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Posts made in: 'University Place' (85) Currently Viewing: 51 - 60 of 85

December 25, 2011 at 1:35am

Merry Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah

Weekly Volcano's bosses ran the numbers and decided that since you'll all be drunk anyway, there's no use in turning the lights on Christmas Day. So: We'll be back Monday with more frivolity. In the meantime, thanks for reading and commenting this past year. Consider our stockings stuffed.

So "Merry" this and "Happy" that, whatever suits your fancy or your need. Just don't forget the "Ho Ho Ho" that, maybe better than anything else, keeps it all in perspective.

Oh, and Happy New Year. That's unambiguous.

November 24, 2011 at 7:55am

Happy Thanksgiving

The Weekly Volcano and Spew would like to wish you a Happy Turkey Day! We hope you and a few others huddle around what little warmth there is in a increasingly cold and uncaring universe, sipping, supping, and supporting one another - because there is nothing else worth doing.

Love each other.

Then go find some karaoke.

September 12, 2011 at 10:14am

Weekend Posts: Downtown cowboys, chocolate faces, Tacoma rock legends and opening night at The Fair

NOSH LEAGUE RECAP: Masa bartender Emily Cooks licks the chocolate off here gloves as Affairs Cafe and Desserts owner Gay Landry laughs in the background.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT WHILE THROWING CRAP AT YOUR TV >>>

Today will be the last day of hot temperatures for a while. We're looking at temps in the lower 70s over the next couple of days. Just watch: Even though it'll still be plenty warm out, everyone's going to be breaking out sweaters and stuff. Ridiculous.

If you zoned in on your television during the first full weekend of football, here's what we posted over the weekend:

We hung out at the Big Whisky Saloon Parking Lot Party.

We posted a recap with photos of the Nosh League event at Affairs Café.

Tacoma Rock and Roll Wall of Fame banquet is coming in October.

Scenes from opening night at the Puyallup Fair.

LINK: Things to do today

September 10, 2011 at 2:38pm

Nosh League: I had my first affair

Masa bartender Emily Cooks licks the chocolate off here gloves as Affairs Cafe and Desserts owner Gay Landry laughs in the background.

REVIEW OF THE CHOCOLATE/WINE TASTING AT AFFAIRS CAFE AND DESSERTS >>>

I had my first affair, I loved it, and now I want more.

Needless to say, I'm a college student intern, and this was my first experience at a Nosh League event, a foodie group sponsored by the Weekly Volcano.

September's event was held at the delicious Affairs Café and Desserts, a delectable little shop located on Bridgeport in University Place. It was easy to find even for a person who is directionally challenged and is freaking out due to the gaslight coming on. No, no, don't worry; I wouldn't have missed a chocolate tasting event.

The tiny shop was decorated with kitchen aids and antique furnishings of bakeries past. Raffle tickets were handed out as you walked through the door, along with friendly smiles from the owners and bakers.

As people started to file in, the space filled with chatter, friendly conversation and the offer of complimentary wine from the server.

The only downfall of complimentary wine is for the unlucky few who must decline due to the date of their birth. However, I had a lovely wine glass full of refreshing iced water.

Reading the menu for the night at the small rectangular table I was skeptical. It started with: Spanish Prawns: fired with spicy chocolate, ginger, chili, garlic, served over greens. I'm not sure about anyone else, but when I eat chocolate, my first idea isn't to serve it with seafood and salad. Luckily, I was proven wrong.

I admit I am a chocolate lover by nature, and a chance to taste a round of chocolaty goodness was far from my self-control button. I was definitely NOT prepared for what my taste buds were about to experience!  

Affairs Torte: a 10-layer buttercream and ganache cake. Need I say more? If Affairs Torte were served in every class, I would never leave college, and a lot more people would be extending their student loans! However, after the entire plate was clean, there were still two more temptations to come. 

While I was enjoying the blissful chocolate and lively conversation, prizes were handed out. I was jealous not to receive the two truffle boxes from Affairs, Counting Crows' tickets, gift cards with the promise of cheese and meats, and two alluring massages.

