Catfish for breakfast?

In probably what used to be the most notorious part of Tacoma is a tiny cafe called the "Southern Kitchen" Yep, just passed the "Welcome to Hilltop" sign at the intersection of 6th and Sprague sits this place and apparently the Food Network has visited here as well as some of the other joints we've been to. Well just like the name states its full of southy type food, they have Liver and onions for breakfast two eggs and browns to boot,none of us ordered it ,Heck no! but I thought I'd bring it up.Msue had CFS, the meat had grilled onions on top and then topped with pretty good gravy,she had of course, eggs scrambled "well done"side o salsa.. Ice T w/lemon, I bet I could order for her at any place, she doesn't steer to clear of her favs!Buuut no salsa, she was a bit perplexed as to why no salsa, but we assume that in the south where there's hot sauce aplenty, no salsa. too mexican I guess., but the Ice T came in a quart jar, unsweetened for her of course. They have plenty of sweet tea versions however, strawberry, peach, as well as lemonade all topped with whipped cream! They like things sweet down south!SMOJ Val ordered French toast,two eggs scrambled,chunk o ham, and had H2O instead of her small oj, Weird huh? quite frankly she didn't much care for her meal, the eggs were dry, the ham was kinda sweet and spicy, it just wasn't smoj's day . HTK of course started with Hot T and ordered a Hot link sausage and cheddar omlette,{Which was gonna be my choice} with browns and toast,{no rye bread sorry Ken}, it looked like about a six egg affair,plenty big, but not much kick from the hot links, Ken exclaimed! I thought well as long as I'm in the South, yeh ok South Tacoma, might as well try to fit in,so I ordered Catfish and Eggs Y'all , and I gotta tell ya, I liked it! the fish was light and crispy, the eggs were over medium perfect and what browns I got were pretty good{not real generous with the taters} I should have just gone all South on em and ordered me up some grits, cuz at the Southern Kitchen they come with everything , oh well maybe next time, If there is indeed a next time, My meal was pretty good, the other members of theFF, were not to impressed hugely. The coffee here was not that good ,really just basic cafe type , not great, but not too good either... get my drift? I dont know what it is bout restaurants and their Jo, but I can only assume when you pour that much in a day maybe its too spendy to buy quality... this is one of those times when I guess most people like this type of swill so "quantity over quality"wins out. Will we go back ? Yeh I might , gotta try the Grits! tune in next week boys and girls, and see where the "Famished Four " strike next, might try the Hobnobber Bar, cross from Wright Park , we ate there a long time ago and I think it was pretty good. other places in our site are The Maltby Cafe, maybe Beths,I wonder what Beths food taste like when your not hungover and 21, which was probably the last time I was there! All I know is were gonna go somewhere, and lotsa times we dont know till sunday morn!

Pete's Egg Nest

Yes I realize I've skipped a week, we did have breakfast last week at the Chelan... nuff said! My little darlin Wobes is back from San Francisco and she wanted to go to the Chelan and generally speaking , what little darlin wants, well you know the rest.Soo with Wobes sleeping after a night of whatever with her homies, MSue and I along with HTK {Hot t Ken} and SOJ {Val} off we went to Pete's Egg Nest in Greenwood, Between 65th and 80th on Greenwood ave in north Seattle. The review said to get there early {usually a wait} and parking was questionable. Shoot Son.. HTK dropped the chickies right in front and found a spot to park right across the street, the girls got us a table, and in we walked., Lucky,I've probably been in noisier cafes before, but I dont know when, But I soon realized it was the sound of happy people gettin their grub on! The Decor of this little joint consists of Photos of Greece and Photos of Family. Last week I told Y'all about Voulas,well like Voulas , Petes Egg nest as well as Petes employees, appear to be of Greek descent, that being said, I gotta go to Greece , that is if they eat like this all the time, Criminy! what a pile o food! They have a pretty big menu at Petes and it was hard to make a descision, but we did, and all in all the right one! Msue had the Farmers Scramble, a wheelbarrow full of food ! Eggs, Veggies smothered with Cheddar on top of probably the best Browns ever!! wonderful! MSue exclaimed , but she would have preferred the browns not covered up, all washed down with plenty of Ice T w/lemon, Val had the "California" Scramble, shrooms , avocados and plenty of other veggies... and topped with sour cream.. maan! but I dont think hers was on top of her browns, oh well! As per her usual vitamin C fix, Small OJ did not dissapoint . HTK of course, had his usual English breakfast T, {So British of him!} His choice for food was a Special Benny! It came with andouille sausage , spinach and shrooms with 3 poachers and covered in hollendaise, plus a slab o crispy browns, Holy Mackerel! it looked delish! He said it was , and claimed the browns were the best ever! Well as far as mine went , I usually go for CFS when I go to a new place, So's I can compare how they rate with others I've had.Pete's did not dissapoint no no no , crispy, hot and covered with pretty damn good sausage gravy, a brick size slab of freakin awsome browns, plus 3, yes I said 3, perfectly over medium eggsters!... me likey? Yeppers I did, oh yeh and it came with biscuits and gravy on the side, Wut uuupp! Next time we go there, oh yes there will be a next time! I will order differantly, only because the menu is big, and I had my eyes on a greek sausage and egg thing I gotta try! My only disappointment was the coffee, the service was friendly and the coffee was constantly full, but it was full of Farmers coffee .. not good jo, but hot. Luckily for me around the corner was a little coffee place called Mikalas, Super good drip jo! also in a real mug if you drink it there! much like Fremont Roasters, that I went on and on about in a previous blog. Msue and Val each had a small Chai T, of which they said was fantasmic! I'm thinking of moving up north just for the coffee! So , Did we like Pete's Egg Nest? Yes we did! Will we go back? Yes we will! But there are so many places to try still, although if they ever got in cahoots with the coffee shop around the corner , there may never be a reason to eat anywhere else! Pete's is goin down as a FFF {Famished Four Fav}

Voulas off shore Cafe!

Well I realize that a week has gone by and no Blog, Last week was Mothers Day, and we did go out for breakfast, but we went to the market and while at the market, we dined at Lowells. There were a few things about Mothers Day at the market I should mention. Ok first thing it was sunny, a beautiful spring day in Seattle! Which in my opinion is a reason to not go to the market as well as a reason to be at the market. So many people, no place to park, yada, yada yada. It was however not Fathers Day, so thats where we went. It was good as usual but having blogged about this joint before ,I wont get too deeply into it, but I will say one thing about it. Ken and I dropped off Msue and Val right in front so they could get us a table, we then sped off to park somewhere, We ended up about a half a mile away. The girls informed us that Lowells would not seat them until Ken and I arrived, we would have had a nice window table looking out at the water ,but nooo!, not till the men showed up. They dropped a few notches in my opinion! Oh well, enough about that, today we went to Voula's off shore Cafe . You say Voula's ?, where the hell is Voula's? it's right next door to the Northlake Tavern, home to the famous Northlake Pizza! Everyone in Seattle seems to know about the pizza joint ,but Voula's doesn't ring a bell to a lot of folks,unless of course you live in the U district. It seems a lot of u dubbers like this joint and I understand why! Like I said right on Northlake ave under the Freeway is where you will find this little cafe, and most days Voula herself will seat you! It was featured on Diner's Drive ins, and Dives on the Food Network. We've been there a couple of times and I believe it will become one of Famished Fours Favs {FFF} The portions here are huge, you will either take some home, or you will not eat the rest of the day! Most people that dine here are regulars, they walk in and are greeted by name, sit in their usual seat and sometimes get up and pour their own coffee! at which time Voula will yell at them and ask if they need a job? So Msue always orders the same thing, A Greek Hobo! which is hashbrowns,eggs, onions, peppers and greek sausages all mixed up and covered with Feta cheese! A giant plate o grub,and it is pretty darned good ! They have a regular Hobo as well, reg sausage, cheddar cheese, and still ginormous! Small oj Val had the exact as Msue{makes commenting on this rather simple} they both brought most of it home, to which Voula replied " you didn't finish?,you must wash dishes! Hot T Ken ordered the regular Hobo, to which the waitress talked him out of. She told him the special was what he should get, he could order the Hobo any time. The special was called El Diablo,their version of Huevos Rancheros. Totillas and beans with onions and peppers and jalapenos all topped with a couple of fried cackleberries served over Voulas famous browns,El Plato Gigantico! Ol Hot T said, "best he ever had! It looked awsome! I was going to order the "Big Voula" which is three eggs, Two thick slices o bacon, two slices of greek sausage on top of a huge plate of what are darn near the best browns ever! The hasbrowns cover the entire plate and everything else sits on top! Man what a feed! . That is however not what I ordered, I ordered "Billys Biscuits" Plate of said Browns, topped with two biscuits covered with Sausage gravy,{good enough to eat by it self} and two eggs over medium, as is my will! and enough Hot jo to float a boat ,Holy Mackerel! Strap on the feed bag and put on your Thanksgiving Turky pants, cuz yer gonna need em! not just lotsa food, but lotsa really good food! Highly recommended by the Famished Four, soon to be a FFF! oh yeh , average coffee!

