The Senior Scene

Do something different in the winter. Drive up toward Mount Rainier on Mountain Highway until you come to the brightly colored cabooses, old-fashioned dining cars and steam engines on rails alongside the highway at the Mount Rainier Railroad Dining Company. The cabooses are motel rooms, the dining car is the restaurant, another car is a bar. A small-gauge railroad gives two to three-hour rides on weekends during the holiday season, and daily June to October. Plenty of parking is available on the road.
Sitting in the dining car with tables and chairs, a little bit of elbow room and nice service made us feel as if we were on a cross-country trip. The menu has meats, seafood dishes, pasta, chicken and breakfast items such as waffles and pancakes. Meals range from $10 burgers to $25 for surf and turf.
Barbecue was a featured item, so we ordered the Smoked BBQ Chicken (½) for $18.99, and Smoked BBQ Beef Ribs (5) for $19.99. The side dishes were corn on the cob, barbecue beans, steamed vegetables, and a fresh biscuit. On the rib order, we substituted potato salad for the vegetables.
We found the fragrant smoking gave the tender meats a great base for the really excellent barbecue sauce which was sweet and tangy, with whole garlic cloves in the thick coating. Side dishes were ordinary, except for the potato salad, which was delicious. It was tart, and had hand-cut potatoes, celery, onions and mild seasonings.
We stuck to water to drink, and it was welcome with the tangy meals. Food was excellent, as well as the service, and the train theme is lots of fun.

IF YOU GO

Mount Rainier Railroad Dining Company
54106 Mountain Highway East, Elbe
360-569-2505
Winter hours: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekends, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays. Open year-round.

Carolyn Augustine is a freelance food and restaurant writer.

Grassi’s took over the building previously operated by Affairs Chocolates in April of 2014, and operate a floral store as well as Grassi’s Ristorante. The decor is upscale country, with a full menu of classical Italian delights, ranging in price from Italian Wedding Soup at $5 for a cup at lunch to Italian short ribs at $26 for dinner. But looking for sweets, we found their large dessert case to be just the thing we wanted.
We decided to indulge ourselves, and our server, Rebecca, was startled at our order of Lemon Cheesecake Pie at $4.95, Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie at $5.95, a cannoli at $6.50, a small berry cobbler at $6.50, and two chocolate truffles at $7.95. We had coffee at $2, and also sampled their rosemary ciabatta bread at $3 because it sounded so good. And it was, soft and warm and fragrant.
Everything tasted delicious. The peanut butter pie was a candy bar in a chocolate cookie crust, and anyone with a taste for extravagance would love it. The peanut butter was not overpowering, and the chocolate chips throughout were dark and delicious. The warmed berry cobbler was wonderful. The buttery crumb topping melted in your mouth, and the mixed berry filling was not too sweet and not too tangy. Just right.
The pastry shell of the cannoli was so hard you had to bash it with a spoon to take a bite, although the mascarpone filling was perfect, not too sweet but tangy and smooth, with a nice glaze containing sliced fresh strawberries. The whipped cream on the lemon cheesecake pie had broken and ruined the appearance, but the filling was a wonderful blend of sweet and tangy, and the crust was tender as a snowflake. Truffles the size of golf balls were dense, and the blend of dark chocolate and coffee and milk chocolate and raspberry were perfect. Sweet treats to delight anyone with a craving.
There is a lot of seating, and a person with a wheelchair might find it tight going, but the wait staff is helpful and accommodations would be made.
IF YOU GO
Grassi’s Ristorante
2811 Bridgeport Way W., University Place. Grassi’s is south of the corner of 29th and Bridgeport. Right turn only from the parking lot.
253-565-0633
Hours: Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Carolyn Augustine, who writes the Senior Eats column,

is a freelance food and restaurant writer.

A taste of Nepal on Mount Rainier? Knitted Nepal hats for sale in a restaurant? Yak? What could be more appropriate than to have food of the Himalayas here in the Cascades. All great mountains and great food.
For the past five years, a Nepalese family has run The Wildberry Restaurant one mile south of the entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. They bring traditional Nepalese foods, gifts and souvenirs and excellent American selections to the big, bright dining room.
The menu is extensive and includes Red Potato Chowder, Flat Iron Steak, Sherpa Stew, and Yak. A selection of berry pies rounds out the menu.
We ordered the Yak Burger and fries, $13.99, which came with onions, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayo; the Pappadum, which is very thin lentil flour chips, at $4.99; a cup of Sherpa Stew ($4.99); a cup of spiced yellow lentil Dal soup ($4.99); Sherpa tea, warm and spiced ($2.50); and huckleberry pie at $6.99. We loved everything.
The stew was beefy and rich and had potatoes, celery, radishes, small dumplings and tender beef.
The Dal soup was bright yellow, had ground lentils and was gently spiced. Delicious.
The four Pappadum chips were the size of folded dinner plates, slightly salty and dotted with cumin seed. Almost too tender to touch, they came with a dip of sweet and delicate tamarind sauce.
The yak burger was big and thick and served on a hot but not toasted bun. I researched yak meat, and it is leaner, has less cholesterol, and is easier to digest than beef. It was very good.
I have a friend who is fascinated with huckleberries, so I ordered the pie, and it was excellent. It had tender, flaky crust, was crammed with berries and was warmed and fragrant.
It is well worth the ride to try this food. We had a great time. Plenty of parking, roomy bathroom.
IF YOU GO
The WildBerry Restaurant
37718 State Route 706 E. in Ashford.
360-569-2277
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day

Carolyn Augustine is a freelance restaurant writer.

Really good Pho (Vietnamese soup) delicious teriyaki, and egg rolls that have a wonderful unusual wrapper are all available at Chop Stix, a small but wonderful restaurant in Eatonville.
Family-run and open at the same spot for about five years, the dining room is in a small house with six tables which are available for dining in, and there is also a complete carry-out menu. We went on a Saturday, and there was constant foot traffic and a full dining room. The service was good, and we got our order in about 15 minutes, which was fast.
We ordered the Well Done Beef Rice Noodle soup, at $7.50, Beef Teriyaki at $9.50, two egg rolls at $4, and 10 pot stickers at $6.95. We also ordered barbecued pork with fried rice at $8.50. Soft drinks are available, but we just ordered water.
The soup was terrific, with vegetables and meat all thinly sliced at the bottom of a large bowl. The very hot and gently seasoned broth is then poured over all the ingredients, and everything gets cooked together. There was easily enough for four people sharing. Delicious.
For those who like their food with a kick, extra sauces are available with various levels of heat. The teriyaki was also very good, with tender beef covered in a very sweet and tangy sauce, which we had with steamed rice. Lots of pieces of beef made enough for two.
There was also a small but very good side salad, served with a sweet and tangy dressing that complimented the teriyaki perfectly. The barbecued pork was very tender, and we just ate it with our fingers like an appetizer. The pork pot stickers were ordinary, but the egg rolls had wrappers that resembled French pastry rather than the usual wrappers. Very interesting and good with the gently seasoned fillings. Asian seasonings can be heavy on the ginger or garlic, but all the food we had at Chop Stix was lightly seasoned and delicious.

IF YOU GOChop Stix
311 Center St. E. in Eatonville
360 320-6261
Hours: Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; closed Sunday

Carolyn Augustine, who writes the Senior Eats column for Senior Scene, is a freelance food and restaurant writer.