read more posts by
seattleunexplored@gmail.com
Santo Coffee – Roosevelt
Description on Santo Coffee’s website: We are a startup shop formed by a family of driven people with a passion for the craft, palates for quality, and love for community. We have worked to create an experience for our guests where every detail is thoughtfully and intentionally considered.
Neighborhood:Roosevelt
Address: 1325 NE 65th St, Seattle, WA 98115
What we ate/drank: Cortado, Raspberry Brioche from Sémillon Bakery, Devocion espresso
Comments: Finally, Santo Coffee is open!
We’ve honestly been waiting to write this review for close to a year. We go to Rising Sun Produce, located down the street, quite often. One day when walking past the newly built Mio Apartments on the way to Rising Sun, we saw a sign that Santo Coffee was opening in the Fall of 2018. We were happy to have another coffee shop in walking distance to our house. I think the first time we saw the sign was June or July of 2018.
The Fall came, then Winter, then Spring and no sign of any opening. Meanwhile Caffe Ladro moved in right across the street and Armistice Coffee Roasters opened up down the street, but no sign of Santo Coffee.
Santo Coffee is now open and you can tell great care and meticulous detail was put into the design of the shop. The place is beautiful and has such a high end feel that we felt a little guilty bringing our little ones here.
One of the owners of Santo Coffee is former Seattle Sounders star, Fredy Montero. I believe we spoke to one of the other owners of Santo Coffee, Jessica. We made some small talk and she mentioned their pastries are made by Sémillon Bakery & Café in Capitol Hill and their coffee is from Devocion, a roaster based in New York.
Devocion Coffee is unique in that they roast their beans from Colombia, harvest to cup in the range of 10 to 30 days versus the industry standard of 6 months. You can read more about them here. Having this unique roast definitely gives Santo Coffee a something no other coffee shop in Seattle has.
As mentioned it seems like no detail was missed. Santo Coffee is easily the “fanciest” space in Seattle. Check out the green sectional, the floor to ceiling windows all the way around, the glass doors that open up to the outside, black marble counter and the most unique feature, a bar that runs along the window that becomes a bench.
We love having Santo Coffee in the neighborhood and we’ll be frequent visitors. It’s a perfect place to bring our out-of-town visitors who enjoy “the finer things”. Santo Coffee feels a bit out of place in our quaint little neighborhood. It feels like it should be in hipper neighborhood Capitol Hill or Belltown, but we’re glad they’re finally here.
Ratings(1-5)
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.00
Overall: 4.50
Eavesdropping Convo: A guy and a gal talking next to us. They were talking about the Dancing in the Dark – Bruce Springsteen video .
Guy: You know that Dancing in the Dark video has Courtney Cox in it.
Gal: says nothing
Guy: Yeah, they want you to believe that she was a regular fan and that she was randomly picked by Bruce Springsteen to come up on stage and dance. You can toooootally tell by the camera angles that it was not random. It was planned for the video. It’s Courtney Cox for God’s sake. It’s totally staged
Girl: says nothing
Guy: It’s soooo obvious. But yeah, that’s Courtney Cox in that video. Little known fact most people don’t know. This is before Friends, so she wasn’t famous. But yeah, that’s her.
I thought it was common knowledge that Courtney Cox was in that video and never thought it wasn’t staged as part of the video.
Related:
Sizzle & Crunch
Recommended by: We noticed a line out the door at Sizzle and Crunch when heading to our favorite Korean spot, Korea Tofu House. With a line out the door we decided to see what all the hub-bub is all about there.
Description on the Sizzle & Crunch’s website: Sizzle & Crunch Vietnamese Grill serves crunchy banh mi, rice bowls, vermicelli bowls, and salad bowls topped with sizzling meats (or tofu) and your choice of fresh toppings. You can expect a fast-casual experience where the food is served “line style.” In Vietnam, it’s common to have the ingredients separated and prepared in front of you.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 1313 NE 42nd St, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: House Pork Plate-Our signature all-natural grilled lemongrass pork and braised pork belly, green onion aioli, fish sauce, broken rice. Grilled Pork-Our signature all-natural lemongrass pork, green onion aioli, fish sauce, broken rice
First of all, I’ve got to say this an ingenious business model used by the creator of Sizzle and Crunch. Take an existing conveyor belt style food prep model like Subway, Quiznos, Taco Del Mar and Chipoltle Grill where you can pick and choose fresh ingredients to create your meal. Then apply it to a type of cuisine that really utilizes fresh ingredients like Vietnamese food. You have a quick meal prep to your specifications, you can watch it being prepared and you can see the ingredients being used. The creators of Sizzle and Crunch took an existing model and put a twist on it based on their personal expertise-Vietnamese food. It’s a simple concept where you wonder, “why didn’t anybody think of this sooner”?