Pike Place for Breakfast mmm good!

I know what your thinking, Hey it's Monday and no breakfast blog! Not so fast my faithfull blogamites, all two of you!Yessereebob, I'm changing it up a bit... but not sos you'd notice it, so let me splain,K? This Sunday I'm not going to blog about! What? but I am going to write a bit about saturday. On sunday {ok I'll write a little} Small oj Val was not in attendance, but hot T Ken stepped up to the plate and we whisked him up and went to The Chelan! yes the Chelan, but having raved on about it in Blogs past, I will for go going on and on about how good it was!, which it was...but I digress..ok, ok, sausage benny for me, special scramble for Msue , regular benny for HTK yeh yeh yeh yum yum yum! So saturday. Msue and I went down to the Pike Place market, you know typical chicky stuff, flowers , pictures, holding hands ... ok not so much on the last part but it was nice, just the two of us, and the two of us had to eat, right? correct amundo bloggers and bloggerinas . Well it was a toss up, Lowells or Ettas, we were buying flowers so we were closer to Lowells.....Lowells it was. We've eaten there before and its always been good, spendy, but good, Msue always gets the Dungeness Crab Benny and she raves about how good it is! Ive in the past, had the Corned Beef Hash{homemade} really good! I've also had the hangtown fry Yep Oysters there too! ,also most yummy.. , But today was different, I dont know if it was my chick side coming out or what, but we split a seafood omelette, yes we split one, {I never split} It had crab and shrimp and halibut, with a hollendaise over it all, crispy browns cooked in butter obviously, and all very good, I like Lowells, you can sit and look out at the Sound or you can sit in the bar and look down at the Market, either way it works. The Coffee? it's ok.. lucky for me while in the market area you can hit any number of Starbucks, all within a limpwristed softball pitch away. No Mini Donuts for me this time, but there's always a next time for Pike Place!

Oysters again! uh huh!

Well I told you we'd go back to the Bay Cafe in Ballard, and today we did just that!,I mean they have oysters, what more do I have to say. Not only is the food at the Bay terrific, the service at this not so little cafe is beyond compare, Coffee ? always full, Ice T? ditto!if they're not fillin something or bringin something, they're tryin to.Even if the food sucked,I might go there anyways just to be served by the pros at the Bay!Sooo food wise, it was a four way Benedict love fest for the starving four, Small OJ snuggled up with Val,and Hot T got personal with Ken, Yep Ice T for Msue and Juppa Coe for me, as is my use. Msue and Val both had Seafood benny,cept for Msue had hers with eggs scrambled well done. All the Bennys come with crispy browns and fresh fruit ,delishariffic! Ken had Sausage Benny, also quite tasty!.. Me ? Weell I gotta say, OYSTER BENEDICT! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. Four of the crispy little shellfish, resting on a bed o spinach on top of an english muffin, poached eggs, hollendaise.. oh my, I need to rest a bit ... Ok I'm better now... It was just all so oystery! plus browns and fruit,Holy Mackerel! it was good. Soo Service? excellant, Food ? beyond that, Coffee ? dont care, the food is that good! Third trip to the Bay Cafe ? Hell yeh! they have an Oyster Omlette!

