Menu Item Monday (July 9th, 2012) - Dinner with the Chatty Kathy's

During the month of July I'm trying something new with the Menu Item Monday Blog. Once a week I will arrange a dinner party and have each of my guests give a few words about the food they had. Sound fun? This way I get to meet new people, introduce some of my friends to other friends and basically just expand the circle. I was going to invite people in a very formulaic way (one from the non-profit sector, one from the business community, one from the arts, etc) but then I threw all that out the window and just started inviting a bunch of random people who happened to have the same name. This week I dined with Kathy's and had a terrific night! I called it the Chatty Kathy dinner and we had such a great time we decided to do it again sometime! A few of the Kathy's couldn't make it so next time they can come too. 

Kathy #1 is with Hilltop Artists in Residence. Kathy #2 owns Good Karma Center for Joy and Kati (who's real name is Katherine and thereby qualifies as a Kathy for our purposes) is a buyer of music and movies for the Pierce County Library. These are some dynamic ladies and our discussions included world travels, movies, art, fashion and boys! After dinner Kathy #1 was parked in the other direction but the other two got a sneak peek inside Catwalk because we were passing by and they convinced me to use my key and give them a private viewing. Of course they wanted to buy a whole bunch of stuff and that's outside my jurisdiction so they agreed to come back later to shop for real. I'm such a tease! :)

OK, now check out the AMAZING food we were served:

Indochine
1924 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA.
http://www.indochinedowntown.com
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Beautifully presented  Indochine House salad

Honey Glazed Walnut Prawns
"The food was great and the coconut cake was just amazing! The ambiance is very cool. I'd go back again in a heartbeat!" - Kati Irons, Collection Development Librarian - Music & Film, Pierce County Library System(She let me have a bite of this and it was sooo delicious! I think I'm ordering this next time!)

Summer Basil Chicken Salad
"Loved the ambiance, the darkened lighting and decor set an exotic tone to our dinner party. I had the SUMMER BASIL CHICKEN with fragrant mango and pineapples in a creamy peanut sauce with lovely Thai basil. It was a wonderful blend of sweet fresh fruits balanced with fresh basil and peanut sauce. The presentation was gorgeous, with a perfect orchid flower topping the colorful array of fresh veggies and succulent chicken. I also had the cranberry orange gelatto for dessert. All in all I loved the food and the prices were very reasonable. The best thing though was the company!" - Kathy Traxler Anderson, Outreach & Communications Manager at Hilltop Artists In Residence

Honey Glazed Walnut Prawns
"I loved the food. It was exotic and delicious. The right mix sweet and savory. The atmosphere is fun and the.pond feature in the middle refreshing. Especially loved the veiled room for a party." - Kathy Price, owner of Good Karma Center for Joy
Orange Chicken
I had the Orange Chicken with brown rice. It was delicious and there was so much of it that I actually got three meals for the price of one because I took most of it home with me. My raspberry gelato was amazing!
Coconut cake and gelato's







That was Friday night. On Saturday night I met up with some friends (Linda Danforth and Deborah Dodson) at Pacific Grill. I got there after they had already started eating so I just ordered a snack. 

Pacific Grill
1502 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, WA.
http://www.PacificGrillTacoma.com
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Soft Pretzels, house-made pretzels with 2 sauces: whole grain mustard & warm queso with tequila 

From there Linda and I headed down towards the marina along the Thea Foss Waterway to hit up a very cool spot called The Social. It was a really beautiful night and we sat outside facing the water overlooking all the boats parked at the marina. Museum of Glass was just next door with their pretty outdoor glass sculptures and our table was lit up from within in a long skinny gas fire on rocks. Difficult to put into words but very pretty to behold and warm too which we appreciated as the sun went down. We ordered the following snacks from the Happy Hour Menu when the clock hit 10 pm.  

 The Social
1715 Dock St., Tacoma, Wa
http://thesocialbarandgrill.com/
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Happy Hour Menu

Here you can see one small part of the fire pit embedded in the table.

The view of the marina

Linda's chicken tacos

My sauted prawns - these were so tasty!!

Better picture of Linda's chicken tacos.


Check back next week for my report about the dinner party with the Lynn's at The Office Bar & Grill. I can't wait to see if the Lynn's are as much fun as the Kathy's were!

XOXO,
Duchess of Downtown

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