Lots of talk these days about restaurants coming and going, going and coming. It’s hard to keep up. Winfield’s Twisted Cue Club and The Garage come to mind, along with The Blue Olive and Gary’s Steak Out (by his own choice). Was their vision too grand? Did they bite off more than they could chew? Or perhaps a little more marketing research was in order.

There has been lots of blog smack-talk about both Winfield’s and The Garage in the recent past, and unfortunately they both disappeared too quickly for me to check out. However, after talking to many others who had visited both, my conclusion can only be this: both venues were too big and under capitalized, and honestly, I don’t thing they did adequate research, either. Blue Olive was well funded I believe, but their demographic focus was way off, and I would have been willing to torture small animals to make that techno shit stop.

Tacoma needs more options for restaurants. Not MORE restaurants, just more tantalizing choices. We have plenty of restaurants to choose from, but do we really need another Thai place? You can’t swing a dead cat around this town without hitting one. Don’t get me wrong, me love the food of Thailand. I ate at Le-Le’s just last week and barely came up for air after I started to inhale my Phad Thai. But enough is enough.  We need to encourage local restaurateurs to do their research and find out what we want.

The Bombay Bistro will open at Sixth and Stevens in two weeks if they finish the parking lot. I guess that’s cool, but it will take quite a bit to make me leave my buddy CJ at Gateway to India, where the food there is orgasmic and mighty reasonable. By now I’m sure you’re dying to know what type of restaurants I want to see set-up shop in Tacoma? Well, since you asked, here are my top five:

1. Greek/Mediterranean/Moroccan


2. Old world European with fabulous cheeses and meats, maybe something German inspired (Oktoberfest!)


3. South American (Nice job Asado for getting us started, please no Italian for the future unless it is super rustic)


4. Marinepolis Sushi Land like place where sushi comes on a conveyor belt (there is one in Redmond that is pretty cool)


5. South Pacific inspired cuisine (French-Polynesian infusion check-out Poisson Cru)

There you go. I have more ideas, but these are my greatest desires for Tacoma restaurantland. More intimate bistros would be nice, too.

Speaking of bistros, I hear that Sofia Bistro in University Place is finding success. U.P. is a tough nut to crack. I should know, I grew up there. There are lots of families and older folk. People from U.P take their kids everywhere, so being kid-friendly is key. I hope owner and former masseuse Creig Kostoff does well in this space. He gives a mean massage (which I was fortunate to experience a few years back), so I hope his passion for the restaurant business will rival his special touch on achy muscles.

The Sofia space has had more than it’s share of restaurants in the last four years, which leads me to believe it might be a little cursed. First, Brother John’s wine bar (don’t EVEN get me started on strange names for restaurants) and then The Good Life Bistro owned by super nice guy Mark Bleckert, chef and owner of Tacoma’s Old House Café in Procter.  Again, maybe Creig’s light-but-reassuring touch will be the winner.

So, how can we get our voices heard about what we want for our restaurants in Tacoma? There were rumblings awhile back about a restaurant association starting up, but I haven’t heard anything in the last six months. That would be a good place to start, but what I think would be most effective is to get to know your local restaurant owners and encourage them to think outside the box. Raw fish on a conveyor belt or marinated in coconut milk and lime sounds like a slice of heaven to me. Maybe only me …

Eat out (and speak out) Tacoma. We need your love.