Local Business Lynnae’s Gourmet Pickles on Shark Tank

Local Finds, Tasty Tidbits
September 22, 2013
by adrienne

Tacoma business and Lynnae’s Gourmet Pickles was on ABC’s Shark Tank this past Friday. I interviewed Aly Cullinane back in 2011 when the business was just starting out, and they have grown exponentially since then.

While the “sharks” may not have bit on Shark Tank, Aly and Lynnae really did an excellent job presenting their business and representing Tacoma on national TV.

Because they weren’t successfully funded on Shark Tank, Lynnae’s Gourmet Pickles now has a Indiegogo campaign running to help them meet their business goals for growth.

Best of luck to you, Aly and Lynnae, it looks like you got some great feedback from the “sharks”!

Check out the video of their Shark Tank appearance below.

New Open: Compass Rose Boutique

Tasty Tidbits
July 21, 2013
by adrienne

I checked out the new Compass Rose boutique in Tacoma’s Proctor District, the second outpost of the original store in Olympia. It took the place of Giardini Gifts, which had been open for over 20 years.

Never having been to the original store, I didn’t know what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised. A kind of mini-Anthropologie feel (minus the clothes), the shop was full of thoughtfully picked items, including a kids/baby section, luxury candles, cards, paper goods and a generous kitchen section. They have cookbooks, fun cooking and kitchen items and Le Creuset kitchenware. I was super excited to see the Le Creuset because the tried and true brightly-colored pots aren’t sold anywhere else in Tacoma besides Macy’s and Metropolitan Market (that I know of). Compass Rose appears to have colors Macy’s doesn’t carry, which was nice to see.

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Art on the Ave Grub Crawl and Grub Crawl Challenge – Come See Me!

Happenings, Tasty Tidbits
July 14, 2013
by adrienne

Today is the 15th Annual Art on the Ave, 6th Avenue Tacoma’s awesome street fair celebrating art and community. There’s a fun food aspect, the Grub Crawl, where participating restaurants feature a special $6 appetizer-sized item.

Participating restaurants include Medi’s Pizza and Pasta, North China Garden, Jazzbones, Gateway to India, Marrow Kitchen Bar, O’Malley’s Irish Pub, Dirty Oscar’s Annex, Legendary Doughnuts, Ice Cream Social and Gateway to India. Check out their special menu items on the article I wrote for NorthwestMilitary.com. Stop by the brick and mortar locations of the restaurants to purchase the items. Ice Cream Social and Gateway to India will have booths at the festival, however.

The Grub Crawl has a second component, the Grub Crawl Challenge, where the restaurants will enter their items to be judged by Elisa Jaffe of KOMO 4, Tyrus Smith, Executive Director of the Tacoma Evergreen State College and myself, Adrienne Kuehl. The winner will be crowned King or Queen of the Grub Crawl.

I’m looking forward to trying all the different dishes! I have a feeling it’ll be hard to choose a favorite. Come by the Community Stage in the Walt’s Parking lot today at 2:30 to watch the judging competition.

Art on the Ave is today from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. between Cedar and Trafton Streets.

New Menus at Marrow

A new dinner and happy hour menu debuted at Marrow Kitchen Bar today, and it’s truly excellent. Check out the photos of the new menus below to see what’s new (click to enlarge).

Come See me at the Taste of Tacoma!

Happenings, Tasty Tidbits
June 26, 2013
by adrienne

This weekend, June 28-30, is the Taste of Tacoma, the largest annual food festival in the South Sound. I wrote about the changes the festival has made this year, including healthier and lower priced options, the integration of food trucks, and The Taste Cooks!, a cooking stage featuring Tacoma chefs and food experts, hosted by Amanda Westbrooke of TV Tacoma.

I’ll be one of those folks on the cooking stage on Saturday, June 29 from 3-3:45. I’d love for you to come see me! I’ll be talking about Tacoma Foodie, my cooking blog, A Big Mouthful, what it’s like to be a food writer, as well as how to shop the farmers market, and then doing a cooking demo with local ingredients from the farmers market. On the menu is a smoked salmon, asparagus and goat cheese pasta and a shaved zucchini salad.

Check out the full schedule of chef cooking demos, as well as the Chef Cook-Off! following my demo at 4 on Saturday. The contestants, Chef Hudson Slater of Maxwell’s, and Aura Mae, known as “The Kitchen Beautician”, will be cooking from mystery ingredients in a battle similar to Chopped or Iron Chef. Other demos include Tom Pantley of Toscanos, Gil Turturici of Boathouse 19, Kris Blondin of STINK, Geoffrey Yahn of Dirty Oscar’s Annex and more. It should be a good time.

I worked hand-in-hand with the organizers of the Taste of Tacoma this year to try to get the festival to be a little more Tacoma, a little more local. The changes they’ve made seem to be in the right direction. It’s not perfect yet by any means, but it’s good to see Tacoma restaurants be involved in the Taste Cooks! portion, as well as the healthier and lower priced items available from the vendors.

If you haven’t been to the Taste of Tacoma in the last few years, it’s worth a revisit. For more about the changes to the festival this year, read my article on NorthwestMilitary.com.

Hope to see you Saturday!