Bastille Cafe & Bar
5307 Ballard Avenue Northwest

For the past several years, I've joined my neighbors for dinner here on Christmas Eve.  It's always a wonderful evening.  When they started serving brunch on Sundays, it went on my list.  The down side is that it is smack in the middle of the Ballard Farmer's Market which is year round so getting to the place is a bitch.

But, today, I proved to me that the enormous hassle is well worth the effort.

Food:  The menu has several items that looked like Must Tries and then the nice waiter came by to share 3 specials.  It would have been a torturous decision except the menu had my achilles brunch heel - Croque Madame.

And it was perfect.  Just perfect.  There used to be a place in West Seattle that had the best but they retired it off the menu.  But even the memory of it isn't as good as this was this morning.  The perfect ham, the perfect cheese - the egg was done... perfectly.  OMG

The waiter did tell me that it was perennial on the menu so I could feel free to experiment next time knowing that I could come home to the Croque.  (He also told me of another place near by - Anita's who also served Croque Madame.  But, I have no need to top perfection.)

Service:  Impeccable and exceptional.  In every way.

Everything else:  This restaurant has the secret sauce.  It was really loud but the noise became background music in no time.  There was a table with two unruly kids next to me and they didn't bother me a bit.  I read my book and enjoyed my meal.  Oh, I had forgotten to load up the Kindle app on my tablet with my current book but I looked and they had free WiFi!!

Seriously, this is absolutely my new favorite brunch place ever.  I may have to come back here a few dozen times before I even try anyplace else again.

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Bill's off Broadway
725 East Pine Street

I have always wondered about this place and thought it might be more than a college dive bar that served food as an afterthought.

It's not really.

The bloody mary did look great, though.

Food:  I walked by the kitchen passthrough window and saw the breakfast pizza which looked so delicious that I really did not consider anything else on the menu.

The guy at the next table had some pretty sexy looking french toast, however.

Anyway, the breakfast pizza turned out to be all looks and no taste.  I was brunching with a friend who had the eggs benedict and she reported some missing taste in her meal as well.

Service:  On a scale of 1-10, I'd have to give our service a 2.  We got our coffee and our food eventually.  And my coffee mug, once I got it, stayed topped off.  But, really, service is not their core business, I don't think.

Everything else:  If you are in the 'hood and dying for a bloody marry, go for it.  But keep on truckin' if you are looking for a good meal, clean tables, service of most any kind.

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Angelina's
2311 California Avenue SW

This is  a perfect example of a place where the food may not be the best but the rest is so good that it is absolutely on my repeat list.

I had never heard of it and found it this morning when I googled "brunch West Seattle".  I love the internet.

Food:  The menu had a lot to pick from but I got 4 items down and was lured into "Rod's Scramble".

When I go back there are lots of other things I want to try.

The scramble was ok.  The potatoes were ok.  The toast need more toasting.

And while the butter came wrapped in foil (my pet peeve) at least it was in a separate dish and not plopped on top of my food.

None of the food was bad but it was desperately in need of flavor.



Service:  The service was perfection.  Really.  My coffee mug stayed full of hot coffee.  Had I wanted anything, all I had to do was lift my head and someone would have been there.  When I was done, I put my credit card on the table and the guy appeared out of nowhere.  When he brought the slip back for me to sign, he addressed me by name.  I felt like I was a regular, treasured customer the whole time I was there.

Everything else:  I was seated at a nice, quiet, cool booth that had a small chalk board on the wall.  There was chalk and an eraser right there at the ready.  This tickled me.

The whole place had a calm, lovey feeling.  I read my book and ate in peace and comfort.  When I left, I had a real feeling of having had a lovely experience.  I'm quite looking forward to my return trip.

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Coastal Kitchen
429 15th Avenue East

I am not at all sure why I never ate here before. The place has been on the peripheral of my radar for years but I never actually made it through the doors until today.

Two people mentioned having eaten there in the past couple of days and I figured it must be time to try it.  Plus it opens early on Sundays which is a big plus in my book.

So, this morning, off I went.

I found a free parking space fairly easily and got a table within minutes of walking through the door.  And that was just the beginning of good things to come.

Food:  The menu was a laundry list of things that all looked heavenly.  I finally narrowed it down to the Pan De Pain Perdu and the Dungeness Crab Cake Breakfast.  I asked the waitress to decide and she went with the crab cakes.

Good choice for sure.  They were just delicious.  The eggs were poached perfectly (the waitress asked me my doneness preference and delivered - thumbs up).  The Mornay sauce was delicate and good as were the crab cakes.  The potatoes looked like perfection but fell just a hair short of that.  The toast, from a local bakery, was excellent.  The fruit was a little tired but, I was full anyway.  It was just a delightful meal.

Service:  I couldn't have asked for more.  My water glass and coffee cup stayed topped off.  As soon as I finished eating, my dishes were whisked away and my check came promptly.  It was all very efficient and lovely.

Everything Else:  Everything else was just great.  It was a lovely and pleasant place to eat.  There were children but I only noticed them because I looked - no screaming or screeching.  There was interested conversation to eavesdrop on but the acoustics were such that I easily toned them out to concentrate on the book I was reading.

I will absolutely go back and soon.  Within easy walking distance are two drug stores, two grocery stores and my bank.  I can eat well and get my errands done, too.

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Manhattan
1419 12th Avenue

I set out to discover a restaurant two door down until I got there to find it is a vegan restaurant. I do not do vegan - especially not for breakfast.

So I wandered down the street and found a place I'd never heard of.  And except for one tiny, yet totally fatal flaw, it was a great find.

Food:  The menu had some interesting aspects but nothing scream stop the presses so I did my usual. 2 eggs over easy.. if great, come back and discover the rest of the menu.

The bacon was good.  The hashbrowns were ok.  I wish I had had toast.  I don't expect much when I do this order and this time my expectations were met.

Service:  I was the only diner in this place for the entire time I was there.  The sign says seat yourself, which I did.  After a fair amount of time seeing absolutely no one, I stood up and tried to get someone in the back to notice me.  Finally they did, with no apologies.  Must happen often.  But, the mediocre service wasn't the fatal flaw.

Everything else:  This is one of the prettiest restaurants I'd been in ever. The tables were white marble which was beautiful and soothing.  Even the food on the plate was arranged pleasingly.  The decor was rich and fun to look at and the place had a wonderful feel.

And the killer was the music.  Headbanging, heavy metal music with more bass notes than anything should ever have.  It was excruciating.  Had anyone come by to ask how I was doing I would have asked them, since I was their only customer, to at least maybe turned down the volume to one where the silverware did not rattle on the marble table tops.  But, no one asked so I paid and got my ass out of there.

If not for that horrible music, I might well have thought better about everything and would surely have tried it again.  But, now it's on my cold-day-in-hell list.

 

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Jack in the Box
Nearly everywhere

I was about 30 minutes from home this morning in an unfamiliar area.  Google says there were no breakfast places nearby but I spied this Jack in the Box.  I knew from endless TV commercials that they had breakfast so they got tapped.

Food:  As expected most of their breakfast choices were on-the-go selections.

But the deluxe looked like a real breakfast so that's what I got.  The options were bacon or sausage or both.  I got bacon.

I have certainly had worse - this was actually pretty tasty.  The bacon was quite crispy  The potatoes were particularly good.

The pancakes were a bit rubbery but a lovely size - perfect for dipping into the syrup.

Service:  I ordered at the counter and got a number.  I went to a table to wait for my number to be called and bingo - here comes the nice counter lady with my order!  Quite a delight.

Everything else:  You know, the place was clean, the music was nice, there were no screaming babies or out of control children.  It was just a nice place to get breakfast and it was CHEAP.