The University District location opened in 2017 and another location opened up in South Lake Union recently. You understand why there’s a line out the door comprised mainly of poor struggling UW students. It’s fast, the assembly line process makes it simple and catered to your specific tastes and the portion to cost ratio is student-friendly.
So instead of choosing type of tortilla, rice and beans, you’re doing this:
- Choose between a banh mi sandwich or a rice bowl, salad bowl. The sandwich comes with jalapeno cilantro aioli, garlic mayo. The rice bowl comes with green onion aioli, fish sauce, broken rice. The salad bowl comes with green onion aioli, fish sauce, romaine lettuce.
- Choose a protein- grilled pork, chicken, beef or tofu.
- If you chose the rice bowl option, advise if you want an over easy egg.
- Then pick your toppings-house-pickled daikon & carrot, cucumber, chopped jalapeno, shredded scallion, cilantro, and tomato. You can choose either a fish sauce or green sauce(cilantro, green onion, jalapeno—I think.)
- Watch them make it, pay and you’re ready to grind.
All ingredients are made in house including the baguettes, sauces, pickled vegetables and pate. The food is prepared daily and in small batches to ensure freshness although there does appear to have been some stumbles.
Both dishes we had on this visit to Sizzle & Crunch were representative of what we typically think about Vietnamese food-flavorful meats and fresh light veggies. I especially love the green sauce which I think is cilantro, jalapeno and onions. Parking can be a bitch while construction of the Link Light Rail is going on for a few more years, but the price is right, the wait is short and the food is made to order. We’ll add this to our list of mainstays on The Ave along with Korea Tofu House, Little Kitchen, Morsel and Aladdin Gyro.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.50
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 4.50
Bang for the Buck: 5.00
Overall: 4.35
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!
Related Articles:
Fremont Bowl
Recommended by: After writing our post about Seattle Fish Guys – Best Poke in Seattle, a local recommended Fremont Bowl as another place that has great poke.
Description on the Fremont Bowl’s website: Just a team of people who love food, like really love food – we have a slight obsession. We love to eat. We love food. We love Seattle. We love people who love food and eating. Most importantly, there’s no better feeling than seeing people enjoy and love the food that we’ve made. Our goal is to make Fremont Bowl a spot where people can just quickly stop by and pick up their order, but also be able to meet up with friends, family, or even a casual date. If you have any events coming up, let us know!
Neighborhood/Type: Fremont
Address:4258 Fremont Ave N Ste #4262, Seattle, WA 98103
What we ate/drank: Chirashi Bowl 14.95. tuna, chopped fatty tuna, salmon, yellowtail, albacore, shrimp, fresh water eel, masago with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper). Una-Gyu Don 16.95. unagi + sukiyaki beef don. Crispy Tonkatsu Don 11.95 fresh pork loin, Aburi Sake Don-Seared salmon with sea salt with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper)
Comments: As mentioned, a local recommended Fremont Bowl for quality poke, the funny thing is that since visiting we have never ordered poke from Fremont Bowl. They have so many other unique dishes that there’s no need to get poke here when you can get poke from a million other poke places in Seattle.
Fremont Bowl is located in a space that was formerly home to Suga, which had some really good curry dishes and Dot’s Delicatessen, which had some really good sandwiches. Unfortunately, those businesses didn’t last, but based on the traffic we’ve seen at Fremont Bowl, I don’t think Fremont Bowl will need to worry about staying in business. The place is packed and meal delivery drivers were coming in so often they should install a turnstile. For every party that came into eat at Fremont Bowl, there were three drivers to pick up meals.
I don’t think any changes were made to the space in it’s former incarnation as Suga. They have the open kitchen, a small high counter near the kitchen and a row of seats/bench along the wall. The place probably seats about 30 people max and it’s a tight squeeze. Getting to your seat without bumping into your neighboring party is a bit tough.
You order at the cash register. There’s a menu on the wall. After ordering you sit down and they’ll bring out your meal to you.
