Good morning South Sound
Posted: Jan 18, 2007 by Jake and Jason de Paul
Affairs Café & Bakery is a comfy place to catch up with a friend over gourmet breakfast and strawberry mimosa. Also, their chocolates are as close to a vice as you can get without actually sinning. 2811 Bridgeport Way W., University Place, 253.565.8604.
LINK: Review on Spew
Alfred’s makes an amazing breakfast. They don’t try to get fancy with herbs and sauces and complex ingredients. The chicken fried steak morning entree spills over the plate’s edge. Creamy, peppered gravy sopped right on to golden English muffins and potatoes is a belly-rubbing experience. Alfred’s features a full liquor and espresso bar, so order up a Bloody Mary, mimosa or have a triple shot espresso in your Bailey’s and coffee. 402 Puyallup Ave. E., Tacoma by the Tacoma Dome, 253.627.5491.
LINK: Review on Spew
Whenever we have out of town guests, we inevitably take them to Babblin’ Babs Bistro for breakfast. A smiling Chef William Mueller incorporates intelligent portion control with nontraditional ingredients — apple pecan rye bread, French ham, white cedar cheese and cilantro. He prepares nothing by chance. Ingredients are positioned perfectly. His breakfast sandwiches could hang in a museum. The Babs Goes Northwest — salmon, egg, thin slices of English cucumber, red onions, tomatoes and a smear of cream cheese — raises the question: Did Mueller place each herb on with tweezers? It’s fantastic. Our favorite: The Bess of sandwich with hickory smoked bacon, spinach, egg, wafer-thin tomato slices on French bread. And the organic Bistro Blend (Indonesian and Ethiopian) lavender latte makes us cry with pleasure. 2724 N. Proctor St., Tacoma, 253.761.9099.
Owners Billy Roberson and Lisa Smith have a treasure here. Their Northwest/Cajun fusion restaurant has an ambitious, inventive menu that hits its mark more often than not. Cicada’s breakfast menu reads like a five-star restaurant, and it delivers. The butternut squash pancake was moist, massive and decorated with curried apple sauce, honey and pumpkin seeds. The Big Easy (pictured above) tastes as good as it looks. Inventive green eggs and ham, a jalapeno scramble with corn tortillas and fixings, was extraordinary. The thick French toast with candied hazelnuts and raisin chutney belongs on a dessert menu. Hangtown Fry, biscuits and gravy and a breakfast sandwich look good enough to kill a hangover. 700 Fourth Ave E., Olympia, 360.753.5700.
Step back in time with a true old-fashioned diner style restaurant with pancakes, blue-plate-like entrees, sandwiches, soups, chicken-fried-steak, tasty pies and desserts. Breakfast, lunch or dinner. 7427 South Hosmer, Tacoma, (253) 473-0855.
This coffee house imparts a warm and welcoming vibe not only projected by charming employees, but through the comfortably appointed main room as well. Enjoy breakfast sandwiches, oatmeal, bagels, omelets on biscuit or croissant, yogurt, quiches, and even a pancake-sausage or bacon combo served all day for less than $5. 6820 Sixth Ave., Tacoma. 253.565.1017, www.javafusion.net.
The Pegasus Restaurant & Lounge is a throwback to the good old diner days when Flo drawled out “Kiss my grits” and a cup of coffee was less than dollar. The Pegasus is a bit off the beaten path down in the industrial part of Tacoma on East Puyallup Avenue.
Open for every meal every day, Pegasus hooks the Weekly Volcano on its no frills breakfasts. It’s down-home, salt of the earth food. Something a grown man could eat and have fuel enough for a full day’s work. We’re talking steak and eggs, hearty omelets, stacks of steaming flap jacks, slabs of tasty salty grilled ham.
You won’t find an espresso machine or 12-grain tangerine muffin here, but after a Pegasus sausage breakfast sandwich that makes McDonald’s version cry in a corner in shame, you’ll agree the grilled English muffin with a fried egg and a real sausage patty with a plate of crispy hash browns for $4.95 is a superb way to get you going. 1320 Puyallup Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.5300.
LINK: Check out the lounge here.
We find the café a nice respite – a truly local establishment where our relationship with our servers feels genuine and caring. It’s a place where people linger, where they come with newspapers and laptops in the morning, drink coffee and eat sandwiches or scones until well into the afternoon, and enjoy pot pie and wine before a show. The cassoulet rules. 2602 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.0170.
This joint is like everyone's memory of their favorite college pizza hangout. It’s the place to find a quick and large breakfast at a reasonable price, plus pizza that rocks your world. 317 South Seventh, downtown Tacoma, delivery and take-out at 253.383.4777.
We thought I had heard of all of the different ways to make eggs. This café uses an espresso wand to very quickly scramble up some of the fluffiest eggs on earth. Green Eggs and Ham was a delight to my health conscious heart. Eggs, avocado and slightly salted, tender morsels of ham lay across one side of the platter with toasted bread considerately sans butter on the other. Other wand scrambles resemble omelet options of the Denver with minced ham, cheddar cheese and onions. Try the Mexi-Eggs with anaconda, tomato, onion and salsa or the Three Little Pigs — bacon, sausage and ham. Not an egg man? The café offers Belgian waffles, whole grain oatmeal with raisins, half and half cream and brown sugar served all day. At lunchtime, sandwiches, salads, soup and nachos will fill your belly. Wash your grub down with Italian sodas, milk shakes and fruit smoothies. 1746 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.1029.
Breakfast at noon on Saturday is so right, and Southern Kitchen really does it right. Have a big slab of grilled hot ham or juicy sausage links with a plate of diced home fries in a place where greasy is not a dirty word but a tasty one. Fluffy biscuits drowning in lightly peppered creamy sausage gravy, pure white grits just waiting to be buttered and salted up, slightly sweet corncakes, cheesy eggs scrambled quick — mmm, mmm, mmm, don’t stop us now. 1716 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.627.4282.
A homey, relaxed joint resembling other traditional American cuisine chain restaurants. For breakfast, try fluffy biscuits with creamy peppered country gravy, omelets packed with mouthwatering ingredients, or seven, enormous breakfast accompanied by two rich buttermilk pancakes. Lunch and dinner are also served. 31711 Pacific Highway S., Federal Way, 253.941.9860.
Heaping standard breakfasts and tasty specials will settle anyone’s tummy, and the mimosas make you giggle. It’s where Tacoma’s rockers eat. 2704 N. 21st St., Tacoma, 253.759.3882.