If the high-def movie version of the low-tech Japanese TV cartoon “Speed Racer” makes you hungry for something meatier (see Soren Andersen’s review elsewhere in GO), or if cruising the South Sound’s auto-themed entertainment venues revs your appetite (see today’s SoundLife section), here are some eateries with automotive themes – from ribs, microbrews and big-screen NASCAR races in a Lacey brewpub to hot dogs served across the back end of a ’68 Camaro in downtown Tacoma. Read more...

Recent news reports link rising food costs to the growing appetite for beef among the world’s developing nations. Who can blame these people? Read more...

You can take the minicasino off Sixth Avenue, but you can’t take the minicasino out of Bella Vita, the Italian restaurant and “ultra lounge” that opened last year in the former Silver Dollar Casino. Read more...

Say the phrase “bar food” too fast and you’ll utter the distasteful opinion many people have about the food served in bars. You know – microwaved TV dinners and deep-fried mysteries that satisfy little more than the state Liquor Control Board’s rules requiring establishments that serve hard liquor to also serve food that can be eaten with knives and forks. Read more...

There’s no way of sugar-coating this: Doughnuts – fried in oil and dripping with artery-clogging appeal – aren’t good for us. But, oh, do the best of them taste good: sweet and tender, cakey and crackly, begging to be dunked in coffee or milk. With that in mind, I toured South Sound’s independent doughnut shops looking for the best of what’s bad for us. Read more...

My dinner mate talked me out of a pre-dinner drink at Applebee’s. “It’s sorta like T.G.I. Friday’s but not as good as Ruby Tuesday,” he said. We were en route to McGrath’s Fish House, which turned out to be sort of like Applebee’s. Read more...

When it comes to conveyor-belt sushi, it’s not the length of the belt that matters. What matters is the time that tuna, eel, rainbow rolls and other sushi spend going ’round and ’round before diners pluck the passing plates. Read more...

Acqua Via’s wine list takes the cake. Which is a pretty good thing, since the cake (and much that comes before it) is pretty good, too. Read more...

Six months ago, my visit to newly opened Opa! Greek Cuisine could be summed up one way: cheesy. Read more...

When The Buttered Biscuit relocated from Buckley to Sumner three months ago, it was like grandma moved out of her dowager house and into a nifty condo. Read more...

Tacoma’s melting pot has a new culinary adjective: Khmer, the indigenous food of Cambodia. Read more...

Super spots for the Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest deal in American sports. There’ll be overeating, beer drinking, overpriced TV ads, maybe a wardrobe malfunction. Read more...

With a name like Woody’s, it’s got to be casual, right? That’s my problem with Woody’s on the Water, the six-month-old restaurant that moved into the upscale space vacated last year by Blue Olive, the “ultra-lounge” martini bar on the ground floor of Thea’s Landing condo development. Read more...

First the Golden Globes, then the Oscars, and now … The Buffys, my list of all-you-can-eat achievements in the South Sound.Read more...

When Sinatra started singing, my dinner companion reminded me about the sushi restaurant I’d skewered for playing the same tunes. “But the name of this restaurant is DeCaterina’s,” I said. “Italian for Italian works for me.” Read more...