Due to how packed Fremont Bowl typically is, we order take out most of the time, but there are some advantages to eating there. There’s one dish the Aburi Sake Don that they only serve when you eat there. It’s a seared salmon with sea salt and yuzu kasha, which is made from citrus, chile pepper and salt. The pieces of salmon literally melt in your mouth and the citrus and salt a perfect compliments to the fish and rice.
seared salmon with sea salt with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper)
seared salmon with sea salt with fresh wasabi + yuzu kosho (pepper) Score: (4.75/5.00)
Another advantage of eating in is that you get to enjoy their house made soy sauce(Dashi Jouyu). You can also ask for additional rice and sauce if you need more. Observing the workers while waiting for our dishes, you can tell they are a well oiled machine when it comes to making the dishes, preparing the trays for delivery to the tables and prepping for delivery orders.
One lone disadvantage of eating in is that you cannot take home any left over raw fish due to Health Dept restrictions, so you’d better finish your raw fish.
The cashier advised the Chirashi Bowl is their most popular and it’s easy to understand when seeing the dish. The different cuts of fish make for a colorful presentation that makes it one of the most photogenic dishes in Seattle. What separates chirashi from poke is that poke marinated in sauce with a bunch of different toppings. This can mask the quality of fish as well as the quantity of fish. Chirashi is just pure raw fish, so the fish quality and quantity is apparent.
Here are some of the other dishes we’ve tried at Fremont Bowl.
Although their other dishes are very good, The Chirashi Bowl and Aburi Sake Bowl are definitely our choices here.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4,50
Service: 4.75
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.65
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!
Related Articles:
Venture Coffee
Description on Venture Coffee’s website: After taking over a small coffee shop called Java Bean in 2016, Maria Beck spent years honing her vision for the perfect neighborhood cafe that would bring together the unique personality of the Pacific Northwest and her culture of Danish Hygge. With the innovative mind of an engineer, a body supported by a dedicated team, and a soul driven by a passion for people, Venture Coffee Company was finally born in 2019.
Neighborhood: Ballard
Address:5819 24th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107
Music Playing: Put A Light On – The Generationals
What we ate/drank: Cortado, Hot Mamas breakfast sandwich on a jalapeño cheddar bagel.
Comments: The last time we visited this location it was called, Java Bean. We had a friend in town who was staying at an Airbnb close by. She asked to meet up and catch up at Cafe Besalu, but it was closed, so she saw and suggested a cafe next door that was open, Java Bean.
It was the one and only time we went to Java Bean. My recollection was that it was dark and felt dated-massive chalkboard menu, refrigerator display case, a huge hand painted mural of Mt Rainier(?), carpeted floors. It also had some quirky details like a stove in the middle of the space that was on a stone platform, a greeting card stand and the type of sofa you might find in your great grandma’s house. Let’s just say, you knew it had a very eccentric owner.
I can’t recall how Venture Coffee was brought to our attention, but it took awhile to put 2 and 2 together and figured out it was the old Java Bean location.
The transformation feels like the previous owner was a older person who liked the way Java Bean looked and didn’t care what anybody thought. That’s how they liked it and if people didn’t like a stove in the middle of the space and blue carpet, tough, they can go somewhere else. It feels at some point, the previous owner said, “I had enough with this business! I’m turning Java Bean over to my hip granddaughter.” And the new owner made some minor tweaks and made into a totally transformed space.
Venture Coffee is now bright and airy. Natural wood counter/tables. Garage style doors that open during warmer weather. No more carpet. The antlers on the wall stayed from Java Bean, but it feels like it fits in with the framed photos of elk(their logo) and wilderness. I believe the brown leather couch is also something from Java Bean, but it fits in with the rest of the decor. There are nice touches such as the ice tub full of bottle and canned drinks instead of the normal fridge, the old fashioned water jug, antlers, the steel orb hanging lights. Just the right amount of plants /succulents.
The place probably fits about 35 people inside but some areas are pretty tight. There are also a few outdoor seats in front and on the side.
They appear to have their own beans. They have a small amount of pastries and breakfast sandwiches. I had the Cortado along with a Hot Mama sandwich which had bacon, cheese, spinach, egg and Mama Lil’s peppers. And you know I’m a sucker for Mama Lil’s-I’ve mentioned it as an ingredient in my blog posts-Toulouse Petit, Porkchop & Co., Il Corvo – Best Pasta in Seattle, Morsel vs Biscuit & Bean – The Battle of Seattle’s Best Biscuit Sandwich. You have the choice of getting this on brioche or bagel. I chose a jalapeño cheddar bagel.
