the Sheraton Hotel’s Altezzo Ristorante and with partner Jacqueline Plattner opened the first artistic dining spot in Tacoma â€" has added a few menu items to its Mediterranean fare.

With the sweet smell of apple wood wafting over a packed house Friday night, I tried three new items: aglio e olio (pictured), pumpkin ravioli and the grilled pork rib chop.

Primo’s aglio e olio ($13.95) showed exactly why this dish deserves to be a classic: oil and garlic, fresh herbs and parmesan all in perfect harmony. Then hot peppers to seal the deal. It was amazing.

The raviolis ($14.95) arrived with tartness intact and the optimal mushy-warm level on the pumpkin-nutmeg paste. Parmesan dotted the ravioli's top, and sage butter hid below each one. Slippers and a warm fire were the only items missing.

The moderate sweetness of the sun-dried cherry sauce didn’t overpower the grilled pork rib chop ($18.95), which was perfectly cooked. The highlight of the dish was the garlic mashed potatoes. McManus crushes a whole roasted clove with the spuds therefore a pocket toothpaste isn’t needed.

Also this fall Primo Grill introduced its “Happiest Hour” featuring $8.95 pastas and $7.95 appetizers, plus $5 wells, $3 micros and $6.50 crafted cocktails, from 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8-10 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and 9-11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.

[Primo Grill, 601 S. Pine St., Tacoma, 253.383.7000]

Filed under: Food & Drink, Tacoma,