Browns Point Diner

Not to sound redundent, but yeperdoodle, it's sunday again,and what that means , for me anyway is breakfast. That familiar gastro pang that wont go away or be satisfied until properly addressed! Sooo today the victim of our ravenous assault is the Browns Point Diner. Tucked in to a little strip mall sort of thing ,along with a cleaners, a pizza joint and a Ace hardware sits a little cafe on the corner that the "feeding frenzied four" have been to a number of times, we just haven't really been there since we've been taking notes. Today, semi solo once again,Msue's out of town again,yes again...and I'm still hungry ! Sooo Ken and Val picked me up and away we went. You wouldn't know this place was there unless you lived in Browns Point, not exactly on the way to anywhere in particular,It doesn't seem to be very busy on sunday morning, which for us works out good, and I gotta feelin the Brointanites{people that live there} like it that way. This place is right on marine view drive or 509 so it's easy to find , it just takes a bit to get there,But lemme tell you, its well worth the drive! They have a complete menu, from b-fast to dinner,we have only sampled their breakfast fare so far, but by the way its gone, lunch or dinner there doesn't seem out of the question.Of course hot tea had Ken, and small oj had its way with Val, Yep , yep,yep, hot jo for me as always ,and pretty good brown stuff it was! Val had the Pancake breakfast, Two cakes ,two eggs, choice o meat {bacon was the victim here} excellamundo! she exclaimed !, well she really didn't say those exact words but I know what she meant,As for HTK {hot t Ken} he had the waffle breakfast, 1 cute little waffle ,two eggs and meat du jour {sausage I believe} As was with Vals ,damn good! I feel obligated when the little woman is not in attendance to have CFS, I guess I miss her ,cept I dont go for that eggs scrambled well done nonsense,I likes me eggs fried I do, over medium please. The BPD's CFS is off the hook! my dizzle, crispy and well cooked ,sausage gravy not too salty, and cripsy{yes I said cripsy} browns plus toast of choice, plus pretty good coffee. I've had other items at this place as well , their Eggs Benny is awful.. awful darn good, great hollandaise, MSue's usual ,a scramble of sorts is always to her liking, and you know that guy Joe? he's got a special there as well, but the real standout item on their menu, for me anyways is their Monte Cristo Sandwich,oh my frikkin gosh !is it good ! Ham, turkey, swiss cheese, pineapple dipped in egg batter and fried up mmm mmm wow! not exactly diet friendly,but hey if thats what you want , they have that as well , its called the Old Mans breakfast, 1 egg ,2 links, browns and toast {silly isn't it} for about 5 bucks, tho not bad for an old man. So Iv'e tried to find something I didn't like at this cafe ,but I dont think they have it!..... Msues out of town.... maybe dinner? naw it's probably great too! Browns Point Diner , along with some of the views,well worth the trip baby!

Portage Bay Cafe

Well today Blog followers there was the four of us together again,MSue is back from her business trip and last week was Easter of course. I spose I could've blogged about my Sister in laws brunch spread but you all would have been bored senseless about me carrying on about how good and perfect it was and always is when at MSues sisters house, so that stated on with our sunday trip to Ballard. We chose the Ballard locale of the Portage Bay Cafe today for no particular reason, I guess I wanted to drive to Ballard, must be my Norwegian heritage, there are two other locations for this well touted cafe, south Lake Union on Terry ave. and in the U district on Roosevelt. Ya sure you betcha!, we went to Ballard. It was a busy place and we had about a half hour wait till we were seated at a nice little window table slightly below street level, so we had a nice mid shin view of people walking by at the end of Market St. by the Locks. The Ballard cafe is also organic as opposed to the other locales so they have some selections of that persuasion as well as some gluten free items. That sort of thing doesn't sell me one way or the other, but it seems to work for most of the Ballard types cuz the joint was packed! Ok enough with prelims, what about the frikkin food! Well I'll tell you... they have quite the menu at Portage Bay and I after some thought, decided on "Corn cake Benedict". It was two corn cakes with ham and onions topped with poached eggs with a gruyere cheese sauce,as opposed to a hollandaise and pretty good roasted taters, I dont know why I change things up like I sometimes do, but it sounded kinda good, and it was , Kinda good. not overly hot, one egg was slightly under done and one was slightly over done so I guess it was a wash. The coffee however was excellant, so my meal by the virtue of the quality of the jo was a solid 7 or high 6. MSue order the Cafe Scramble well done, side o salsa , side o bacon, Ice Tea with lemon. It also came with the roasted potatoes and one slice of toast ,and with the homemade jam [raspberry I think] it looked pretty darn good, she said it was really good and took about half home. Val ordered a omlette as a scramble also pretty much what Msue ordered, cept she had of course a small oj, bout a quart of juice , big small there I'd say! she also thought it was pretty good. Ken ordered Apple Walnut Pancakes, which looked good, but he didn't really care for it. They have a toppings bar for the pancakes and the french toast, which I thought was kinda neat, lotsa fruit, whipped cream , sryups and nuts... very popular.Good ol Ken changed it up for breakfast beverage,he ordered decaff coffee! What? I know he likes to live on the edge sometimes! The French toast looked yumtastic, big ol pile of food that you could doctor up to your hearts content, Which I think if a second trip occurs might just be for me! I didn't think that there would be a difference in regular ketchup and organic... but Annies is no Heinz, weird huh? All in all, not bad , kinda spendy , the bill was about 70 bucks before tip for the four of us, We all decided we'd maybe try it again at a differant location , After all Ballard's a bit of a haul for a high 6 rated breakfast!