Mabel Coffee – Ballard
Description on Mabel’s website : The coffee shop is named after founder Brooke McCurdy’s Great Aunt Mabel; a remarkable woman who blazed her own storied trail her whole life. The tiny coffee shop celebrates Mabel’s spirit of adventure with tasty local fare ready to go for its customers, and delicious coffee drinks for their road less traveled, whether off to work, or a stroll around the surrounding quiet residential streets.
Address: 7001 24th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98117
Music Playing: One Love by Bob Marley on a record player
What we ate/drank: Macchiato
Comments: We’ve passed by Mabel Coffee a few times and always thought it was a small little cafe with only a few seats due to their small store front. Little did we know that it’s actually a very big place and probably one of the better coffee shops for large groups to gather. It probably has a chance of cracking our list of Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Groups.
When entering Mabel Coffee, you’ll notice a travel theme with map covered tables, postcards lining the counter, a community travel journal, the menu appearing on an Interstate symbol and the Mabel Coffee logo that includes a traveling RV. This area is rather small with seating for maybe 10 people max. They have some pastries from Macrina and Flying Apron and your normal coffee drinks.
The one thing that sets Mabel Coffee apart from the rest of the Seattle coffee shops is that they serve Bulletproof Coffee with Brain Octane and Grass Fed Butter. The only other places I know of that serve Bulletproof is of course Bulletproof Coffee in South Lake Union and the cafes in Whole Food Markets. If you’ve not heard of Bulletproof you can read more about it here. In short, it’s supposed to suppress hunger, provide mental clarity and provide a more steady lasting energy than regular coffee. I first heard about it from Tim Ferriss about 4 years ago and it always intrigued me. I do get a Bulletproof Coffee every once in awhile and there’s some controversy on whether or not it’s just a placebo, but I’ve got to admit, I do feel my mind is more clear whenever I drink it. Mabel Coffee provides another option if I ever want Bulletproof Coffee.
You can add Mabel Coffee to the long list of Seattle coffee shops that spin records on an old fashioned turntable. I know Convoy Coffee, Slate Coffee Roasters, Porchlight Coffee and Analog Coffee have record players and you also have Victrola Coffee Roasters that has the phonograph as its logo.
Once you’ve obtained your drink, you can go through the door way and it opens up into a massive room full of a mish mosh of tables and chairs. The space reminds me of my old class rooms from grammar school. There’s a small kids area and the biggest community board I’ve ever seen. There’s also another separate room that can be reserved.
Mabel Coffee definitely has a community feel to it – the community travel journal, the large community board, the unpretentious nature of their mish mosh of tables and seatings, the availability to rent a room, doggy treats, dedicated kids area. It’s definitely been added to our list of coffee places we intend to frequent.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: They serve Bulletproof Coffee, space is great for large groups and you can rent a small room in the back
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.25
Overall: 4.65
Eavesdropping Convo: A guy(G1) was showing another guy(G2) the separate room available for reserving in the back.
G1 – This is the room I was telling you about. I think it’s reserved for a church group on Wednesdays, but we can reserve and go over our business plan.
G2 – G2 looks inside. Oh, wow. This is great. It’s bright and we can have some privacy and good coffee to boot.
G1- No doubt. I don’t think anybody knows about this place.
G2 – How did you find out about it?
G1 – Remember my buddy, Greg? He said he and his boys used it to play Catan here for a few hours last weekend.
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
- Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
- Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
- See what a 25 year old from Finland thought of Seattle
Viretta Park (aka Kurt Cobain Park) + Feud with Howard Schultz and Obama visit
Neighborhood/Type: Denny Blaine
Address: 151 Lake Washington Blvd E, Seattle, WA 98112
Just like our Green Lake Park blog post, the more we delved into Viretta Park’s history, the more interesting it became. Viretta Park was named after the daughter-in-law of Seattle pioneer, Arthur Denny.
- Kurt Cobain
1994 is when Viretta Park was really put on the map because the park sits right next to Kurt Cobain(lead singer of Nirvana) and Courtney Love(lead singer of Hole)’s former house. They moved into this house in January of 1994. According to Zillow the house sold for $1,485,000. The home was built in 1901 and although you can’t see the house from the street on Lake Washington Blvd, you can see the top floor from Viretta Park.
Unfortunately, Kurt Cobain took his own life while in the house on April 8, 1994. The last place he was seen alive was Linda’s Tavern in Capitol Hill. Once word spread of his death, grieving fans gathered at Viretta Park for an impromptu vigil. There’s a bench located right next to the house, that mourners left messages and mementos on.
Most visitors to the park today, don’t realize that the original bench was removed put up for auction and appears to have been sold for $1500. The replacement benches which visitors continue to write on is located on the same exact spot as the original.
Aftermath: Kurt Cobain took his life in the gardener’s house on the premises. Courtney Love ended up tearing it down. She also had the City of Seattle remove a tree in Viretta Park because people would climb it to get a glimpse of the property. In 1997 the house was sold. According to Zillow’s records the house was sold for $289,500, which I find hard to believe because the house is now estimated to be worth over $7 million dollars!
There’s also been talk of putting a Kurt Cobain memorial in the park, which has been opposed by the neighbors residing there and the Parks Chief.
NOTE: I did a little more research and found the data on Zillow is incorrect. It was sold for $2,895,000, not $289,500. Still a pretty good appreciation-over $4 million!
- Howard Schultz vs Viretta Park
Prior to Kurt Cobain’s suicide, Viretta Park was best known for the feud between Howard Schultz(Starbucks founder and former CEO / former Seattle Supersonics Owner) and his neighbors and the Seattle Parks And Recreation Department.
According to this article in the Seattle Times, in 1991 the Schultz’s purchased their home directly south of Viretta Park. The property had no access to the street, so a legal deal was struck to build access to the property through Viretta Park. Even though the access was obtained legally many years before, there was an outcry due to the driveway through the Viretta Park being landscaped in such as way that the it appeared more to be an entrance to the property than to the park. The Viretta Park Meeting to discuss the issue seems to have gotten pretty heated according to the Seattle Times article:
Take, for instance, the experience that Shirley Feliciano cited. The Madison Park resident recalled that on Sunday she and a friend parked their car in the driveway and were accosted by the Schultzes, telling her in angry tones to move her car.
“They were ballistic,” she said after the meeting. “They didn’t need to get out (of the driveway). They just wanted me out because they wanted me out. That (public) property was theirs.”
But then there’s the experience of the Schultzes. For them, hate mail and anonymous phone calls have become commonplace.
The Schultzs were actually sued for infringing on park land along with the estate of the Cobains, who were located on the opposite end of Viretta Park.
In 1997 Washington State Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Schultzes and Cobains and both parties sold their properties shortly thereafter. Although the Schultzes won the right to keep the driveway as is, they did modify the landscaping to try to appears the neighborhood group.
- Barack Obama
Admittedly this is a stretch for Obama and Viretta Park, but this article did include this gem that Barack Obama lived is Seattle for a short period of time, which we were unaware of.
The President Comes Calling: On May 9, 2012, crowds of people, TV cameras, and reporters filled Viretta Park to watch the motorcade of SUVs, police motorcycles, a fire truck, and ambulance that accompanied President Barack Obama (b. 1961) and his staff as it passed on Lake Washington Boulevard before entering the driveway of a private home across the street from the park. Bruce and Anne Blume were hosting the president at a $35,000 per couple fundraising event in their waterfront home.
It’s interesting that this small little park has a history with two of Seattle’s more popular residents, Kurt Cobain and Howard Schultz. Nirvana was such a game-changer during the early 90’s that Kurt Cobain’s popularity still lives on. Chalk it up to morbid curiosity or paying respects in a small way, but Viretta Park offers an unusual visit to a pop culture phenomenon.
We had a lot of fun researching the Viretta Park history. Hopefully, you’ve learned something new.
Related Posts:
- Green Lake Park Secrets- Murder, Crocodiles, Led Zeppelin, Ted Bundy, Secret Skateparks?
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
- Best Seattle Bars For Each Stage of Dating
Porkchop & Co.
Recommended by: The person making coffee drinks and cashier at The Fat Hen suggested another popular brunch place nearby in Ballard, Porkchop & Co. We’d been to Porkchop & Co. before, but it was a good reminder to revisit.
Description on the Porkchop & Co.’s website: Porkchop & Co. is a New American restaurant located in the heart of Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. We make casual and creative food from scratch using seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. We smoke, cure, pickle and preserve everything in house – utilizing the full, rich and varied American arsenal – from longer-standing traditional fare to contemporary techniques.
Neighborhood/Type: Ballard
Address: 6201 15th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107
What we ate/drank: Croque Madame, Steak & Kimchi Hash, Coffee
Much like many of the coffee shops and restaurants around Ballard on Sundays your experience will be very different if you happen to come on this day due to the Ballard Farmers Market. Porkchop & Co. is likely to be packed with a lengthy wait on Sundays, so our advise is to visit during the weekdays if possible. And luckily Porkchop & Co. does serve breakfast during the week unlike many Seattle restaurants that only serve breakfast on the weekends.
Porkchop & Co. is a bit on the casual side which is perfect for breakfast/lunch. There’s no table service. You just order at the counter, find a seat and they’ll bring out your food to you. There’s a bottle of water and glasses at each table, so you don’t have to ask or wait for that. Even the drip coffee is self serve. Although there isn’t your traditional table service, somebody came around to check in on us regularly to see how things tasted and if we needed anything else.
The space is bright and their front windows can be opened when the weather is nice, which is a nice touch for semi-al fresco eating. The main focal point is Porkchop & Co’s extensive library of cookbooks displayed on their walled book shelf.
Looking at their menu you’ll see a wide variety of foods from French inspired(Croque Madame, Foie Gras Stuffed French Toast), Medeiterranean(Shaksouka), Asia(Steak & Kimchi Hash) and some American(Scrambles). They not only serve breakfast dishes, but also sandwiches if you want an early lunch instead. They close everyday at 3:00pm, so no dinner. They also serve cocktails, wine and beer along with your normal non-alcoholic drinks such as coffee, sodas and juices.
One thing to take note of is that they smoke, cure, pickle and preserve everything in house, so you won’t get these flavors anywhere else. On this particular visit we have the Croque Madame – Brioche toast topped with Tails & Trotters ham, roasted kale, gruyere, house cheese sauce, & a sunny Stokesberry egg. Along with a chicken fried steak, my favorite breakfast dish is the Croque Madame. Porkchop & Co.’s variation has a cheese sauce that you don’t normally see on a Croque Madame. It’s doesn’t overpower like you’d suspect and compliments well with the other ingredients.
The other dish was the Steak & Kimchi Hash -House kimchi, potatoes, cauliflower, Painted Hills beef chunks, and a sunny Stokesberry Farm egg. The kimchi by itself was a little over powering, but eaten with the steak, potato or cauliflower, it provides a good balance of flavor.
On previous visits we’ve had the Pork Belly Hash, the Porchetta Benedict and Frank’s Scramble(eggs, asparagus, cheese kale, mama lil’s peppers and a bagel) and all are delicious.
Porkchop & Co. is a great place where you can bring out-of-towners and know they’ve never had any of these dishes before since the dishes are inventive and everything is made in house from locally sourced ingredients.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.75
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Not a server, but a customer eating next to us made small talk and mentioned The Hi Life down the street is another great option for brunches and is bigger so there’s less of a wait. We’ll check it out.
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Hub Coffee
Description on Lighthouse Roaster’s website : One of Seattle’s original roaster cafes, Lighthouse has spent more than twenty years creating a loyal following of coffee lovers by treating the coffee buying, roasting and drink-making as a noble callin
Description on Hub Coffee’s website : A modern coffeehouse in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. We serve small batch local coffee, artisan baked goods, and Rishi premium teas.
Address:2821 Thorndyke Ave W, Seattle, WA 98199
Music Playing: Fat Freddy’s Drop by Ernie
What we ate/drank: Cortado
Comments: We don’t venture out to Magnolia much, but our former next door neighbors made the move out there last year, so we’ve been there quite often for visits lately. When it comes to coffee shops, it’s slim pickings in Magnolia. We don’t want to go as far as to say Hub Coffee is the de facto quality coffee shop in Magnolia, but it’s close.
It’s located on a very nondescript street-Thorndyke, so blink and you’ll miss it.
Hub Coffee has a very minimalist decor with white walls, a few black and white photos and concrete floors. The store front faces Southeast, so tons of natural light pours into the space. The configuration and style reminds us of Revolutions Coffee.
There’s a couple seats outside the front door, a few separate tables and a bench that runs the length of the space. There’s also some stools that look out on Thorndyke Ave.
Had the Cortado, but no food. They do have food options, though. Pastries sandwiches-kale, egg, arugula, cheddar on a bagel, avocado toast, hummus plate w-pita and veggie and a chicken pesto with arugula. Apart from coffee, Hub Coffee also has Rishi Tea.
I wouldn’t say the service is the friendliest, but if minimal is your style, a good cup of coffee can be had at Hub Coffee.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: A(the only?) quality cafe option in Magnolia.
Atmosphere: 3.75
Service: 4.00
Food Options: 4.50
Overall: 4.15
Eavesdropping Convo: Guy comes in to order a drink.
Guy: Nice day, huh?
Barista: Yeah, I had the door open earlier but bees were flying in here, so I had to close it.
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
- Part 5 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops for Food Options, Friendliest Service
- Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.