Eating in Seattle - Café Soleil

Writer Bruce Taylor was holding a table for comics classic Roberta Gregory and me at Seattle's Hot Spot. 

On the way to meet Bruce, we passed a little restaurant that was nearly empty - but a waitress was delivering two big breakfast plates that looked and smelled divine.

Hungry?

It was Mother's Day, and the Hot Spot was slammed. Bruce was still waiting. So I suggested we head back and check out the other café. 

Plenty of room in a big, roomy hall, with both outside walls mostly window. Now, let's just have the facts:

Café Soleil, Ethiopian Restaurant. Devoted to the organic and real.

Big, tasty, American-style breakfasts, served fast (haven't had a chance to try the Ethiopian dishes, but the dinner menu looked yummy). Fried potatoes tender and crisp, eggs tender, goat cheese, sausage and veggies scrumptious. No, it's not all vegetarian, but they have plenty of veggie choices.

Very reasonable prices, right in the Cheap Eats class.

Fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Bottomless cup of STRONG coffee.

Almond milk or soy for the lactose intolerant.

Attention to special needs and sensitivities, such as gluten-free upon request.

Cheerful, out-going wait-staff and cooks.

Bathroom (I always check, for a key to overall restaurant cleanliness): Let us say - old-time post office building needs floor help, but clean and charming. And organic: even the odor spray was nothing but orange oils, with no propellants. 

Where: Seattle's Madrona neighborhood, 1400 34th Avenue, Seattle, WA  206- 325-1120. Lots of neighborhood parking.

We didn't mean to bleed off the line of people standing in front of the Hot Spot, and fill up the Soleil - but those poor people were backed up for days, and neither place is huge. And two good restaurants attract more overall customers than one.  

Now we'll have to go back for dinner!

What to eat at the Clallam Bay Comicon

Note: This is a logging area learning to be an entertainment and tourist area. If you have bad experiences, remember, local nerds do, too. Be a beacon for the future, and watch the geeks come out. You might find your local GIMP enthusiast - or expert on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. LGBT community vibrant and growing. On the way in, you'll see a lot of places to eat along the road; they're all good. Native nations wonderful places to visit; watch out for amazing native art, including totem poles and house murals. Casinos and stores double as art-galleries.

PORT ANGELES is all here: Restaurants in Port Angeles - Visit Port Angeles Washington

HIGHWAY 101

Lake Crescent Lodge. If you have time, great restaurant and cold clear swimming.

(Not recommended: HIGHWAY 112

Exit is right after leaving West Port Angeles. Burnt Mountain sea side is collapsing, and the road is either very bad at that point, or has slides. Use 101 instead.)

CLALLAM BAY/SEKIU

Espresso and Booze

The Weel Road Deli's Hole Shot Espresso Shop. All kinds of variety and treats, and a cute little corner. The store is also the only local source of liqour and beer.

Strait Shots. as you breeze into town. Will serve you if you're on a horse.

FOOD
Sunsets West Co-Op: Anti-mask and anti-vax, not so much MAGA as misdirectedly holistic. Better to be safe than sorry.

At the Breakwater Inn, halfway to Sekiu, order Dixie's bread pudding. Decent food, nice full bar. Great view.

In Sekiu, the By The Bay Café has good ol' 1950's diner food, and a pretty view.

During Fun Days: Lion's Club barbecue is prime. A must: look for frybread! Local prices low, food tasty, much of it homemade.

Neah Bay

Take-Home Fish Company. THE place for dry-smoked salmon. Worth the trip.

Warm House Restaurant. Nice place for breakfast, fish-n-chips, light dinners. Great eagle views.

Washburn's Trading Post. Best fried chicken in the area, soft-serve ice cream, excellent, well-priced produce. Store signs posted in English and native Qʷidiččaʔa·tx̌ (Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx). ("Makah" is just what other people called them - it meant, "Good hosts." They are.) 

Silver Lining

Waiting for the Clallam Bay bus (or the bus that would GET me to the Clallam Bay bus) and wandering around downtown Port Angeles looking at decorations and browsing shiny shops, I picked up an irresistibly appetizing odor.

It led me to the Soho Asian Bistro, near the ferry terminal, across from the downtown bus terminal.

I just wanted something light and warming. So the very helpful waitress made some suggestions.

(Clockwise) shows what she brought: paper-skin rolls, a very smooth and nutty peanut sauce sprinkled with large peanut fragments, a rather fragrant tea and a rich, dark hot-and-sour soup.

The soup is homemade. It tastes as though they've roasted the bones, which is the right way to make the stock. I'd like it a bit hotter -- both ways -- but it was well-balanced, and very soothing on a cold winter's day.

I didn't know the paper-skin rolls were made with shrimp, and when I bit into one of the two big juicy prawns wrapped with the fresh lettuce and rice stick noodles, it was a very tasty surprise. The rolls were very filling, and I took one home to Dan.

The waitress -- who I think was one of the owners -- said that they had pho but they didn't have beef tendon. They sometimes ate it themselves in the kitchen, but the local restaurant clientele didn't seem open to it.

I love beef tendon; I told her it tasted like nomlish little dumplings (I didn't say "nomlish"). She said an -- ahem -- "American" friend found the texture "weird." They didn't think they could serve bubble tea, either. She agreed that the taro-root flavor was the best one.

I told them they should have Challenge Nights.

Next time I'm in town, I'm ordering pho and I'm asking them to add beef tendon if they have it.

The Soho Asian Bistro serves Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese dishes. It has a bar, which I didn't try. The prices are moderate, and the servings are large and handsome, like the rooms. It would stand up in Seattle or San Franciso.

We ended up finishing up the roll at the Clallam Bay Inn with Mac and Jack Stout. Perfect.

Sunday in Seattle with Steve

Frankly just taking the day off with an old friend and colleague. Bear (Ursus Horibilus) and Steve Gallacci in Seward Park:
















Douglas Fir windfall after the winter storms:



















These stairs between blocks are a feature of all the Seattle neighborhoods built on steep hills. The blocks can be quite long, and going around by the regular sidewalks would take much longer.

That's me, in my second-hand pea jacket and the beret everybody wants to buy.

Next, we have the Taco Bus. These little mom-n-pop operations, serving tasty, inexpensive Mexican eats, have popped up around the Rainier area in the last several years. You can get a real Coke there -- with sugar -- instead of the toxic corn syrup that is turning America into the Land Of The Roly Pollies. The spicy pork and beef cheek tacos are to die for.

Grocery List

After I said my readers would read anything I wrote, even a grocery list, one of you asked for it. We live at http://www.sekiu.com/, so shopping is rare and complicated. The big list, for the annual Norwescon trip so far is:

Fix Drill! (My Dewalt has been drilled and screwed to death).
sardines (Dollar store cans)
yeast (for the microwaved summer sourdough.)
pain pills
Petromalt
jalepenos
vinegar
big dry milk
bleach
check to bank
chocolate for Joe (because the old guy on Highway 112 won't take money for eggs)
cough syrup
5 jugs of cooking oil (from the bulk restaurant store. Normally this includes 150 pounds of whole wheat flour and 150 pounds of popcorn)
dish soap
lazy suzan (for the kitchen project)

Visit The Little Store.