A Terrible Beauty ?

Yo! Sup? ( tryin to keep up with my younger readers) you know, tryin to put a little gangsta in the Blog... Noimsayin? Who am I tryin to kid, the Blogs named Sunday Breakfast... Gangsta title .. Revoked! So , lets start fresh,Shall we? The Venue this past Sunday was the quaint Irish Pub by the name" A Terrible Beauty" Odd name I thought, but its the last line of a poem by WB Yeats, ok lets name our restaurant that!. Yep Odd name or not , this joint brings it for breakfast (they call it brunch). MSue and I drove this sunday , swung by and picked up Smoj and OL Hot T around 9ish, and headed for the wee little burg o Renton (sounds Irish) not much of wait, maybe 5 minutes so the Harried Hostess sat us in the doorway(sort of) and after asking our waitress, we were moved to more suitable arrangements, obviously they didn't realize who we were, I like to keep it real... Noimsayin? Once moved much happier! the still hungry but a little less snobby FF(famished four) started to peruse the menu. Quite a menu quite frankly, 7 different Irishy type Bennys, Corned beef, bangers, rashers ,there was even some Guiness involved. Ol Hot T had the Corned Beef Benny, he thought it a bit odd for corned beef to be paired with Hollandaise, sided up by Potatoes Obrien (what else) and of course some Hot Tea ( Irish Breakfast?) but alas it arrived tepid, thus the reason for the lengthy steeping time, cant fool ol Ken , no sirree!. My Lovely Irish Lass (MSue) had the "Irish bacon, cheese and tomato Omelette, a bit dissapointed, Irish bacon is apparently is a lot like ham, not bacony enough for MSue, but she did like it overall and along with plenty off Ice Tea to wash it down with she had plenty to eat half and take some lefties home in the bag o shame. Now as for Smoj she ordered, quite frankly Im a little embarresed that I cant remember the name, it was quite long (the name that is) but I do know what it consisted of, it started with a big chunk of homemade Irish Soda bread, two pieces of fried chicken ,a couple of eggrachans (irish eggs) covered with some of the best sausage gravy I've ever tasted (made with guiness) along with the potatoes Obrien and fresh fruit, surean itwas a huge plate o food, the baggie o shamus also accompanied smoj, she did however finish her cranberry juice . ( thought I forgot, huh Val?) Well Bloggrachans? My food? glad you asked, I once again copied Smoj, this dish sounded so much like the meal we got at Charlies in October I knew at once it was for me! Darn tasty it was and what did my wonderous eyes did appear but the best frikkin coffee I've had in a year. I think Ol Hot T and MSue may order differantly next time , but as for me an Smoj it was scrumptastic!. A Terrible Beauty is way more than breakfast, they have over 30 taps in the bar, an Irish Market in house,( guiness stuff ,coffee , deli items) Oh yeh and a Kick ass Bloody Mary, which I apologize, I neglected to mention I had one! So I guess I owe all those Irishy types an apology, its not all boiled taters and mutton no sir we the FF give A Terrible Beauty, two shillelagh's up !, Im goin back for a Reuben!

Charlies in Puyallup! MM!

Yep, I know, Been a while, long time no bloggy, etc etc. Quite frankly, we havent been to any place new for quite a while , for a couple a weeks we didn't have Ol Hot T and Smoj with us, they obviously had better things to do, tho I cant quite imagine what , some people just need to set their priorities. We did dine with them last weekend at the Chelan, which you all know is one of the FF's (Famished Four) Fav, and the week before that we took an out of town guest to Voulas Offshore Cafe, (MSues cafe de jour) also stupendarific!. Been there done that! Blogwise. MSue and I also went to Marys Cafe up off the Benson in Kent, which at first I was against only because the first time we went there I didn't care for it at all, well it was pretty good this time ,soooo we will go there again at some point. Today was a time for someplace new to us, we were tired of the same ol same ol, and of course being the thrifty shopper that Val ( Smoj) is, she had coupons for Charlies, so done and done, off we went to Charlies in Puyallup. Ol Hot t and Smoj drove this trip and whisked us away round a bout the crack of 930, that gives me time for a cup of real coffee before I suck down a gallon of roadhouse swill that is the usual for diners around here it seems . I swear they all make it in a giant watertower and have it shipped to various joints who could give a rip about the quality o jo that they pour down our throats, I know , youve detected a theme here but it is a pet peeve of mine, but yet I continue to belllyup to the bar and lap it up with the rest of Klididdlehoppers, so I shouldn't complain... but I digress. So Charlies, pretty darn good right off the bat, parked right in front, got seated right away. They have a nice Menu, lots a things to choose from, even a Monte Cristo san, maybe next time Timmy. They have some signature type items called Squares, which are kinda of a scramble mess of stuff served on top of their Home fries, you know , eggs and various meat choices, served on a square plate. Ol Hot t along with his namesake beverage had the Chorizo Square, it had the Said Chorizo along with Jalapeno bacon, eggys and asst veggies along with cheese, ridin a top of ol homefries. pretty big ol portion of food for the Hot T meister, he did not finish, so the box of shame went home with Hot T for later. My Darling spousal unit ordered the CFS, it came with Hashbrowns instead of the Homeys, eggsscrambledwelldonesideosalsa...... yes its one word! you people should know that by now! yep all smothered and covered with some pretty darn tasty Country gravy. Msue did not however care much for the Steak itself , it appeared to be a cube steak and she thought it was kinda chewy, and stringy, I did taste it, I thought it was pretty good, Im not as picky as she. She did have plenty of Ice T w/lemon to wash it all down with, and lucky me, she did not eat all of hers (lunch tomorrow for me ;) ) Smoj had her signature bev o choice, and she had " Chicken in a Biscuit" mmm interesting! consisting of a chicken fried chicken breast stuffed in a Biscuit, topped with a fried egg annndd Bacon! oh yeh covered with the same Gravy as the CFS, all partnered up with some pretty darn good Homeys, big plate of food for Smoj and as you might guess the box o shame went home with Val as well. I could go on and on about my food, but as weirdness sometimes happens, Ol Smoj and I ordered the very same item, I however did not need the box o shame as I consumed it all, and it all was pretty darn tasty. Judging by the quality of the Gravy and the homemade skits, next time I will go for the Biscuits and gravy, I just dont know why the coffee here or in most other places, is so .....whats a good word for it.... Blahsoomnificant! yeh thats it, not good, not real bad,plenty of it tho which for some reason is important to me . The Service at Charlies was young and cute but capable, for my cup nor MSues ice t was never empty for long, Ol Hot T did at first receive a cup of Hot Chocolate instead of his Hot T, a slight mis comunicay for it was corrected immediately. All in all a darn fine Gnosh I'd say, a must return for the FF, Puyallupaniums are a lucky lot, They have Charlies, as well as Aunt B's( also visited by the FF) The Rose Cafe looked good, we saw that on our way home, and after we stopped at Starbucks, I forgot all about the Blahso Jo!

Lobster Shop !

