(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…
Wow. This week is turning into confession central on my Atlanta restaurant idiosyncrasies. As with the Prime Meridian, I have now eaten at the Peasant Bistro in Atlanta at least 7 times in the last two years. Now 7 times in 2 years may not sound like a huge number on its own, but when you consider that in the last two years I have only spent a total of 12 nights in Atlanta, all-of-a-sudden 7 nights eating at the Peasant Bistro is rather a lot. I kinda like the Peasant Bistro :-) In my little world, any restaurant that uses Valrhona chocolate in its kitchen must know a thing or two about great food. The Peasant has gobs of Valrhona on hand, which as far as I am concerned qualifies it for the “must eat here” list.
Pam is the hub at the Peasant, and a very fine hub she is too. One night this last week I brought 64 (give or take a few) other people with me to eat dinner at the Peasant. Pam had it down. Served up hors d’œuvres (which I actually missed because I was too busy hugging everyone in sight & talking way too much) & then a glorious 3 course meal.
I can’t possibly remember everything about this weeks 3 trips to the Peasant. They’ve all sort of merged into a long blur of awesomeness. So here is a selection of fantastic food cooked up by Pam’s crew that my mouth has swooned over.
Have you ever seen a fresher looking lettuce on a restaurant plate? The crunch was audible & the tomato relish was lovely. I have never considered a wedge of lettuce a real salad, but I ate this one twice this week & loved it both times.
“What’s a torchon?” I hear you cry. Torchon is french for dish towel, so let’s just go with “foie gras pâté” & call it good. It’s really a style of cooking but let’s not worry about that & let me just tell you how good it was to eat. The brioche was dreamy. The fig relish divine. Have I ever mentioned how much I love eating foie gras? If it’s on the menu, I’ll be eating it. Every time.
The best looking Caeser Salad ever
Another fresher-than-it-was-in-the-garden lettuce. I didn’t eat this one, but it’s owner said it was very delicious. It was also huge. Almost a meal in itself. Another salad that I did eat this week was the Roasted Beets with goat cheese, pine nuts & orange vinaigrette. I also ate the Seckel Pear salad which had hazelnuts, honey, baby lettuces & Gorgonzola vinaigrette. They were impossibly good. I highly recommend that at some point in your life, if you find yourself in Atlanta, that you go & eat one or both of them.
Seared Salmon on Coconut Jasmine Rice
Another plate of food that I merely looked at & lusted after. And then photographed. Rumor has it that it was very yummy. I believe it. It looked fantastic.
Duck Breast with Braised Napa Cabbage & Shitake Mushrooms
Ah! Duck. Pretty much like foie gras, if it’s on the menu it’ll be on my plate & I’ll be devouring it. I love duck. I could have done with some more cabbage & mushrooms on the plate, but the duck was utterly luscious.
Lamb. I love lamb, but I didn’t eat this particular plate of it, although my mouth wishes that I had. Artichokes are a {very} strange vegetable to me so would never be my first choice but the Lamb with Artichoke muncher exclaimed loudly about how good this meal was & how much they liked artichoke, so it’s all good.
Manhattan Filet with Ridiculously Yummy Potatoes
Ok, so this is where it all went a little bit sideways for me. The filet: it wasn’t good. It was dry & tough. I expected meat that was like eating a slab of butter. Sadly not this time. I didn’t think it was possible to have a bad piece of food at the Peasant. I hate that I am wrong about that :-(
The asparagus was perfectly cooked & the potatoes were ridiculously yummy, arriving in their own little casserole dish covered in ooey-gooey-melty cheese & registering at least 500 degrees on a thermometer.
Valrhona Chocolate Mousse
I am at a loss for words. Twice this week I ate a dessert called the “Candy Bar”. What totally eludes me is that neither time did I photograph it, & it was, without question, one of the best desserts I have had in America. Made with Valrhona chocolate it was staggeringly intense. Incredible flavor. Incredible smooth texture. The second time I shared it, but of course secretly wished I’d had one all to myself. I cannot believe I didn’t make an image of it. What on earth was I thinking? Well, clearly I wasn’t thinking at all.
The mousse however didn’t hit the spot like the “Candy Bar” did. It was very smooth & very light but despite being made with Valrhona, it just didn’t have that intense chocolatey flavor that I was so excited to have swirling around my mouth.
I don’t know when (or even if) I’ll be back in Atlanta again. If I am, I guarantee that at least one dinner will be had at the Peasant Bistro.
I ♥ the Peasant Bistro!
Wow. This week is turning into confession central on my Atlanta restaurant idiosyncrasies. As with the Prime Meridian, I have now eaten at the Peasant Bistro in Atlanta at least 7 times in the last two years. Now 7 times in 2 years may not sound like a huge number on its own, but when you consider that in the last two years I have only spent a total of 12 nights in Atlanta, all-of-a-sudden 7 nights eating at the Peasant Bistro is rather a lot. I kinda like the Peasant Bistro :-) In my little world, any restaurant that uses Valrhona chocolate in its kitchen must know a thing or two about great food. The Peasant has gobs of Valrhona on hand, which as far as I am concerned qualifies it for the “must eat here” list.
Pam is the hub at the Peasant, and a very fine hub she is too. One night this last week I brought 64 (give or take a few) other people with me to eat dinner at the Peasant. Pam had it down. Served up hors d’œuvres (which I actually missed because I was too busy hugging everyone in sight & talking way too much) & then a glorious 3 course meal.
I can’t possibly remember everything about this weeks 3 trips to the Peasant. They’ve all sort of merged into a long blur of awesomeness. So here is a selection of fantastic food cooked up by Pam’s crew that my mouth has swooned over.
Have you ever seen a fresher looking lettuce on a restaurant plate? The crunch was audible & the tomato relish was lovely. I have never considered a wedge of lettuce a real salad, but I ate this one twice this week & loved it both times.
