Tummy Tukwila

Today, we have a special report from faithful (and intrepid) reader, M. on the Riverside Casino: Today I rolled the dice and had lunch at the Riverside Casino. Thai Curry Chicken Fried Rice was highly recommended to me by someone....that I can only assume doesn't eat out much. I mean the guy raved about this dinner and I just don't get the hub-bub. But they do have pad t hai and I'm a sucker for pad t hai so I might actually venture back one day. Their parking lot is packed lunch & dinner hours and I mean PACKED! I don't feel I have solved the mystery is it food or the card games? On a positive note, the service was fast. You will not get a seat at the Baccarat table - that area is non-stop action from open to close, but the restaurant portion has plenty of open tables if you go before 1pm. The place is open 24/7 and serves breakfast, lunch or dinner anytime. No website. The place does not smell like smoke - it had a recent remodel and is decent. And I have easil...

What the heck happened to the landscape at Azteca? All of the trees that surround it, no longer have branches - just stubs. Weird. J thinks it may be some attempt at making it look like a more authentic Mexican restaurant, by bringing the Mexican landscape to you. I'm wondering if they are getting ready to cut all of the trees down in order to plow over Azteca and replace it with another useless bank (like at the mall). Anyway, for whatever reason Azteca tasted better than ever. I'm going to blame it on the fact that it's been about 6 months since we were last there, since I know in my heart of hearts, Azteca is not usually as good as it seemed today. I ordered a Macho Burrito, veggie style (I think the macho bit is all its freakishly large size - it was literally falling off the edges of my plate), and J changed things up by ordering a chimicanga instead of his usual chicken taquito plato. He even ordered an iced tea... highly irregular. I'll blame that one on the fact...

On the suggestion of one of our readers: M - J and I hit the all-you-can-eat sushi belt at O Sushi. My first impression: a casino buffet in Reno, Nevada. Now, the food was pretty good - especially great for those of you who love sushi, but hate raw fish. There were numerous iterations of the California Roll (deep fried, with chicken katsu, with BBQ sauce, with spicy sauce, deep fried with BBQ and spicy sauce, etc.), and very few rolls with raw fish. Since J and I were sitting about 14 down from the beginning of the belt, the people ahead of us were getting the good rolls before us. J ate many a plate of chicken katsu (one extra plate just to wash down a bad-tasting spicy tuna roll), and also sampled the gamut of California rolls. It was probably the first time in T2 history that J has eaten more sushi than me, though his 6 plates to my 4 were due to the fact that I'm highly allergic to avocado, and nearly every roll had some. Maybe what was Reno-creepy about O Sushi was the decor:...

...but you're still in Tukwila. Recently, the Compound replaced the carpet on the back-entrance staircase with this new, rubber-textured flooring. To make us all feel we're in the grand halls of the state capitol, they applied marble-esque tape along the edge (as seen here in this photo). At first, we all thought they had made a mistake and forgot to glue something down, but then we realized - as always, it was just the poor taste of the Compound's property management company. As weird as it looks, it won't be long before it's covered in filth and blends in with its surroundings. Speaking of blending... J and I went to Blue C today and everyone in the place looked like everyone else. I surmised that Blue C attracts a certain (high) class of people, J agreed. As usual - DeShawnda served us, and the food was excellent. Meanwhile, B is downtown hanging out with the Navy. I'm sure his blog will be more interesting than mine. Food: 5/5 Compound Atmosphere: -5/5 TGIF:...

"Have You Done the Belt? It's Dangerous!" We actually heard someone say that as they walked by our booth at Blue C today (sorry Unicorn Pony Dreamcatcher , Sizzler will have to wait for another day). They were referring to the conveyor belt style delivery of sushi that makes Blue C so great. And yes, it is dangerous: before your done with your first plate of self-served sushi, you're already reaching for the next. Before you know it - you've eaten 9 plates.... ahh , delicious danger! In other news, J has started carrying his camera case as a murse . A while back, B and J gave me puh - lenty of grief over the Italian leather satchel that I had started carrying around after a trip to Florence a couple of years back - "Hey look everyone, R's carrying a purse!" Whatev . At least J won't be able to make fun of me anymore... I'm bringing back the Euro-bag!  

Not much I can add to J's posting, except that while I really enjoyed my experience at Duke's, I was dismayed by the signs on the bathroom doors: Duke of Earl, and Duke of Earl's Girls (men's and women's bathroom respectively). Funny, but not. Happily, my soup and salad were the best I'd had in a very long time. Anyway - thanks for the suggestion meilee! Sizzler is next on the list. Food: 5/5 Atmoshphere: 4/5 (minus one point for sexist signage)

We had lunch with The Chef today. The Chef is queen of Foodland, and I was more than happy to comply when she requested that we eat at Taco Del Mar. Of all the delicious choices in the Tukwila area, TDM is possibly one of the tastiest, but of course you, and The Chef know this already. Speaking of queens: B sleuthed the location of the missing Taco Queen! Apparently, the Taco Queen has been on assignment in Bellevue, and will be returning to Tukwila in just a few more weeks! Check back on Friday afternoon when we critique Duke's Chowder House at the request of reader "meilee." Food: 5/5 (of course) Entertainment: 5/5 (thanks to Chef, and to B for figuring out where the Taco Queen had gone)

Yikes. There I was, casually walking out of the mall past some construction that was being doing on the floor, and WHAM! I nearly owned the mall. The tripping seemed to last forever. I remember thinking... when will it ever end? I tripped on some uneven flooring, kept on tripping, took out the "fencing" they had placed inside the hole in the floor, tripped some more, and then miraculously - I righted myself. With half the mall staring at me, all I could do was laugh myself silly. I never thought I would say this, but I blame a burrito. Today I ate at the new Mexican food restaurant, Sharky's in the Westfield food court. The burrito was like eating a gummy tortilla that had been stuffed with garbage disposal waste. I was sick to my stomach, and busy recovering from an awkward, scent-overkill stop with B and J at The Body Shop when the nearly-tragic event occurred. I was light-headed, nauseous, and vulnerable. I'm really just shocked that I didn't fall flat on my ...

It's official - today, Westfield Shopping Center is celebrating their grand re-opening. To the hordes of crowds blocking up the parking lot, food court, and the H&M store, this must be the hottest thing that's hit this area since the Rainforest Cafe opening back in 1999. It was so exciting, in fact that someone had a heart-attack in the middle of H&M. So what in name of love would cause the three of us to trudge through a sea of South- enders during such a grand event? Blue C Sushi . Its got a funky, Tokyo-inspired interior, and ridiculously deeelish sushi. It used to be, if you wanted sushi, your choices were limited to Sushi(ghetto)land and Myabi . Both are sub-par, and both might give you E. coli with their warm, grade B tuna. And with food options getting really old out here, the idea of a favorite downtown restaurant opening near our offices was... well let's just say that none of us scheduled meetings close to, or after our lunchtime. My favorite dish a...