Everyone in the restaurant was suffering a chocolate high from the last dessert served, an extremely rich chocolate decadence cake with raspberry puree. This was testing my stomachs integrity, knowing there was still a truffle to come.

The grand finale consisted of every attendee encountering a palm-sized truffle. The table I was sitting at was last, and anticipation grew as each and every other customer walked from the back licking up the slop of chocolate in one hand, and carefully holding a ball of chocolate in the other.

Finally, as the last group, we walked to the back of the kitchen, tied aprons around our necks, and drowned a creamy ball of ganache in a bowl of chocolate bliss.

A few of us said the chocolate dropped too deep in the bowl. Leaving us with only one course of action: plummeting out fists in the chocolate lake. Naturally saying this while slurping up the chocolate dripping down our hand.

As the group filed out of the kitchen, the place seemed to have cleared, leaving only the remnants of their previously edible chocolate.

It was a night I would happily repeat, minus the calories and the chocolate hangover. Great food and good people: who could ask for more. Did I mention it was a chocolate tasting event?

Note: The Nosh League's next outing/tasting will be at The Melting Pot Thursday, Oct. 13. Join the group here. Join the group's Facebook here. And subscribe to the Nosh League's weekly newsletter here.

[Affairs Cafe and Desserts, 2811 Bridgeport Way W., University Place, 253.565.8604]

LINK: More photos from the Nosh League event

August 28, 2011 at 9:55am

NOSH LEAGUE: Gosh Nosh Ganache

JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT GATHERING >>>

No just universe would reserve the pleasures of candy for children, but if your taste buds have grown up, you may no longer want to scarf waxen candy corn. The civilized adult can get sugar and chocolate fixes at Affairs Café & Desserts in University Place. Having perfected her craft for more than 20 years, Gay Landry makes distinct, rich handmade chocolate truffles, hand-poured chocolate nut clusters, antique pewter-mold solid chocolate figures, and more than 50 varieties of the best cheesecakes and specialty desserts in this universe.

She leaves Milk Duds in the dust.

The Weekly Volcano's foodie conglomerate Nosh League begged Landry and her crew to open up Affairs for a private chocolate tasting and education at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8. For the standard $15, Nosh Leaguers will tour Affairs' chocolate-making kitchen, discover Landry's sweet secrets, taste a savory chocolate dish, enjoy another three rounds of chocolate desserts, and enjoy red and dessert wine.

Sweet deal, huh?

To get in on this Gosh Nosh Ganache, RSVP on the Nosh League Facebook.

To join the Nosh League, click here.

August 25, 2011 at 2:55pm

Eat This Now: Blackened chicken taco salad

Open wide!

SPECIAL IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT >>>

The glass cooler display cases overflowing with decadent desserts of all shapes, types and sizes stops you after swinging open the door at Affairs Café & Bakery. The goodies front and center isn't a shock since this small spot in University Place has been championing all things sweet for close to 20 years. And even though your goal might be breakfast or lunch - as Affairs has "Café" in its name - a slice of cake with a side of truffles for lunch is hard to resist.

But resist I did today - a wise decision.

The top of Affairs Special board for the next two days sits a beautiful blackened chicken taco salad ($13). The robust salad - with a massive pile of spring leafs, corn salsa (with cilantro lime juice!), cheddar, olives, tomato - sports spicy blackened chicken stripes and the perfect dollop of ranch pushed against a giant baked taco shell as if the thick statue upchucked the pile of goodness. The medium spice and creamy ranch create a wonderful dressing.

It's too tasty to be mistaken for health food.

[Affairs Café & Bakery, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, 2811 Bridgeport Way W., University Place, 253.565.8604]

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

August 1, 2011 at 1:39pm

Lefty’s Burger Shack is a win

 

BURGERS AND "FRINGS" >>>

Lefty's Burger Shack opened in University Place on Saturday, July 23. Arriving at 11 a.m. last Tuesday, I had thoughts of what a fried egg might be like on one of Lefty's burgers, but quickly dashed those as my nose picked up a scent I am unashamedly fond of: a hot grill kicking up the aroma of meat.

