Authorized newspaper of Fort Lewis, Washington
Two culinary crazes have arrived in the South Sound: cupcakes and conveyor-belt sushi. Here are First Bites of both.
Blue Island Sushi & Roll 35002 Pacific Highway S., No. 101, Federal Way; 253-838-5500
Blue Island opened a month ago in Federal Way Crossings, the new shopping center that’s become the biggest casual-dining destination between Tacoma and Seattle. Blue Island joins Jimmy Mac’s Roadhouse, The Rock Wood Fired Pizza, Fat Burger, Puerto Vallarta and other eateries on the site of the former Flying A truck stop.
Blue Island’s conveyor, or kaiten, concept is simple: Grab a seat and grab your plates off the moving belt before you. Long counters and a handful of booths line the perimeter of the restaurant’s central sushi nervous system, where half a dozen sushi assemblers make rolls and place fish on rice.
The menu is a matter of what-you-see-is-what-you-get on the conveyor belt, although sushi, salads and udon soups can be made to order. Dishes are color-coded on a pricing scale from $1.50 to $3 per two-piece portion. Nigiri-style fish on rice holds the bottom end; rolls are priced in the middle, and fish roe top the scale. Dinner for two – mostly a mix of $1.50 and $2 plates – was $37.
Salads (soy beans, shrimp sunomono, and a zesty mix of greens and tenderly battered shrimp) motored by, but not as often as the rolls, which in my first visit last week were dominated by variations on the spicy tuna theme, with soft-shell crab legs occasionally peeking out.
I let most of the rice-covered rolls (along with cheesecake and whipped cream éclairs) pass by in favor of tobiko, tuna, squid and shrimp sushi. There were two dishes I couldn’t let pass: tempura-battered jalapeños stuffed with mild sausage and cream cheese, and briny Pacific oysters dabbed with hot sauce and scallions.
Blue Island, which bears a strong resemblance to the Seattle conveyor-belt sushi restaurants Blue C, was packed to its brightly colored 120-seat capacity during dinner last Friday. The manager apologized to customers waiting for seats, saying, “We’re getting things worked out.” Except for the sameness on the conveyor belt – Hey, look, here comes another spicy tuna roll! – I didn’t fault the restaurant: The staff kept the conveyor belt full. Customers kept filling up on sushi, and that’s what created the wait.
Hours: 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 5-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 5-10 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturdays; noon-9 p.m. Sundays. Full bar.
Hello, Cupcake 1740 Pacific Ave., Tacoma; 253-383-7772
Lovers of small cakes and buttercream frosting might not notice, but copy editors-turned-bakers-turned-restaurant critics – hey, folks, that’s me! – notice and appreciate.
“I think proper grammar is important,” Reina Miller said, explaining the proper punctuation of her cupcake bakeshop, Hello, Cupcake, which opened Aug. 30.
These cupcakes have more than just a well-placed comma, people – they have well-baked character. Miller, a 20-year-old middle child who learned to bake by being her family’s designated birthday cake baker, said she did a lot of testing to achieve a crusty top on her cupcakes. Cupcake purists might not like the modestly muffiny tops – preferring cupcakes that rise in soft, dainty domes – but I liked them a lot. The tops of Miller’s cupcakes have a crusty crackle that give way to soft, cakey centers. Smooth frosting – piped, not spread atop the cupcakes – completes the contrasts.
Miller’s flavors are vanilla, chocolate, lemon, orange, mocha, coconut, carrot and red velvet. Those last two were my favorites, and not just because they were frosted with cream cheese: Carrot was light, not dense, and the red velvet was both intensely red and intensely velvety. Cupakes are $1.95 each or $22 per dozen.
The 1,500-square-foot shop is downright darling, particularly the tile mosaic of a cupcake on the floor. The décor is simple and comfortably muted, letting the cupcake counter star.
Sitting for a cupcake and a cup of coffee has another reward: a sweet view of Union Station.
Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays.
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