Venture Coffee definitely has that neighborhood hangout vibe. While we were there, it seems most of the patrons are regulars and on a first name basis with the workers. There were people reading on their kindles, people reading newspapers, two people having business meeting and two fellows conversing in sign language. The word that comes to mind is comfort. Reminds me a lot of Lighthouse Roasters , Preserve and Gather and Cloud City Coffee in that respect
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The Hot Mama sandwich
Atmosphere: 4.75
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.75
Overall: 4.75
Eavedropping Convo:Two guys talking. One was complaining about his wife/girlfriend(?)
It’s ridiculous she doesn’t want to put food in microwave because she thinks it kills nutrients. Seriously when it’s 3:00 in the morning who cares about nutrients being zapped from god damned frozen French fries! I told her, “I’m drunk! I’m starving! I want fucking fries right the fuck now!
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating
- 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
Brother Joe – Georgetown
Recommended by: Nobody. We mentioned our tradition of stopping by in Georgetown whenever we have a trip out of the Seatac Airport in our Square Knot Diner post. We thought we’d try Brother Joe down the street as a change of pace.
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 call
Description on Brother Joe’s website : What we do. Truly Great Coffee and Teas, Weekday Breakfast and Lunch, Weekend Brunch.
Address:5629 Airport Way S, Seattle, WA 98108
What we ate/drank: CHILE VERDE Hatch chile and tomato braised pork over cornbread with a fried egg, cotija cheese, crema, and cilantro. $13, KALUA PORK ‘LOCO MOCO’ Braised pork with bacon, jasmine rice, miso slaw, sunny side up egg, and aloha gravy. Herkimer – Oh Miso Coffee, Mocha
Comments: We mentioned our tradition of stopping by in Georgetown whenever we have a trip out of the Seatac Airport in our Square Knot Diner post. This time around we made a detour to another Georgetown establishment. We went to Brother Joe for the first time, which is right down the street. Upon entering it appears to be a coffee-centric café with its huge visual infographic coffee menu(We’ll get back to this a little later), but they actually have a kitchen and have a pretty big selection of breakfast dishes, sandwiches, wraps and salads.
You order your drinks and food at the counter, take a seat and they’ll bring it out to you. The counter area has an old weathered vintage – vintage fridge, weathered wall, exposed bricks. There’s a pretty big dining area that serves close to maybe 30+ people. This area has a rhino theme with huge gold rhino trophy head, rhino painting and book ends. The rest of the wall space is filled with different animal portraits dressed in human clothes. Our two year old daughter was both amused and confused to see a cat in a cowboy outfit.
We ended up sitting in their little “living room” section, which basically looks like a mid century modern sitting area with a leather couch, coffee table, shelves, a floor lamp, seating nooks in the window and a couple of chairs. My understanding that this is normally used as a waiting area on the weekends when it gets crowded, but we ended up going on a Friday morning, so they told us it was fine sitting there.
The coffee used here is Herkimer Coffee and as mentioned above there’s a huge visual menu of their coffee drinks, which is definitely needed due to some of the one of a kind specialty drinks, such as:
- You Know Chata? -Cold brew with rice, vanilla and cinnamon
- Black Rhino – Espresso affogato with a cardamom and chocolate fudge ice cream
- Holy Mole Mocha – Espresso with Mexican chocolate, chiles, orange zest
- Oh, Miso Honey – Espresso with orange blossom honey-miso caramel
- Off-White Velour – Espresso with salted caramel, white chocolate
- Egg Coffee – Drip coffee with egg yolk and condensed milk
My wife got a regular mocha, but I tried the Oh, Miso Honey. To be honest, I was expecting a little more flavor, but it was fine. We also ordered food and this is where we were pleasantly surprised.
Unfairly, we had low expectations since our mindset was a coffee shop that happens to serve food as an afterthought, but the meals stand on their own. All sauces and syrups are made in house. We had the Chile Verde and the Kalua Pork Loco Moco. As mentioned in our Watson’s Counter post, we’ve had a lot of Loco Mocos in Seattle and although not as good as Watson’s Counter’s, it was just a small notch below, but still very delicious. Brother Joe’s take on the dish uses braised pork instead of a beef patty, but we really liked their variation it. The addition of the miso slaw and bacon along with the standard Loco Moco ingredients of a sunny side up egg, rice and gravy gives it a one of a kind twist.
KALUA PORK ‘LOCO MOCO’ Braised pork with bacon, jasmine rice, miso slaw, sunny side up egg, and aloha gravy. Score: (4.75/ 5.0)
The Chile Verde was a closer to a traditional dish, but delicious none the less. The menu says the pork is over cornbread, but ours came with fried potatoes, which to be honest we prefer. To have tortilla and cornbread seems a bit redundant. Glad they gave us potatoes instead.