The first customers of the day, my lunch date Angela Jossy and I stood outside for a minute or two (there's no indoor service, more on that later) a little confused. The doors on both sides were blocked, but there were people inside.

I knocked on a window bearing a hand-written sign - "No shakes today. Sorry."  The 5-year-old in me wanted to cry. Owner Pam Hubert opened the window and said they were ready to make food. That's good, I thought. We were ready to eat.

The menu at Lefty's is huge, hand-painted in simple lettering and mounted on the outside of the building above the order and pick-up windows. We had to step back to read it. Deluxe quarter-pound burgers start at $3.25. Price increases if you add bacon, cheese or extra patties. I cheekily asked what was in the secret sauce; Hubert fired right back, "It's a secret."  I instantly liked her.

We ordered burgers and sat at one of three covered picnic tables. Those and two surfboards turned benches make up Lefty's seating. Hubert says she was told she had to have two bathrooms inside the tiny building and one had to be handicap-accessible or she couldn't have indoor seating. "There isn't room for all that, so we can't have people in here and we can't use the counter or anything," she tells me. I hear her frustration, but she maintains a smile. After over two years of just trying to open the place, I imagine she'd be able to smile through a hurricane.

Within five to seven minutes our order is ready; Hubert calls my name out the window. I feel like my mom was calling me in for lunch.

Jossy's deluxe burger - no onion - was made correctly, and my bacon-blue cheeseburger was all I'd built it up to be in my mind. Both had shredded lettuce, pickle and tomato that balanced meat and cheese inside slightly toasted and still warm Kaiser buns.

Three (maybe four) pieces of freshly cooked bacon stuck out the sides of my burger. Blue cheese crumbles made melty by the hot burger patty, plus a bit of blue cheese dressing, added a mellow twang of flavor. Juicy (not too thick and with a subtle pink showing), the star, of course, was the burger patty itself. A+

Hubert offers "frings" - a half order of old-school, crinkle-cut fries and beer-battered onion rings in one bag. Nicely crisp and golden in color, the frings brought to mind being a teen at Arctic Circle and dunking bites in pink fry sauce.

Jossy and I chatted and ate in solitude until one by one cars started rolling into the parking lot. Hubert, her sons and daughter were quickly put to work as a line formed. My cell phone showed 11:30 a.m. and ten people stood patiently, waiting their turn to order a much-anticipated grub. Others milled about after ordering. Lunch for two people sans drinks was less than $11. That's a win in anyone's book.

Beyond burgers, Lefty's also has chicken sandwiches, clam strips, fish and chips, pickle chips, ice cream cones, 20-ounce milkshakes (they will have them regularly soon, we were promised), Nathan's hot dogs, corn dogs and chicken strips.

[Lefty's Burger Shack, 8317 27th St. W., University Place]

July 21, 2011 at 10:47am

First Bite: Italian dining returns to University Place

Our lunch trio at Massimo Italian Bar & Grill / Photo credit: Emily Larberg Cook

MASSIMO OPENS FOR BUSINESS >>>

Not since before Mama Stortini's closed up shop has puttanesca, salsiccia or saltimbocca been available in University Place. Only a few weeks past schedule, Massimo Italian Bar and Grill in University Place opened Sunday, July 17.

Graphic designer Michelle L. reports dinner Monday was hit and miss, "Cannelloni de Carnegie wasn't that great, but chicken Marsala and steamed clams were good," she says. She recommends custard cream with berries for dessert. She said of the service, "My server Shannon was great."

Wanting a firsthand taste, I headed to University Place Tuesday on a foodie field trip. An elderly woman on her way out as we arrived held her to-go box high and declared with full smile, "It's excellent and I have some to take home."

Inside I noticed the décor has come together nicely - pictures and mirrors hang on the walls, with vases and flowers here and there and padded benches facing a revamped fireplace. Instead of sparse, it's tastefully reserved and a bit rustic.

