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!

Cyndy's House of Pancakes - 02/03/08

Cyndy's House of Pancakes

10507 Aurora Ave N

Seattle, WA 98133

- Greenwood -

My alarm was set for 9:30am. I was so sleeeepy. Buzz. Snooze. Buzz. Snooze. That was the pattern for the next two hours. I had already decided the night before that I was skipping French toast.

While I was half asleep in the shower, I decided that I needed coffee (which has turned into a 7 days a week habit for me, I used to only drink it M-F, but I am proud to announce that I've tapered myself down to only 4 packets of sugar for each cup of coffee!). So I might as well have French Toast with my coffee.

So I started thinking. Where should I go? I'm by myself. Save a nicer place for when you have company...I've got it! That shacky looking place on Aurora!

I can't tell you how many time's I've driven by Cyndy's House of Pancakes. All those drive bys and why did I ever stop in? Because the place looks kinda scary on the outside. Old and dirty. So scary looking that I always that the food would SUCK*.

Boy was I surprised when I walked in. My eyebrows actually did that rising thing and a semi-smirk appeared on my lips. I spent the next hour trying to figure out how I would describe the interior of the restaurant. Here's what I came up with. It looked like what I think a house basement would look like from the 60s. Maybe 70s. The inside of the restaurant was covered in a dark wood veneer wall panels and there were funky looking flower things hanging in the back wall. And the strangest thing about the decor were the scary looking bird/lizard kites hanging up by the ceiling. Go figure. But that's enough about odd decor. To the food.

The French toast plate came with 2 eggs and 4 strips of bacon. Four strips of bacon? I asked my waitress if I could sub out 2 strips for 2 sausage links. No-can-do. Apparently I could get all bacon or all sausage, but I couldn't split the choice. Okaaaay....bacon it is then. But who on earth can eat 4 strips of bacon? I soon found out why it was 4 strips. They were paper thin! Paper thin and not crispy! Ugh. Good thing I was there for the French toast.

My toast was served with a myriad of deliciously artificial flavored syrup. Well, three different kinds to be exact. Maple, boysenberry and coconut. Coconut, you ask? Yes, I know. I questioned it too. But to my surprise, it tasted pretty darn good. All three fake syrups tasted pretty good. And it all tasted great with the 3 cups of coffee (w/ only four packets of sugar per cup I would like to remind my readers again) I chugged down.

For basic French toast, Cyndy's did a decent job. Nice, thick egg bread. Soft and fluffy with a nice chewy bite to it. The decor didn't do the toast justice.

I'm glad I didn't skip out on breakfast.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Js.

* Specially selected word choice dedicated to CWT.

Orginal Pancake House - 01/27/2008

Original Pancake House
8037 15th AVE NW
Seattle, WA 98117
- Ballard -

Get ready for my first not that great French toast review. But I guess that's what I get for going to a pancake house for French toast.

Everything else about Original Pancake House was great. There was a covered porch area where they offered free coffee and baked apple pancake while you waited. The dining room was so quaint and cute. It was like sitting in Grandma's kitchen.

So I feel a bit bad for what I'm about to say next. The only good thing about the French toast was that it was available in a half-order. And of this half-order, I only choked down one slice.

The main problem with the Original Pancake House French toast was that the bread was sliced too thin. When you bite into the toast, all you can taste is the outside. There was no bread center for you to bite into. The egg batter that was used had no flavor to it either. The menu claimed that it was a sourdough bread French toast, but I could not taste the sourness at all! I was sooooo sad....

So the lesson I learned this day: Do not order French toast at the Original Pancake House. Try anything else.

Because breakfast was a bust for me, I found myself at the the Southcenter Sushiland later that afternoon gorging on pieces of raw fish. And that was a good thing.

Rating: 1 out of 5 Js

El Greco - 01/26/2008

El Greco
219 Broadway Ave E
Seattle, WA 98012

My fourth week in, and I'm still not sick of Frech toast! This particular week I had French toast 3 times. One of those time was for dinner. I have to to confess, I was craving it. Being the lone ranger I am, I even ate my French toast dinner all by my lonesome.

Anywho....back to business. El Greco did not disapoint! My buds and tummy was extremely satisfied. It was worth waiting until 2:30 in the afternoon for my first meal of the day. But that was due to me having to decorate a cake in the morning. By the time I arrived at the restaurant, I think the rush had already come and gone.

It was a toss up between who had the better French toast. El Greco's sister restaurant (see last week) Geraldine's Counter served up a scrum-diddlely-umptious Frenchie. After tasting El Greco's Frenchie, you could tell that they were the same recipe. Sooooooo Gooooooood. The same crunchy outside with the same soft, chewy, center. Soft, but not runny. Soooooo Goooood. The toast was made with a sourdough bread and served with a berry compote and crème fraîche. And I was also given the option of drizzling my toast with REAL maple syrup. Even better.

For the first time since my venture began, I polished off the entire full order of French toast. One of the very nice things about El Greco (and Geraldine's Counter) is that the portions are not outrageously huge. It was just enough. Everywhere else I have only been eating about half the amount of toast served. Who really needs all that food anyways? I've been trying really hard to just satisfy my food cravings and moving on.

Next time you're in Capitol Hill during breakfast time, make an effort to stop at El Greco.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Js

PS. Did anyone notice that I combed my hair and the makeup?

Geraldine's Counter - 01/20/2008

Geraldine's Counter
4872 Rainier Ave S
Seattle, Washington

This Sunday morning, I woke up early for a change. I also put on more makeup on my face for a change (a bit off the topic......although the two people i've polled say they can't tell....) I dragged my sister out of bed and off we headed to Columbia City.

We arrived at Geraldine's at a good time. We didn't have to wait for a table. In fact we even had a hard time to decide where we wanted to sit. But as soon as we sat down, the restaurant starting filling up.

Guess what I ordered. Yummy, French toast! Sourdough batard French toast to be exact. This was a new experience for me. I'm not a big fan of sourdough. In fact, I can always not eat sourdough. The toast was really different from the others I've tasted. It was really crispy/crunchy on the outside, but yet had a nice chewy center. Geraldine's fruit topping of the day for French toast was cinnamoned apple. Very subtle. And they served REAL maple syrup. But ultimately, I didn't even really use it. The egg batter and the apples gave it just enough sweetness. I really enjoyed the sweetness of the egg batter and apples against the tartness of the sour batard. I guess opposites really do attract....

I'm also surprised by the fact that I'm not sick of French toast yet. I think I'm more in love with French toast now. Sometimes I find myself thinking about French toast and how I wished more places served it all day. Sometimes I even want it for lunch and dinner. I'm beginning to even think that I need to beef up my French toast skills and make sure I always have a good loaf of bread in the freezer so that I can get my fix. But first I need to work on the skills. There's nothing worse when you're craving a food, decide to make it yourself and have it come out tasting like poop.

It makes me wonder what this latest food phase says about me. It seems lately I'm going thru a lot of phases, I guess there could be worser things. Pretty soon I'm going to have to make myself go thru another phase just to counteract the French toast. That thing called going to the gym. A bigger butt? Now that is a worser thing.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Js

PS. Geraldine's Counter has a sister restaurant. El Greco in Capital Hill. That will be my next destination. I want to compare....

Maltby Cafe - 01/13/2008

Maltby Cafe
8809 Maltby Rd
Snohomish, WA 98296

For the first time in months and months, I slept in. It was great. I watched a couple episodes of SpongeBob and didn't even roll out of bed until noon. To my surprise when I looked outside, it was sunny! This instantly elevated my mood ten-fold.

Not only was this the first time in a while for sleeping in, it was also the first time Judy's had some time to herself in months. I was looking forward to just a few hours to myself. No work. No peeps. Just Judy.

