Unfancy but good food south of Seattle

The Keg, Burien. I was sort of hungry for beef, as in
Europe the Mad Cow thing has made restaurants take
beef off the menu or at least make it harder to find.
So I corraled a bunch of my friends and we headed here
for a steak. It's a nice family restaurant that seems
to have grown out of a tavern. Steaks were tasty: my
baseball sirloin (a cut I'd never heard of before but
which seems to be a round piece hewn out of the rear
end of the sirloin) was nicely rare and juicy, fairly
beefy, with a good crust. Others (the guys) liked their
steaks or (the gals) halibut in cheese sauce or chicken
penne or (the kids) ribs, which I tasted and found too
sweet. Notes: the sirloin strip is too small; the
regular sirloin appears to be just like the baseball
sirloin only not quite as big.

Red Robin, Southcenter Blvd., near SEA. One of my
buddies had been a regular customer and pal of the
owner of the first Red Robin, down near League Bush, I
mean You Dub; in homage to the memory of those good old
days, we went to a Red Robin for some burgers. Pretty
good, at least the meat was real. Unlimited fries come
with. Everyone had burgers (an assortment of cheese
ones, BBQ ones, and bacon ones) except for Hap Hap Quite
Contrary, who had a Cobb salad, which he pronounced good.

East-West Cafe, Tacoma. Near the Tacoma Mall, this
little converted house has some of the best food in
Tacoma. We went shortly before noon, and the place
was already packed. We had a 15-minute wait for a table
for three; while waiting, we ordered our meals (good for
us, good for the restaurant). Fresh spring rolls were
a nice example of the genre: rice vermicelli rolled
inside soft rice wraps, flavored with roast pork,
shrimp, and mint: a hoisin-peanut dipping sauce was
served on the side. Hap had the pho, a big bowl of broth
with ample servings of beef, noodles, and vegetables,
flavored with basil. He doctored this delicate dish
shamelessly with large doses of nuoc mam, hoisin, and
sriracha. Speaking of which, do you know why you should
brush your teeth with fish sauce? "Nuoc mam, no cavities."
That's a joke. George had a nice serving of bulgogi with
a side of spiced cabbage (he pronounced it good). I had
the Malaysian noodles extra hot: stir-fried rice noodles
with soy and scallions and hot oil and Chinese sausage,
topped with beef. I needed to ladle on a bit of hot sauce,
but otherwise I was well satisfied.