Square Knot Diner has been our defacto Georgetown breakfast destination ever since Carmela at Roxy’s Diner suggested it, but after visiting Brother Joe, it’s given us options now. We will for sure be back after our enjoyable experience here.
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: We met a young lady outside who had a dog. She was waiting for her coffee to be made. Our daughter wanted to see her dog. We told her it was our first time at Brother Joe and if she could recommend any of her other favorite places to eat. She suggested The Hangar Café a few blocks away.
Related:
Cafe Javasti
Description on Cafe Javasti’s website: We strongly believe in the power of community, an amazing cup of coffee and a delicious bite. Café Javasti was founded with the purpose to bring these three things together. Since 2001, we have been committed to serving high-quality coffee; pastries and savory items made from scratch daily; and a wide selection of made-to-order crepes with fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Neighborhood: Wedgewood ,Maple Leaf
Address: 8617 35th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98115
What we ate/drank: Doppio Espresso, White Mocha, #7 Crepe-Cooked apple, cinnamon, sugar and whipped cream, #11 Crepe-Chicken, pesto, mozzarella, tomato
Comments: Café Javasti is a no frills, solid, neighborhood cafe. When we think of Cafe Javasti we think of crepes. And not only do they serve sweet crepes, which you might expect in a coffee shop, but also savory as well. On our recent trip this past Easter we had one of each. We had the sweet #7 – Cooked apple, cinnamon, sugar and whipped cream. As you can see from the pics below, they are not chintzy with the amount of apples in the crepe.
We also had the savory #11 – Chicken, pesto, mozzarella, tomato, which was also a hearty portion.
We noticed that it appears Café Javasti’s website hasn’t been updated in awhile. Under their News section, the last entry was from June 2015, which probably means that if you are looking at their menu for pricing prior to visiting Café Javasti, it’s probably not current. They also have pastries that I believe are made in house at their bakery, Little Kitchen.
One other thing we noticed were the lack of certain coffee drinks that are pretty common for most Seattle coffee shops. They have espresso, Americano, lattes, mochas. My wife got the white mocha, so no issues there. I’ve kind of morphed from a pure espresso or Americano drinker to a Cortado/Macchiato/Gibraltar/Flat White drinker, but they don’t appear to serve these smaller drinks that are commonplace in Seattle. At least it’s not on their menu, so I’m assuming they don’t.
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: Savory and sweet crepes
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 4.00
Food Options: 4.75
Overall: 4.25
Eavedropping Convo:Two 40ish yr old women talking.
Woman 1(W1) – Did you here about Ryan?
Woman 2(W2) – Oh my God! Don’t tell me. He got dumped?
W1 – Mm hmm. Like yesterday’s trash.
W2 – Not again?! How long did this one last?
W1 – Six or seven months. He has the worst luck. He can’t hold on to them. He falls so hard for them too. He’s destroyed over it.
W2 – You know the reason…. He’s too nice. Women want to be challenged. They don’t want somebody to walk all over, buy them gifts and say, “Yes, Dear” all the time. We all want somebody who’s nice, but he’s too nice and women get bored. I’ve told him this a billion times, but he just ain’t got it in him to be a little bit of a bad boy. It ain’t in his nature.
W1 –You know what they say. Nice guys finish last. And it’s the damn truth. You should give him a call to cheer him up. He needs it.
Related:
Revel – Our Favorite Seattle Restaurant
Recommended by: Nobody. After visiting Trove recently we decided to revisit our favorite in the Relay Restaurant Group.
Description on the Revel’s website: Revel—a lively, casual space filled with bright art and music—has been attracting crowds with its menu of street food-style comfort food including dumplings, savory pancakes, noodles, and rice bowls, since 2010. Now located in South Lake Union, Revel features unique lunch, happy hour, and dinner specials to cater to our new neighborhood. Stay tuned for more information and updates regarding our move back to Fremont in Fall 2019 for the opening of Revel 2.0!
Neighborhood/Type: Currently: South Lake Union. Soon: Fremont
Address:513 Westlake Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
What we ate/drank: Albacore tuna, fennel kimchi, escarole $17, Caesar Pancake – White anchovy, spinach and bonito flakes, Lemongrass beef, cilantro noodle, yu choy, pickled tomato $18, Kalbi Beef Dumplings w/pickled shallot, scallion
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Revel just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
Revel is part of the Relay Restaurant Group created by Chef couple, Rachel Yang and Seif Chirichi. In addition to Revel, Relay Restaurant Group includes Joule right down the street and Trove in Capitol Hill . They also have a restaurant in Portland. Rachel Yang and Seif Chirichi actually appeared on Iron Chef on the Food Network, so that should tell you something about their popularity and skill.
