The Ridgeback Cafe

The sweetie and I finally made it out for breakfast, and we even went to a new place!  The Ridgeback Cafe is a nice, open-feeling neighborhood breakfast place.  We were seated right away, at a "communal table," and were given coffee.  The mugs, by the way, are my sister's favorite mug shape.  We were warm and cozy, and for a while they had the door open so we could feel a breeze.  It was noisy, but I had no problem hearing when my sweetie spoke.

The menu was very creative, and not too expensive!  I ordered the special, which was a zucchini, chevre, carmelized onions, spinach and tomato crepe; he was tempted by the spiced pear waffle special, but had the bacon, basil and brie waffle.  My crepe came with potatoes; they were slightly mashed, had the skins, and appeared to be herbed but mostly tasted salty.  Nothing to write home about but fine.  The crepe was pretty yummy.  I'd like to experiment more with their menu; there's potential there!  His waffle had its ingredients as toppings, and he ate the whole thing with approval.

It could use a little more signage; its name is painted on its front window, and it has an A-board on the sidewalk, but the first time I went actively searching the place out, I missed it.  Its service isn't absolutely A+ because we had to ask three times for more cream.  Generally, though, I recommend the place. Its neighborhood is interesting, its prices are reasonable--the crepe was $10 and the waffle $7.50--and I want to test more dishes.

Address: 500 NW 65th St (feels like it's on the boundary of Phinney Ridge and Ballard)

Parking: street only, but we didn't have a hard time finding any.

Cost: slightly below average

Quality: pretty good

Wait: not too bad, although we arrived at the magic hour.  They did tell us an estimate of how long they expected it to take for the food to arrive, which I appreciated.

Coffee (since this is Seattle): ok, maybe thin, slightly burnt.  At one point the server said they were having problems with their coffeemaker, so this may have been unusual.

Menu/variety: concentrates on crepes, waffles, and sandwiches.  Really seemed pretty creative.  If you DON'T feel like having a standard breakfast, try here.

Extras: nice-feeling atmosphere (although the ventilation needs improvement).  Liked the art and the fact that there were toys on the bar counter.  The bathrooms, according to my sweetie, send the message that this is a place to which you can safely bring Aunt Aggie from Indiana--very clean, no major effort to artsy them up.

Payment: credit cards ok, as well as cash.  Didn't try a check.

Website: not found.

Blog Slacker or Temporarily Poor Person?

Howdy!  This is a quick post to explain the lack of current posts.

I'm afraid that over the last year, I just haven't been able to afford going out for breakfast much!  Plus the Sweetie is not so into it in general, since we both are perfectly happy and confident cooking our own eggs in the morning, and if we stay home we get to stay in PJs.

I'm actually thinking of starting a different blog that might have a link to/from this one, and that might accommodate my Changing Lifestyle.  In the meantime, let me reassure you that if/when I get back into a proper breakfast restaurant groove, I will tell you what I think of it.

22 Doors

This weekend my sweetie and I went to a restaurant I'd never visited before: 22 Doors.  It's more of a nighttime, small clever well-cooked bar bites sort of place than a breakfast diner, but their menu was certainly good enough for me.  In spite of being in Capital Hill, it was not hard to park; thanks to the big game and the fact that 22 Doors has no televisions, there was no wait to be seated.

It was lovely and stylish, had a full bar and a couple of specials related to morning booze (bloody Marys and mimosas of course), and the staff were cheerful and friendly.  This would be a wonderful restaurant for slightly warmer weather, wet or dry, because they have fully covered, private and heat-lamped outdoor seating.  That was stylishly decorated too; I particularly liked how they hid some pink mood lighting behind a wall-mounted metal sculpture.  This strikes me as a fine date restaurant--especially because of the lack of tvs!

One reason we chose this restaurant over others nearby was that my sweetie had been here before and described their food as both good and adventurous.  They did have unusual potential omelette ingredients, but I decided to experiment with what they named their "Cheesy Biscuit," which came with country potatoes.  This dish was comprised of one or two homemade country biscuits with a cheese sauce that probably had pesto mixed in.  I didn't like that their drip coffee was $3--seems pretty pricy to me--and the country potatoes weren't anything special.  However, those aren't big complaints when one considers that I will happily drive clear across town again, to eat their Cheesy Biscuit.  Plus I can have a Baileys coffee if I want! 

Keep in mind that this review is based on one visit and one menu item, but I would say try 'em out.  I'll be back myself.

Address: 405 15th Ave. E. (Capital Hill)

Parking: street only, which isn't too big a problem since it's a small commercial street with residential zones close on both sides

Cost: decent--my cheesy biscuit was $8--but keep an eye on the details if you're trying to budget. 

Quality: good

Wait: this one time, none!

Coffee (since this is seattle): overpriced, as I said, but perfectly tasty and frequently refilled

Menu/variety: creative and adventurous (and I'm tempted by their evening menu, on which I see honey lavender ice cream as one of their desserts, good grief that sounds good).

Extras: nice atmosphere, and I liked that when I got a to-go box they wrote the date and the dish on it.  This is the first place I've been to that does that.

Payment: cash, credit cards

Website: none found.