Best non-chain restaurants in tri-cities? (Seattle, Kennewick: purchases, design, farm)

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

Right now Masala is in a similar type of location, and, same way, they seem to be doing well even though the location is not really helping them.

Masala is very good. I live in the heart of Portland's Indian population, Beaverton (think Nike/Intel/Tektronix/etc.) and on my neighborhood walks I can see little kids playing with wiffle cricket bats. If Masala were here, it wouldn't knock out the best two, but it would still be in business and one of the more mediocre ones would probably not be. I'm really happy for the TC that Masala has hung around, because diverse dining options (meaning, something besides pizza, Sterling's, and Mexican) make the whole place better.

[M3 Mitch]

Over in Bentucky (Benton City) it appears that the Wild Boar Grill has gone out of business, the building and equipment are for sale. Less clearly, the Tumbleweed Cafe also seems to have closed, the "closed" sign on the door does not move, and the table of hours when they were open has disappeared.

I would guess Bentucky is a tough market, and that Hacienda Del Sol is damn stiff competition go go up against. There is a carniceria (Mexican butcher shop) across from Wild Boar, they have some tacos and other "faster" Mexican food. Have not had a chance to stop and sample any of this.

Out in Prosser, Maggie's Place remains closed and for sale. Across the street, Jeoromy's 1896 Public House is in business and was quite good last time DW and I ate there. Whitstran Brewing is doing well and has great pub type grub, and a variety of microbrews.

In Richland, Shogun remains very good teriyaki and sushi, and it's close to work.

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

Over in Bentucky (Benton City) it appears that the Wild Boar Grill has gone out of business, the building and equipment are for sale. Less clearly, the Tumbleweed Cafe also seems to have closed, the "closed" sign on the door does not move, and the table of hours when they were open has disappeared.

I would guess Bentucky is a tough market, and that Hacienda Del Sol is damn stiff competition go go up against. There is a carniceria (Mexican butcher shop) across from Wild Boar, they have some tacos and other "faster" Mexican food. Have not had a chance to stop and sample any of this.

Out in Prosser, Maggie's Place remains closed and for sale. Across the street, Jeoromy's 1896 Public House is in business and was quite good last time DW and I ate there. Whitstran Brewing is doing well and has great pub type grub, and a variety of microbrews.

In Richland, Shogun remains very good teriyaki and sushi, and it's close to work.

Pardon me quoting myself, but this morning Tumbleweed Cafe was open. So maybe the owners just took a week off, or some such.

One day I should take off early and sample the chow.

[M3 Mitch]

A new food truck (trailer, actually) has shown up at PNNL on Thursdays, "Fast and Currious" - Indian food. They have a choice of about 5 kinds of curry dish, comes with rice and naan - I think they are quite good. I looked for a website and didn't find one, but they are no doubt around Tri all during the working week anyway.

[M3 Mitch]

Out in Prosser, the "For Sale" signs are down at Maggie's Place, but, no other signs of any sort of action. They have been closed for at least a couple of years.

At PNNL on Tuesdays, along with Fresh Out the Box, Dovetail Joint, is a new food truck, "Eat Hot Tamales" - surprisingly, they serve mostly tamales. All 3 are here on Tuesdays, Dovetail Joint is here on Wednesdays, and then Fast and Currious is here on Thursdays.

[M3 Mitch]

Well, today finally got around to trying Hacienda Del Sol, and I agree with JKK that they are among the best Mexican restaurants in the Tri-City area. The top 10 or so are so good, that IMHO your choice among them is strictly determined by your own subjective taste, or you can go Vulcan on us and just go to the one closest to you when the urge strikes. Each one has it's own approach to seasonings, and if I really knew anything about the cuisine of Mexico, perhaps I could associate each of them with a particular region or state - but I am not that knowledgeable.

My wife, who is quite the chef and generally a tough critic of restaurant food, gives them a thumbs-up. Any place that cooks mostly from the Sysco truck will not get her approval, FWIW.

Down the road a bit, Wild Boar Grill is still for sale/lease, as is the little house that most recently was "TNT Burger Shack".

For Sale signs are still down at Maggie's Place (Prosser) , but no particular signs of life there.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

Well, today finally got around to trying Hacienda Del Sol, and I agree with JKK that they are among the best Mexican restaurants in the Tri-City area. The top 10 or so are so good, that IMHO your choice among them is strictly determined by your own subjective taste, or you can go Vulcan on us and just go to the one closest to you when the urge strikes. Each one has it's own approach to seasonings, and if I really knew anything about the cuisine of Mexico, perhaps I could associate each of them with a particular region or state - but I am not that knowledgeable.

And even if you did know the regional cuisines better, I'm not sure how much that would change. I've come to the conclusion that nearly all ethnic cuisines are at least somewhat Americanized to fit our expectations. I think it happens in any country with foreign cuisines. What I'm saying is that even if you were very familiar with the various regions, therefore, the American cultural overlay (that is partly why it is so popular in the US) might swamp nearly any regional distinction. So I wouldn't feel like I was missing out on such distinctions--at least that's my take.

That said, delighted that you liked HdS. I would agree that others approach it. Back in the Clearwater days, Cinco de Mayo certainly did--but then again, Sergio was one of the owners there, and is now operating HdS, so this is me not being surprise. Some people used to swear by Casa Chapala (or El Chapala now on Columbia Drive), but it never for me approached the top tier. Even Casa Chapala was better than anything in Boise, by comparison, even the pretty good place one had to drive way down to Kuna to try.

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

And even if you did know the regional cuisines better, I'm not sure how much that would change. I've come to the conclusion that nearly all ethnic cuisines are at least somewhat Americanized to fit our expectations. I think it happens in any country with foreign cuisines. What I'm saying is that even if you were very familiar with the various regions, therefore, the American cultural overlay (that is partly why it is so popular in the US) might swamp nearly any regional distinction. So I wouldn't feel like I was missing out on such distinctions--at least that's my take.

That said, delighted that you liked HdS. I would agree that others approach it. Back in the Clearwater days, Cinco de Mayo certainly did--but then again, Sergio was one of the owners there, and is now operating HdS, so this is me not being surprise. Some people used to swear by Casa Chapala (or El Chapala now on Columbia Drive), but it never for me approached the top tier. Even Casa Chapala was better than anything in Boise, by comparison, even the pretty good place one had to drive way down to Kuna to try.

True, and besides any intentional "Americanizing" that might be done, in any case they are mostly working with American sourced ingredients, so you have that too. Point I was trying to make is that the top half-dozen or so are different from each other, but I would say it's strictly personal preference as to how you rank them, one is not objectively "better" than the other, at least to me.

As we both have said before, Tri really has some excellent Mexican restaurants, far better than many much bigger towns back in the East or as you have noted over on the coast.

Funny how that works - excellent Mexican, good to great Thai, but for some reason the Chinese chow is not much better than good. Anyone used to eating in a real "Chinatown" restaurant somewhere else, is going to be at least somewhat let down here. Although Shogun, which is more Japanese/Asian Fusion than Chinese, is quite good, next time you get back up here ought to give them a try.

[Tigger81]

My favorite non-chain place in the Tri-Cities is Eatz Pizzeria and Deli on Lee Blvd in Richland.

[pnwguy2]

I have heard good things about Fat Olives on Williams near Uptown Shopping Center. The menu looks terrific.

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/26c1d...885f39460c.pdf