I know some people that say they could never go out and eat by themselves. I really don't mind at all. Sometimes I find that there is nothing more peaceful than me at a table by myself and some sort of reading material. I told myself this morning that I was going to tackle "War and Peace" in peace.

I've driven by the Maltby Cafe several times. I was really lucky that it was so sunny out. I really enjoyed the 20 minute drive out to Snohomish. When I arrived, I was scared. Even though it was so late in the day, I still had to parade into the restaurant with about half a dozen of people ahead of me and behind me. They were buuuuusssssyyyyyy.

But luckily for the lone ranger they had counter seating. I walked right in and didn't even have to wait. After a scare with the really wobbly seat, I settled down with my much needed cup of coffee. My eyes honed in on the Maltby Bread Fruit French Toast. "Two thick slices of Maltby bread French toast topped with fruit (seasonal) and Maltby crème fraîche."

The seasonal fruit for the day was marionberry. I asked for the berries on the side. Not too sweet, not too tart, not too pulverized. The crème fraîche was surprisingly different. I've never had crème fraîche like the Maltby's. I guess it was more of a whipped crème fraîche. Nothing like what I've had before. Very sweet and almost buttery.

What the heck is crème fraîche (krem-fresh) you ask? Merriam-Webster says it's, "heavy cream thickened and slightly soured with buttermilk and often served on fruit". Most crème fraîche I've tried have always had the consistancy of yogurt or sour cream. I would describe it as a not so tart, slighty sweet sour cream. I was really puzzled by the Maltby crème fraîche. I kepted scooping some up with my knife and licking it. Ultimately I decided that the Maltby crème fraîche tasted like what happens to my sweetened whipped cream when I over beat it. I guess it was pretty good.

On a somewhat related note. You can get the world's biggest cinnamon roll at the Maltby. That thing was bigger than my head. Unfortunately, it did not compare to their French toast. Supposedly the Maltby Cafe is famous for their cinnamon roll. But trust me, get the French Toast.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Js

Chace's Pancake Corral - 01/05/2008

Chace's Pancake Corral
1606 Bellevue Way SE
Bellevue, WA 98004

Who would have thunk that less than two miles away from the super chic Bellevue Square Mall would lie a shack that served pancakes and your other breakfast staples.

I loved the name of the restaurant, but does it states its claim? Here's what Merriam-Webster says about a corral: 1. a pen or enclosure for confining or capturing livestock and 2. an enclosure made with wagons for defense of an encampment.

I guess Chace's is a little bit of both if you substitute the livestock and wagons for pancakes. Chace's did offer quite a confinement of pancakes. The simple and straight forward menu offered about a dozen different kinds of pancakes ranging from buttermilk to buckwheat. And what else goes better with pancakes than a vat of "pancake sauce" kept warm in a hot beverage container? Nothing! (the pancake sauce contraption was the first thing I noticed when I walked in...)

But even with all those pancakes, of course I went straight for the French toast. The bread looked like Texas toast, but tasted so fancy. Thick, light and fluffy. Yummers! Chace's served their Frenchie with a wild berry syrup. I couldn't tell if it was real or artificial, but it tasted good. The second coolest thing about this place was their butter. They serve it out of a piping tip! It was the prettiest butter that has ever been served to me.

Next time I make it out to Bellevue in the morning, I would definitely remember Chace's Pancake Corral.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Js

Jade Garden - 01/01/2008

Jade Garden
424 7th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104

I started the new year at Jade Garden. Not a new place for me. It's the only place I go to any more for dim sum.**

** For those that don't know, dim sum is a type of Chinese cuisine that is served during the morning and early afternoon. It is made up of a variety of light dishes served in small quantities. Think of Chinese style tapas. These appetizer sized dishes usually consists of dumplings, buns, things shaped into round shapes, desserts, fried goodies, etc.... These delectable delights are pushed around on carts and you can make your selections table side. With dim sum you have to have tea. Chinese people don't say, "Let's go out for dim sum." We say, "Let's go have tea!"

