Andy "milk was a bad choice" K.'s Profile

If I lived in Belltown this would a standby for a lazy breakfast and to satisfy those acute cravings for croissant that demand to be satisfied. Living in Capitol Hil I'm glad I stopped in for lunch but probably won't make the trek down again.

A meal of leek quiche, mushroom bisque, and a marionberry croissant was very tasty, but for $15 it felt a little steep even though each item was very good.

While a few slices of baguette came with my food they didn't inspire me to take a loaf home - the crust was soft and the crumb was dense. Not at all the crackly, hole-pocked freshness that you would expect from a French bakery. Scoping out the loaves it didn't look like they would stand up to the competition of Macrina, Essential, or Tall Grass.

There's nothing out of the ordinary about Machiavelli, and that's part of why it's so good. More than once, when my brain and my stomach couldn't make up their collective mind about what I wanted to eat, Machiavelli has filled the bill. There's something comforting about a simple bowl of pasta that's steaming hot and not aspiring to be anything else.

Clearly plenty of people agree - it can be tough to get in on weekend nights, but it is worth a moderate wait, especially if you're jonesing for Italian. Service is prompt and the food arrives fairly quickly considering how busy it can be. The dining area is warm and inviting and perfect for watching pedestrians as they climb up Pine.

I hate Krispy Kreme, I really do. Unsatisfying pieces of sickly sweet sugared air. I once asked a friend "friend, how can one of these satisfy you?" to which he responded "you eat six of them"... wrong wrong wrong.

I like my doughnuts to satisfy in the single serving form - heavy in that way that only a fresh old fashioned can be. Top Pot delivers exactly the kind of doughnuts I crave.

Sitting in one of the window seat with a doughnut, coffee, and book is my idea of a perfect fall day. The space is big enough to accommodate the traffic and those who want to camp out for a while and soak in the ambiance.

With all the recent media hype about Spring Hill and chef Mark Fuller it took me a little while to digest my experience there and decide that it didn't meet the bar that has been established.

Reservations for 6 through Open Table worked without a hitch and the service was fine, though nothing remarkable. The space itself is attractive in a modern sort of way and I was glad to find that it was warmer inside that it looked.

An order of the bread was surprisingly ordinary, though the accompanying butter and sea salt was delicious. There are certainly better breads out there, however, even if you are featuring the fatty component.

Further appetizers of a trio of rillettes (tuna, port, duck) and seared scallops were probably the stars of the night. The rillettes were delicious, particularly the duck, and were enjoyed by all. The scallops were perfectly cooked, but they did not pair at all well with the salmon roe that was used on the plate. There briny saltiness of the eggs distracted from and overwhelmed the delicate sweetness of the star ingredient.

Entrees were hit or miss. Three orders of the tagliatelle with pork belly and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms were all enjoyed. The portion size may have been a bit too large and the noodles themselves not all that remarkable, but the fatty pork and expertly cooked mushrooms were ample and delicious. Orders of the halibut and the burger were both received mostly without remark while the duck was found to be disappointing.

Desserts were also a mixed bag. The trio of icecreams (popcorn, ovaltine, and cinnamon-toast-crunch) were all delicious. The bread pudding was extremely boozy but nothing about it made it superior to any other bread pudding out there. The coconut-bar had good flavor but was very difficult to cut through and made it a chore to manage.

Spring Hill's food certainly is good, but the price is high and for that the offerings should be more remarkable. At the same (or lower) price point Seattle already has a slew of restaurants that offer a more exciting experience.

I only wish the guy selling at the Ballard farmers market seemed happier. This is really excellent bread and should make everyone happy!

I love the fougasse; it tasks like the tastiest pizza crust in the world but studded with olives.
I love the hominy bread warmed and covered and butter with soup or chowder.
I love their baguette with butter or cheese.
I love the sourdough for sandwiches.

Like everyone else I wish it was less $$ but you get what you pay for and this bread is clearly superior.

Why not 5 stars? I'm not exactly sure... but I like to leave something to aspire to. Any place that can smoothly handle a group of 14, complete with baby, gets 3 stars automatically. If they add bacon to their pancakes they get at least 4.

TOPH had no problem with given an advance reservation for 14 at 11am Saturday morning. The table was ready on time and, in fact, we kept them waiting as the last stragglers showed up a few minutes late. There was ample room for all of us and through the rest of the morning service was fast and attentive.

There's a lot on that menu but this is The Original House of something and it isn't eggs benedict, so I had to go the direction of pancakes. Pancakes always feel a little lonely by themselves so I had to go the route of the "1 by three" (about $9): 1 egg, two sausage links, and three pancakes. They were happy to substitute bacon pancakes for the advertised buttermilk.

