The Daring Gourmet Dines Out: BITE (Tacoma, WA)

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Situated on the 4th floor of Hotel Murano in downtown Tacoma, BITE is a sleek and trendy restaurant offering full views of the city skyline and water.  We recently dined there and sampled several of their dishes.  Come join us on a virtual tour!

Above two images courtesy BITE.  All others copyright The Daring Gourmet

Free valet parking is one of the perks you’ll enjoy here.  Another perk is the eye-catching tour of the main lobby before you get to the restaurant. Towering ceilings dangling colorful glass sculptures and an enormous Chihuly chandelier are a couple of the displays you’ll admire.

If you’re there at the right time you’ll even catch some live music. Being a sax player myself, and Todd a skilled guitarist, we enjoyed the interpretative jazz wafting up the grand staircase into the restaurant from the lounge below. We arrived late afternoon before the dinner traffic arrived and were able to take a leisurely look around.  While very modern in its design, the soft lighting in BITE creates an atmosphere that is also cozy and intimate.

BITE’s menu is fun to navigate.  The themes and icons are catchy and I found myself wanting to sample everything.  Gourmet food sourced from the best local ingredients then masterfully and creatively transformed into works of culinary art by Chef Matt Stickle.

But we had neither the time nor tummy room for the entire menu, so we narrowed down our final selection while enjoying some fresh crusty rolls with butter.

I haven’t seen poutine on a menu outside of Canada very often –  the quintessential Canadian dish of French fries and gravy sprinkled with cheese.  Here at BITE we enjoyed this poutine deliciously drenched with Mushroom Zinfandel Gravy, Crimini, and Cheese Curds.  It’s a winner.  Todd ordered the Seared Scallops with Rhubarb-Orange Dizzle.  Perfectly prepared and the sauce was delicious.

After Todd was done with the scallops his hands kept wandering over to my poutine.  As a marriage counselor it behooves me to set a good example in public for anyone who might be watching and so I resisted the urge to slap his hand away and graciously shared.  “Shared” = Todd ended up eating most of it.  His excuse: “That’s my kind of food.”  Can’t blame him I guess.

But next time he owes me a bowl of poutine.

It was beginning to get dark outside and the lights from the skyline and out on the harbor created a cozy atmosphere.  We perused the menu and made our entree selections.

Todd is a huge fan of salmon and is originally from Alaska so ordering the premium Copper River salmon was a no-brainer.  His selection:  Wild Copper River Salmon with Huckleberry Gastrique, Pan-Roasted Fingerlings and Grilled Asparagus.  Not a smudge of the huckleberry gastrique was left on the plate (I assisted). Having “shared” my poutine with my poutine-thieving husband I still had quite an appetite, so I went for the beef.  Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola Cheese, Fig Port Sauce, Yukon Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Asparagus.  It was a wonderful combination of flavors.

Time for dessert.

Now you tell me:  Regardless of whatever other tempting desserts may be on the menu, what would you do if one of them was called “Mile High Cake” and was described as “10 layers of deep chocolate cake and fudge buttercream with vanilla ice cream”?  Exactly.  You would order it!  And that’s exactly what I did.  And I was a mile high happy.

But I have to tell you, the showstopper – the hands-down winner of tonight’s lineup – was Todd’s selection:  Caramelized Pineapple Crème Brûlée.  We would gladly go back for that alone.  The pineapple flavor was so fresh and vibrant, like 20 pineapples condensed down to 1/2 cup of creamy custard.  My spoon kept making its way over to his dessert.  But being that aforementioned marriage counselor, and being doggone behooved to set a good example in public, I retracted my spoon after a couple of small samples and allowed my loving husband to enjoy the rest himself.

I should have chosen a different profession.

If you’re looking for a modern yet cozy place to eat with great views and even better food, come take a BITE.

See also my article on our overnight stay at Hotel Murano and breakfast at BITE.

 

*Disclosure:  We enjoyed a complimentary meal without any obligation to write a positive review.  As always, all opinions are entirely my own.