Port Townsend’s Elevator Ice Cream at 627 Water Street is a must visit when we are in the area. They have made their own ice cream since 1977. I had one of their four favorite flavors — Ginger with real piece of ginger. Their other three most popular flavors are Swiss Orange Chocolate Chip, Amaretto Hazelnut and Espresso Chip.
I had work to do and thought that I’d stop for an Americano. Treos now occupies the old Forza space at 1201 S Union Ave. They have a nice, streamline look to the interior of the space and the Americano was really good. There are now two Treos (I know, kind of ironic!), this one and one in Old Town. There is a drive through. Treos offers the traditional coffee drinks, as well as beer and wine and light lunch fare.
The premise behind the name is that this is a “Third Place” created as an informal place to meet family and friends. The first two places are home and work. The other place I can think of with this premise is Third Place Books. Treos reminds me a bit of the Mandolin, which I miss.
My friend and I share the same birthday (which was in May, we are running late!) and we decided to treat ourselves at Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt in Jame’s Center 1816 South Mildred Street, Tacoma. There are 14 flavors and plenty of toppings. Their Facebook Page is here.
What is interesting to me is that the South Hill Menchie was my new place in April 2012. At that time they had 170 locations and now they have 237. In April 2012 Washington State had seven locations and now they have 19 with three more in the works.
A while back a friend suggested that I stop at Boathouse 19 Bar and Grill at 9001 South 19th Street, Tacoma for a root beer float. Dear daughter and I had spent Saturday afternoon checking out the University Place Garden Tours Gardens and actually met a long time Flickr friend by fortuitous accident. I offered to take dear daughter out for the float and of course once we got there and smelled all the good food we ended up having lunch. We shared the Pike Place Fish Fry (fish & chips) and each got dessert and it was wonderful. Though ironically we never did get the root beer floats! It was very wonderful to set on the deck, visiting, eating good good and enjoying the water & Narrows Bridge View. Their website is here.
While other folks were heading out to happy hour on a warm Friday afternoon, I went to Cafe Elite at 4401 S 19th St, Tacoma, WA for a couple of Orangesicle Smoothies for dear daughter and me. They were delicious! Last year I went to visit the Cafe Elite in Lakewood.
There are Italian restaurant, French restaurants, all types of Asian restaurants, but very few Australian restaurants! But today I found one, The Australian Pie Co. at 425 SW, 152nd Street, Burien, WA. Dear husband and I drove there just to sample their meat pies, which are filled with chicken or steak with various additions (mushrooms, potato, cheese, onion, etc.) I had the beef and mushroom and he had the beef and cheese. The pies are kind of like pot pies, with each one having a wonderful crust and savory filling. We brought home a chicken and asparagus pie for dinner for us and a vegetable pie for dear daughter. Both of those were also yummy. We also brought home a sampling of desserts including a yet untasted Lamington Cake. There is also a small collection of Australian products for sale. The Australian Pie Co’s website is here.
Dear daughter wanted to eat middle eastern food, so we searched for them in the Tacoma area. There were two, but one is gone… so there is one. It is Daniah’s International Market and Deli at 6603 Sixth Avenue, Tacoma. I ordered a beef gyro meal (pictured) and dear daughter had the felafel, a new to her dish that she liked. There is also a grocery section with unusual imported items. The food was tasty and the service great.
Today I visited The French Bakery at 909 112th Avenue NE (the Crossroads Mall) in Bellevue. I had an excellent iced Ameriano and a raspberry cookie. There are two other French Bakeries, both in Bellevue.
In April 2013 the Weekly Volcano organized a contest to establish the best sandwich in the South Sound. Sixty four restaurants entered. The winner was Oliver Sandwiches’ Lobster Sandwich (pictured above). Oliver’s Sandwiches is located at 900 Meridian Avenue East in Milton. Dear husband and I shared the lobster sandwich and could readily see how it became the winner.
On Friday night I found myself in Kennewick looking for a restaurant. My friend and I opted for Carmines at 525 West 1st Avenue. It appealed to us because of its unusual presentation, an Italian restaurant in an old house that offers one or two dishes a night. The mission of the restaurant is to recreate the family environment that the owners experienced with they lived in New Jersey and were surrounded by relatives. Friday night was spaghetti & meatballs or shrimp over linguini. My friend and I ordered one of each and shared. Before hand there is a salad and bread (included) and afterward a choice of dessert (extra). I had the amazingly delicious amaretto bread pudding and my friend opted for ice box cake. Altogether a lovely evening with tasty food, great service and excellent conversation. The Facebook page for the restaurant is here.
