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