Peg had mentioned so many times that we had eaten at Charlie's Bar & Grill on Seattle Capitol Hill, that I was starting to believe her. After all, she's rarely wrong. But on a Thursday morning during a three-day Seattle trip I let my wife sleep in and I headed to Charlie's for breakfast, alone.
As soon as I walked in I knew that I had never dined there before. Peg was correct in that she had taken both my sister Marsha and my Uncle James there and Marsha and Jim had loved the food. The restaurant is a throw back decor-wise to a cross between a 1950s men's club or a brothel. Take your pick. I felt welcome, regardless.
I was asked for a table by the window and ended up with a teeny-tiny round table. I would have preferred a larger table, but those sturdy wingback chairs looked really comfortable. The larger tables had straight-back diningroom chairs.
The seating gave me a great view of the busy Broadway neighborhood. There was constant foot traffic. The pay parking ATM was directly across the sidewalk in plain view of my cozy chair giving me a chance to see people struggling with payment, while they tried to read the graffiti scarred monitor. Actually, everytime I've paid for street parking in Seattle it's always a guess because it's almost impossible to read the monitors.
I looked over the menu and ordered my favorite breakfast for reviews: biscuits and gravy with hashbrowns. I'm almost always disappointed with the biscuits and the hashbrowns, which I order "burnt, burnt, burnt . . . with an onion cut up in them." If I come back a second time I usually change the order and request sourdough toast instead of biscuits. If I am served flabby, white hashbrowns two times in a row, I just don't return.
The friendly waitress brought my hashbrowns and apologized, "I hope they're not too burnt." I replied, "They can't be too burnt. There's no such thing."
This was the first restaurant I've eaten at that gave me big sections of onions. And . . . actually, the hashbrowns had a couple shreds that were indeed burnt, but Charlie's gets four stars for delivering just what I asked for. That is rare. Extremely rare.
The biscuits delivered another surprise. They were excellent as was the gravy. My only complaint was that the biscuits were not "smothered" in gravy. They were barely covered. I asked for an additional cup of gravy for my biscuits and hashbrowns. The four strips of bacon were absolutely perfect. The prices were excellent, also. For my bisuits and gravy with eggs and bacon, a side of hashbrowns, and coffee along with a healthy tip, I paid $20.
I enjoyed my first breakfast so much that I scheduled breakfast for Friday at Charlie's, also.
My buddy Al Burrage from West Seattle joined Peg and me for breakfast on Friday followed by a trip to the Frye Art Museum. Al loves breakfast even more than I do. Peg usually has yogurt and cereal with fruit each morning, but this morning she chose the "chicken fried steak" with over-easy eggs and hashbrowns cooked the way I like them. Again, we felt short-changed on the gravy, but the waitress brought more just like on Thursday. The gravy had more flavor and was a little darker the day before. Perhaps, a difference in taste of the cook? Or a different cook?
Peg thought the steak was a little tough, but I thought it was fine. It could have been crispier, however.
Al noted that his hashbrowns, were just as brown as Peg's and he hadn't placed a special order, but then we see this all the time.
Sometimes after ordering "burnt, burnt, burnt" we're served whiter hashbrowns than our friends. In this instance they were fine, however Peg had ordered onions and those were charred appropriately, thank you very much.
Al ordered Eggs Benedict. He thought that perhaps they were a little stingy with the Hollandaise sauce. I had turned down my single egg and deferred an additial poached egg to his plate. Like Jack Spratt, he licked the platter clean, so I think he was well satisfied with breakfast.
I ordered a waffle with a side of sausage links. I also ended up with Peg's hashbrowns and the extra gravy that we asked for. I enjoyed my waffle, the sausages, and the hashbrowns. We each really liked what we had ordered.
The bill, again with a healthy tip was just over $50. That's not bad for three adults in a Seattle restaurant.
My dad, who enjoyed eating breakfast at various diners and restaurants would have loved Charlie's Bar & Grill. I did, also. I think this could be a major favorite. The next time we travel to Capitol Hill for a short stay, I'll have Charlie's on my to do list. And perhaps, one day I'll try it for lunch or dinner as well.