Shhh!, It's a secret... The Lobster Shop on Dash Point is serving breakfast! Yep,its true, just on the weekends mind you,but a real breakfast non the less. Yeh, ok, I can hear you all now .Jim? how can we afford to have breakfast at such a fancy joint ? or I dont want to get dressed up for sunday mornin ifn I aint goin to church! yep I can hear it loud as can be, but dont be afraid Blogomaniacs cuz The Lobster Shop turned it down a bit for us commoners, it is reasonably priced and they have quite a nice menu with lots of breakfasty choices. You can still go Pinky out if you wish for they do offer champagne, Bellinis, Bloody Marys yada yada. We found out about the breakfast from our partners on sunday am, Good ol Hot T and Smoj (Ken and Val) they went there for their anniversary and noticed the Menu for B Fast. Then in turn I escorted my lovely Wife ( MSue) for our Anniversary dinner there as well and we noticed how reasonably priced it was, considering the venue an all. A quick blurb about our dinner seems appropriate, kinda funny really, I guess MSue and I are getting up there on the age scale, we went for the "Sunset Dinner", you know... Entree, soup or salad, desert all for one price if you arrive before 6 pm, and then they give you some up choices like shrimp cocktails for a buck, and martinis or manhattens for 5.95 ... Yeppers we opted for the Shrimpys and sucked down a couple of drinks apiece so our cheap "Sunset Dinner" still ran us about 90 smackers, but still worth it! I had the oysters Timmy, and they were awsome, MSue had the Calamari steak, equally awsome. For some of you who might not know, Timmy (Tim) is a friend of mine from work, oysters timmy is not the name of the Entree, him and I share a love of oysters and anything oystery, we eat em just for the burps!!! (true) Tim is also the owner of "Tims to go Catering" he is quite the good cook in his own right ,who knows maybe someday I shall Blogg him... yep my first advert.. tims2gocatering.com Check him out! Hes the real deal! What? Oh for cryin out loud ! your right ! What about the damn breakfast, I almost forgot, Ol Hot T and Smoj picked us up and we arrived at the Lobster Shop a little before 10 am, and not to worry about parking, cuz there really isnt any, but the staff takes care o biz for that , they reserve some spots right out front, so its quite easy on their customers, they have a young Lad with orange traffic cones holding each spot as people leave, and also chases away the people who come down to fish, well he doesnt' really chase em, more he just sez these spots are taken! but you know he works hard and we tipped him handsomely! Oh yeh food , Well as luck would have Ol Joe's been around, thats what Smoj ordered "Joes Special" eggs spinach cheese, maybe a little seafood in this one, she musta liked it for her plate as clean as if she licked it, she also had a Bellini to drink as opposed to her usual virgin screwdriver.... Yep chock one up for Val, it was a success. Ol Hot T had the bacon and egg "Benedict" partnered up with acute lil pile o browns or maybe it was just on a big plate....mmmm no , it was kinda dinky, and as for his Bev o choice , Hot T..... What a frikkin surprise, no one saw that comin now did ya? he just did'nt feel like a stroll on the wild side , so no Bloody Mary for Ken. He did however like his meal, although he stated the Hollandaise was a bit thick. My Sweet Bride ordered her up some CFS!!! Atta girl Foof! (her nickname) this rendition came with Egg o choice (scrambledwelldonsideofsalsa) same dinky hashbrowners, and instead of country gravy, it was topped with sausage gravy, which she said was a little flourey tasting, but still pretty good, she also had a Bellini as well as her usual Ice T w/lemon. My Breakfast Choice was semi predidictable, I would've ordered the CFS as well, but I'm smarter than that my friends! I knew that if MSue ordered it she would not eat it all and I would get bites! that way, if it was Awsome!, I would get it for nextys!, I ordered the "Country Benedict" you know the drill.... cept this one came with Linguica sausage (portugeuse) Im sure thats not spelled right, and covered with the same sausage gravy as did come with the CFS, yep ditto on the Browns, a very polite little scoop o taters, good but small. I of course had the Bloody Mary( darn tasty it was ) and I gotta say some pretty good Jo, Cafe D'arte I believe, brewed well and strong! Yumtastic! So all in all pretty good food, although the Lobster Shop may be fancy schmancy they need just a tweek on their gravy maybe they should call Tims2 go for a lesson, or even my own lovely Wife, for she makes a sausage gravy that stands alone on perfection! (Its Soup Nazi Good) I'm not jokin there Buuud! your knees will buckle, any ways it was good and we will go back, you cant beat the view!

Casa De Guerrero

Well Bloggomites, last week we went off the page a bit for our morning mastication ritual, you know the Hangar Cafe, great coffee but no eggy type thangs ,not bad, just differant. Well this week not only did we go off the page, we opened an entire new book! Our good friends Tim and Kate invited us over for breakfast, instead of going out. Now just a little history to catch you all up , we have known the Guerreros for at least 20 years ,and along with the Brunners( Hot T and Smoj) raised our kids together, we all had 2 girls, Tim and I coached them in various sports, although Tim did carry the coaching thing into the junior high school years, so yeh.. good friends. Yep the FF (Famished Four) en mass arrived at Casa De Guerrero... rounda bout 930 , we brought makins for Mimosas, you know Champagne, OJ and some Harlequin orange liquor. If we were gonna add to the FF, Tim and Kate would make up the Starvin six, as they have joined us from time to time. Tim and Kate are just like us four, by sayin that I mean they like good food and good company, apparently tho they settled for us this Sunday. The menu was Omlettes, cheese Quesodilas, french toast, waffles , fresh fruit ,bacon... oh yeh and coffee cake, Holy Cripes! what a spread, oh and by the way really good coffee. Now Tim and Kate are not in the Restaurant business, but you know both are pretty darn good cooks, I would put Tims omlette up against any Ive had, and Kate well , she's pretty darn cute! this time Tim did most of the cooking, but Kate did make the french toast and waffles and the most important part, the coffee . Like I said they are not in the business of food prep, but Tims sister Julie is, so some of her expertise or advice maybe must a rubbed off on Tim . So we all had Mimosa's , probably ate too much, and I dont think I got much work done at home after wards, course we didnt leave the Guerreros until 1 or 2, but we did have a really good time and a really good meal, Great Friends and Great Food! It really doesn't get better, we might just have to do this again soon. I wonder what Tim will fix next time?

Sumpin Different ? Hangar Cafe

Almost a month, Yep its been a little while since last I've notified my faithful followers of the breakfast exploits of the famished four ( FF) and while we have been eating, in fact we do every sunday but once in a while we settle in to a routine, where we visit our tried and trues, as I like to call them. We've been to the Bay Cafe... the Oysters , my god the oysters, and they make up for the passable Jo, still one of my favorite places and probably the only reason we dont go more often is that it's in Ballard. We have also been to Voulas Offshore Cafe,( a favorite of MSues) she just cant get past the Greek Hobo mess they serve there (a giant pile of food by the way) again very good food, passable coffee, and I think one of the sundays MSue was out of town so we did not go! Well we went today even though we were minus a member, Ol Hot T was a no show, no fault of his own mind you, he had to pick up his parents from a cruise, gotta do what ya gotta do! ay Ken? we ate without you and although you were missed, we managed. So the Hangar Cafe? as you might have guessed is down by Boeing Field, yeh like next door! just on the north side, 13th and Albro. A tiny little place, in an old tiny house, with a not so tiny line to get in , although our arrival was timely as always, our wait was short,.... bout ten minutes. After we were seated the line did grow a bit. This place was a little differant then most of the places we choose, No Egg type dishes, no biscuits and gravy, and sadly no CFS... sadness at first, but we ,or I was encouraged cuz of the coffee served... wait for it... Stumptown!! yay for me! all the way from Portland, man damn good Jo!!!. What the Hangar does do, and what they do very well are Crepes! and quite a variety of them, Sweet as well as Savory, plus Waffles and a baked type of French toast ,that by the way looked delicious. MSue along with her Ice T w/lemon ordered Waffles, and this particular type came with bacon on top, Brie and basil, served with maple syrup... yummy, she did like it although her description was interesting.... no... thats is what she said... interesting, usually that means Ol MSue is not happy, but she did like her selection. Smoj, yep she had OJ, but her choice this Am was the star of the table (its usually me) she ordered the special baked casserole , a souffle kind of deal that they serve on weekends, this one had shrooms and sausage, cheddar I believe and topped.....scuse me a sec.... USA just scored WHOOOOOOO!!!, K.... I'm back what was I.... oh yeh Vals Casserole was topped with Creme Fresche and a Poblamo chile Vinagrette mmmmm! tastalicicious !! I will order along that line next time. As far as my meal go's... I went for the Crepe Side of the menu. They had quite a selection like I said from sweet to savory,I ordered of the blackboard secials as did Smoj, mine was a crepe filled with salami, onions , tomatoes , shrooms and mozzarell and topped with the same poblamo vinagrette and creme fresche and along with my crepe came some roasted spudlinis, that were very good although I would have liked a bit more , along with all the Stumptown Jo I could swill, I got to say , although differant , was very good.....S...! Japan just scored... Cmon Usa!!! Yes we all liked the breakfasts, in fact MSue and I ordered one of the Casseroles to go for tomorrow, Yeppers! my friends the Hangar Cafe... no CFS, but the crepes were delicious.... maybe a CFS Crepe?.... nah! I doubt that ell happen, but as long as they're pourin Stumptown Coffee I'M There!!!

