Right about Halloween, Pacifica, Issei and I went down to Salmon Bay to the Salmon Bay Cafe. The restaurant sits across the water from the fisherman's terminal, across a run-down street from the condos and hipster joints in Ballard, and nicely wedged between two purveyors of concrete. Apparently stingy as the parking lot hadn't had an overcoat of asphalt since the first of the three Bush administrations. We went in a bit sceptical--dark doors hung with skeletons for the season-- but left happy, and full of pancakes, and with two full sets of new teeth.
Like the parking lot, the inside of the Salmon Bay Cafe has not been updated for a while. The layout is typical for a true greasy spoon--an area that once had a counter (by the kitchen), and two areas of booths to accommodate smokers and those that don't want to sit by smokers while they smoke the smokers' smoke. Fortunately for us, many years have passed since customers were allowed to light up, so while the structure remains, the smells and public smokers are long gone. The waitstaff were all smiles--led us right to one of the many open booths by the window, with a commanding view of the aforementioned arterial road. While weathered (and taped) the booths were comfortable and clean, as was the glass table. Not much to ask, but duly noted. And then the activity pages, crayons and water. We knew what we wanted.
The menu had everything a typical fisherman or farmer would would need to fuel up for the day; stacks of cakes, eggs a number of ways, scrambles, eggs benedict, and nothing to unnecessarily fancy to upset the palate so early in the morning. As a bonus, there is even a section of the menu labeled healthy, just in case you wanted to come in for a $5 cup of oatmeal or some sliced fruit. But I can't imagine going for that with the smell of bacon in the air....
The Kids, as expected, went straight for pancakes. Me, I got some sort of scramble...eggs and cheese and potatoes. Again, staff was excellent--I would say some of the best servers this side of the Cascades--and the chef exceeded all expectations. Each stack was decorated with a modest face made of fresh fruit, and next to the 800calorie dollops of butter were toothpick-strapped flags and cocktail umbrellas. One of the US, one for Mexico. This made us think of uncle Brett and his new restaurant in La Cruz, Mexico...Pacifica. After some discusssion, we all decided that Pacifica should get the Mexican flag.
The portions were perfect--I at half mine and brought the rest home. The kids left nothing for the compost bin, save the butter packs. Before we left, the servers (did I mention them?) brought over a big bucket of Halloween treats, and let the kids spend time digging through the tattoos, fake blood packets, stickers, and nonsuch. The kids settled on vampire teeth, which added just the right touch to their costumes. Vampire nutcracker, and vampire Coppelia.
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