Normally I avoid diner pancakes; they're dense and I leave feeling like I'd been sucker punched when I was sleepy and vulnerable. Not so here! The pancakes were light with a very tasty batter that encased the bacon pieces. I wouldn't say the bacon-pancake is a transcendental experience, but it is a delicious alternative from sweeter fare. A coating of  butter and syrup over said bacon is a great breakfast 2.0 mashup. The sausage was also very good despite looking like it had been burned.

I also enjoyed drawing on my napkin with the crayons.

I come from the clean-your-plate club. The kind where you finish what's in front of you, no questions asked. Taking home the leftovers is okay, but you sure as hell don't waste food. I'll bring home an individually-wrapped pat of butter if I end up with an extra. It's genetic. You'll find sugar packets in my dad's pockets and once my mom saved her bacon in a napkin.

Well, I ordered the biscuits and gravy, realized that it needed some serious doctoring with salt'n'pepper'n'hotsauce, ate about half, got stuffed and bored, brought home the remainder, let them sit in my fridge for a day... and then tossed them. My friend had the same reaction to her chicken-fried steak, except those leftovers didn't even leave the 5-Spot.

This place feels like it has a lot going for it: its big and bright, very kid/baby-friendly, and the wait staff was super-friendly. Everything on the menu looks great. But it wasn't. It was ginourmous and bland and I wish that it wasn't because I really wanted to love this place.

(This is basically the same reaction I had to Coastal Kitchen's breakfast...  think I give up on ChowFoods joints)

After the waitress asked "Have you had our waffle?? It's awesome!" I was sold on the waffle combo but when it arrived there were two things wrong: the links I ordered had decided to become bacon without asking me, and the waffle was the most wholly unremarkable waffle I've ever eaten. The waffles we used to make at the college dining hall (where the batter sat around in styrofoam cups) were way better. Covered in butter and thin syrup there was a little taste, but mostly I just want the space in my stomach back. Or my ten bucks. Or both.

Two stars for being a diner, having really friendly servers, and at east managing to get the eggs right.

Diner food comes with diner food level expectations but, even so, Salmon Bay wasn't worth getting up for. Really Yelp, 4 stars? You are broken :(

Usually trying to get brunch at 11 am on a Sunday is like black friday at Walmart: make sure you don't get trampled by everyone else with the same idea. But what if everyone else was really really friendly? And there was free coffee? And delicious smells kept wafting out the door? That might even convince me to shop at Walmart and it surly will make me repeat visit The Dish.

Showing up at 10:40 snagged me a table for 4 by 11am. To pass the time I sipped the free coffee and chatted with the others in line. Totally enjoyable, and a good start for a lazy Sunday.

The servers were totally friendly and not in that harried 'holy crap I just can't deal anymore' mode that you sometimes see during the breakfast rush. The ambiance is warm and charming, especially the hodgepodge of mugs they serve coffee in (pink barbie mug FTMFW!) are adorable.

Most of the menu focuses on eggs in omelette or scramble form. Both of my companions went this direction and enjoyed what they got. They both went with the scone as the 'toast option'. Calling it a scone is at best a bald faced lie (dude, it's cinnamon coffee-cake), but what a delicious lie it is.

Me? I'm a biscuits and gravy man so B&G for me with scrambled eggs and potatoes. The gravy was excellent, not too heavy, and with a bit of tabasco really hit the spot. The biscuits were large but not dense and working my way through both was no problem. Interestingly the biscuits were slightly sweet. Any sweeter and they would have clashed with the gravy, but as it was I really enjoyed the sweet background note. Also remarkably good were the potatoes on the side. These were nicely cooked and especially well seasoned. There was a good amount of sweet, caramelized onion mixed in that greatly enhanced the dish.

All in all excellent. I could see moving to Ballard just to be close by The Dish.

Five stars just for knowing that it's not an 'everything' bagel it's a _Long Island_ bagel. Say it with me: Long Island bagel

Ithaca Bakery is my first stop whenever I manage to get back to Ithaca. It continually saddens me that I just can't find a bagel as good as an Ithaca Bakery bagel anywhere in Seattle. These bagels have been my ideal bagel since childhood: glossy crust, very chewy, and available in many varieties. A toasted Long Island with cream cheese is pretty much the best thing ever. I flew back to Seattle with a dozen after christmas and I carried them in my hand luggage because I was worried about my checked luggage not making it back with me.

All of the bakery's bread products are winners though. If you've never had the Becks'n'Cheddar you're missing out on one of the most delicious bread experiences available. Just don't buy my loaf.

The other prepped food items range from good to very good. The soup is especially satisfying; there was one shrimp gumbo that I remember being particularly transcendent a few years ago.