Back in 2013 we started a Breakfast Club where we would invite people to breakfast at different breakfast restaurants around town...
Before we knew it we were two years into our venture of the breakfast club and realized that we should have been keeping track of the places we went and reviewed them along the way, but we didn't...
In a way we're glad that we didn't because we're really getting tired of pointing out the faults in people, it's time we recognize their successes...
We loved our anonymity with having a blog, but if you've followed along you'd know that Bear ruined that for us some time ago...
We were told a long time ago that we should move to Seattle, that it would be a perfect fit for a person like us, and that may have been so, a long time ago...
We were taught if you don't have anything nice to say about something not to say it all, so we'll go ahead and plead the 5th on what we think of Seattle...
We have though been to a lot of restaurants in Seattle for Breakfast and only one Restaurant gets a high mark in our opinion and that would be the High Point Café in BellTown...
We look at restaurants differently than most considering that we have had extensive experience with them, both working in them and eventually providing services for them, from Satellite Televisions, HI FI Equipment, closed circuitry cameras, POS Systems and Administration services...
Most people think that a restaurant is based off of how fast your order comes out, and sorry folks, but this is the wrong approach to judge any restaurant...
Fast Food joints have spoiled the art of cuisine by providing low end products and low end prices, and sure there is a time and place in everyone's life for those types of joints, but hopefully you outgrow them...
This is the High Point Café in BellTown experience for us, it's a perfectly preserved true American hole in the wall type atmosphere that will rock your socks...
To us in order to accurately analyze a "perfect" breakfast location you need to keep it simple and stick with the basics all breakfast restaurants provide and that would be Biscuits and Gravy...
If a restaurant can't provide one of the most practical, simple complexities of providing the right biscuit, with the right textured gravy proves to us that they don't care about their food...
High Point Café has the best Biscuits and Gravy we have had anywhere in Washington State thus far and that is why we recommend that you try them...
The service is not the fastest at High Point Café, nor is it the friendliest, but that's the atmosphere you are in, and to us that's the essence of their success, by being true to themselves...
If you look around people are engaged in conversation, dressed the way that makes them feel comfortable and believe it when we tell you that the crowd that they serve wouldn't stand for it if the food didn't make up for what you can't get there...
The restaurant also gets high ratings from us due to their attention to detail and even though the food took awhile didn't matter because the server knew who's food was who's and everything was cooked to perfection and the plates weren't too hot from sitting under a heat lamp for too long...
We loved the High Point Café and give it a 5 star rating, but it's not for everybody, only those who appreciate good conversation, good food at a good value...
That's it for the heart of Seattle, nothing else stands out other than bad service, rude service, bad pricing, bad presentation, lack of imagination, small portions, high prices and runny gravy...
sidenote: we're only rating breakfast establishments here...
West Seattle is where the Heart of Seattle lives in our opinion and there is where you'll find two restaurants that we found worth going to, but we'll only mention one...
sidenote: Okay Okay, we'll mention the other one, but we didn't like it too much, but our friend did, it was Be's Café, there we said it...
The Luna Park Café is our new favorite breakfast place to go to in West Seattle...
Another hole in a wall Gem of a Restaurant with a lot of history behind it, so they have a lot to live up to...
Parking is horrible, but that's Seattle get used to it, and typical hole in the walls usually have bad parking...
The place is dog friendly which makes it like a petting zoo atmosphere that always inspires people to bring their kids...
We don't always get the Biscuits and gravy anymore because we want to try what they are famous for to see if they live up to their own standards...
The atmosphere is a little too much 50's cliché with the black and white tile floors, old paraphernalia and a bit run down in our opinion and could use a little work to the outside...
Technically we like the Black and White tiled floors, it's just the décor that is off in this place and doesn't represent the era that that this restaurant should represent and is a bit hodgepodge of era's thrown together, really confusing on what they are trying to portray...
What we did like about this place is their creativity with the menu that we have never seen before...
They have a Pile a Hobo and Omelet style serving that in our opinion adopts the very nature of how people like to eat their food...
The Pile is for people that like a layered look with their food, the Hobo was truly unique of mixing all the food together in a frittata style which was done absolutely perfect and of course the standard Omelet look...
You then choose from the standard ways of ordering your traditional breakfast like western, greek, cheddar etc. and they provide the presentation you are accustomed to by making it for you...
The place is very popular, obvious regulars frequent the establishment and people have a happy nature about them here...
This is not a place for stuffed shirt type people or people that are naggy or in a hurry, not that they couldn't cater to them, it's just not the type of people that patrons of this restaurant want to have ruin the experience for them...
Prices are fair, and that's saying a lot for Seattle, so if compared to the high cost of living the Government forces on businesses here, we would say they are more than fair when it comes to portions and prices...
We give Luna Café a 5 in Menu Creativity, but a 4 in business upkeep because what we see missing in this restaurant is love, something is missing at this place and something has been lost along the way, but has potential and that's why we recommend it...
We've been to a lot of places in Seattle and not that we've been to all of them, it's just none of them stand out as much as these two restaurants did in our Opinion (High Point and Luna Café)...
Life outside of Seattle does exist, believe it or not :-D and we would like to mention another Restaurant in Tacoma called Marcia Silver Spoon Café...
First of all we need to mention that they DO NOT take credit cards, so bring cash or check, cash preferred ;-)
This restaurant is in a league of their own and defy the bad parking hole in the wall stigma that most hole in the wall places are plagued with...
Plenty of parking because most of the businesses around them have been closed, one of the saddest looking districts we have seen yet in Washington, but where they lack they make up for in Quality and Value...
We went with one of the signature items that was UNBELIEVABLE from concept to table and you will not finish this in one sitting and if you do you'll regret it for sure...
The Silver Spoon Scramble is a piece of art that they take a lot of pride making and take a lot of time making as well, so don't expect it in 10 minutes or less, no way no how, so sit back relax and enjoy one another's company...
Although this is one of their signature meals, it's not what they are famous for and that would be for all you Country Fried Steak eaters out there that need to try this meal on for size...
HUGE Portion, moderately priced and anyone who eats it is astounded by the flavor, so we'll go on to say that we're sure the gravy is done right, it looks right on the plate ;-)
What we didn't like about this place is that they cleaned the dishes in the front of house, which is a bit tacky in our opinion and sadly we think that they were washing the silverware by hand because we never saw the silverware go into a Dishwasher, so have a glass of water and make sure your forks and spoons are clean first before you eat...
sidenote: Take that extra space you have in the back and extend it for a proper dishwasher station...
Another place that is a bit of a fixer upper, but presentation is awesome, the fruit was fresh with a Kitchen Staff that obviously loves what they do, because the flavor and presentation of their food reflected it...
We rate their food a 5, but we give the place a 3 because they need to liven it up a bit and move the dish cleaning to the back of house where it's supposed to be...
When you go out to eat, you're taking a risk by default, because the tables are cleaned with an overused towel, you're not sure where the food comes from originally and you are counting on the fact that they take pride in their job enough to make sure you don't get sick from what they serve...
Another problem that still exists in the restaurant business is the splitting of the check...
The way we work around this due to this antiquated inconvenience is either one person pays for everyone's meal or two people pay for everyone's meal...
We also like to invite new people to our Breakfast club, but in order to be invited you have to choose the restaurant, but they don't have to pay because they are your guest...that's the rules ;-)
The restaurant can break up a check 4 ways, but they cringe at breaking it up at all and nothing ticks off a server more then when you have to split a check, and this shouldn't be...
We have a starving population of Algorithm makers out there that can handle this outdated model in their sleep...
Currently in a restaurant, that's not emphasized anymore, is the Pivot point system and that a table is counted from 1 to whatever, which provides the server a starting point when food is served...
Nothing makes a restaurant owner/manager cringe more then when a server or a runner uses the Role Call method to serve the food...
Example: Who had the, and who had the, and who had the type methodology of serving the food...
People rarely remember what they ordered, but they do know how they wanted it cooked, so this is very important to get it right because if you switch up two steaks one medium rare and the other medium, you'll be having to comp the check by the time it's all over...
The exception to the rule is the Party of 8 or more, because gratuity is automatically calculated into the bill and typically party's of this size always have one person paying anyway...
sidenote: Not that it couldn't be done, it's just etiquette and yes, the pivot point system is definitely mandatory in a party of this size or more...
The problem with today's standards of paying is that a lot of people don't carry cash with them anymore, so it's hard for customers to break up the bill by pulling out ones, tens and twenties...
It's easier with a Card and because of that it should be just as easy to pay the bill, and there is no reason this couldn't be done by implementing the pivot point system to extend to the customer...
They now have a kiosk at most restaurants and your table could be broken up by who ordered what by implementing the pivot point system and the customer pays their bill based on the position of the table they were sitting at...
They would press #1 they would verify their items and pay, then pass it on to the next person and each person would add a gratuity based on their meal...
This way not one person is getting stuck paying too much or groveling over how much they should tip...
If it were couples then simple, just include 1 & 2 together and 3 & 4 together to close out the order...
Or if the women sat together and the men sat together 1 & 3 and 2 & 4...
Anyway, this is also the reason why we became so impassioned about Seattle not having their own Omelet...
This is the problem with Most Big Cities, they're not hungry, so they lose that creativity needed for food...
In our Opinion the Universal Language is MMMmmmmm, which is known WORLDWIDE as the sign for Good Food...
That's why America doesn't have a lot of creative meals, it's because America has never been hungry...
Even a bum on the street can get a meal, but not in an impoverished city where people think about food all day long and never get it...
This is where the creativity in our opinion comes from, where people are starving and are being treated poorly by their Government because as we all know, Governments don't know how to provide...
If you want to bring people together you invite them to eat, because there is nothing and we repeat NOTHING in the World that can unite people faster and better than a good meal...and that's a fact!
**UPDATE**
Come to find out we were right...
The Local’s Guide to the Best Diners Across America chose "Luna Park Café" in west Seattle...
"Serving Piles - eggs on top of hash browns and toppings - and hobos - hash browns mixed in with the eggs - the Luna Park Café is doing something right putting all of the breakfast foods together instead of side by side." Hell, we could have told them that, oh yeah, WE DID ;-)
