Here’s what we loved eating and drinking in and around the South Sound in 2020

This is not a best-of list.

It’s a moment-in-time homage to the food and drink of Tacoma and the South Sound, from the perspective of a first-timer.

Many of these selections represent the reality of 2020: All but one was relished either outside, on a patio or a park bench, atop the hood of my car or the woefully familiar landscape of my own kitchen table.

Some restaurants have done what they do best. Others have reinvented themselves. Even more have created something from nothing.

This journey begins pre-pandemic, slithers through those lonely initial months of lockdown, warps through a tease of a summer and concludes recently as we stare down a questionable future for both ourselves and these restaurants.

Hungarian Wax Peppers at Wooden City

▪ Tacoma, Downtown, woodencitytacoma.com

When I asked Jon Green, co-owner of Wooden City with Abe Fox, what was in his “chive oil,” he laughed. It’s two ingredients: olive oil and chives. That hasn’t stopped my daydreaming about the stuff, so gratifying you’ll want a bottle of it for your everything. These two Hungarian wax peppers, which can be hotter than a jalapeno or as mild as a poblano, stuffed — again, surprisingly simply — with Italian sausage and aged white cheddar have stuck with me since the before times, when one could eat at the bar. I won’t let go of either memory.

Ginger Beer at The Mule Tavern

▪ South Tacoma, themuletavern.com

If there was one thing that kept me sane in those first few months of the pandemic, when everything in the world felt heavy and SPAM was flying off the shelves of Costcos across America, it was Sam Halhuli’s draft ginger beer. Singing of really real ginger with a brush of fresh lemon, in cocktails, in soda water, in a shot glass as a hangover cure — you should always have The Mule’s ginger beer in your fridge, in cans or growlers, pandemic or not.

Pupusas at El Pulgarcito

▪ Lakewood + Lacey, restaurantelpulgarcito.com

I never miss a hot bite out of a styrofoam container sitting precariously atop grocery bags in the trunk of my car. One tear of these handmade pupusas, a heavy-handed dip into the seriously spicy red salsa, and I concluded the national dish of El Salvador has a laudable ambassador in Lakewood. Cheese plus chicharron, spinach, zucchini or beans fill the pocket of these billowy tortillas, accented by the dissonance — in texture and temperature — of a side of curtido, a tangy cabbage slaw. You can imagine my discontent when I spilled the rest of the salsa all over the rug at home.

Malted Chip Ice Cream at Bliss Creamery

▪ University Place, icecreambliss.com

Some people get jazzed about rocky road, cookie dough or cotton candy. Those flavors to me miss the point of ice cream, which is the wonder of three simple base ingredients — cream, milk, sugar — that form an unbeatable frozen treat (with an emulsifier of course). Chocolate chip ice cream is fine; malted chip ice cream is better. My first “real” job as a teenager was at an ice cream shop, and at 16 I failed to understand the transformative wonders of malted milk powder. At Bliss, two sisters take that classic hint of Americana to addictive heights.

Peanut Butter Cookie Blonde Ale at Narrows Brewing

▪ Tacoma, West End, narrowsbrewing.com

With such superb brews in this region, how dare I pick one? Like I said, this is not a best-of list. But this particular ale shows, in a way, how talented our brewers — in this case, Matt Rhodes, Sean Collins and Zach Dowling at Narrows — are. An unmistakable peanut butter nose leads to a sippable backbone of biscuits and finishes with a hint of sweetness. In other words, it’s no sugar cookie. To find solid, and unique, blonde ales alongside the plethora of IPAs is a breath of Puget Sound air; the view here doesn’t hurt either.

Hot Honey Chicken Sandwich at Dusty’s Hideaway

▪ Tacoma, McKinley, dustyshideaway.com

Dusty’s was almost born for this era. A restaurant built in a classic Pacific Northwest Craftsman house with a front, back and side yard, owners Dana and Dave Verellen kept it outdoor-only except for a short spell when things were looking up. On a hot day, a painkiller slushie and this here fried chicken sandwich delivered. The tang of crunchy red cabbage slaw, the acidity of pickle chips, the a-ha of hot honey, on what is kind of a McDonald’s sesame bun? Leave me be, I’ll just be sunburning forever on this Adirondack.

Cinnamon Roll at Snapdragon Bakery

▪ Vashon Island, vashonsnapdragon.com

There are cinnamon rolls, and there is the gigantic cinnamon loaf at Snapdragon Bakery, where a slice, versus a bun shape, extends the surface area for weighty swirls of sticky cinnamon and sugar. Served on a paper plate, you’ll need the bamboo fork and knife — and a to-go bag unless you have several helpers. Find a seat on the magical back patio and heed Vashon’s self-enclosed nature. On our summer visit, it was perhaps the most happening pandemic town but one where everyone followed the rules, wearing masks and standing six feet apart. Yet everyone was out, and everyone wanted to have a coffee, drink a beer and eat food outside.

Pickled Grape Pizza at State Street Beer Co.

▪ Tacoma, Sixth Avenue District, statestreetbeer.com

State Street was quiet for several months as the pandemic unfolded, during which owners Dustin Johnson and Alicia Pahluniak developed a formidable Neapolitan pizza program. Using high-quality ingredients, these pies are almost confoundingly thin in the center but not at all floppy, with a worthy chew and sturdy cornicione. The combo of mozzarella, salty Grana Padano and rich ricotta with prosciutto, sharp red onions and, yes, pickled grapes exemplifies what a sophisticated pizza program can be. We dug into the open box on a warm summer’s night right outside the building shared with Bluebeard Coffee, and shh — we cracked open our Crowlers of crisp, pizza-perfect lagers right then and there.

