Tummy Tukwila

After a Blue C anomaly (no Dede) and some Red Mango with cereal (the strawberries looked pureed) , J, R and B headed to the first floor of South Center to check out the new Teavana store. B received a gift card to Teavana for Christmas, and wanted to check out the tea possibilities. As soon as we stepped into Teavana, the tea vultures were instantly upon us with syrupy samples of teas like: Moonlight Mango Magic and Coco-Berry Cantaloupe Blend---huh? J and B tried to avoid direct eye contact and focused on the tasteful and tacky tea accoutrements (some tasteful, many tacky) To B's surprise, R seems to be really enjoying the tea experience, to the point of befriending the peppy personnel who looked as if they had indulged in too much caffeine and sugar. And I mean way too much caffeine and sugar. What did they put in R's “sample”?? R made a tea purchase (a blend of two teas no less—fancy pants) and we attempted to leave the store only to be foiled by the sample machine. Makes me...

Today J, B and myself headed to Blue C. It's been about 2 weeks since we were last there, and when we walked in - a whole new set of faces greated us. One even had the nerve to ask, "Is this your first time at Blue C?" "Do you know who we are?!" Where is DeDe? Where is Pink Shirt Guy? B asked, "Who are all of these white people?" I suppose we have been spoiled by DeDe. She knows exactly what we want, doesn't ask a ton of questions, and most of all - she's real. It just felt so lonely there without her. Next we headed to Red Mango for some sweet therapy. Now Red Mango has a club card that generates points when you buy fro yo, and gives you extra points on your birthday! B and I registered our cards when we got back to the compound. Already I'm at 88 points... had this been accumulating this entire time, I would have had 50k points by now! Atmosphere: 3/5 (minus 2 points for having to adjust to a whole new cast of characters) Food: 5/5 Good t...

It's been pretty busy around the compound lately - here is a quick rundown of our lunchtime adventures as of late: Fill It Up (My Basket of Fries) J and I ate at Red Robin - it had been a really long time since we'd been there, but the same wait staff is still there. Our favorite is Horsetail Woman. She has the longest French braid I've ever seen, and she is quite possibly the longest Red Robin employee on the books (she's always been there, and she's a pro at what she does). J guessed that her favorite pastimes include collecting Breyer horse figurines, and scrap booking - maybe at the same time - she's that good. Pita Pit & Frau Farbissina It was the fastest eatery opening in the history of Southcenter. The Pita Pit opened sometime early last week to the great delight of all of us southenders dying for a happy sandwich place. The cashier lady is the newest addition to T2's growing cast of southend characters - the way she screamed: "bringoutthe TU...

Yesterday, B and I along with special guests the Power Womon, and the Chef headed to Taco Del Mar to get our taco fix. The Taco Queen is still MIA, but now there is a new taco maker in town: Taco Lolita, so called because she's probably just 18 years old, obviously spends a little extra time to look pretty before her afternoon shift at TDM, and might even go a little further for than neccassary for a tip. But that's just a whole lot of assumptions. Go to Taco Del Mar and decide for yourself. Soon the Pita Pit will be opening across from the mall next to Zoopas - when it does, it will be a glorious day for those who love sandwhiches, but love their happiness too much to go to the saddest Subway in the world (a story we will tell you about someday). Food: 5/5 Atmosphere: 5/5 Good times: 5/5 (extra points for Power Womon and the Chef)

It's official! Today I saw the Kilt Guy, which can only mean one thing - Spring is on its way.

J and I ate at Randy's for lunch today. We've often driven past Randy's on our way to South Park for Mexican food, and joked - Dang, we could have gone to Randy's! Today, we actually went there. The slowly decaying Randy's, located along the Boeing plant drag on Marginal Way S., is determined to never change a thing - not even its waitresses. You can probably assume that the place is only still in business because it's within spitting distance of Boeing. From the street, Randy's looks scary - it's dark, broken-down, and the parking lot is filled with the kind of vehicles you'd expect to see at a rest stop along the deep East end of Highway 90. Even though it was against my better judgement, we pulled into the parking lot, and walked into the front door. Once inside, we were sucked back in time. The vinyl booths were pink and orange striped, model airplanes swung from the ceilings, photographs or illustrations of old Boeing planes adorned the booth wa...

Today B discovered that no Simply Thai is safe - no matter which one he dines at, he will likely be served by his most hated waitress, The Fat Girl. The Fat Girl, as he refers to her, is a chubby, ill-tempered waitress who works at Simply Thai. She would rather spit in your face than bring you a refill on your iced tea. B dislikes her so much that for the past two years we've had to eat at the echoey, hot-box Simply Thai near the mattress store rather than the cushy, Simply Thai with booths. Today, when B, The Chef and I walked into the hot-box Simply Thai, B spotted the Fat Girl from across the room, and we had to stop him from walking back out again. He reasoned that since she was behind the register, she had finally received that long-deserved demotion and wouldn't be serving us, but 5 minutes after we had sat down, here she comes - all scowling and round. I thought for certain there was going to be a scene, and we would never be able to eat at Simply Thai again, but surpri...

After one long year, What the Pho finally opened. J and I stopped in to try out their offerings and found pan-Asian hotel restaurant interior design, semi-terrible service, a big menu, and good food. J had the beef pho, which he proclaimed good, but not better that Pho Than Bros. which is still the winner with their magical and addictive pho broth. And I, after asking the waitress 5 different ways whether or not the veggie pho was in fact vegetarian (not), I ended up having a very tasty veggie noodle bowl that I would highly recommend, and would go back for again. Funny thing about What the Pho was the placement of their logo on all of their dishware. Every time I looked at my food, I was like "What the pho?" I have to wonder how many people go to a restaurant and wonder where the heck they ended up? This is most likely to happen at those places that stay open for the bar crowd in downtown Seattle. I'm pretty sure I've seen people at Charlie's at 2am who don't...

It's best to keep this short and sweet. B had lunch at Whole Foods (I made a delightful taco salad) with a "friend". Good food, good times, good friend. Food: 4/5 I feel like a food artist whenever I eat at the Whole Foods salad/hot food bar Good Times: 5/5 NO TUKWILA! Fear of having my T2 posting capability revoked 3/5 Lunching with my pregnant unnamed friend 5/5

B will be reporting from beautiful South Lake Union tomorrow. Lunch location is still TBA. The Artificial Woman may be in attendance. Stay tuned. Good luck J and R. May the lunch gods smile upon you.

Who knew that Burien was on the cutting edge of the music scene? R and I ate at Elliott Bay Brewing Company today. Once again it was delicious and once again I was accosted by the overripe banana vapor from the produce store a few doors down. I am starting breath holding training immediately. While dining, R and I had the pleasure of strolling down musical memory lane at the Brewing Company as they played some Whitney Houston, Cindy Lauper and maybe even some Corey Hart. It felt like the sixth grade talent show all over again. My reuben sandwich was delicious (I did hold off on the special sauce and replaced it with mustard); I felt a shock of protein. R was shocked (not in a good way) at the limp and lifeless veggie burger sheathed within a nicely toasted bun accompanied by beautifully sautéed mushrooms. Elliott Bay Brewing Company is a winner and easily satisfied my hunger of the heart. Food 5/5 Atmosphere 4//5 (-1 for banana vapor) Good Times 5/5

Today B was having a "hunger of the heart" so we ventured up to Burien for some pub food at Elliot Bay Brewing Company . EBBC is always a great place for filling voids, emotional or otherwise, and I would highly recommend fish tacos and a pint of Razn'Stout (raspberry framboise mixed with their house brewed stout) to anyone. Because B has been ordered by his trainer at the gym to eat more dead things, B had a grilled Rueben with the works. I had a mushroom swiss burger sub veggie patty that was a whole lot like eating fried casserole on a bun, mushy and pointless. Mental note: remember to stick to the fish tacos. After lunch we headed over to Safeway to pick up snacks for the Bird Killer . We had been there a few weeks back with him, and he went over the moon when he realized that Safeway carries his childhood favorite treat - a Mexican cookie that resembles a cracker with four ice cream scoops and sprinkles on top. When BK returns to the office tomorrow, I'm hoping h...

Hello Loyal Readers- B is back! How can you miss me if I don't go away? Today I took Power Womon to lunch for her birthday and we ended up at Red Robin. I'm generally neutral about the Robin, although today PW and I sat in the bar area. I thought this would be exciting. It was not. Let me assure you, no one and I mean no one will ever confuse the Robin bar with the Joeys bar. It's a night and day difference, in clothing terms, Joeys is "Forever 21" or "bebe" and the Robin is "Sears" or "J.C. Penney". Also, I always feel like I'm inside a blood vessel in the Robin....it's so RED! Overall, service was efficient, food was above average and atmosphere was…well, type AB negative.

Yes, it's been a wholelotta monotony around Tukwila lately... we'd rather not bore our readers with - "went to Blue C" or "went to Taco Del Mar" day after day. Some notable updates: - The Taco Queen is still missing. - DeDe has put in for a transfer to the U-Village Blue C, but apparently it's such a popular spot to work, she'll need to wait for someone to die before she can move. B and I did go to the Jack Shack yesterday - I was craving tacos with girth . However, we sat on the dining side, rather than the bar side (aka: slut side) of the restaurant, so our server didn't mention girth, nor was he (emphasis on gender) dressed in a way that inspired us to think he works the late, late shift on Aurora. The dining side of Joey's is like any other eatery, it's when you go to the bar side that the atmosphere changes into something that resembles the movie set of Coyote Ugly. I suppose we should spice it up a bit so we'll have something to...

Happy Inauguration! J and I celebrated change by doing the usual - eating at Blue C for lunch. Lunch was pretty quiet - I was completely distracted by Blue C's flat screen TV showing the live feed of the Presidential Motorcade. J was already past the inaugural fun, and kept trying to engage me in conversation, but I was only able to listen with one ear (sorry, J). Yesterday was truly amazing. I can't wait to see what happens next. Food: 5/5 Atmosphere: 5/5 (score extra points for changing the channel from the Cartoon Network to ABC) History making: 5/5

Because our faithful reader, M suggested it, today J and I ventured 7 minutes north of the Compound to try out Georgetown's sandwich shop, Smarty Pants. It was nice to leave Tukwila Life for a little bit and explore Seattle's newest up-and-coming hipster neighborhood. Even though it's Friday, Smarty Pants was serving brunch, so I ordered an egg burrito and J ordered the biscuits and gravy. While we were waiting (forever) for our heroine-chic waitress to bring us our brunch, the ketchup bottle literally - out of nowhere - jumped off the table top and went crashing to the ground. Could there be an angry ghost trapped in Smarty Pants? Or was our ketchup tired of being manhandled by out of work artists, Seattle hipsters, and the occasional gaggle of Boeing geeks? Whatever the reason, it was a miracle that J's unbelievably crisp, white dress shirt came out of it completely unharmed. When our food arrived, my burrito looked and tasted deelish, but the hash browns were pallid ...

Yesterday, B and I started off the T2 new year by hitting up Taco Del Mar for some fish tacos and to see if the Taco Queen has returned... which she has not, but it will be okay. The Taco Princess is still there, and she makes one heckuva fish taco. B kicked off his new year by throwing his keys into the TDM trash along with his taco wrappers. Is this a sign of things to come for B? Stay tuned... Food: 5/5 Atmosphere: Always nice 5/5 Good times: although we were both suffering from post-vacation dull-drums, B always finds a way to liven things up: 5/5 for key tossing.

I'm snowed in and am dreaming of eating out, even in Tukwila (it's the cabin fever). Here's my personal countdown of the Top Tummy Tukwila Moments of 2008. Drum Roll....... #5. No more Sushi Land! Southcenter Mall reopens complete with a Blue C Sushi. Blue C is the Tummy Tukwila lunch savior. Blue C (and DeDe)....we love you! #4. The Psychic Paleontologist at Taco Del Mar. R and I witnessed the unsettling archeological dig at the serving line. This is also the woman who licked her burrito. The downside.....the Taco Queen is MIA. :( #3. Discovering a safe and natural Yeast Infection Cure . Thanks to the Birdkiller's super reading skills, B and R learn that yogurt at ceFiore is effective in the global fight against deadly (or at least uncomfortable) yeast. #2. The Trip . After an uneventful food court lunch, R decides to spice things up by unleashing a hip and horrifying tripping detonation. It was like the Energizer Bunny…it went on and on and on...... #1. Southcenter ...

After identifying the closest Safeway to the office (for the annual food drive competition...and also I hate Safeway, I mean I really hate Safeway ) which happens to be in the joyful town of Burien, R identified a lunch location to build up our shopping energy. Guess what folks...we went somewhere we've never been before....Elliott Bay Brewing Company! I was quite cautious at first due to the fact that the strip shopping mall in which this establishment is located is like a little Guadalajara in Seattle. I was a cynic and thought, how good could this place be, I mean its next door neighbors are a Mexican herbal shop and a stripper shoe store. To my surprise, the decor, ambiance and food at Elliott Bay are delicious. Our waitress, Freda, was dressed in a cozy hoodie, which normally I disapprove of, however after experiencing the dress code at Joey's I find clothing coverage quite refreshing. I had the fish and chips- the chips portion was addictive and the fish was delicious. T...

J was out having lunch in George Town with Long Lost Friend , so it was just B, the Bird Killer and I for lunch, and since the Compound's annual Food Drive competition is on, a trip to Safeway was in order. The only Safeway I know of around here is in Burien - so I figured this was finally my chance to talk the guys into lunching on some amazing pub food at the Elliot Bay Brewing Co. in Burien. EBBC is a favorite of mine - the one located in West Seattle has always been the place to get a pitcher of Raz-n-Stout when there was any kind of celebrating or lamenting to be had. Last year an EBBC opened in Burien, and I have since been trying to talk B & J into going for lunch. The concern was always that it was in Burien (aka: Rat City) and that it was far away. Today at least B learned otherwise, and a delicious time was had by all. A low light of the afternoon was the fruit stand 5 doors down from EBBC where over-ripe bananas were stacked up for a quick sale. The smell of them cau...