Dim sum is definately my favorite style of Chinese food. Ever since I was a child, I would always ask my parents on the weekends if we could go, "yum cha" (have tea). One of the hardest things for me when I was a child was when my family moved from Seattle to the middle of no where (Mount Vernon, WA). There was no dim sum to be found for 60 miles around. It sucked.

But fast forward to today and dim sum is back in my life. I think Jade Garden opened up a few years ago. I don't even recall the first time I went there or even whom I went with. These days this is the Jade Garden routine: They are so busy on weekends that someone has to get there at least half an hour before everyone elses arrival time to put a name on the waiting list. Don't even bother trying to make reservations. You'll just be waiting as long as the rest of us (most likely outside of the restaurant because it gets too crowded inside).

On this particular day there were five of us eating. My roomie and I headed down to Chinatown first and arrived at the restaurant at about 11:30am. After my five minute battle to the waiting list, I had to put down my party info by myself. The two hostesses were so bombarded by customers that it probably would have been another five minutes before I could get someone's attention. Believe it or not, there were 17 walk in parties listed before mine.

Forty-five minutes later and a trip to the bakery and the BBQ place and the arrival of the rest of the party, I'm still waiting. By this point, I was not leaving until I had a steamed shrimp dumpling shoved in my mouth. Long story short: I waited almost one and a half hour for a table at Jade Garden. How long was I there to actually eat: One hour.

Was it worth it? Yes, it was. I think the reason why dim sum is my favorite food is because of the variety. Since everything is served in small servings of three or four, I can have a bite of a dozen different things. I love variety. Whenever I go out to eat with friends, I always insist that everyone orders something different. With dim sum, you don't have to worry about that! I had dumplings, noodle wraps, rice, buns, fried dumplings stuffed with lotus seed paste, chicken feet, spare ribs, shrimp cakes and more! What was missing? French toast. I couldn't find anything similar to French toast. Oh well. I was still definitely satisfied.

The food was so good that it didn't matter that I waited so long for a seat. It didn't even matter that the staff was so crazy busy that the service wasn't quite up to par that day. All that mattered was that I got that shrimp dumpling stuffed in my mouth.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Js

Portage Bay Cafe - 12/31/07

Portage Bay Cafe
4130 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105

On the southern outskirts of U. District lies the Portage Bay Cafe. I'm surprised that I never noticed it before because my sister use to live right by there. I would have to drive by the cafe to get to her place. I'm so disappointed in myself that it took me until today to discover Portage Bay.

Why you ask? Because today I came across the best French toast I've tasted ever since I've been on this Frech toast kick. The only reason why I even decided to make Portage Bay my first restaurant to try is because the breakfast issue of Seattle Metropolitan featured a picture of French toast from Portage Bay that looked absolutely marvelous. And to my delight, when my waitress brought out my French toast, it actually looked like the picture in the magazine!

My order this morning consisted of three thick slices of graham cracker encrusted (brilliant idea! i'm stealing it!) challah bread with a mixed berry compote and a vanilla custard sauce. My toast also came with a trip to the toppings bar. At the toppings bar, there were a variety of berries, nuts, butter, fresh whipped cream and so on that you could pile on your plate. The best part was that the Portage Bay Cafe served REAL maple syrup! The order was so big that I couldn't even finish my second sliced of French toast.

When my three friends and I arrived there was a long line of people waiting to be seated. But apparently there is a seperate back room seating available. We were quickly offered a table in the back room if we wanted it. The hostess apologized during the walk to the back room for the storage shelves we passed by. **

**Here's my whole philosophy when it comes to a restaurant table. Shouldn't you be going to the restaurant for the food? Does the actual location of the table really matter? If the food tastes like crap, does having a table with an exquisite view make it taste any better? NO!! I say, the sooner you can get grubbin' the better!

Portage Bay Cafe has set my French toast standards pretty high. I'm definately looking forward to what else awaits for me!

Rating: 4 out of 5 Js