Lunch was shared with food blogger Emily Larberg Cook and security agent Dan Maze. Not midday drinkers, we merely skimmed the wine list. Many bottles are less than $40, more less than $30; a full page of by-the-glass wine has a $7 median price. Spooning garlicky olive oil spiked with vibrant red and green pepper and herb bits on thinly sliced white bread to prime our appetites, we went over the menu. Our server tells us the olive oil blend is made in-house and sold in a wine bottle for $19.

Pizza comes in seven-inch and 12-inch options; as appetizer we had a seven-inch Verduro ($5.95). Pie crust was light golden brown on one side and pale on the other. Very thin crust was only baked on the bottom; the top remained gummy and wet. Larberg guessed the wetness stemmed from large chunks of marinated artichoke hearts soaking the dough. I hate to knock plentiful toppings — halved olives, white onion, roasted red pepper pieces, garlic and mozzarella cheese were in full effect — but when they keep pizza crust from baking thoroughly, toppings should be cut back or a better baking method employed. On the side that was baked longer, the crust edge held its own. Larberg didn't think it was too dense, classifying it as crunchy on the outside and chewy inside. "If it was a breadstick it wouldn't need dip," she offers.

At operating partner Rich Johnson's suggestion I ordered Panino de Carne. A half sandwich with soup ($6.50), the sandwich was generous in size though most of that was bread. Difficult to get my mouth around, I finally smashed it down with my hand.  Adding marinara (or any sauce) would combat dryness. Well-done steak pieces could have used less cooking time and been sliced more thinly. The other ingredients of fresh basil, roasted red pepper and mozzarella cheese are always a winning combination.  Minestrone soup, though packed full of vegetables, was unremarkable.

Capellini Positano / Photo credit: Emily Larberg Cook

Linguine Sorrento ($9.95) arrived over-cooked and under-spiced. It was taken back with no fuss and quickly replaced with Capellini Positano ($8.95). Lemon overwhelmed the new dish - pasta was cooked al dente (which is tricky to achieve with such thin noodles), prawns were tail-on and not deveined. Maze's dish of Rigatoni con Salsiccia ($7.95) was the winner. The fragrant fennel scent in Italian sausage wafted from the bowl - fresh basil, sundried tomato and cream sauce covered al dente pasta. Maze's huge smile said it all: A+

While waiting for dessert and reveling in our surroundings, it was hard to imagine the restaurant was ever Captain Nemo's.

Tiramisu / Photo credit: Emily Larberg Cook

Tiramisu ($5.50) was cakey, layered and not doused in a liquor-infused sauce mimicking thin pudding. Those accustomed to tiramisu being saucy might consider this one dry. Not a fan of the chocolate syrup used to zigzag the dessert and plate, I'd guess it was Hersey's or similar by the flat one-dimensional taste.

We unanimously loved the panacotta ($6.50) - strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries became a berry doted slurry poured over custard cream.

Service was on point throughout the meal. Overall the food was good, but just that. The people running Massimo are not new to the restaurant industry; I'll wait to return and hope needed tweaks have been made.

Lunch and dinner portions match pricing. The menu is accessible and family-friendly. Now open for lunch and dinner, call for exact days and hours.

[Massimo Italian Bar & Grill, 4020 Bridgeport Way, University Place, 253.503.1902]

July 17, 2011 at 3:12pm

SUNDAY SCROUNGER: Freeloading with Shane

THE WEEK'S FREEBIES JULY 18-25 >>>

If legendary cowboy Shane were in the South Sound for the week, he might ride along the Puyallup river, past Eric Anderson's moving van, past the ships docked along Schuster Parkway, around the sewer work at the closed Puget Gulch, then hitch his horse outside the future site of the Tacoma Food Co-Op, jump on the phone and help the Co-Op reach its fundraising goal. He would end his night at neighboring The Red Hot with a spirited game of Dominos, and then fall happily asleep next to the outdoor fireplace at Hotel Murano. He would wake up naturally the next day at sunrise, and do it all over again, adding a stack of flapjacks from Old Milwaukee Cafe and the free events listed below to his routine.

MONDAY 7-18: The week starts off on a wild note when the Tacoma Cult Movie Club presents a night of films centered around the theme: "He's A Very Naughty Boy - You Might Want To Give This Bad Boy A Spanking" beginning at 7 p.m. inside The Acme Grub Cage. We have no idea what that means, but we're sure Shane would side with TCMC co-producers Rev. Colin and Mat Hat Tobin.

TUESDAY 7-19: Shane might head toward American Lake Park for the rootin'-tootin'-est Lakewood's Brightest Star local talent competition finals at 6:30 p.m. Shane would do what comes natural, shooting his guns in the air after every song. No one in the crowd would flinch. 

WEDNESDAY 7-20: Shane's personal repression and remorse could surface if he attended Author Chellis Swenson Jensen reading of her book, Meet Mrs. Annathena Gilly Gully From Puddle Rumple Tilly Willy, at 10:30 a.m. inside the Garfield Book Company in Parkland. Afterward, all the kids would yell "Shane, come back!" but only because the cowboy stole their temporary tattoo stickers. Also Wednesday, Abby Road Live Beatles tribute band at Pioneer Park in Steilacoom from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

THURSDAY 7-21: Shane would have to push his horse Thursday. Naturally, Shane would attend the screening of archival films showing Schafer Brothers Logging Company operations in the 1920s at 7 p.m. inside the bitchin' new University Place Library. Shane would irritate the crowd with his mouth harp. Next, he'd gallop toward Tollefson Plaza before the 8:30 p.m. showing of this year's "Best of The Grand's 72 Hour Film Competition" on a giant outdoor screen. Afterward, he'd discover sake at neighboring TWOKOI Japanese Restaurant and spent the rest of the night on guard at the base of the 20-foot high welcome figure.

FRIDAY 7-22: The man, the myth, the legend, would probably make an appearance at the free outdoor screening of Shane at Donkey Creek Park in Gig Harbor at 9 p.m. No doubt Shane would be forced to spend the night in a Gig Harbor slammer because of his inability to deal rationally with the Good To Go system.

SATURDAY 7-23: At 2 p.m. Shane would rope his horse in front of King's Books for Gudrun Aurand's class on repairing torn paper. Fascinated with King's owner sweet pea's outfit of the day, the two probably would become close friends baking muffins into the wee hours. Also Saturday, Tacoma's EnviroHouse hosts a free 10:30 a.m. workshop titled "Garden Design, Soils & Pest Management."

SUNDAY 7-24: Someone Shane would get bit during NADOi endorsed dog trainer Jeanne Hampf's 1 p.m. free workshop on "How to Keep Your Dog Happy and Safe at the Dog Park" at the Gig Harbor Branch Library. Slumped over on his horse, Shane would follow the same path that he took entering the South Sound.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

June 2, 2011 at 11:32am

Join our Facebook Fan Page: Win a free night at the Hotel Murano

Photo courtesy of hotelmuranotacoma.com

WE'RE A BIG BOY NOW >>>

The Weekly Volcano's "personal" Facebook page is closing in on FB's 5,000 friends limit. Holy wow is right. We've started a "fan" page, which will allow us to compile as many friends/fans as technologically possible. If you're on FB and dig the Volcano's posts, quips, discoveries and news breaks – as well as content that doesn't appear either online or in print – go to facebook.com/weeklyvolcanofanpage and please "like" us.

Bonus: To make you really "like" us, we will enter those who "like" us before 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 8 into a random drawing for a free one night stay for two in a King Deluxe Room at the Hotel Murano. You will need to redeem the room before June 30, 2011.

The new Weekly Volcano Facebook page will also be your guide to exclusive Weekly Volcano events, promotions, blogs and photos.

Thank you!

LINK: Like us

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News and entertainment from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s most awesome weekly newspapers - The Ranger, Northwest Airlifter and Weekly Volcano.

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