Tacoma's contemporary and art-infused Primo Grill, a pillar of the 6th Avenue restaurant scene, celebrates its upcoming 13th anniversary with style and the element of surprise. With a clever menu for Tacoma Restaurant Week, an upcoming anniversary celebration and art charity event and some cool surprises at its sister restaurant, Crown Bar, Primo Grill aims to delight its customers.

"We are very excited to be a part of Tacoma Restaurant Week," says Charile McManus, Primo Grill owner and executive chef. "It's great to bring restaurants all together for Tacoma patrons."

Tacoma Restaurant Week will be held Oct. 14-18 and 21-25, and offers diners a $25 three-course dinner menu and optional $15 three-course lunch Sunday through Thursday at participating area restaurants.

With Mediterranean style cuisine infused with Pacific Northwest style as the restaurant's hallmarks - along with fine wines and other libations - the Tacoma Restaurant Week menu features familiar favorites along with a new menu item, saffron tagliatelle with white truffle butter. 

That's not all. There's a special bonus with this menu.

Instead of three entrée options, Primo Grill has five items to choose from.

"It's a big menu," notes McManus. "The saffron tagliatelle is new on the menu. It's a classic Northern Italian preparation. It's the simplest of all pastas but with big flavor with the white truffle butter."

McManus continues, "We are also featuring our thin crust pizza, that's prepared in a wood fired stove and is apple smoked. It's our most popular pizza."

While Tacoma Restaurant Week is big news for Primo Grill, its 13th anniversary marks a special event that provides culinary delights with support for the arts. The restaurant sponsors an art scholarship for Tacoma Community College and has raised substantial funds over the years to the support local artistic community. Student work is even incorporated into the restaurant's stylish décor. The restaurant will host an anniversary celebration, along with four course Tuscan feast and a live art auction to support the scholarship fund, at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 17.

It doesn't stop there in October. Primo Grill's sister restaurant and bar, Crown Bar, also on 6th Avenue, introduces a special new cocktail with pure Tacoma roots. Called West Slope Honey Bee, it contains honey harvested here in Tacoma from McManus and wife Jaqueline's Tacoma garden. This all organic, pesticide free honey, is the key ingredient for the drink, which also features Appleton's white rum, lemon sour and grapefruit.

Primo Grill is located at 601 S. Pine in Tacoma. For more information on Primo Grill hours, menus and special events, please see their website at http://primogrilltacoma.com. For information on Crown Bar, visit them at http://www.crownbartacoma.com/.

Here's a look at Primo Grill's dinner menu for Tacoma Restaurant Week:

Starter choice:

• Mixed green salad, lemon vinaigrette, goat cheese crostini
• Grilled bread with balsamic syrup
• Creamy parmesan polenta with gruyere cheese & EVOO

Entrée choice:

• Saffron tagliatelle with white truffle butter
• House-made fettucine, smoked salmon, lemon asparagus cream sauce
• Spaghetti and classic Bolognese with Grana parmesan
• Grilled marinated flap steak, balsamic caramelized onions, roasted garlic mashed potatoes
•  Thin crust pizza with Italian sausage, tomatoes, and ricotta

Dessert choice:

• Olympic Mountain Gelato
• Rich rum and espresso Tira Misu

For more information on Tacoma Restaurant Week click here.

A virtual menu guide of participating restaurants can be found here.