Today I stopped at the Forza at 10240 Bridgeport Way in Lakewood. There are 21 Forza Coffee Company locations in the Puget Sound area, which is interesting since there were 23 locations in February 2011 when I used the Forza at 1202 South Union as my new place of the day. Wonder what happened to the other two locations.
Anyway, this is an especially nice place to have coffee. It has a freestanding fireplace and plenty of comfy chairs.
Dear daughter and I have a rule while traveling. No chain restaurants except Starbucks. We tried to do no chain restaurants at all, but found that we missed a good cup of coffee (me) or an iced tea lemonade (her) too much. Today we were traveling, which is sad, but we were running errands and needed a brake. We stopped at the Starbucks at 1723 South 72nd Street, Tacoma.
We hadn’t lived in Tacoma all too long before we discovered Mrs. Frisby’s Bakery at 710 South 38th Street in the Lincoln District. We would go there every so often. I was fond of their moist, delicious brand muffins and my husband like their bear claws. When our daughter was little we would take her to watch the ladies decorating cakes. The bakery had been around since 1930 and closed in 2000. The space was vacant for a long time, but is now occupied by Thinh Xuan Ho, M.D.
The Tacoma Public Library has a photo of the bakery from 1956 here:
The Mandolin Cafe at 3923 South 12th Street near the intersection of South 12th & Proctor provides an occasional respite for us. It doesn’t have an extensive menu, but what it has is delicious. They do have a large selection of teas, quality coffee and wines. What keeps me keeping coming back to the Mandolin is the atmosphere, comfortable, warm, art filled and often eclectic live music.
http://www.themandolincafe.com/
Sadly the Mandolin Cafe closed in July 2012. It wasn’t because of their business, but instead a problem with the lease. I’m hopeful they will reopen in a new location at some point.
Flipping Out Burgers at 4008 S 12th St., Tacoma, WA 98405 has these amazing burgers! They are large, tasty and rather messy. Dear husband and I stopped and had a regular cheeseburger with fries and a mushroom swiss burger for lunch. Neither of us finished. My only regret is that I forgot about their sweet potato fries! Their food is good, their service is fine and their decor is cheerful, but simple. But really, we went for the burgers, not the decor. Also, they deliver in that darling little smart car!
Fisher Scones has been family owned for 100 years and has occupied the same corner in the Restaurant Building at the Western Washington State Fair (the Puyallup Fair) since 1915. This articles does a bang up job explaining their history!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2016095246_scones06.html
I can think of four Tacoma places off hand to have a tasty, healthy lunch on the cheap.
Friday’s new place is #4 the Cafeteria at St. Joes (1717 South J Street, Tacoma). I needed to be there to see a patient and it was around lunchtime. So I went down to the lower level (not the snack bar) and had a lightly breaded fish sandwich. It was huge and delicious and came with a mountain of fries and a soda! All for under $5.00! There was plenty of seating both inside and outside. Parking is also free and not that hard to find. Really, nobody says “let’s go to the hospital and have lunch!”, but they should. 😀
The first full day back at work for a while called for a treat. But not caffeine because it was too late in the day. Espress O Yourself at 1009 Regents Blvd at Alameda Ave in Fircrest, won me over with a strawberry lemonade smoothie that was very delicious! I went in instead of taking advantage of the drive through lane. While waiting for my drink, I munched on a couple of free chocolate covered espresso beans. Espress O Yourself (love that name) is more than a coffee shop. They serve a light breakfast and lunch and have indoor and outdoor seating.
Apparently it is a mini quest to go to all of the coffee shops and stands in Tacoma! There are 26 Big Foot locations, two of which are in Tacoma. This is the Highland Hills location at 5921 6th Avenue South. The iced coffee was good and the service was fast and friendly.
http://www.bigfootjava.com/locations/bigfoot_java_tacoma_highland_hills.php
I wanted to go to the Honey Bake Ham and Cafe at 2913 South 38th Street, Tacoma, WA 98409 before, but they close at 5:30 most days and I get there too late. But today I was there at lunchtime and it was open! We shared the Roast Beef Bravo sandwich, which was very tasty indeed. The tomato basil soup was also good. It seems that much of their business is catering. Maybe we’ll try getting a ham or turkey sometime soon.
http://www.honeybaked.com/