Pete's Repeat!

If there's a few things I've found out over the last few years, is that there are quite a few good places to eat in the Seattle area, and yes there are even some great places... and then there's the few that just flat out bring it each and every time the Famished Four have had the pleasure to dine there. Pete's Egg Nest in Greenwood is one of those joints. We didn't really know where we were going when we started out this morning,until we got to Ol Hot T's and Smoj's house round about 9:00, Smoj said she was thinkin bout Pete's, we all concurred and off we went. Now it's no mystery , we've ate there before ,quite a few times really, and part of the discussion was if it was too late to go, you know to avoid the crowd that always seems to be outside waiting to get in to this tiny cafe, all looking in and watching us eat, and I'm sure muttering to themselves,Cmon eat and get out! it's our turn, all while I'm having my fith or sixth cup of Jo. Like always , we get there, find a place to park in front of the Cafe and walk right in... Sup? talk about good timing (we always seem to have it when we dine at Pete's) and not ten minutes later the hungry Greenwoodians start to gather, Ha Ha ! I say, we come from Federal Way and beat you all, Yep we are pretty lucky alright, , but not to worry Greenwoodamites! Ol Pete's out side takin care o biz, offering up hot coffee or OJ to those unlucky ones waiting their turn. So about the food , it doesn't really matter, its all frikkin great and always perfect, and most of the hungry folks who dine at Pete's must either be family, or at least they're treated that way , I must have seen Mrs Pete ( I'm assuming it's Mrs Pete) hug and kiss a dozen or so either on they're way in or on the way out. So yeh the Food, MSue had a Pesto, bacon and feta cheese scramble (it is a greek joint after all) along with bev o choice... do I really have to put that in? ok Ice T w/lemon, she ate about half maybe, along with probably the best browns in town (probably...) dry wheat toast side o salsa! Smoj ordered the California scramble, same kinda a thing you know, Ham, bacon, asst veggies topped with sour cream and avocados, small OJ of course, same ol browns, plus wheat toast... half gone half to go! Ol Hot T , not to be out done , had a Scramble also ( pete's has about a dozen of em and omlettes) I really dont remember exactly , eggs, cheese, some sort of pork and veggies,along with ........ yep Hot T, rye toast and all the crispy brownsters that a feller could want , again half eaten half go home! I went way off page for my breakfast this morning( yes.. again) I had the French toast special, Boy you guy's sure are smart! it indeed came with French toast! topped with apples and cinnamon , to little porkies ( meat o choice) and three, yes three eggasauruses over medium... aahh Huevos Perfecto! I just love fried eggs and when they're like that it just makes Jimmy smile! ( I know, doesn't take much) did half go home? nope ate it all.. it's French toast after all... So in closing who should go to Pete's Egg Nest? Everyone! but please not before 9;30,... I dont want to wait!

Scoreboard Pub

Scoreboard Pub... for breakfast? Damn straight! Darn good! So fellow Bloggominas, MSue and I did something a little out of character for breakfast this AM, we ditched Ol Hot T and Smoj and dined alone , actually they had other plans, sooo couldn't make the trip . The Scoreboard Pub is a favorite of mine, has been for a long time, they have a great bar and the the food is really good, but I usually go in the evening, either with a few couples or just a few buddys for beers and grub. The Pub (as I like to call it) has served breakfast for a while, but they recently revamped the menu for breakfast and it sounded good. I gotta admit it seems a little odd to go in there in the morning, or to walk in and not be greeted with a large Manny's pale ale as is my usual there, but in we walked , not very busy, I guess the breakfast word is not out yet, I expect it wont be long. The Scoreboard is located on 324th in Federal Way, across from Celebration Park, needless to say quite a few sports teams use this as their after game stop, Its a big bar, staffed with friendly people, and for a small kitchen puts out a pretty large menu, plus specials everyday, trivia night , cribbage tournys, golf tournaments etc a very involved establishment . Yeh Yeh ok its obvious I like this joint, lets talk about breakfast shall we!! Like I said a new breakfast menu, along with 2.99 Bloody Marys and Mimosas! did we get em? Heck yeh we did for that price, and the Bloody Mary was huge! ( might become one of my favs) So as far as food goes, my lovely bride ordered a Bacon ,mushroom and cheese scramble, or Jumble as they call it, it was quite a pile o grub, along with a slab of crispy browns and of course the Mimosa she was mighty satisfied she was , and of course took at least half home. Now before I get to my food, I gotta tell ya, I have a very special follower to my blog, that is a retired school teacher from Wisconsin, my Aunt Jean! She says she enjoys reading of the FF"s (famished four) exploits in am dining, but is a little concerned about my health, and some of my choices as far as food goes. Well Auntie I did think of you this morning, but I just couldn't order oatmeal and fresh fruit, sorry I'll eat healthy the rest of the week I promise. So I ordered what they call Bobe's Hangover Special... Kinda of a scoreboard version of tatertot casserole, tatertots stacked with bacon and burger patties covered with country gravy, american cheese, and surfin on top of it all ,..3 fried eggamundos over medium, not exactly the diet plate Huh Aunt Jean? but boy was it good! along with the afore mentioned bloody mary and a cup or two of pretty good coffee, damn skippy!! alas no leftovers for me I 'll have to ride my bike a few more days I guess Huh? Yep Yep The Scoreboard Pub! it's not just for Friday and Saturday nights anymore, sunday breakfast at the Pub has got it goin on! So Ken and Val (Ol Hot T and Smoj) when you grace us once again with your company, we'll have to back again and again and again!!

Peso's Kitchen and Lounge

Well, Well, Well, for those of you followers who are in the know (Breakfast Blogwise that is) you might remember we tried Mexican food for breakfast before,quite a while ago, a place called Senor' Moose, and with the exception of the coffee we , the "Famished Four", didn't care much for it. Enough of the past... We went to Peso's this last sunday and it was Awsome! food and coffee, I could stop here, but thats not how We roll wit dis blog ting,so heres the recap, best as my recollection serves me. Bit of a change up this sunday, our regular foursome was minus one plus three. MSue and myself of course, Ol Hot T minus 1Smoj, (Val was at Oregon State for mothers weekend, Hope you had fun Smoj.... cuz breakfast was pretty good... we missed you tho, I'm gonna have to make something funny up since you were not in attendance) Our Good friends Tim and Kate G. with which we have supped before and a good friend of MSue's , and mine too, Brooke, sort of a work cohort of MSues. We will start with Brooke, she's young , blonde,sharp as a tack and cute as a bug, nice to to have her with us this am. Actually it was Brookes Idea to go to Peso's.... Good Job Brookalino! She ordered the Huevos Tacos, with the habanero sauce, as opposed to the ancho sauce , ( apparently she's been here before) you know the routine , scrambled huevos, andouille sausage, pico de gallo,and lime crema, along with cafe de Fonte (dam good Jo!) she seemed pretty pleased! Ol Hot T started things off with a Bloody Mary , atta boy Ken! no Smoj ,might as well drink! right? for food he had the Habanero Sausage Migas, ( Scrambled eggs with ...duh! above sausage, peppers , green onions, Habanero sauce, and all mixed up with corn chips, side of home fries el magnifico !! he said it was good , but... the portion was a little dinky, (glad I didn't order it ) . Kate G ordered the French Toast, a creme Caramel affair, which she said was delicious, they also have a stuffed French Toast.... but not for Katie this morning , oh yeh! and a side a bacon, (jealous M Sue?)(she does love her bacon) and with her petite little meal she had coffee to rinse all the sugar away. Kate's Ol Ball an Chain Tim, chose the Eggs Benedict, classic style, but with a chipotle hollandaise to make it their own, it came all amigo'd with breakfast tato's and a side of toast!, Tim I think is kinda picky, and he really liked it!. MSue picked the Dungeness Crab, Avocado and roasted corn Benedict, she was very impressed, she orders her Benedicts with scrambled eggs... but she doesn't like eggs so much, she always asks ,instead of two eggs, may I have just one egg and split it between the two muffins, most times our server will be a bit confused, not this time , she said no prob! along with plenty of Ice Tea w/lemon to make it juicy, all was good for MSue!... I of course, had the star of the Table (yes again!) I saw it on the menu, and I knew it was meant to be! Chicken Fried Steak with spicy Jalapeno-Corn Gravy! WHAT UP?, this item states it has a cult following , and I believe it! spicy, spicy , crispy and the perfect amount of greasy goodness it was freakin goooood , not huge, but it didn't matter, yep along with two Huevos over perfecto , and breakfast spudalinos, quite delish, I must say, along with Fonte Coffee,( same as Avalon), durn good brown stuff, damn fine breakfast. I dont know how long Peso's Kitchen and lounge has been there, the building was at one time Vinces, I hope it stays Peso's for a long time, it was a six thumbs up day, and we'll have to go back , just a cuz of no Val (Smoj) So we'll have a good reason to go back. You know? Sunday was really nice, great friends, great food, Beautiful day to boot! Yeppers had the top down all the way home

The Point of it all!

Hello Blogsters! This is gonna be short and sweet,as I have ,or we have ,I should say, have been to this little cafe in Browns Point Wa, a number of times,I have blogged about it twice I believe. We went there on Easter morning . We arrived about 9:00 and walked right in, not busy at all, and We all got our drink on, Ice T w/lemon for MSue,Hot T for Ol HT Ken,Oj for Val... atta girl Smoj I new you'd be back. Speaking of Val... she ordered "Jims Croissant", which is of course , said Croissant split and toasted, and piled high with scrambled eggs , cheese,ham and assorted veggies ,covered with some pretty fine Hollandaise , all partnered with some of the best browns in town(considering Browns Point isn't very big, they just might be the best!) Ol Hot T had the "Archies Omlette" ( this cafe used to be called Archies) a mostly sausage affair with all the fixins, along with those Browns , a pretty nice plate o grub!. Biscuits and Gravy was the plan for MSue, and dog gone it , It also was pretty darn tasty! I know this cuz I ate a good portion of it ! Thanks Honey! Browners on the side as well. As for Jimbo? Well I got all up in some "Eggs Benny" along with Brownsters too, it was only a half a poacher away from perfect,(1 Egg slightly over cooked) aint no thang! plus plenty of Jo , to make it all real. You know I really like this little cafe,family owned and ran, They just recently got their Liquor License, tried to talk me into a Bloody Mary, (usally not hard to do) they make their own mix! I declined . The Browns Point Diner is opened for Lunch and Dinner as well, although not late, They close at 8:00 , every other Weds they also have German Night , gotta go for that! mmmmm Wienerschnitzel... Yep once again Browns Point does not dissapoint!

Brown Bag Cafe

Hello Blogomaniacs!,remember last weeks blog?... you know... the Avalon, and I went on a bit about larger than life portions as opposed to more reasonable sized fare, well this sunday we went to the dark side, The Brown Bag Cafe, where portions are hugeormous, the waitstaff , young, but capable, and the wait to get in was about 20 minutes, not bad considering the line was out the door on our arrival at about 9:30 ish. So Ol Hot T Ken and his ball an chain gal Val (smoj) drove the FF(famished four) this morning, easy to find joint , right off 116th ne in Kirkland, yes I said Kirkland... it was my buddy Rons suggestion, drivin for grub doesn't disuade the FF's quest no sirree. Ken and I dropped the chicklets off at the door and proceeded to try and locate a spot in which to park the Hot T mobile, and after circumnavigating said P lot at least three times we did indeed find one, I gotta say tho, I felt a little sorry for the Sharis restaraunt which shares the same lot, it did not look like they were too busy. So in we go, us four, this not so little cafe is in extreme need of a interior make over, but considering the business it was doing the management probably doesn't agree. It's kinda country,farmhousy on the inside, you know old utensils hanging on the walls a Saddle in the waiting area, but I digress ,enough interior talk (totally different blog, I may start some time). Smoj (Val) ordered the Spinach ,Bacon, and Mushroom Skillet, with the above ingredients ridin high atop a slab o hashbrowns, covered with cheese ,plus toast . Oh yeh the toast,probably the funniest part of this place, its all you can eat! what all you can eat toast? who does that? Well these guys do, and and as funny as I thought AYCE toast sounds , it makes sense here, cuz all they're bread is homemade from the rye to the english muffins and its ginormous, english muffins the size of a medium saucer, bread slices the size of lunchplates and both at least an inch thick, needless to say judging by the size of the portions, no ones gonna want more toast, but it was delicous. So any way Vals breakfast was accompanied by a small cranberry juice(very funny Val) she gives me a look everytime she doesn't order oj. I'm not sure she likes her nickname... but too frikkin bad I've come to far to start changin things around now, and might I add, her skillet was giant! Ok enough Smoj coverage, on to good ol predictable Hot T Ken, he ordered the Potatoe Sausage Skillet,same kinda affair as Vals, but with sausage, you know the drill... all floating on the browns.. covered and smothered wit fromage o choice, along with Hot T ,Kenny boy was a happy dude! he had the english frisbees.. er I mean muffins with his,.. mmmm satisfactory. You've heard me talk of Joe, and why he deserves a special breakfast? dont know dont care , but he has a place on the menu here as well, yep he must be somethin that joe, anyways MSue ordered it , it consisting of burger, onions, and garlic ,eggs scrambled well done , side o salsa. along with Ice T w/ lemon to make everthing in the world right again, yep along with her wheat toast gigantico, quite the meal for my lovely bride, plus.. two days lunch, yep a bunch of food also. Me? well glad you asked! I went off the page a bit this sunday mornin, I ordered up a skillet as well, but not just any skillet, no sir it was a hot link sausage slap o grub... yep yep on top of ol taters... all covered with cheese... I got food all on me when I started to sneeze...Ok not really... but it just sort of went with the whole "On Top of Ol" theme that I had goin on, yep I had a loaf size slice of wheat toast and all the basic brown to wash it all down! I dont usually get this type of meal, you know stuff all mixed up and playin around with each other, but I like Hot lincs,so i did it! and I gotta say I received a few looks from the remainder of the FF group... Care not I did... tho my memory not bein what it used to be, last time I went off road on the Jim side of menu I was a tad disappointed, but today... eh! I'd get somethin else, if I could turn back the clock. I did not mention earlier that you can doctor up your browns with onion and cheese, if the moment should strike you , which it did not. I have to believe that the Biscuits and gravy must come in a wheelbarrow, cuz if the bread and muffins are that big the Skits must be be like hub caps. Yes folks the Brown Bag Cafe in Kirkland... will we go back? maybe. It is in Kirkland after all... and my friends thats a long way to go for all you can eat toast! buuut it is damn good toast! I think they should have a Jims Special... let me think on that one.

Avalon

You know folks? in this day of over indulgence,where eating establishments over fill and over do,where quantity trumps quality,fill em full and let em eat for 3 days after , there lyes a little Cafe in ...Yes once again ,West Seattle, by the name of Avalon. The usual suspects of the FF (Famished Four) were in attendance this AM, Ol Hot T and Smoj ,back from Vacation, met MSue and I at Avalon, roundabout 930, they dont open till 10:00, no worries, had my Coffee and listening to the Beatles on KZOK, and for some reason, the weather on the west end lately seems to be better than in the southend burbs. Avalon is located ( strangely enough) on Avalon Way just off the West Seattle freeway,bout a block up from the Luna Park Cafe, also a stop by the FF. When I was stating about the overfilling of our plates earlier, I was referring to the portions at our cafe de choice this morning. Smoj, still sipping her Latte,passed on the juice, and ordered Crab and Cod cakes Benedict, Two tiny little poachies sitting atop said Seafood cakes and a smattering of Hollandaise , ( homemade and delicious) and a scoop of Homefries, also quite good, not really a huge amount, but plenty for Smoj, although the eggs were a bit over poached I thought , she said she prefers em that way. Ol Hot T , along with hot Tea, ordered the Shortrib Hash and two egg breakfast , a bit more on his plate than Vals, but still not huge. The big chunk style hash had quite a bit of said shortribs which Ol Hot T stated were super tender and Mui delicioso, Topped with 2 eggsters over perfecto, good lookin meal for Ken , shall we say another thumbs up from that side of the table. As for MSue , she decided on the Biscuits and Chorizo Gravy with 2 eggs scrambled well done, all washed down with her usual Ice T w/ lemon(fresh brewed), they also have a mushroom gravy affair, but MSue stayed with the Pork version, and I gotta tell ya ,it was pretty spicy, maybe a bit too spicy for MSue ,but delicious just the same, and probably my choice for a return visit, as I ate a good part of hers,(no leftovers this time honey) I saw one thing on the menu and it locked me in! Duck Ham Benedict, What ? you just dont see duck on many breakfast menus, and I love me some Duck! soo there was really no other choice for Jimbo. This Benny was served on crusty toasted artisan type bread, as opposed to the usual english muffin, the bread also had a olive oil pesto vinagrette, which gave the bread alone a great flavor. The Duck was smoky and mild , quite yummers, along with the same over done poacharinas as appeared atop Vals BFast, although I prefer em runny and goopy, the The top sauce although delicious, was sparse, I coulda used a bit more, the very same scoop of Homers playin wingman on my plate completed my meal for the day. A few minor adjustments and my meal would have been perfect, as the coffee served at the Avalon is "Cafe Vietto"( I believe) and brewed perfectly. Yep Yep West Seattle seems to have it goin on as far as breakfast gos, we keep findin gems amid the bumpy streets on the West side!

Sunbreak Cafe

I wouldn't exactly say we've been ignoring this restaurant, we have ate there before ,a few years back. We have thought about going there recently,but there was always someplace else we wanted to try. MSue would say "I dont know what people see in that place" I think it might have had something to do with the long wait to get in,thats what I think any ways,and quite frankly that was about all I remember about it, after all it's been a couple o years since we've been there. At a Thomas Jefferson auction we recently attented , we purchased two gift certificates to dine at said establishment, and this sunday we decided " what the heck" lets go. Smoj (small oj) Val and ol Hot T ditched us this am, I guess they had something more important to do, I cant imagine , something like a vacation to the ocean, whatever! we were gonna eat anyways with or without those guys, although honestly this blog loses something with out that Ol Hot T Sarcasm,and oh no! Smoj ordered cranberry juice, what will I write about? So here go's The FF (famished four) reduced by half , so lets call us the Hungry half, for this sunday anyway,plus one, as my daughter Jessica graced us with her presence today. We arrived at the Sunbreak Cafe about 8:45, and WOW! got right in, thats different! where did the line that went around the joint go?Eh! who cares! we were in and seated by 8:50, not to shabby I'd say! Well same ol same ol, MSue ordered Ice T w/lemon, Apple juice for Jessica,and of course, Coffee for ol Jimmy, big surprise! Msue for breakfast ordered a Scramble with Bacon,spinach ,cheese and assorted veggies, and enough hashbrowns to make to make the plate lean to one side, she ate a little and brought home enough grub for two more meals, she kept commenting, why didn't we like this place? wow! look at all that bacon in my breakfast,mmm good! anyway she really liked it. Jessica ordered the CFS, now with The Sunbreak's Cfs,you can order a full order or a half an order,thinking ahead she orders the full slab! Well ,when her meal arrived she received 2 cfs's ridin topside over as many Browns as MSue had or more plus two eggs scrambled(well done) mm whos daughter? I gotta tell ya a hungry person could easily split this meal, and the full order was 14.50, not cheap, but really good, listen up Timmy! pretty good CFS's that is if you can get past the Monte Cristo Sandwich, they have one there that is pretty good ,if I remember correctly, it's what I ordered when last I ate there. Buuut not this time! Nopers, I ordered the Eggs Benedict, also available in a half order. Not to be fooled by gimicks. I went whole hog, so to speak. My breakfast came to the table with just as many Browns as my dates did, Now they have 2 other options for Eggs Benny, a smoked turkey affair, or Florentine, with spinach. Nah! I got me the origional, you know ,with bacon de canuck,two poached perfect egglys, and all covered with what might be the best Hollandaise I 've ever had! (watch out Chelan Cafe) all slooshed down with more hot Jo than I can remember drinking at breakfast, mind you not the best coffee,but still pretty good, I kept gettin the 3 sip fill up, the service, needless to say was exceptional, the owners and the waitstaff, johnny on the spot, I think even the cook came out to check on us, So why havent we been there in a while? dont know, cant imagine. I was wondering what happened to the huge line that we use to encounter, well it was there when we were on the way out! we apparently arrived at a good time,It did not reach out the building , but the Cafe has little partitions alla Disneyland, to handle the Gilongest of lines. Oh for Criminy sakes I forgot to mention the bread options. You have your choice of Orange Cranberry Muffins,toast of choice,or Banana bread, I went for the Nanna bread while my two companions had the Muffins, equally as good as the rest of the meal, they also sell the Banana bread for 8 bucks a loaf, pretty spendy , but also pretty darn good! So in Closing neither Myself or MSue could remember why we havent been to the Sunbreak for so long, but we do know that it was damn good, and all the fuss you' ve all read about? all true! Too bad Ol Hot and Smoj were not there to enjoy with us, maybe, if they're lucky, we will take them with us on what will undoubtably be a return visit! Yeppers the Sunbreak Cafe On Main St in Auburn, not the cheapest joint in town, but maybe one of the best!

West Seattle... Again? Charlestown Cafe

Well I"ve heard about the Charlestown Cafe from many of my Westside buddies,and again more recently from a coworker, she said she goes there quite freqently ,so not having been there, so I thought, we put it up to a vote this Sun AM and the FF's consensus was unanimous,albeit short 1 vote , you see , MSue is out of town once again,so she didn't get a say. So before I get to far along with this I gotta say "Thanks Alice" good choice. Like I stated earlier ,as to not having been there before, I was there a lot, pre 1979, when it was the Country Kitchen, so lets be fair and say alot of my 70's memories are a little fuzzy,cant imagine why? So Ol Hot T and Smoj drove this time, and we arrived about 9 ish,got right in, although a pretty good crowd was already assembled, feedbags attached! HT Ken of course ordered Hot T, Smoj had the .... yep OJ, fresh squeezed no less,and I of course my old familer cup o jo. Val (smoj) ordered the Dungeness CrabCake Benny, no english muffin on this one, a couple of nicely sized CC's topped off with some nicely poached eggsters and of course homemade hollandaise,served with homefried spuds... lets just say Smoj was a good eater today,as she had no leftovers to cart home. Hot T had the Mexican Omelette, filled with a Gorgans share of Chorizo, assorted veggies, and cheese, topped with Avocado and Sour cream, Fat as a football , this thang was, but much more appetizing, with the very same homefries flyin wingman,plus four slices of wheat toast that was about an inch thick per slice, OH how he ranted and raved over his breakfast, Alas it was too much for Ol Hot T ,as he could not complete the Eat! Not much of Patches Pal Ken, no longer a member of the clean plate club, ( I of Course have been a Member in good standing for years now) Yep, he took about half home. As for my Grub o Choice this morning, I usually go for the CFS, when first I try an establishment, thats kinda how I rate these joints is how good that particular Item is ,then on a return trip( if deemed worthy) work my way thru the Bennedicts, to the Pancakes. I gotta say I darn near ordered the Eggs Benny, cuz as Smoj was quizzing the waitress on her order ( had she ever had it yada yada yada, like she always does), the Waitress said " Our Hollandaise is Amazing" I have never heard hollandaise described as Amazing before, so I almost changed my mind... it was pretty tasty, but like I said , almost. So having talked to MSue this morn before breakfast, she had said she had the CFS where she was at for breakfast,and oddly enough, her friend had Crabcake Bennedict as well, I was a bit of a copycat and I ordered the CFS, big surprise huh? Watch out Draftchoice in Covington, are you listening Browns Point Diner? The Charlestown Cafe's CFS is as good as the both of yours and darn near as big as Daves Diner's in SeaTac . Light and Crispy, juuuust the right amount o grease and about the size of a flattened football, MM! Tastrificallicious, of course darn good gravy,and the homeys on rythym guitar with two Eggamundos over perfecto playin backup. The Coffee was basic Jo, but brewed strong enough to be quite enjoyable for Jimmy .My membership in the Patches pal Clean plate club is in jepeordy also, as I did not complete my meal. So again, thanks Alice, good choice, really good food, good service. Its enough to make a feller want to move back to the westside, what with the food choices and all , Heck what with the Chelan Cafe, and of course Easy Street, which was blogged a couple a weeks ago, Not to mention My Favorite ... Spuds ! You know what they say? Once a Westsider always a westsider , cant say that I blame em

Funkytown is not just for Fremont anymore...

I dont know who's idea it was to put a cafe in with a record store,but it totally works with "Easy Street Cafe" on the corner of Alaska and California in the Junction in West Seattle. We had guests with us today, along with the usual counterparts of the FF {Famished Four} Yep, Msue and I actually talked our daughter Jessica and her friend Carter {cute as a bug} to join us on our sojourn for breakfast fare this AM. Smoj {Val} heard about this place and has been wanting to try it,Nice one Smoj!. MSue and I along with our guests, met Ol Hot T and Smoj at the Cafe,and as there was about a half an hour wait. MSue and I walked up the block a bit, her friend Liz owns the Village Woodworks furniture store, just up the street,thought we'd stop and say hi, alas the store was not open yet, so on we walked. Not having enough coffee in me as yet,thought I'd stop and get a to go drip from Venite Coffee, just across from the Cafe,in we walked and what to my surprise? they Brew and serve "Stumptown" Coffee, Wut uppp!!! Yeppers the same lovely brew I was so taken by in Portland ,and to make it even better it was also a Cupcake Royale!, pretty spendy cup o jo there as I bought a pound of S Town plus two cupcakes for later ,23 smackers and we had'nt even had breakfast yet..., the coffee is so frikkin good... I'm just sayin. We then headed back to meet up with the rest of the Famished 4 plus 2, the table was not as yet ready , but I gotta tell ya Bloggermites,the only thing I like better than browsing through an old bookstore , is looking through old records and cd's and this place just happens to have a Cafe attached, dang , what a concept! and you can put your treasured music finds on your cafe bill , Cool Beans ay? Well I was thinkin the food better be good, so listenup, here we go! The menu at Easy Street, despite the size of the joint,(kinda small) is pretty big and it's all in a music theme, Jessica ordered the James Browns, which were hash browners topped with ham sausage , veggie links, or tofu, along with shrooms, tomatoes, red onion and sweet peppers,... Sans tomatoes and shrooms cuz she's a bit of a weirdo and doesn't care for them,and she ordered a Latte to wash it all down with , no eggs with this dish. Carter had the "Woody Guthrie" farmers omelette, a three eggster affair with shrooms, spinach , onions , sweet peppers and cheddar,with toast and browns to boot! they both said their food was mmmm good!. MSue had the "Bizkits" and Gravy along with choice o cluckerinas plus browns, and yep my friends, pretty tasty also, biscuits made in house and the gravy had chunks of pig on top, eggs scrambled well done for Msue along with her usual Ice T W/lemon, yes indeedy she was pretty pleased. Smoj, trying to throw off the Blog as she sometimes does, ordered cranberry juice, along with her order of "Cha Cha Chorizo", 3 eggs scrambled with said chorizo, onions , spinach and tomatoes, yep yeppy yep browns and toast inclusive, fantasterick she blurted out !, well not exactly, but she did like it and took bout half home. Ol Hot T, along with his name sake ordered "Bennie and the Jets"(eggs benny) and hashbrownsters as well, tho the poached cackleberrys atop were a bit over done, he said he did like his decision . And as for me you ask? well once again I stole the show! ( Frankly I like it that way) Ol Jimmy ordered up the "Horton Heat" Hash and like the name sez, it was pretty spicy, corned beef,and bacon along with onion , peppers ,hashbbrownlees and secret spices, along three eggamundos over medium ridin shotgun , mmmmmdamngood! tho the chicken babies were a bit over done, it was still the star of the table! ,yep and pretty dang good jo as well ( their own brand I think) But folks I gotta say a pretty spendy fare , as I bought three cd's as well, I think it was a little over 90 sams for the FF plus 2 and I might have browsed and spent more if we had stayed any longer. The only drawback to this lil joint was no CFS , odd I thought, but no matter it was all in all, quite delish, and we will definately make a return visit! Plus I like the fact that Ol West Seattle has put on a pretty funky face, what with all the little shops and all, plus the waitstaff had as many tattoos and piercings as any ol Fremont joint! Way to go Westside!!

Portland? Why not!

Yeh I know , It's been a couple o weeks since last I blogged,but I thought I'd hold back till Bloggworthyness overcame me !So the Famished Four hit the road for food Portland style,Saturday morning. Ol Hot T brought lists of different places to try,it was quite a collection,we were going for two and a half days,and there was probably a months worth of joints to try. Good Job Ken , you did not disappoint. We stayed at the waterfront Marriot on the river,nice! ,good job Msue!, my only job I guess was to eat... well stick with what your good at I always say! .Those of you who are familiar with how this blog works, you know how I rolls wit it all! My quest that is... to find the perfect breakfast along with the perfect cup of coffee...Well Harken all ye breakfast foodies! I done found it, yeppers all rolled into one fantabulicious, funkified piece of nirvanna called Mothers,and within walking distance of the Hotel...Wut uupp!
Feeling a little fuzzy from Saturday night, we were out walking Sunday morn, I dont really know if we were indeed headed to this place or if we stumbled across it... doesn't matter... 45 min to an hour wait outside in the cold... Totally worth it! When we finally did get in tiniest portion of this restaurant, I knew I needed more than a cup o joe, Ol Hot T and I ordered Blood Marys,Smoj ordered a Blood orange drop, MSue a Mimosa. The Blood orange drop was a kinda adult slushy with blood orange infused vodka, pretty exotic for ol smoj , but still along her comfort zone, our Bloody Marys were close to the best I've had, they infuse all their liquor to match the cocktails, mmmm! Jalapeno Vodka? who knew? Darn good anyhoo. Mothers has a pretty extensive lunch menu, things like meatloaf and chicken and dumplings, gotta go back, but the breakfast menu was smaller, little did we know. Msue and Val both ordered the Portabella Mushroom scramble,served with roasted spuddlys , mucho yummo was their replys, along with homemade bread for toast and jam, Ol Hot T Ken,ordered the chefs special scramble , Sausage, Ham, cheese and whole garlic cloves, along with the above taters, a breakfast fit for a king! he also had hot T, steeped the old fashioned way and then thru an infusior to the cup, he was pretty impressed. As for me? Give me a moment please... ... ... K it was all so encompassing, I'm feeling a bit flushed just recalling it all. You know? Ive had Biscuits and gravy at just about every place we've been too, yep some good ,some really good, but nothing really prepared me for this, Biscuits.. Homemade and perfect, Two eggs over medium and also perfect, plus these were farm fresh eggs,soooo good and firm with their yolky goodness just a oozing everywhere... Here comes the Gravy! Spicy , Sausagy,not greasy . HolyCrapalicious, also frikkin perfect, I have never had this dish in a restaurant prepared this well, I wanted to stay for lunch! It was kind of a religious experience, You know how after Thanksgiving dinner, you just sit back, maybe unbutton a bit? Yeh exactly. All this perfection would have paled a bit if the Jo was sub par, but you know what? Yep Cafe de delicious!! also probably the best brewed cup of Java I've ever had , Stumptown was the brand, should a bought some to take home,I was pretty speechless by it all, Ol Hot T and Smoj along with Msue were pretty impressed that i was that pleased with it all, Msue herself makes a mean plate of Skits and gravy, even she said as good as her meal was, after tasting mine, paled in comparison, I feel a little bad about not letting Hot T have a bite, frankly it didn't even occur to me during my masticational journey that AM, Sorry Ken, So Good but so far away, Portland ? Who knew? Although Mothers was our stop for Sunday Nosh, our Dinner the night before was almost as good! We went to Kenny and Zooks, a New York style deli with giant sandwiches, chopped liver , bagels , all that kinda stuff, MSue and I split a Reauben Sandwich, terrific corned beef ,kraut, side o horseradish, washed it down with a Hood river porter... Dang! Ken and Val also split a cold pastrami sandwich, only about 10 inches thick , man o man a real two fister mister! On Sunday evening We had Dinner at a Sister Restaurant of Mothers , called Mama Mias, Italian as you might have guessed, equally impressive, Ken had "Grandma Mary's Sunday Gravy", meatballs,chunks of Pork over Rigatoni... It looked great! He didnt' give me a bite, payback from breakfast I guess, MSue had the Gnocchi, tossed in a creamy tomato sauce bolognaise, Excellantay, Val ordered Linguini and Clam sauce, she said it was delicious. We were also joined at dinner by Ken and Vals daughter Amanda and her boyfriend Skip who drove in from OSU to have dinner with us , nice to see them! Our dear friend Patty Baker, who lives in Lake Oswego also graced us with her company, Love her to bits, always good to see her, unfortunatly Her husband Eric was ill and could not join us ,Sorry E , missed ya buddy, you missed a good dinner. So all in all, a great weekend, even got to see my nephew Brian and my niece Michelle and brand new great nephew Gabriel, born on 2/11/11. we went out to their house and visited for a bit, nice! So Portland was fun, we ate to much, but we pretty much walked it all off, I think we might have covered the whole Town on foot, ouch! Funny place tho, kinda funky, kinda artsy fartsy, really good food , really good! Learned a few things not to do, Go into a sports shop and ask where the Husky gear is , or ask why everyone wears green and yellow,Just a little wisdom I thought I'd pass on. I dont care if you are weird Portland, I'm coming back!

Ginormous Cinnamon Rolls... and...

We've been talking about visiting the Maltby Cafe for some time, I mean for cryin out loud everyones heard of it , every paper has written about it, Best Breakfast this and best breakfast that. So we the, Famished Four (FF) decided it was time. We got up earlier than usual... no really,about 7:00 am,got rollin rounda bout 8 . We set the GPS for our quest and Msue and I whisked away to pick up Smoj and Ol Hot T. Now I'd like to blame the GPS, I really would... but it took us a bit longer than expected to arrive at the Maltby Cafe,maybe it was the confusion between the difference between hwy 520 and 522,(I took 520), re calculating route , re calculating route, blah ,blah ,blah. We did arrive however late, and with the help of and old friend of mine,(havent seen him in about 10 years) Kenny McCoy, he met us there and put our name on the list. Kenny lives in Snohomish, and we talk from time to time, it was great to see him all beit for such a short time as he had a prior engagement in Bellingham, a nieces birthday, I believe. We'll get together again soon I hope. Ok about the Cafe , it is in the basement of the old Maltby Gymnasium, not really a very big place, but it sure was packed,we had a 15 to 20 minute wait, not to bad really. This Place was kinda homey, friendly staff, gift shop,yep all o that. It smelled like your moms house at breakfast time mmmm kinda bacony,cinnamony, coffee all rolled into one. We were seated and immediatly beveraged... Ol Hot T and Smoj were'nt foolin anyone, yep T and OJ for them,IceT w/lemon for Msue, and I of course had Coffee (really?) It arrived... I took a sip... oh my... it was really good ( oh man it was Starbucks) I thought well thats it.. no more searching for me, this is it, the coffee was great, and the food, by the looks of this joint was gonna be off the hook! The Maltby Cafe is famous for their Huge Cinnamon Rolls, we ordered 1 for the table, MSue and I split a quarter of that gihugent ,sweet, sticky thang. Yep pretty good it was, although driving that far for one ? not so sure. Smoj ordered the "Tuscan Scramble" kind of an italian type affair... kinda like pizza eggs, (tomatoes, sausage, onions, peppers, olives and cheese) along with it came their homemade red potatoes (awsomealicious) and 2 giant slices of toast , (Homemade also) it really looked good, she said it was, half of it went home with her, Msue followed suit, yep same thing for her but without the olives, and a side o salsa . Hot T ordered the Sausage and egg plate, which consisted of scrambled eggs, sausage patties,and Biscuits and Gravy,... Wow what a plate o grub, pretty darn good gravy I gotta say, I did sneak a taste , well he offered , lets just say he took some home as well. I along with my delicious coffee ,ordered their country style Eggs Benedict, one of their homemade biscuits split with 3 eggs (me likey) chunk o ham and all covered with hollandaise and and all snuggled up with the same red potatoes, yep pretty darn good all round fill ya up grub. Best ever? I dunno, but it was pretty good, the coffee was probably the best part though, the service was great! We all concurred we would go back,although it was quite a haul up there. we shouldnt' really complain cuz once we figured out where it was , the drive home wasn't too bad . It did have autographs of celebritys througout the place, The one of JP Patches brings it all home baby... yeh Julius Pierpont Patches ate there!!! just cuz o that I'll go back!!! pretty good coffee and JP !

Still the Best!

Well blogomaniacs , seems like I've been slacking on the ol Blog lately...according to Smoj anyway, I have not blogged on joints previously visited. Val finally read the blog and was wondering since we eat every Sunday, why then was there not some notice of noshing on certain days, well I sez...cuz, I didn't feel it necessary to repeat, you know been there done that! Well I was soundly out voted, so's, I'm gonna tell ya all about The Chelan Cafe again. Hot T and Smoj drove this time, we left a little earlier than the usual time of ninish and were on the road rounda bout 830ish. You see there was a football game on, you might remember the Seahawks, I wanted to get back home in time to watch at least part of the game. This is how breakfast works with us and normally it aint no thing, the drive to the Chelan is about 20 to 25 minutes, another 5 to ten to wait for a table at the Chelan, once seated, another 2 to 3 to order, maybe ten to 15 more for our food to arrive. once it arrives another 20 to 25 to consume it...it was gonna be close, another 5 to look at the bill, you know debit or cash, how much tip etc. As you can see we've already missed the kickoff, but I forgot the most important part, the time M-sue and Smoj take to yak! or as they say visit, please, they've known each other for years! but...yak they do for at least 15 minutes, what cha gonna do? what can you do? it is what it is. We did however get food, maybe I should tell you about that. We got right in, no waiting, odd...there was a GAME on afterall, M-sue had Bacon and Eggs scrambledwelldonesideosalsa, yes its one word, plus a side of Biscuits and some of the best sausage gravy in town and Ice T w/lemon mmmmm good! Smoj ordered Chef Eddy's special, consiting of two delicious hotcakes ,1 egg how you like, plus meat o choice (Ham), OJ naturally to wash it all down, she scarrfed it all, she did...wonderful meal she exclaimed! Ol Hot T had the BBIT (best breakfast in town) cute huh? a scramble consisting of most of the meats on the menu, plus onions, peppers, cheese and browns all mixed up, plus toast and of course Hot Tea to finish it off. As for me, well I had my Hangover breakfast, although no hangover was involved, yep Country Benedict for me! Two Biscuits, two slabs of patty sausage, two scrambled eggsters.....wait for it..... and all covered with that same sausage gravy, plus browns baby! although I should add, it comes with Country gravy, the sausage gravy is a buck 90 xtra, Hell yeh! its that good, all swilled down with average jo, but plenty of it! So Smoj! I did it, I wrote about it again, not that your gonna read it any time soon. The Chelan is close to the best around, It's a Famished Four Fav(FFF) It should be a stop for everyone who enjoys a good breakfast at a decent price. We will go back, oh yes we will, buuutt.......I wont get so wordy next time.

Best of the Blog!

I guess we've ate at enough places, Ive drank at least 30 gallons of so-so Jo,so I spose its time to let all the faithful followers of the Famished Fours Sunday feedings, you know ,what we liked ,didn't like... Yada Yada! To be perfectly honest, I dont think any place that we have been was awful... just some were not up to our expectations, so heres some of what we thought were the highs, and a few of the lows. First off,all four of us like these joints just cuz the food is good,the coffee at the top four places never really got above ok... but the grub is so good... Any way here goes, Topping off the list... Numero uno.. has got to be The Chelan Cafe! for the plain reason we've gone there more than any other place, thats got to say something,yes the food is great, not huge portions, but enough. The service is excellant, they make a decent blood mary and its fairly easy to get to. In my opinion they have the best pancakes, but all the grub is good, and my recommendation for the best "hangover breakfast" Their Country Benedict.. English muffins topped with sausage patties.then scrambled eggs all topped with their sausage gravy mmmm.. mm! Number 2, 3 and 4 in line I gotta say are all tied for 2nd place really, for different reasons we all like these places. Pete's Egg Nest in Greenwood, great food .. A Big selection of Benedicts, and a different Scramble to please even the most pickiest of eaters..{Smoj} They definately are in the running for the most food on a plate award, their staffed by what appears to be family who care about their food and service, and your dining experience, the only draw back to Petes for me is that its in Greenwood and I dont always like to drive that far, but when we do it always seems worth it!Browns Point Diner could be in the running with the Chelan, BPD is Pretty basic ,with the exception of an outstanding Monte Cristo San, my frikkin goodness its good, and in my humble opinion might just be the best Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs Benny around. The Bay Cafe at Fishermans Terminal is a bit of a drive but well worth the fuel in my opinion for the plain simple reason They have Oysters for breakfast,Man what a concept. The Bay Cafe is staffed by what I would call the best of the best as far as service goes, coffee and Tea .. never empty Ice T refills.. never have to ask! and quite possibly the best hashbrowns ever! So those are the Restaurants we like the best... but there are some others who put out a fair feedbag in their own right Individual Fare kinda goes like this.. Since I am the only coffee drinker in the bunch {weird huh?} Numerus Unus has gotta Be Senor Moose in Ballard, Great Jo might be worth it to me to go back just fot the Coffee, food by wide concensus of the FF not so much. Number 2 Jo was Glos on Capital Hill, Pegasus was the brand I believe, food was weird, coffee great! everyone else tied for third thus my opinion that most people when they're eating dont care about the coffee as long as its hot and plentiful. The most Disappointing ,and I think this was unanimous, The Portage Bay Cafe {Ballard Locale} for the reason that everything that I had heard from friends and from reviews was that this was place to go! Long Waits and so so food doesn't cut it, even the organic ketchup sucked! honorable mentions gotta go to Draftchoices in Covington, their CFS is outsanding and their hoemestyle taters Scrumdidly! Voula's Offshore Cafe { Went there today}Their Scrambles and Hobos are so big and good that MSue gets two lunches out of em everytime I again had the Big Voula, which consisted of a plate of very good browns topped with 3 eggasauruses over perfect ,2 bacon, 2 greek sausage mmm , good burpin later!! Another place that needs to be mentioned is Dixies in Sumner! Good food ? Yes! Great Sausage gravy, and their Dads Potatoes, well you just gotta have those, sliced like Cottage fried, but cooked like frenchfries, Darn Tasty! its loud in there but the food is good , also family run, which seems to be a good thing . Best view has gotta be Lowells at the Pike Place Market, food is good, a little spendy, they also have oysters {Hangtown Fry} Dungeness Crab Benny and a darn fine Blood Mary or Caesar {clamato} So I guess that bout wraps it up, Will I Blog again? Yeppers I will!, the format may change a bit , maybe some pics or illustrations ,I do skip a week here or there but since we go to some of our favs multiple times and Quite franky MSue and Smoj dont vary much in what they order, I figured why? But Smoj thinks there should be some record de chew... so I shall comply. 2011 should be fun There are a lot of Cafes and Diners we have yet to try, and there is lot Jo De Blah I have yet to swill, and who knows maybe I'll find that magic place , where great coffee and great food coexist ....I'll keep Looking