Here, eat this.

My weekend was filled with an abundance of food, beverage, laughter and love. I was hopeful it would be, but I try not to control how my days fold out for me. I’ve truly grown to despise planning ahead, and am now more interested in spontaneity, happenstance and good food.

Carmelita: A vegetarian delight.

Rich sauces, fresh ingredients and a happy yet not quite full tummy. When you compare the portions to the price it almost doesn’t jive. Then you taste it, and none of that really matters anymore.

The food successfully saturates every known taste bud and awakens some that maybe aren’t so well known. Each plate seems to feature a wide range of textures and a fantastic balance of flavors to make even the meatiest meat eater pleasantly surprised. But don’t get too used to the menu as it changes with the seasons. This is A-OK with me knowing that they’ll be featuring the season’s best ingredients with each new meal. Is it fall yet?

Before summer ends try the Spinach, artichoke and ricotta rotolo with green garlic cream, taggiasca olive-tomato salad and basil oil. For $18 I may not have gotten completely full, but I was fully satisfied. Each element was like an exaggeration of itself; the creamy sauce was the creamiest and the spinach was the greenest. I had to remind myself to slow down and actually taste it, not inhale it.

I was actually happy after my meal because it left just enough room for a couple bites of dessert. The Chocolate Muck Muck featured a chocolate brownie with a hot, magma liquid chocolate center. Flanking this was a strawberry sauce that looked like catsup and whipped cream that was as thick as custard.

If not just for the food come for the atmosphere as well. The waitstaff is dressed as if they are going to the prom (tastefully), and the decor is extraordinary. From the warm, dim lighting to the intricate, metal leaf sculptures on the ceiling to the poppy mural in the main dining area, this place cocoons you so you don’t want to leave.

The only bad thing I found was that the service was only medial, but not horrible. The most attentive employee was the water guy who insisted on filling my glass even after I only took a couple drinks.

All in all:

Tacoma Szechuan: As authentic as it gets in Tacoma.
Next to Paldo World on the corner of 96th and S. Tacoma Way

It would be difficult to say anything truly bad about this place. It is by far the best authentic Chinese food the South End has to offer, and if it weren’t for Shanghai Cafe in Bellevue Tacoma Szechuan would be the best.

Authentic, delicious, priced well, and large portions to boot. (I ate for 2 days!) If you don’t believe me try the Hot Pot. I dare you to finish that in one sitting even if you have friends helping you. I have yet to explore everything the menu has to offer, but I will be checking back in from time to time to describe my findings as I will surely be returning back to this place. Plus they have smoothies!

All in all (so far):

The Red Hot: Like Shorty’s only better.
(no clowns!)

They’ve got it going on. The specialty? Hot dogs. Any possible way you can imagine them, they’ve probably got it. And they’re fantastic, I hear. The downer is that they stop serving the dogs at 10pm and I arrived at approximately 10:10. But let’s not overshadow the fact that they also have beer. So even if you miss the dogs you didn’t necessarily miss the fun! There’s still good beer!

Beer that you can enjoy while watching old school metal videos on the projection TV, but only until midnight when they close. This is actually good news because it means I don’t have to completely abandon my usual spot on Saturdays; I’ll just be showing up a little later. This can be good news for you as well because The Red Hot is located on the ever growing 6th Ave. in North Tacoma, which if you know that area at all you know is in stumbling distance to about 5 other drinking spots minimum.

All in all: