5 Spot - 03/08/2008

5 Spot
1502 Queen Anne Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109
- Queen Anne -

Another Chow Foods restaurant, another French toast. I'm going to keep this short and sweet.

You know how the center of a cinnamon roll tastes? That soft gooey carmarelized center? The best part of the cinnamon roll? That is what every single bite of 5 Spot's Frenchie tasted like.

Extra thick cinnamon swirled bread lightly griddled and smothered with caramel sauce and soft butter.

The best Chow Foods French toast yet.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Js

PS. I've been ordering egg dishes too. I've really been enjoying all the Chow Food eggs! So many yummy combos!

No French Toast This Week But A French Toast Nightmare! - Week of 02/25/08

I decided to not have French toast on Saturday since I was getting my hair done. Besides, there was Sunday. But Sunday was my opportunity to sleep in....Sleep or French toast? I got a little of both.

I had a dream that I threw a tantrum in a restaurant because I didn't get my French toast. In my dream I arrived too late to the restaurant and they had just stopped serving breakfast. I took whatever was in my hand and threw it at the table and demanded my French toast.

That was when I woke up. I looked at the time and it was 1:30pm. Yep, too late for breakfast. I didn't try to even make my nightmare come true.

Sun Break Cafe - 02/24/2008 - First Reader's Pick!

Sun Break Cafe
22 A Street SW
Auburn, WA 98001

CWT's Recommendation!

Well, here it is. My first reader's choice. I have to say, it was definately worth the 80 mph I had to drive to the southside for breakfast. Not suprisingly I woke up late and only had 45 minutes to get ready and make it to Kent. But none the less, I made it.

I met up with my China Star posse and off we headed to Auburn. We got there just early enough so that we didn't have to wait too long. By the time we were seated the line was almost out the door. After tasting some of the food I can see why that line gets so long.

As we were herded to our table, the hostness was already asking us if we wanted coffee. At the table waiting for us was this bowl of assorted flavored coffee creamer. I was able to have a pretend cup of mocha with the chocolate creamer while I scoured the menu for French toast. The first thing I noticed on the menu was the price. Crazy cheap compared to Seattle. Sun Break Cafe has had the cheapest two eggs I've yet to order at $1.10. The second thing I noticed on the menu was the French toast selection. Five different kinds? Oh boy. How was this going to work?

There was the traditional Frenchie. And then there were all the other dressed up Frenchies. Peanut butter, Peanut butter & jelly, strawberry jam & cream cheese and a Monte Carlo sandwich that consisted of ham, turkey, cheese and some ranch dressing. Since I would appear psycho if I ordered a little bit of each one, I settled for something non-traditional and went with the strawberry jam and cream cheese. What appeared before me were two slices of extra thick toast that were the size of my head stuffed with very generous amounts of strawberry jam and cream cheese. Brilliant!

Usually I take my pic before I take my first bite, but when I saw that staggering creation placed before me, my hand went straight to my fork and not my camera. I was a few mouthfuls in before I remembered the picture. Strawberry and cream cheese is not a new food combination for me. That's how I take my bagels sometimes, but I've never tried it before with French toast and it was just as good. There was no need to cover up the flavor with the syrup that was provided. I loved the ooziness with each bite. I've decided that French toast is not breakfast. It's dessert!

I somehow managed to scarf down half of my order and was lucky enough to also get to try a few bites of my posse's order. There was the BLT with avocado omelette that was egg-licious. And I also tasted some chicken fried steak that wasn't your typical probably purchased frozen and deep fried. It tasted so fresh and didn't have that unflattering batter hiding the chicken. I'm definately going to have go back to try some of the other items.

I think I can get use to some more reader's pick. Capital choice CWT!

Rating: 4 out of 5 Js.

Atlas Foods - 02/23/2008

Atlas Foods

2675 NE Village Lane

Seattle, WA 98105

- University Village -

This morning I skipped the sleeping in and rolled out of bed. There are few things in life I actually enjoy getting out of bed for and I've discovered that this new breakfast thing is one of them. In fact, there are a lot of new things I've discovered about myself since the implementation of Breakfast Mission 2008. Or maybe they're just things I've never noticed before....

Here's a little diddy on Judy. I've never been a breakfast person. I probably ate it when I was a young tot because me mum was still ushering me out bed and making me breakfast. But as I grew up and was able to prepare food for myself, I stopped eating breakfast. I would say this started around the age of 12. I have now realized that it was the love of sleeping and not wanting to get out of bed that truncated that first oh so important meal (so they say). I would always just stay in bed until the very last possible moment. So I had a choice. Breakfast or sleep? Sleep!

But now, I'm really enjoying Breakfast Mission days. I look forward to it all week. Could I do it everyday? Maybe.

Now back to the French toast diddy. Since I was at The Hi-Life last week, I decided that I was going to hit all of the Chow Foods restaurants consecutively. Lets see how they compare.

I'm becoming an expert at requesting for half-orders when it's not even offered on the menu. What do you expect when places keep offering more than one kind of French Toast on the menu? This is what Atlas Foods did. Although I have to say, I almost missed the second Frenchie offering.

There was the obvious Challah French Toast. Vanilla-molasses custard batter, griddled golden brown & topped with orange butter and served with fresh fruit. I looked at the menu a little closer and then I noticed Le Texas Toast. Three slices of thick Texas toast dipped, griddled up & topped with honey butter. Served with two eggs and a grilled chorizo link. Dipped and griddled? Sounds like French toast to me!

Because Le Texas Toast was served with eggs and fancy sausage I took that for the whole order. I was able to get a half order of the Challah French Toast. I think my waiter gave me the, "you're crazy" look when I asked for it.

The Challah toast had really good flavor. Really no need for the REAL maple syrup. The vanilla flavor paired up extremely well with the orange hinted butter. Still not griddled up as crispy as I would like, but the bread did have a much better texture than the Columbia bread last week at The Hi-Life. Very soft and fluffy.

Next we have Le Texas Toast. It was Le disappointing. I've had thicker Texas toast and I've had it Frenched up better at my local standby joint. I only ended up taking a couple bites out of it. Luckily my sis ate some. The rest I boxed up for my little cousin. It was just too soppy. I think to some pallettes, they might get the soppiness confused with greasiness. I should have picked the Challah toast for the full order!

Hmmm...I'm starting to have doubts about Chow Foods (for French toast anyways).

Rating: 3 out of 4 Js.

The Hi-Life - 02/17/08

The Hi-Life

5425 Russell Ave NW
Seattle WA 98107
- Ballard -



Just by walking out of the house on this particular morning, I knew that breakfast was going to be good. There's just somthing about nice weather that just elevates my mood. It felt like spring. Sunny and warm(er).

On this Sunday I found myself in Ballard again. I never realized how many restaurants there were in Ballard. I would have never picked Ballard as the place to go for food, but this French toast experiment is slowly changing my mind about Ballard.

Another thing I've learned from this experiment is how many places in the Seattle area I've yet to see after all my years living here. I think I'm going to have to make explore my surroundings as another experiment.



But back to my fancy French toast. "Fancy French Toast" is exactly what The Hi-Life put on their menu. And for the fancy description: "Vanilla custard dipped Columbia bread griddled and topped with espresso-mascarpone & sugared hazelnuts". All that served up with REAL maple syrup. Did it taste as good as it sounded? Almost.


The custard batter was captivating. Rich in vanilla flavor. The bread itself was inviting as well. The sugared hazelnuts, very fun. Espresso mascarpone? Inventive! It was how the toast was cooked that disappointed me a bit. There was no crunch to it at all. Makes me wonder if there was even any griddle lovin' involved. The toast wasn't soggy though. It was just really chewy.


Don't get me wrong, I still finished a lot of the toast. The server was nice enough to let me get a half order. I ordered a half order because the fancy Frenchie didn't come with anything else. I'm also learning that I really like other stuff to eat with my Frenchies. So along with my French toast, I ordered the "Oeufs Francais". Translates to "French eggs". At The Hi-Life, the French eggs breakfast is, "Baked eggs en casserole with caramelized onions, spinach, gruyere and leek cream. Served with croissant and fruit". I was very happy that I ordered this instead of my usual Judy eggs (over medium). It was délicieux.


Rating: 3 out of 5 Js


PS. The Hi-Life has 5 other sister restaurants (all run by Chow Foods) in the Seattle area. All 6 restaurants made the Seattle Met 50 list....sounds a bit fishy....Could it be that the owners of Chow Foods were featured in the same issue.....???? I'll let the French toast speak for it self.

Peso's Kitchen & Lounge - 02/16/08

Peso's Kitchen & Lounge
605 Queen Anne AVE N
Seattle WA 98109
- Lower Queen Anne -

Okay, so I didn't make it out of the house for my Frenchie on Friday. Deep down, I knew I wasn't going to make it for breakfast. I didn't have to work on Friday, but I had a lot of things to get done. In my heart of hearts, I knew that I would be sleeping in instead of getting breakfast. By Tuesday I was craving French toast. I was getting gas for the truck and right next door was my locat French toast standby. So I gave in. I gave in and it was lip smackin' delish.

Fast forward to Saturday. I got to wake up on my own. No buzz buzz buzz. I felt good. I felt rested. I felt hungry! (plus it was nice to wake up to a bed that just had blankets on it and not an Everest mound of clothes) I heard the roomie upstairs so I went and grabbed her before she started heating up food.

The roomie would only go on one condition. She wanted a bloody Mary. So I went a skimming the list for a place that had a bar. Hmmm...found one! And they have caramel French toast? Sounds delightful!

Peso's Kitchen is located at Lower Queen Anne. My first concern was parking. Second concern was the wait. Queen Anne can be pretty hoppin'. Third concern, breakfast in a Mexican restaurant? To my surprise the breakfast menu offered a fusion of your tradional American breakfast with Mexi twist.

My biggest dilema at Peso's was that they served two different kinds of French toast. Which one do I choose? The crème fraîche stuffed French toast with the cinnamoned butter and strawberry reduction or the caramel glazed French toast? Oh the hard choices we have to make sometimes. Now I wanted to try both, but I didn't really want to get two full orders of Frenchies though....Should I ask and see if I receive? I asked our waitress if I could get a half order of each Frenchie and she said yes! Woo Hoo!

I am so happy I asked for the half 'n' half. Both French toasts were equally scrumptious. And I scarfed both of them down equally. There have not been many breakfasts where I clean up my plate, but I did today. Three slices of French toast. Two eggs, over medium. Two slices of bacon. And a gi-normous mug of coffee. I was stuffed, but oh so satisfied and gratified.

Both French Toasts were thick and crispy on the outside with the nice soft chewiness to the inside. I think Peso's is the first place I've been too that didn't serve their French toast with maple syrup (real or fake). The caramel glaze and the strawberry was just enough and almost not even necessary. The egg batter was almost sweet enough.

Everything on the breakfast menu sounded amazing. I'll be back again soon for another meal of the day.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Js

PS. I hate how I look like i'm about 12 years old in this picture! Do I really look that young in real life?

So Sad......

No French Toast! Week of 02/04/2008.

I am so sad. No Frenchies for Judy this past week. Too busy! But that's okay. I'll just have to do some overtime this week (isn't that just the story of my life in every aspect?)

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday!

Bring it on!