Free-Range Kitchen: A Culinary Incubator and Commercial Kitchen

Bridgett Crews and Krista Keithly, the ladies responsible for the awesome Hilltop Pop Shop, have another venture started early this year.  Free-Range Kitchen, a culinary incubator located on Tacoma’s 6th Avenue, is a way for small food businesses to get started in a relatively low-risk way. It’s a pretty cool idea, and one that was needed in the South Sound.

It was an idea born from necessity. Bridgett and Krista needed a permanent place to produce their local, organic fruit popsicles for Hilltop Pop Shop. They also wanted to share the knowledge they’ve learned from their own food business, while fostering a sense of community.

Free-Range Kitchen is more than just a commercial kitchen. Upon first meeting Bridgett and Krista, I was immediately impressed with their passion and dedication to the community and desire to help small food businesses become successful.

The concept: Free-Range Kitchen creates an low-cost opportunity for fledgling food businesses to start up and learn the business, as well as a commercial kitchen in which to produce their food or products. Businesses utilize the commercial kitchen part-time, and many sell their goods at local farmers markets.

Starting a food business is often a daunting process. There’s insurance, licenses, food handler’s cards…and that’s all before you can begin doing what you actually love, cooking or producing a food product. Then you add up the equipment costs to get started, rent for a production space, and you get the idea. It’s expensive and can be confusing for new business owners.

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July Food Events

  • South Sound BBQ Festival
    July 6, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free event held at Huntamer Park in Lacey.
  • Metro Parks Tacoma Cooking Classes
    July 8, 6-7:30 p.m. Fresh and Healthy Summer Desserts. Enjoy delicious desserts with ripe summer berries sure to please any crowd.  And the best part, they taste good and fit into your healthy diet! SP $22; R $25; N/R $27. Call 253-404-3939 to register.
    July 15, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Summer Grilling. Take advantage of the great weather and learn different techniques and ways to grill veggies, seafood, and meats on the barbeque.  Even better, you’ll be able to sample the different dishes and take home the leftovers.
    SP $20; R $24: N/R $26. Call 253-404-3939 to register.
    July 31, 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Fresh Berry Canning. Learn through hands-on work how to prepare strawberries and raspberries and take home your own jam!
    SP $26; R $32; N/R $36. Call 253-404-3939 to register.
  • Morso Wine Bar Wine Dinner
    July 11, 6:30 p.m. Seven course dinner paired with Loire Valley wines. $69/person, excluding tax and gratuity. Call 253-530-3463 to reserve.
  • Art on the Ave Grub Crawl
    July 14, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Participating 6th Avenue restaurants will have appetizer-sized dishes for $6 during the Art on the Ave event. In 2012, Asado offered house-made chorizo sausage and marinated beef skewers with Argentine flair, O’Malley’s had sliders, Dirty Oscar’s had a Turkey drumstick big enough for a caveman, and Six Olives had chicken Caesar lettuce wraps. At 2:30 p.m., come to the Community Stage for a competition of the dishes, and a winner will be crowned. Free event.
  • Primo Grill Cooking Class
    July 20, 2 p.m.-4 p.m. The Bounty of Local Farm. The $65 fee includes recipes and instruction, lunch with a glass of wine, tax and gratuity. Call Jacqueline at 383.7000 to purchase tickets.
  • Pacific Northwest Mushroom Festival
    July 27 and 28, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. held at the Regional Athletic Complex at Steilacoom & Marvin Road in Lacey. Festival admission is $5. Kids 12 and under are free. Cooking demos (schedule), Ostrom Farm Tour, Food and Wine Event, kids activities, food and more.
  • The Moveable Feast
    July 28, noon-5 p.m. at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma. Second annual food truck festival. VIP tickets available, which grants you access to the event early for $10. Last year’s event was really great, and very popular. This is one not to miss.
  • Olympia Meat Collective Classes 
    July 13, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Basic pig butchery class. This class will teach students how to split sides of pork into primals, and how to cut those primals into familiar cuts like ribs, pork chops, tenderloins, ham roasts, picnic roasts, and coppas. More information on their website. $235 per person. Reserve online.
    July 27, 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Sausage making class. Come learn the art of preparing French, German, Spanish, and Italian-style links, among many other varieties, with Camas Davis, founder of the Portland Meat Collective. Students will learn how to select the right meat and trimmings from the appropriate muscle groups, and how to grind, flavor and stuff their sausage of choice. At the end of this hands-on class, students will go home with more than enough links for their frying pans and freezers, plus recipes for further adventure. $145 per person. Reserve online.
  • Bayview School of Cooking Classes
    For each class, call 360-754-1448 to reserve.
    July 8, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Nineveh Assyrian Food Truck. Learn to make baba ganoush, fattoush, tabbouleh, dolma and more. $45/person.
    July 15, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. The Art House Cafe. Pastry Chef Marie teaches how to make brioche bites, molasses spice cake and more. $55/person.
    July 16, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. The Beautiful Pig. Versatility of cured meats. $45/person.
    July 22, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. The Perfect Grilled Steak. Learn to make the Classic “El Gaucho” flank steak directly on the coals and more. $45/person.
    July 25, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Home Canning. Lean to can dilly beans and jams and jellies. $45/person.
    July 26, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Benson Vineyards Dinner. Six course dinner paired with wines.$65/person.
    July 29, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Summer European Salads. German potato salad, Dutch cheese salad and more. $45/person.
  • Bella Kitchen Cooking Classes
    July 26, 6 p.m. Hard Cheese Making. Learn to make cheddar and gouda. $75/person. Reserve online.
    July 30, 6 p.m. Summer Sushi. Learn to make seven sushi items with Chef Toby Kim. $75/person. Reserve online.

Anniversary Dinner at Asado

Our second anniversary was this past Tuesday, and it called for a special dinner out. We were originally thinking of heading to Seattle, but decided to stay in Tacoma since it was a work night. You don’t need to go to Seattle for great food, right?! Duh, that’s why you’re reading this right now!

We decided on Asado Cucina Argentina since we never end up making it there. Why? I’m not exactly sure. It’s a little pricey for an every day dinner, and for some reason I never think of it for a special occasion. I’m glad I remembered it this time because we had an excellent meal.

First off, Asado happens to have half off bottles of wine on Tuesdays. Score. Didn’t plan that, but it worked out nicely. You can try a bottle you might not normally order because of its price, or you can just get a killer deal. Either way it’s a win.

I like the look and feel of the restaurant. When you walk in, you can smell the mesquite wood they use in their grill. The whole front of the restaurant opens up garage door-style to an outdoor bar, and it’s an awesome place to sit on a sunny day. The only thing I don’t love about Asado is that it gets a little loud in there, so having a conversation can be tough. You end up yelling, so that’s not great.

Go to Asado for what they do best: their grilled seafood and meats. It’s unlike any other restaurant in Tacoma in its flavor profiles. Big, bold flavors of chimichurri, salsas, herbs and spices are integrated seamlessly into steak and seafood dishes that are cooked to perfection.

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MSM Deli (Magical Sandwich Makers)

Looking for a great deal and a satisfying lunch in Tacoma?

Look no further than MSM Deli (or Magical Sandwich Makers — yes, that’s really what it stands for).

Don’t be afraid of the sketchy mini mart exterior.  Sure, you can get your cigarettes and beer there.  But that’s just the beginning.

Craving a good sandwich for lunch, I dragged my brother along with me to explore.  “There’s cops eating here.  You know it’s good,” was his observation.

Before going in, i asked one of those cops, “So is this place good?”  “Best sandwich in Tacoma” was his reply.  We’ll just see. Continue reading →