Carrot Lasagna at en rama

▪ Tacoma, Downtown, enramatacoma.com

Lasagna purists might find pause with this unusual combination layered between sheets of handmade noodles, but the repurposing of an ingredient as plain as the orange root vegetable yanked from dirt should affirm to us that Tacoma is already a culinary destination. Laced with fennel sausage, wilted spinach and ricotta, each bite I dragged through that dreamy carrot purée like a rake on leaves. Accompanied by a quintessential en rama sherry cocktail, we watched the sun fall behind the Old Post Office Building from our wrought iron patio table, far from other guests, and stayed for dessert.

Zuppa del NordOvest at Crudo & Cotto

▪ Tacoma, Proctor District, crudoandcotto.com

We waited until we could settle into a seat on the porch of this old Craftsman house, where the owners of Basilico in Olympia had promised an elegant yet familiar home for Northwest Italian food. This fisherman’s stew, with Dungeness crab and clams, personifies that marriage. The venue: a pool of tomato sauce cooked with fish bones, spooned straight or delivered on an herb, garlic and parmesan bruschetta. Finishing off a bottle of Barbera d’Asti by bistro light, we left full and fulfilled.

Halibut Confit at Brix 25

▪ Gig Harbor, harborbrix.com

It was time for a proper date. We ordered cocktails and beer and the jar of confit, where halibut poached and still swimming in olive oil awaited our tear of buttery grilled baguette. With dots of mustard seed, ripe cherry tomatoes and a smattering of herbs, this rotating dish (currently it features calamari) is like a dipping bowl of extra virgin with the bonus of luscious Northwest fish. As we settled into dinner on the sparsely populated patio, cool air creeping up from the bay, the diligent server lulled us out of a pandemic-induced, service-is-secondary slumber.

Thai Tea Mochi Donut at Milkvue Donuts

▪ Gig Harbor, instagram.com/milkvue

Owner Seung Kim unlocks his petite shop in Point Fosdick Square six days a week around midnight to begin the intensive process of mixing, resting, shaping, frying and icing hundreds of doughnuts — notably, the mochi. Conceived in Japan, these clouds of warm glutinous rice flour will tease you into having two, glazed with subtle vanilla bean glaze, refreshing blueberry lavender or very American cookies and cream. But it’s the rusty hue and distinct flavor of the Thai tea that feels most apt, a reminder that our cultural indulgences can cross borders and bridges. You now have a valid excuse to pay the Narrows toll.

Margherita Pie at Cascadia Pizza Co.

▪ Enumclaw, cascadiapizzaco.com

A day in the mountains can end with equally simple beauty in the form of a textbook margherita pie from the wood-fired oven of Cascadia Pizza Co. A good pizzaiolo needs nothing more than fresh grande mozz, raw tomato sauce and bodacious basil leaves to prove his holiness, on a supple crust with just enough char on the cornicione. Maybe we were fooled by the sunshine lingering long into the evening, but I stand by my recollection. As we scarfed this pie from an open box on a picnic table outside at neighbor Fills Growlers, cold pints in hand, you could see the tip-top of Mount Rainier in the distance against an idyllic blue sky, and for a moment, all felt right in this little corner of America.

Oysters at Olympia Oyster House

▪ Olympia, olympiaoysterhouse.com

After a stroll around the marina while we waited for our patio table, we promptly ordered a round of the reason for our visit. Today’s catch: Ruko, Burns Point and Zoe, the latter petite like a Kumamoto. I vowed countless times this year I would order the Sound’s prized oysters — as farmers found themselves without restaurants to sell them — to shuck at home, and then I would remember the chilled plate of crushed ice, the dutiful server’s description of each bivalve and its salty home, the sharp mignonettes, and I would forget and plan a trip to an oyster bar.

LTO Burger at Carbon Pop

▪ Lacey + Olympia, carbonpopup.com

We hit pandemic traffic on the way to Lacey. Our goal: to drink beer outside and eat burgers I had pre-ordered online from Carbon Pop, a pop-up shop from the brains behind the awesome fermented Splat Hot Sauce. Courtney Jafferian and Pat Jansen have been grilling patties of local Cadillac Ranch beef outside Top Rung Brewing most Fridays this year, as well as at Delmonico’s Meats in Olympia on other days. They started our order, to come on homemade milk buns with American cheese and “standard chippers,” only after we arrived. Served on a paper plate and paired with a crisp lager, it’s the old-fashioned backyard burger you didn’t realize you missed this summer. Except here, your friend is a damn good cook.

Dumplings with Szechuan at Tacoma Szechuan

▪ Lakewood, tacomaszechuanlakewood.com

There are times when nothing but a dumpling (or 12) will do. As my partner set the table, I opened this deli of dumplings. We finished off half the order on the kitchen counter before sitting down to a further feast of wontons in chili oil (and spicy beef and garlic string beans). Doused with scallions and pepper flakes, these slick dumplings transported me to a table with friends, inside a restaurant, covered with plates and bottles of Tsingtao, a teapot and hot pot and all the rest.

This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 5:05 AM.