Revel is currently in their temporary space in South Lake Union, but will be moving back to their original location in Fremont later this year once construction is completed. Although in their temporary space, two things remained from the old location. The huge pop art of Randy “Macho Man” Savage and an open kitchen where you can get a seat at the chef counter, so you can watch the chefs do their thing. Since you get to see them prep all the dishes if you sit here, it gives you an opportunity to see what dishes look interesting and what to order.
The thing we love about Revel is that they have a very simple concentrated menu, but it’s always changing menu so on each visit there are new dishes to try. They have four house made sauces you can add to your dishes- a soy sauce, a spicy fish sauce, miso sauce and sweet chile sauce.
Here are just a few of the dishes we’ve had on our visits
No matter how many times we come to Revel or how many dishes we order, we are never disappointed. This isn’t the cheapest place, but we don’t feel the prices are out of whack for the quality of food received. As we were writing this, I’m just reminded of the occasions in which we visited Revel-Dinner with visiting friends from out of town, it was the last meal we had prior to the birth of our first born, we just went here for our anniversary. So you could say Revel holds a special place in our hearts, but not only is it about the memories and occasions, but more importantly the food. Oh my god, the food!
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.85
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!
Related Articles:
- Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 1)
- Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 (Part 2)
- Kokkaku
- D’La Santa
- Kamonegi – Best Soba in Seattle
Portage Bay Cafe – Ballard, South Lake Union, University District, Roosevelt
Recommended by: Our server, Angela(?) from Toulouse Petit suggested Portage Bay Cafe as having really delicious locally sourced brunches.
Description on the Portage Bay Cafe’s Facebook: Eat Like You Give a Damn!™ We serve local, organic, sustainable breakfast, lunch & brunch in four Seattle neighborhoods. We also offer to-go orders for corporate events and private parties, as well as hosting private dinner events in our bright, open cafes.
Neighborhood/Type: Ballard
Address: 900 NE 65th St, Seattle, WA 98115
What we ate/drank: See below. We’ve been here numerous times and had numerous dishes.
Comments: If I had to guess, Portage Bay Café is probably the most popular brunch spot in Seattle. Any published list of best/most popular/favorite brunch spots in Seattle will inevitably have Portage Bay Café on it. And if you don’t believe it, all you have to do is walk past Portage Bay Café on any given morning and see groups of people waiting outside for tables to open. Here’s also more proof, Lyft has something called a Lyftie Award of their most visited places by their riders.
In 2018 more riders requested a Lyft to Portage Bay Café more than any other brunch spot in Seattle.
There are currently four Portage Bay Café locations-University District, Roosevelt, South Lake Union, Ballard. The one we frequent most is Roosevelt. This location is relatively new and I believe bigger than the other locations.
Portage Bay Café is the quintessential Seattle brunch experience and one of the main places we take visitors from out of town to. It’s always buzzing with patrons, they have a variety of dishes for everybody, they source locally(in fact there’s a chicken coop right next to the University District branch for eggs). Our visitors all seem to love the experience and feel they’ve gotten a real local experience. The pictures on the wall show their various suppliers of locally sourced product. There’s also a hanging racing shell which pays homage to the rowing culture out on Portage Bay. UW is one of the powerhouses in the world when it comes to rowing and most of their practices happen on Portage Bay and the Montlake Cut.
No doubt, Portage Bay Café’s claim to fame is their breakfast bar with endless toppings of fruits, nuts, butter, real maple syrup, sugars whenever you order. Their breakfast bar menu includes a variety of French toasts and pancakes, which then gives you the privilege of going to the bar to pile on as many ingredients as you want.
Another reason Portage Bay Café is so popular is they are a very family friendly establishment. I’m not exaggerating when I say that on a typical day, 20% of the patrons will be kids. Portage Bay Café is definitely one of the easy choices when meeting up with other families for brunch. As mentioned there is always groups of people waiting for a seat, but one of the more perplexing things is that Portage Bay Café takes reservations from a party of one to parties of ten. So unless people are going to Portage Bay Café on a spur of the moment, they must love waiting in line or building the anticipation of being seated?
Apart from the breakfast bar, there are a variety of meals on the menu as well as specials. Here are a few of the dishes we’ve had over our multiple visits.
THE BREAKFAST SANDWICH 2 organic scrambled eggs*, hill’s pepper bacon, house-made bourbon fig jam, organic arugula, mount townsend creamery new moon jack cheese on house-made potato bread with salad.
GREEN MOLE BURRITO uli’s chorizo & carlton farms pork shoulder carnitas, organic potatoes, spicy bean blend, organic cilantro-lime cream, wrapped in a large, organic flour tortilla. topped with our house-made, green mole sauce & a sunny-side up organic stiebrs farm egg, quest cotija & green onion garnish.
FARMER’S HASH (V**) (GF) Three organic, over-easy stiebrs farms eggs*, a variety of local, organic, sustainably grown vegetables, roasted onions, fingerling potatoes, fresh herbs. served with house-made whole wheat toast and your choice of: $14.50 locally sourced corned beef
CLASSIC FRENCH TOAST organic, house-made challah bread, rich egg batter, powdered sugar garnish.
JOE’S SCRAMBLE your choice of uli’s apple chicken or maple pork sausage, organic baby spinach, beecher’s flagship cheddar, sautéed local mushrooms.
THE BREAKFAST SANDWICH 2 organic scrambled eggs*, hill’s pepper bacon, house-made bourbon fig jam, organic arugula, mount townsend creamery new moon jack cheese on house-made potato bread with potatoes.
The funny thing is that we rarely go to Portage Bay Café when it’s just our family going to brunch. Because of Portage Bay Café’s popularity it’s continually crowded, so we don’t go there often. Their dishes are consistently solid and there’s something for everybody and their famous breakfast bar always makes visitor’s jaws drop, but there’s not a lot of dishes that push the boundaries like recently visited Porkchop & Co., Wandering Goose(RIP 2020), The 5 Spot and Watson’s Counter do. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s one of the reasons Portage Bay Café is so popular. They make great dishes with sustainable locally sourced product in an inviting atmosphere that has excellent customer service. So we normally reserve Portage Bay Café outings when visitors are in town since we are assured of impressing them.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
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 Locals recommendations to visit in the future: We met up with friends a recent visit to Portage Bay and they mentioned that Skillet Diner on Capitol Hill is another favorite brunch place they enjoy. We’ll check it out.
Related Articles:
Anchored Ship Coffee – Ballard
Description on Anchored Ship Coffee’s Facebook : We’re a small, independently run coffee shop on Ballard Ave.
Proudly serving Counter Culture Coffee and treats from local vendors (Including Gluten Free pastries!)
Address:5308 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107
What we ate/drank: Cortado
Comments: We’ve visited Anchored Ship Coffee various times when occasionally going to the Ballard Farmers Market on Sundays. Because Anchored Ship Coffee is located on Ballard Ave where the Ballard Farmers Market is held, it’s a regular stop for coffee. If you plan on visiting Anchored Ship Coffee, my advice is not to visit on Sundays while the market is going on. You’ll have a long line and you won’t really be able to enjoy the cafe because it’ll be too crowded.
When visiting on a weekday or Saturday, the environment is a compete 180 degree change. No crowds, choice of seats, relaxing. The ground floor is where you enter and where the coffee bar is. The only seats on this floor are a few looking out the window.
The main seating area is on the second floor that probably seats about 20 people. I’m not sure how new this area is, but I don’t recall this seating area being here on prior visits. Even if this area is quite far from the store front and away from the natural sunlight, it’s still quite bright due to numerous and ample lighting.
The thing I liked about this space is that the chairs and lighting are all different, but the same style so they’re all complimentary. So many cafes have the exact same chairs, tables and lightings. It’s nice to see some variation that all comes together.
The music is piped into the front of the store, so this area is really quiet.
There’s also a third floor loft that is above the barista/coffee bar. The coffee used here and sold is Counter Culture Coffee, a roaster based out of North Carolina. There’s limited food options with pastries, Ellenos yogurt, hummus and some pre-packaged wraps. They also have juice and kombucha for sale.
One last thing- I mentioned in my Anchorhead Coffee Co review that I thought Anchored Ship Coffee was one in the same. It was only until visiting Anchorhead Coffee Co when it first opened that I realized they were not the same company, but who could blame me? Take a look at the two “Anchor” themed logos?
Ratings(1-5)
Favorite Thing: The different types of chairs and lighting.
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.75
Food Options: 4.00
Overall: 4.35
Eavesdropping Convo: Two very loud parents with kids in tow talking about another parent who was not present.
