The Big Breakfast Adventure | Lola

(In case you missed how the Big Breakfast Adventure got started, you can read it  here:  How it all began)

 Yes.  I know.  Lola is on the Big Breakfast Adventure circuit AGAIN.  It’s not my fault.  The Seattle Magazine gave them 3 of the 55 Best Breakfasts in Seattle awards.  Best appetizer – that was those glorious little doughnuts, Best Northwest Spin on Hash – that outrageously good Octopus & Chick pea ensemble, & Best Potatoes.  Let me tell you I was in no way disappointed to be having to go to Lola for breakfast for the third time :-)

And also let me tell you right up front:  Lola *do* make the best breakfast potatoes ever.  I guess I could just end this post right here, but that wouldn’t be any fun now would it?

The Best Breakfast Potatoes in Seattle

It turns out that our super-cheery server, Alexa, who overheard my very enthusiastic story-telling about last weekend’s grit-fest in Atlanta, is from the deep South.  New Orleans.  So Alexa knows a thing or two about grits.  She also shared how utterly wrong she had been in her assumption that food in Seattle would be awful, when it is, in fact, quite amazing if you know where to go.  I guess that is why Alexa is serving at Lola & not Roxy’s.

Anyway, back to the potatoes.  Miss Kathy had specifically requested to be a part of the Best Potatoes Adventure.  I totally get that.  Potatoes are one of the finest things ever grown by man after all.  The other very cool thing about this particular breakfast adventure was that we could choose whatever our hearts desired & our mouths fancied on the menu & then just add potatoes on the side.  Miss Kathy chose the Lola breakfast: two eggs, choice of pork-maple sausage or smoked bacon, smashed garlic fried potatoes, toast.  I was going to order Billie’s heirloom tomato scramble, white cheddar, basil, bacon, toast with a side of potatoes.  Until Alexa let me in on the secret:  it already comes with the potatoes.  I’ll just go with that then.  Thanks Alexa!

The Lola Breakfast with house-made pork-maple sausage

Miss Kathy was delighted with her sausages before she even got them in her mouth.  They have to be the cutest sausages ever.  Apparently, having consumed them, they were then declared to be the most delicious sausages ever.  Miss Kathy does have a bit of a sausage fetish, so I’ll trust her judgment on this one.  She also declared the coffee to be fantastic.  We expected no less from one of Mr. Douglas’ establishments.  This is Seattle.  There is absolutely no excuse for one single cup of bad coffee in this town.  I wish I could say the same for the hot chocolate.  I shouldn’t have been disappointed since I know from past Lola experience that their hot chocolate is merely wet & warm, but I am ever hopeful that Tom will change that.  Given that I felt in need of a bit of comfort today I ordered the hot chocolate anyway.  To my utter dismay, not only was it merely wet & warm, it was also staggeringly plain looking.  Last time I had hot choc at Lola at least they made it look pretty.

{Tom - please.  I implore you - great hot chocolate is not hard.  Your cooking deserves great hot chocolate to go with it.  Your customers deserve great hot chocolate to drink.  Heck, your staff deserve great hot chocolate to serve.  I’ll even swing by & give you a demo, run a taste test or train your staff.  I love eating at Lola.  I love eating at Etta’s.  But your hot chocolate sucks.}

Heirloom Tomato Scramble with incredible potatoes

Lola breakfast potatoes are awesome.  Like very crispy English roast potatoes.  Yum!  Soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, beautifully seasoned.  I can’t imagine why anyone would choose hash-browns over these.  Yum yum yum yum yum.

I also love the toast at Lola, although today it was a little on the crunchy side.  Having just had a new crown fitted after one half of my tooth decided to part ways with the other half, I was slightly nervous about biting too hard on the toast.  But we all survived, teeth intact, with super-happy mouths & comfortably full tummies.

Oh those breakfast potatoes at Lola

 Lola isn’t the cheapest place to have breakfast, but I have to say, given that I have now eaten my way through 27 or so of the Best Breakfasts in Seattle, Lola is definitely one of the best of the best.

They are also open for breakfast every day of the week.  And they open super early, even on weekends – 7 am!  None of that crazy 10 am brunch lark here.

Did I mention that I *love* Lola?  Now if Tom would just fix that pesky hot chocolate…