white lotus

Not only did he make an appearance but he looked like he was in calm and quiet command, at times in the open kitchen, actually helping to get out some of the plates of the table of 20 behind us. It was just Chef Wendy and I from egullet last week for the Anniversary dinner. Chef Wendy commandeered a great table facing the open kitchen so we could watch the drama and fun. I know this post is tardy but I wanted to let you know the dinner was fabulous. The prix fix menu was $65. Chef Wendy and I ordered basically the same thing except for the desserts. We started out with a shared amuse of a large crispy scallop on a bed of cucumber salad with mustardy creme fraiche, chives & caviar all topped with salmon tartar. Course 1: "Beecher's honey blank slate" & foie gras filled spoon bread wtih blackberry madeira reduction. Course 2: heirloom Tomato salad with olives, capers, fresh basil & taleggio cheese. Intermezzo: "Gazpacho Blanco" with saba sorbet & basil. The white gazpacho was drizzled with aged balsamic and an jalapeno infused EVO. This was pretty good. Piatti Principal:slow barbecued Kobe beef brisket with fig & espresso BBQ, brioche toast, fresh figs, chilies & cilantro. This was the best piece of meat I have ever had. It was very good left over as well. I ate it cold. Finale: Chef Wendy had the limoncello chiffon cake with lemon creme fraiche mousse, strawberry-mint foam, berry gelee & compote. I had the peanut butter and jelly trio with chocolate-peanut butter molten cake, rasberry sorbet & devil's food peanut butter and jelly " sandwitches". I have to admit that Chef Wendy's choice was better than mine. I am really not a dessert person anyway. I really had a great time. The service treated us like regulars. I did not percieve any attitude or pretension. Despite all that was going on that evening, Mr. English did manage to stop by and sign my 2 cookbooks. (If Todd was in charge of getting our troops out of the Middle East, I bet he could do it with good speed.) Based on some the previous posts, I gather that some of you did not like the restaurant or the food. That's too bad. I will be going back for lunch to see if the food and service are just as good without the presence of Todd. Hopefully, Chef Wendy will add her $.02 as well. Sincerely, WL

Hey, goat cheese cheese cake must be the trendy cheese cake du jour. I also like regular well made cheese cake done simply but well. Is home the only place one can find it here in the NW? It is too hot to make one's own right now... I haven't ordered cheesecake in a restaurant in ages. Everything looks like it comes from Costco unless it is in a small ramiken.

Mr. Lotus and I will canceling our spots for both of the lark and Union eGullet farestart dinners. Appologies to Laurel and you all. It is our loss. See you at other eGullet events.

Lets narrow this in a little better... Sunday, Aug. 15 or Aug. 22nd, any time? If you choose to do it Aug. 7, I would be coming a little late (after 7:30). I would also have my well behaved foodie teen (16 1/2) daughter with me that day, as we would be coming straight from a college fair in Bellevue. Good luck. WL

I have no food events, or any social events on my calendar from Aug. 9th to 19th. Poor me... You folks come up with something and I will show up. Sincerely, WL

Hey Girl Chow, Thankyou... It is indeed a great week for eGullet folks. When it rains, it pours. I will be attending everything and then some. I am also attending the Scott Samuels hands on cooking class at Cooks World Thurs. 8/5. Of the days listed, Sunday, Aug. 1 is the best day for me. Once a date has been finalized I will check with Mr. White Lotus and possibly daughter White Lotus who may be back from Sumner school by then. My family has been wondering about the group of strangers I have been choosing to hanging out with lately. May I offer a suggestion, if we don't get immediate takers to set a date for that busy week, sould we consider putting out dates for after the Aug. 7th weekend? I am in regardless and look forward to sharing a great meal with great company. Sincerely, WL

PCC compared to Wholefoods will be a dissapointment. You would have better luck at Metropolitan Market in Procter (Tacoma). Even though I live in Pierce County, I buy most of my cheeses at PFI. I love their service and prices. I like their chocolates as well.

Our preference is 6:30 as we have an hour drive home. If there is more demand than spaces, why not 2 eGullet seatings? I was starting to feel guilty about requesting both night. Again we look forward to meeting you all.

Thanks Laural. Mr. White Lotus and i would very much like to come to both events. It sounds like fun.

Just a little addendum: Top Gun Restaurant has moved to Bellevue. Address and telephone can be found in City Search.

I am a little tardy in my appreciation but Mr. White Lotus really liked the Bodegas Norton Malbec. Thanks Tighe for the tip. We look forward to more of your thoughts on great wines for those of us on a budget. Take care...

It looked like reservations folks were not quite organized yet. I will be calling back on Monday. I will not be traveling to the East Coast anytime soon to try any of T.E.'s restaurants so this will be the next best thing for me. Again, the table will have 3 people for now. If anyone wants to join us please let us know soon.

Thanks for the heads up Really Nice. I was just looking at some of my Todd English cookbooks recently. I'll call to see if I can get a reservation. Does anyone else want to join me?

Something has come up and I will be unable to make the hotput dinner. I would still like to join you all for Monday or Tuesday if there are any plans. Sincerely, While Lotus

Put me on the list for the hot pot dinner as well. White Lotus

Thanks so much for sharing the find. My husband is very intrigued and will be going out and buying some to try. Happy Father's day.

Hello all, My favorite is the lemon filled jelly donut. It is not too sweet and goes well with a cup of tea.

I just had CRS King at a cooking class tonight at Wholefoods on 65th. It was very nice! Wholefoods' CRS King is @ $30.00 a pound and CRS Sockeye is @ $24.00. Take care, White Lotus

Hey Irwin, I will be ushering at the TLT event this evening. I will be the only the middle aged Asian woman ushering so say hello... Regarding the Russian place, I do not recall its name either, Sorry. It is conjoined next to a hair salon owned by the same people. I had a very nice bowl of borsht there last fall. The woman who served my lunch had cut my hair about a year before. The restaurant is in the same complex as this Chinese seafood buffet place. Good luck finding the place.

Hey girl chow, nice to know that one is not alone here in Pierce County. Thanks for your response on "best Pho" thread as well. There are pho places popping up all over the place here. Even in my neighberhood of University place there is a Vietnamese restuarant. It will take me a while to try all the new places. Hopefully, someday we can meet at some food eGullet dinner type event either here or in Seattle. In response to Uberleet's query re: "that Thai place" circa 1989 - there were only about 2 Thai restaurants then that I frequented both of them. One was located in the SE Asian part of 38th street in a storefront accross the street from Southeast Asia Market (now currently moved 2 - 3 city blocks to the East to a larger location). This storefront had previously been a Vietnamese restaurant and was only a Thai restaurant for a year or two before converting back to a Vietnamese restaurant with constance change of ownership. Anyway, when this location was a Thai restaurant (whose name I cannot recall), it was the best Thai foodat that time in town. The only other possible "Thai joint" at that time was/and still is, Thai Garden on 11th street, just off Martin Luther King Street (otherwise known as "M" Street then) in the Hilltop district. Thai Garden is the oldest Thai Restaurant in Pierce County and is located in what could be politely described as dumpy building. The people are friendly but I have had both good and bad meals there. What has consistently been good is the pad seuw (stir fried wide rice noodle thing) and coconut ice cream with salty cashews. I usually end up going there for lunch when I have been called for jury duty. It is a few minutes walk uphill from the county courthouseto the West. Because this place is in a poor neighborhood and I imagine the rent low, anyone can affort to eat here. Most folks here in Tacoma do not know this place. The current local buzz is re: Thai restaurants here is Thai Silk and Wild Orchid. Its okay but not my favorites. About a week ago, my family and I tried Galanga in downtown Tacoma on Broadway about halfway between the Pantages and the Sheraton hotel. We had the best green papaya salad (off menu) outside of Thailand. Their Miang Kam appetizer was also fabulous. I guess that I can go on and on about Thai food... There are other Thai restaurants in Pierce County that we can address in a separate thread sometime. To tell the truth, Thai Go at the Tacoma mall food court is not too bad for the money. My 16 year old has a frequent eater punch card and I usually end up eating her leftovers that come in a styro box. On that note, I may end up going to lunch at Thai Garden sometime next week either Tuesday or Wednesday. Let me know if anyone wants to join me, and we can set a time.

I have lived in and around Tacoma for the last 16 years and I fear that I may be the first eGullet member around these parts. The restaurant scene here has changed for the better with in the last year. I am not sure why... To respond to the question regarding places to eat near UPS (University of Puget Sound), I have a few suggestions. If you can find 6th Avenue which crosses Union Avenue where UPS is located, there are a number of great restaurants along that 6th Avenue corridor. 6th Avenue goes East/West from the Tacoma Narrows to down town Tacoma. Sushi Tama is the best Japanese restaurant in town. They make their own tofu and their udon and yaki-soba, not to mention sushi, is as good as you can get in Tokyo. Primo Grill on Pine (just off 6th Avenue) around the corner from Starbucks is NW/Northern Italian also very nice. Not to far from there is a Wine bar/bistro called Il Fiasco which I have not yet tried but looks promising. Gateway to India, if you like Northern (Punjabi) food has a pretty good luncheon buffet and it is very reasonable. This place does not advertise and is always busy on weekend evenings. There are also 2 new Thai restaurants on 6th Avenue, Silk Thai and Wild Orchid. They are both doing very well right now. Having just returned from a 5 day intensive cooking course in Chaing Mai, there are somethings they do well and many things they could be doing better. The Proctor shopping district is a few minutes from UPS. There is a very friendly but good Italian restaurant called Pomodoro. All of these restaurants are about 5 minutes or less from UPS. I could probably come up with more but it is late at night. Best of luck...