The View lounge menu

Housed in the Tacoma Club and open to the public, The View restaurant released its new lounge menu last Thursday during the Third Thursday Art Walk.  Nine items fill the menu including vegetable and goat cheese strudel, seared pepper tuna, grilled chicken tortellini, coconut prawns and a plate of large raviolis thickly stuffed crimini, shiitake and porcini mushrooms and served with mushroom jus ($10). As with most of the lounge dishes at The View, the portion is ample.  Items are priced $9 to $12.

The view from The View twinkles with Port of Tacoma activity and down the Puyallup Valley.  Call ahead for a romance check.  Rotary 8 was in the house with poker and booze aplenty. - Jake de Paul

[The View, 16th floor, Wells Fargo Plaza, 1201 Pacific Ave., downtown Tacoma, 253.272.3218]

Sugar buzz

Everyone is still riding the high after Scientific American cited an article from the American College of Nutrition stating that a daily dose of chocolate - flavonoid-rich dark chocolate, to be precise - can help protect against cardiovascular disease.

Whatever.  Give me a Gay Landry chocolate dessert class and let me die happy.  Landry, owner of Affair's Café & Bakery, hosts a chocolate varieties tasting with a bit of chocolate history and then dinner, wine and a demonstration on how to prepare a French Silk Heart with chocolate bark. - Suzy Stump

[Affairs Café & Bakery, Jan. 30, 6 p.m., $50, 2811 Bridgeport Way W., University Place, 253.565.8604]

Paddy Coyne's opens

The long-awaited new Irish pub on the block Paddy Coyne's irish Pub is looking ready to open imminently pending a couple of permit hoops.  Owner Patrick "Paddy" Coyne's is looking to this weekend as the time when the pints will start flowing, and suggests his might be one of the first bodies bellying up to the (impressively designed) bar.

[Paddy Coyne's, 815 Pacific Ave., Tacoma]

Bob's Java Jive shut down

Bob's "World Famous" Java Jive, the concrete teapot that has graced South Tacoma Way for more than 75 years, was shut down yesterday by the Tacoma Fire Marshall for fire code violations.  Having survived a fire, demolition threats, many Girl Trouble live shows, countless pounders of PBR, the eclectic tavern is shut down until repairs can be made.