Kris Blondin (of "Grocery Stories" fame) is pretty cool. With her friendship comes lots of fun, not to mention a wonderful knowledge of Tacoma, restaurants, wines, and never-ending reminders of how not to take life too seriously.  Her man, Dustin, on the other hand, is a credibly hilarious dude who makes me feel not so alone when it comes to immaturity.  Within minutes of a recent DeRosa/Blondin double date at Crown Bar, we were in stitches over Dustin's puppet show - which included a fight between his knife and his beer glass. 

And that was upon only the first drink.

Drink One: Thai Tiger (bartender's choice) - OK, bear with me on this one. (Or "bare" with me, if you prefer.  Sometimes it's more fun that way.)  When I describe this drink, don't get all grossed-out on me. Inside this Thai Tiger creation there's coconut milk that has been infused with lemongrass and lime, vodka, crushed Serrano peppers and basil.  Sounds gross, right?  Wrong.  This incredibly delicious drink was surprisingly refreshing and had me wanting another almost immediately.  I'm not a fan of milk from any form of teat (including a coconut's teat), so for me to actually crave a second sip of this descriptive monstrosity - well, you know it had to be good.

Drink Two: Basil Lime Gimlet (most popular drink within last hour) - I'll admit it: I begged our server Chelsea not to make me choke down some nasty Manhattan after my previous milky concoction, so she gave me something consisting of basil, lime and chilled Tanqueray Rangpur goodness.  At first I thought she was being kind by giving me this Basil Lime Gimlet, but she swore it really was the most popular drink within the last hour.  I was so glad to have a drink that ran with the same exotic theme as the previous.  As I glanced across the table, I realized why the Basil Lime Gimlet had reached the superlative title of Crown Bar's "most popular drink within the last hour" - Kris had already downed a few.  Atta girl.

Drink Three: Malbec (my choice) - I can't help it; I love red wine.  If Dustin were to do another tabletop puppet show about my life, I'd imagine he would include a stemmed glass of crimson heaven.  What the other culinary objects would be, I have no idea.  All I know is my liver would be an understudy whose future in the production was yet to be determined.  - Steph DeRosa

[Crown Bar, 2705 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.4177]