Thursday night I met an old friend at Bahama Breeze, a tropical themed restaurant at 15700 Southcenter Pkwy, Tukwila, WA 98188. There are 30+ locations of the restaurant, but this is the only one on the West Coast. The food was very tasty and it was so nice to be able to catch up with my friend 😀
On Friday afternoon, I stopped at Masa at 2811 Sixth Avenue for a happy hour with some friends. It was an excellent way to start the weekend 😀
Satellite Coffee is houses in the same space. I had stopped in there in January 2011.
The Pizza Hut Express at 5322 is for take out only. We ordered through the internet, though we could have called in the order or just ordered in person. Really the pizza was pretty good and I can order a pizza with different toppings on two sides.
Pizza Hut has several kind of facilities with the Express being the smallest. There are over 6,000 Pizza Huts in the United States. Pizza Hut, Inc., it is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company.
Mad Hat Tea at 1130 Commerce Street in Tacoma has more teas available to brew then I have ever seen in one place. I had seen packets of Mad Hat Tea loose tea available for purchase around town and it is of course there is also a large selection available here. I bought a bag of orange peel and another bag of butter cookie, which I have discovered at home, go well together. Mad Tea has a no cell phone policy, which is refreshing and the customers were visiting with one another and the employees. Altogether a great atmosphere, thought it would have been nice of there had been something to snack on.
My friend, Carrie, was raving about the Bulgogi at Nana Wok and Teriyaki at 11416 Canyon Road in the Summit area of unincorporated Pierce County. Since I hadn’t heard of Bulgogi before I was intrigued and today dear husband and I went to check it out. In case you don’t know, per Wikipedia Bulgogi “is a Korean dish that usually consists of grilled marinated beef, chicken or pork. It is listed at number 23 on World’s 50 most delicious foods readers’ poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011.”
http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/eat/readers-choice-worlds-50-most-delicious-foods-012321
It arrived at our table sizzling and really was tasty. Our mistake was that we each ordered a meal and we could have easily shared. But the good news is that there are leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. 😀
While out running errands I stopped at Tully’s in the Stadium District (24 Tacoma Avenue North). This is one of three Tully’s in Tacoma and one of 200+ locations in the US. The first Tully’s opened in Seattle in 1992.
I usually order an Americano, but today I drank a peppermint mocha because it just looked so darned good advertised up there on the board.
Unbeknownst to me, Tully’s has been in the news the past few days. Apparently the chain is up for sale and Starbucks is one of the potential buyers. There are 47 company owned stores and I don’t know if this is one of them. Another potential buyer is a Grey’s Anatomy actor Patrick Dempsey’s investment group.
We had a lovely luncheon today at the Adriatic Grill at 4201 South Steele Street. I must have been having a good time because I forgot to take a good shot of the interior! But here is a photo of the table decorations and below a shot of the entrance that my daughter took out the car window! I remember when the space was occupied by one of Cucina Cucina’s twelve restaurant. The chain only has one remaining location in Issaquah.
http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/Default.aspx?type=default Dear daughter was in a concert tonight and we needed a fast place to have dinner. The Chipotle Mexican Grill at the Tacoma Mall (exterior entrance between Panaras and Sears) was fast and tasty and felt fairly healthy. 
I wandered out on this rainy, rainy night to take a photo of Tacoma’s McDonald’s at 802 Tacoma Avenue South, which has a hanging Dale Chihuly glass art piece. I’m not finding much information about this piece and the restaurant was busy enough that I didn’t want to bother the servers.
Dale Chihuly is a Tacoma native and I have seen him about town at art functions on occasion. He was born here in 1941 and attended Wilson High School and the University of Washington. His website can be found here http://www.chihuly.com/
Update: It ends up its not Chihuly art! Just very similar looking.
Tacoma has one of the 100 Wyland Whaling Wall murals “Washington Orcas” around the world and its on the Bowes Building at 100 South 9th Street in Downtown Tacoma. Currently the main level of the building is occupied by Big Whiskey Saloon, but the building has a long history. The architect was Edward Heath and the building was constructed in 1908 in white Vermont marble. The property was added to the National Historic Register and the Tacoma Register in 1979. Edward J. Bowes, the original owner, eventually gained a national reputation as an entertainment figure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bowes
Over the years, the occupants have included: Pacific Bldg. & Loan Assoc., M. Schmidt & Son Merchant Tailors, Tacoma Savings & Loan Assoc., All About Travel, Pacific Rim Restaurant, Zeppo Italian Restaurant, and Seven Cities Restaurant.
Wylan started painting his large murals in the 1980s. This was his 21st mural and I remember taking my lunch break from my downtown job at the time to watch him paint. I was fascinated. There were four Whaling Walls in Washington State, but sadly now only the Tacoma one remains.