Parent 1 (P1)- She only talks to her daughter in German. I mean, if she’s staying here in the US, they should try to immerse themselves in the English language and US culture.
Parent2 (P2) – I guess, but I can see wanting to preserve your culture with your kids.
P1 – Half her culture. The other half is American, remember?
P2 – True
P1 – I just think it’s rude to talk German to your kids in front of us. Because you know when she switches from English to German that she’s doing it so we don’t understand what they’re talking about and probably talking about us!
P2 – No, I don’t think so.
P1 – Why else would she switch to German? If she’s not talking about us, she would just stick to English if there’s nothing to hide.
Related:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seattle Coffee Shops
- Best Seattle Coffee Shops For Each Stage of Dating
- Part 4 – Best Seattle Coffee Shops to Impress Visitors, Impress Visiting Coffee Snobs, Make Visitors Feel Like Locals.
- Part 6 – Seattle Coffee With Most Character, Best Seattle Coffee Shops Overall.
Toulouse Petit – Queen Anne
Recommended by: Our server at The Hi-Life, a recent transplant to Seattle, was really friendly and engaging. She tried to give suggestions on where some of her favorite restaurants in Seattle were, but she was so new to the area that she hadn’t gone to a lot of places and the ones she suggested, we’d already been to. She actually went to the co-worker who suggested Toulouse Petit.
Description on the Toulouse Petit’s website: Toulouse Petit brings the Big Easy to Seattle. Located in Lower Queen Anne, It’s known for having Seattle’s favorite happy hour, New Orleans and cajun creole cuisine, and an amazing cocktail list. Its texturally rich and intricate décor and the general desire to deliver the various possibilities of dining, drinking and adult escapism to others leaves everyone better off for having had the experience.
Neighborhood/Type: Queen Anne
Address: 601 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
What we ate/drank: Spicy Creole Andouille Hash- Potatoes, tasso, housemade Andouille sausage, mama lil’s peppers and tomato confit. Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash, Spicy Shrimp Creole & Eggs over Creamy Grits. Chicken Fried Chicken w/Spicy Creole Sausage Gravy. Two eggs, homemade buttermilk biscuit
Comment: Toulouse Petit claims to be Seattle’s Premier and Most Visited Brunch for the Past Ten Years. We’ve got to admit it’s hard to argue. For us, it’s just such a difficult place to get to on weekday mornings being in lower Queen Anne and it’s always packed on the weekend. But once you get there, they have such a huge variety of dishes and interesting things to try, that you could go here every week and still try something new each week. Besides their claim mentioned above, they also have a few other accolades:
- Their Cured Carlton Farms Pork Cheeks Confit Hash was featured on Food Networks’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”.
- 2012 Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice Award – 5th Favorite Restaurant in the US
- 2012 Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice Award – 10th Favorite Restaurant in the world
Yes, you read that right – 10th Favorite Restaurant in the world! Toulouse Petit specializes in Creole food.
Unlike most Seattle brunch places, Toulouse Petit is open early every day(not just weekends). There’s even a happy hour breakfast from 8-11 on weekdays and a 10pm-1am late night happy hour every day including the weekends. We’ve mainly been to Toulouse Petit for the brunches, but their dinners are equally delicious. The space is huge by Seattle standards.
The tables in the booths have really intricate details as does the tiling on the floor. And you can’t ignore the ornate lighting and 270 candles on the wall, which makes for some romantic dinners. Large windows let in as much light as possible, but certain areas of Toulouse Petit are dark due to it’s size.
One nice touch about Toulouse Petit is if you order coffee, they will give you a French press and a warmed up coffee mug. I love this. No need to request refills. The menu has so many interesting choices. The best way to try a variety is to get a group of friends and order family style so you can get a taste of multiple dishes. For this visit we got the four dishes below:
Spicy Shrimp Creole & Eggs over Creamy Grits. Score: (5.0/5.0)
This is not a your normal greasy spoon diner and prices are on the higher side for brunch, which is why you should really try to go during the weekday happy hour. It made many of the dish prices go from $17 to $12. Toulouse Petit is not a place I’d suggest to friends on a struggling artist’s income, but it really is an out-of-the-ordinary spot that stands out in Seattle and appropriate for special occasions or impressing out-of-towners. It’s not like anyplace else in Seattle. In fact, if you were blind folded and dropped inside, you’d have no idea you were in Seattle.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.80
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: Our server, Angela(?) suggested Portage Bay Cafe as having really delicious locally sourced brunches.
Related Articles: