Tummy Tukwila

DeDe wins by a landslide! Not a surprise that the Bird Killer lost horribly without a single vote. Since J and B are on vacation, this week's lunches will be filled with exciting options from the LL Lunch selection. Today I enjoyed Trader Ming's Jasmine Rice with Tom Yum Sauce and Vegetables (the only sign of a vegetable I saw were a couple of sad, chopped up baby corn cobs). Compared with Garlic Water, it wasn't all that bad. I'm looking forward to lunchtime returning to normal on Thursday... or as normal as it can be without Blue C one a week. Yes, I'm still sore.

So, it looks as if DeDe won't be back at Blue C - fine. DeDe: if you're reading this - you have a job at the Compound, if you want it. The past few days have been messy - B's had other plans, J's in Spain, and I've been eating lunch at my desk. So nothing terribly exciting to report. We'll be back next week with more exciting adventures from Tukwila.

Impressive reach: The co-founder of Blue C, Steve Rosen wrote us back to say that he loves DeDe too, but in a way that we could never know - she sucked bad enough to can her. Well, I still find it hard to believe that unless DeDe was embezzling from the company, why management and DeDe couldn't work through their differences, and find a way to retain an experienced, well loved employee. It's a major failing on behalf of the management, and I'll miss DeDe almost as much as I'll miss spending $30 for lunch two times a week. Here's the email: Dear R, Thank you so much for taking the time to email us about your strong affection for DeDe. I completely understand your frustration because she is such an excellent server, and so great with guests--really great. For this reason it was even more frustrating for us to part ways with her. For obvious reasons I cannot go into any specifics out of respect for DeDe, but it's safe to say that there are two sides to our business...

J is on vacation in Spain, so Power Womon is our guest blogger today. Enjoy: Thursday was my 1st experience at Blue C Sushi. I have heard so much about this establishment and especially about Dede. I'm a SUPER picky eater and was a little nervous about the type of food they serve and if there would be something on the menu for me. But, from hearing about Dede and how friendly she is and how she takes care of her people, I was a little less "on edge". To make a long story short, the company was a little slumber when the news was broken. I took that time to use the "facilities" and was highly intrigued by the motion activated hand soap dispenser, water and the highly powered hand dryer (like one I've never seen before)! Needless to say, I washed my hands twice! For a little distraction from the devastating news, we kept an eye on a couple that was about to make a family restaurant turn into an X rated movie! Wow, what entertainment. After lunch, we headed to ...

What is this world coming to? First the AIG fools get bonuses, now we have to live without Dede. That's right, we found out that Dede was fired from Blue C today. My heart is heavy. I'm not taking this lying down. I will write, I will call, I will fight for our right to be served by Dede! Here's the letter I sent to Blue C today: I am really unhappy. My colleagues and I love Blue C at South Center and visit weekly, if not twice a week. We like the food, but the real reason we go is for the service. Specifically, the service provided by our favorite server Dede. Today I found out that Dede was terminated by a new manager, apparently over a personality conflict. Are you kidding me? I don't expect you to comment on personnel issues, however this is one of the most ignorant, arrogant and quite frankly, stupidest business decisions I've heard. I am not related to Dede, but her bubbly personality, attention to detail, flawless service and welcoming smile make her feel lik...

DeDe, our favorite server has been terminated from Blue C. In protest, T2 is boycotting Blue C, and asks that you join us. You can also write an email in support of DeDe and send it to: feedback@bluecsushi.com . Here is what we sent to Blue C: Over the past year, my colleagues and I have frequented the Tukwila Blue C Sushi once, sometimes twice a week. We also run a blog about our lunchtime adventures in Tukwila and have written many times about Blue C - maybe even to the exhaustion of our readers ( http://tummytukwila.blogspot.com/ ). One draw was definitely the good food, but one of the best things about the Tukwila location was DeDe... Today we were shocked to learn that DeDe had been terminated last week by a new (possibly clueless) manager. I am very unhappy to learn this, especially since DeDe consistently gave me the best restaurant service I'd ever experienced - she was fun, energetic, knew our names and our orders by heart, and always had a smile on her face, even when she...

Tummy Tukwila is on vacation today. Check back next week for all new adventures. B is committed to trying one never before visited lunch location next week. Any suggestions? We love you all.

You know we love nicknames at Tummy Tukwila (the only person we call by their real name is DeDe). I'm proud to introduce the latest addition to our nickname family....Pita Don Juan. Pita Don Juan works at the Pita Pit (shocker) and likes to wear his official pita visor just barely cocked to the side and his official pita t-shirt one size too small. While R was struggling with the bathroom, I observed Pita Don Juan welcoming two Joeys-esque ladies into his eating establishment. Pita Don Juan has never welcomed R or I in the same hyper-friendly manner...go figure. Watch out Frau, you've got some competition. Maybe Pita Don Juan can hook up with Taco Lolita...hmmmmmm... Food: 4.5/5 Minus.5 for the ongoing lettuce issue. Atmosphere: 4/5 The Frau was not wearing her African peace hat this visit. Good Times: 3/5 Minus 2 for missing R's X rated bathroom visit. Pita Don Juan's actual Don Juan appeal: 3/5 He's slightly above average.

In our poll: Who has better for yo, ceFiore wins by one point. Stay tuned next week when we ask: Who is the best character on Tummy Tukwila.

B and I visited the Pita Pit today. The scene there was the everyday usual: Frau Farbissina yelling back meat orders, line cooks scurrying around fulfilling requests, brown lettuce. At the register, Frau asked if we'd ever been to the Pit before. How long will it take until she recognized us? I mean, really - how many times do you need to patronize a place before the people who work there recognize you? I ordered the tuna pita because I wanted to hear Frau yell it back to the line: bringoutthe tu-NAH!, but instead, she whispered it to a passing line employee: bringoutthetuna. We should have known right then that today was going to be different. The visit went from annoying to awkward when I went to use the restroom. Frau gave me a key to the bathroom door which was shaped more like a swizzle stick than a door key. She warned me that it sometimes gets stuck, but I figured, how hard could it be? I pushed the stick into the hole (this is where it starts) and Frau began to shout inst...

Most Fridays, the T2 authors, no matter what we're busy doing - take time to venture out together for a Friday executive lunch. This Friday was different. B was missing today. J and I met in front of his office, but his chair was empty. We stuck around for a bit, poked around on his iPhone, snooped through his snack drawer, and J even had time to fill out B's Assertive Communication model on his white board. After waiting a good 10 minutes for B to return to his office, J and I gave up and headed out to meet the Chef for lunch. We decided that since B was MIA, we could hit up the Red Robin for some "gourmet" burgers. The Chef, instead of ordering her usual Bonzai Boca Burger, got experimental and ordered a Burning Love burger. It came chock-full of spicy items: deep-fried jalapenos, spicy Chipotle mayo, and a chili roasted Boca patty. It was so chock-full that she had to dismantle it to fit it in her face. J and I were boring and had the usual Clucks 'n Fries for...

DeDe is back! R, the Chef and I went to Blue C today and spotted our favorite Southside server, Dede. (Yes, we were spying though the outside windows. If DeDe wasn't there we were going to the food court). Great food, great company, great miso. R commented that "everything tastes better with DeDe". I think the "fat girl" could learn a thing or two (or ten dozen things from Dede). Now if only the Taco Queen would return. It's a good day. My heart is full. Food 5/5 Atmosphere 5/5 Dining with DeDe: priceless

I went to Simply Thai today with a new T2 character - AquaMan. He and I go way back in Compound days, and it was great to catch up with him, and the fact that he likes to SCUBA during his off hours makes for interesting conversation (trying not to think of drowning while eating curry is a hard thing to do). When we walked in, I saw The Fat Girl and got an automatic knee-jerk reaction that I should run, but it quickly passed since B was no where in sight, and The Fat Girl (whose not all that fat) was actually pretty nice today. I had the red curry, 2-stars. It was just okay. The peas in the dish were really dried out, like any day they would morph into marbles, so that was kind of different for Simply Thai since their fresh vegetables have always been my favorite thing about them. Atmosphere: 5/5 Food: 4/5 (minus one point for eating nearly-marbles) Good times: 5/5 (extra points for catching up with old friends)

R, B and J have been cheating on our one true love, Blue C Sushi, lately, and when we finally returned, we were dismayed to see that our one true love had not waited for us. Instead of sassy servers and smiling, lithe homosexual managers with questionable hair choices, we were greeted at the door by what appeared to be the cast offs of a frat party. It only went downhill from there. DeDe knows how to work us for those tips--she has our drinks ready for us and places our special orders before we even make them. She is intuitive and efficient, knowing when to sit down and talk with us and when to leave us alone. When she and Matthew the Manager are around, it's all VIP, baby. Today was anything but VIP. No cushy corner booth, orders came out wrong, and everything took forever. B and J complained often and audibly, while R clandestinely munched her way through 19 plates in sullen silence. The atmosphere was also odd today. Weird music pervaded the air, prompting B to speculate that pe...

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...