Presenting The Faux Gourmet!

The Faux Gourmet has been on hiatus for a while. I began this blog as a creative outlet during law school. After law school, I started other blogs on other topics and no longer needed this as a creative outlet, not to mention my diminishing free time.

But I kept cooking, kept taking food pictures and garden pictures, kept wanting to share the little tidbits of what I'd made. I occasionally did this on my personal blog (to which, I'm sure, people yawned and wondered when I'd post another cat picture). But I started to miss this space. Of all the blogs I have, this format, culled over several dedicated years and incorporating that adorable illustration by Sam Wedelich (see info the left) is by far my favorite.

So I'm back!

Expect short and sweet posts. Less food porn, more recipes and tips. If you want food porn you can look at any of the 5000 million existing food blogs. I don't have good lighting in my apartment and don't have time to style plates. I just want to make something yummy and eat it. If that sounds ok with you, stick around.

Looking forward to being back in touch!

xx

The Faux Gourmet

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    Saturday, May 31, 2008

    Thrice All American

    "I wanna tell you about my home city,
    a dusty old jewel in the South Puget Sound . . . "

    Image from about.com

    So begins Thrice All American, the affectionate, melancholy ode by Neko Case to Tacoma, Washington. Tacoma has never been my home town, but through friends and family who've lived there I've come to view it with affection as well. As my little brother & future sister-in-law graduate from their Tacoma college and moves to a new job, new apartment, new life in the big-sister city Seattle up north, I want to give Tacoma a little ode of my own.

    Tacoma, "where rails meet sails," is home of both ship yards and the Western Terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, not to mention stunning views of nearby Mount Rainier.

    Image by Lyn Topinka/USGS

    It had a bad rap as gang-infested and crime-ridden in the 80s and 90s, but now it is coming into its own as a hip, artsy, community-coffee shop filled city with a neighborhood feel.

    I have found many a thrift-store gem at the funky urbanXchange, while sipping on a soy latte from a local chain, Cutters Point Coffee, next door.

    Image from urbanXchange website

    A friend shows paintings (created in her studio space at an artists collective where she has a share) at another cool coffee shop, Kickstand Cafe, conveniently next door to the independent Grand Cinema where I saw the delightfully fashion-backward Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day--before it had come out at my local theater back home in NYC.

    Image from Tacomamenus.com

    Image from Things to Do in Tacoma blog

    The Tacoma Art Museum is one of the more entertaining art experiences I've ever had, utterly unpretentious. I saw an exhibit on French art, accompanied by a pronunciation guide to the artists' names. Other little touches include free sketch paper & pencils in each room and a free guide guests can access via cell phone guide for information about pieces on display. Exhibits are matched with do-it-yourself arts and crafts projects in the Open Art Studio upstairs, suitable for kids "age 3-93." See my faux glass creation?


    The real glass master is Dale Chihuly, whose dramatic works form part of the none-too-shabby permanent collection complemented by a variety of ever-rotating borrowed exhibits. Learn all you'll ever want to know about glass, and watch it being made before your very eyes, at the nearby Museum of Glass.

    Image from Museum of Glass website

    Tacoma also abounds with free art, from the glorious pieces of glass hung about Union Station to blue sticks rising like hard rock candy above the freeway.


    Image from unionstationrotunda.org and Museum of Glass, respectively

    Another great spot for art is the swanky new Hotel Murano, a "Sleepover Art Museum" with an enormous ladle sculpture outside and displays on each floor celebrating different modern-day artists.

    Image of ladle just prior to the official unveiling from Kevin.Freitas.net

    The hotel is part of a renovated downtown that has had public wifi access since the 90s. With a gleaming convention center just across from the museums, restaurants galore, and beautifully laid out public space, Tacoma is poised to be the next big thing. (Or the next big best kept secret, as some of my Tacoma friends may prefer).


    Image from this flickr site

    Taste & See: Most important for our purposes, I have eaten extremely well at Tacoma over the years. Should you be so lucky as to have a few days for grazing in Tacoma, I recommend:


    Coffee at the entirely unique Satellite Coffee Co., where they take their brews quite seriously. You can try some unconventional dairy substitutes (hemp milk, anyone?) but even the least-crunchy folks will appreciate the care they give an ordinary cup of joe.

    Image from Satellite Coffee Co. myspace page

    Brunch at C. I. Shenanigans: all I can say is, fast the entire day before. But if you disregard my instructions, at least you can kill time enjoying the beautiful view over the water before making your way back for a refill of oysters on the half shell.

    Image from this flickr site

    Sweets & Tapas at Masa. Masa isn't really Mexican food, per se, but it doesn't try to be. It bills itself as redefining American Mexican cuisine, and that it does very well indeed. Enjoy the empanadas and chili relleno but do yourself a favor and save room for the Mexican Sugar Flatbread ans Churro Sundae.



    Lunch at Galanga Thai Cuisine. I know Thai food, and this is very good Thai food. Literally everything is great, and I would know because at this point I think I've tasted almost everything on the menu. In addition to the standards, they get props for doing a variety of dishes I rarely see outside Thailand.

    Seafood at Johnny's Dock. Definitely not cheap, but a fun and tasty place to do what you do in the Pacific Northwest: feast on scallops, prawns, salmon, halibut, oysters, squid & more. A great place for a celebration.

    Date Night at Marzano, in nearby Parkland. Marzano serves up the kind of Italian food that's worth going out for. Fabulous atmosphere--romantic, intimate--and the staff remembered us on our second visit a year after the first one). Heaping bread plate, lovely wine list, and as with Galanga, nothing I've had has disappointed me.


    Images from Marzano webpage

    Happy hour at The Melting Pot. It may be a chain, but its cheap happy hour versions of cheese and dessert fondue are an excellent local attraction (7 days a week from 4:30-6:30 pm and 9 pm-1 am).

    Gelato at Indochine. Ok, the pan-Asian-fusion food at Indochine is PDG too, though you might want to start with gelato in case you don't have room. The presentation is gorgeous; this inventive Ahi salad (you know how I feel about tuna) was one of my favorites.

    Image from Indochine webpage

    While their "medium" spicy leaves the mouth numb, the intricate combinations of flavors will leave you braving the heat for one more bite of joy. On second thought, maybe the heat calls for another serving of gelato . . .

    Drinks at the Ram Restaurant & Brewery. Also a chain, but the lively pub gets a local feel from the canoe decked with flags of area schools overhead. The perfect place to have a riotous good time watching sports on a bunch of different big screens at once. The house-made beers have sassy names and come in an unreasonably cheap sampler palette that lets you try small shots of all of them.

    People may laugh when they hear you're from Tacoma, as Neko Case jokes in Thrice All American, but let them laugh; maybe we who know will get to keep Tacoma for ourselves. Her tribute ends:

    "God bless California,
    make way for the Wal-Mart,
    I hope they don't find you, Tacoma."

    3 comments:

    Carl said...

    This is awesome Jeannie! I think you nailed it and I am so proud to have Tacoma showcased in this way. Since I won't be living there anymore, it'll be a treat every time I get to go back!

    Carl said...

    This is great! I think you nailed it ! Nice to see Tacoma showcased by such a distinguished blogger. I'm gonna miss living in Tacoma, but Seattle has so much to offer that I think I'll be alright.

    The Faux Gourmet said...

    Thanks Carlman03. Are your two comments from Carlman & Christywoman? I looked forward to introduce me to great new places to eat in Seattle!