“What’s a torchon?” I hear you cry. Torchon is french for dish towel, so let’s just go with “foie gras pâté” & call it good. It’s really a style of cooking but let’s not worry about that & let me just tell you how good it was to eat. The brioche was dreamy. The fig relish divine. Have I ever mentioned how much I love eating foie gras? If it’s on the menu, I’ll be eating it. Every time.
The best looking Caeser Salad ever
Another fresher-than-it-was-in-the-garden lettuce. I didn’t eat this one, but it’s owner said it was very delicious. It was also huge. Almost a meal in itself. Another salad that I did eat this week was the Roasted Beets with goat cheese, pine nuts & orange vinaigrette. I also ate the Seckel Pear salad which had hazelnuts, honey, baby lettuces & Gorgonzola vinaigrette. They were impossibly good. I highly recommend that at some point in your life, if you find yourself in Atlanta, that you go & eat one or both of them.
Seared Salmon on Coconut Jasmine Rice
Another plate of food that I merely looked at & lusted after. And then photographed. Rumor has it that it was very yummy. I believe it. It looked fantastic.
Duck Breast with Braised Napa Cabbage & Shitake Mushrooms
Ah! Duck. Pretty much like foie gras, if it’s on the menu it’ll be on my plate & I’ll be devouring it. I love duck. I could have done with some more cabbage & mushrooms on the plate, but the duck was utterly luscious.
Lamb. I love lamb, but I didn’t eat this particular plate of it, although my mouth wishes that I had. Artichokes are a {very} strange vegetable to me so would never be my first choice but the Lamb with Artichoke muncher exclaimed loudly about how good this meal was & how much they liked artichoke, so it’s all good.
Manhattan Filet with Ridiculously Yummy Potatoes
Ok, so this is where it all went a little bit sideways for me. The filet: it wasn’t good. It was dry & tough. I expected meat that was like eating a slab of butter. Sadly not this time. I didn’t think it was possible to have a bad piece of food at the Peasant. I hate that I am wrong about that :-(
The asparagus was perfectly cooked & the potatoes were ridiculously yummy, arriving in their own little casserole dish covered in ooey-gooey-melty cheese & registering at least 500 degrees on a thermometer.
Valrhona Chocolate Mousse
I am at a loss for words. Twice this week I ate a dessert called the “Candy Bar”. What totally eludes me is that neither time did I photograph it, & it was, without question, one of the best desserts I have had in America. Made with Valrhona chocolate it was staggeringly intense. Incredible flavor. Incredible smooth texture. The second time I shared it, but of course secretly wished I’d had one all to myself. I cannot believe I didn’t make an image of it. What on earth was I thinking? Well, clearly I wasn’t thinking at all.
The mousse however didn’t hit the spot like the “Candy Bar” did. It was very smooth & very light but despite being made with Valrhona, it just didn’t have that intense chocolatey flavor that I was so excited to have swirling around my mouth.
I don’t know when (or even if) I’ll be back in Atlanta again. If I am, I guarantee that at least one dinner will be had at the Peasant Bistro.
I ♥ the Peasant Bistro!
So in the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve eaten breakfast at the Prime Meridian restaurant in the Omni Hotel, downtown Atlanta, countless times over the last 3 years. And I *love* their breakfasts. They produce an absurd brunch buffet with the most dizzying array of breakfast foods imaginable. Or, you can choose a dish off the menu. Talking of the menu…it is aptly called “The Art of Breakfast”. And I quote:
“Welcome to the Art of Breakfast – to inspire, satisfy & enrich your day”
Wow. I was inspired already. Plus the Prime Meridian does make breakfast an art. And after the whole darn thing was over, I was more than satisfied. I *love* eating breakfast at the Prime Meridian.
Ok, so I admit it. Old habits die hard. I had Eggs Benedict. The breakfast buffet was HUGE. The menu was extensive & had all sorts of strange Southern fare on it that I really should have been trying. I have eaten large numbers of strange breakfasts this year while on my Big Breakfast Adventure & have discovered that there are a gazillion other yummy breakfasty things to be had. But as I sat there overlooking Centennial Park in the early morning sunlight I realized that I actually hadn’t eaten Eggs Benedict for a very long time. And suddenly, despite the staggering choices before me, the Eggs Benedict were calling my name & I just had to have them.
Taylor joined me for breakfast & had the simple two eggs any style with bacon & potatoes. Well, at least I think that is what she had. I was so wrapped up in my Eggs Benedict I may have missed it.
The Prime Meridian also has the most civilized tea tray anywhere. The cutest little teapot & cup with a little ceramic bag holder for the bag once it is done brewing in the steamy water. Quite delightful. Always makes me feel like I am somewhere really grand, but at the same time, the Prime Meridian is so unpretentious.
The unpretentiousness is echoed by their servers. I have always really enjoyed the staff at the Omni in Atlanta, but one particular server at the Prime Meridian is something else. Her name is Sharon & if I was going to give an award for THE Best Server in America, it would go to Sharon at the Prime Meridian. Outstanding service. Truly. I remember last year I had breakfast at the PM almost every day I was there. And every day I made sure that I was sitting in Sharon’s section. Even if it meant having to move. Sharon if you’re reading this, you <<ROCK>>. Thank you for your amazing service.
You know, I have a suspicion that the Eggs Benedict at PM may indeed be the best Eggs Benedict I have ever had since I made the leap stateside from that small rock anchored just off the west of Europe in the North Sea. They were perfect. Simple, beautiful, fresh poached eggs, Canadian bacon, lightly toasted English muffins & house-made scratch Hollandaise sauce – pale yellow, smooth as can be, light & totally delicious. They were exactly like Eggs Benedict should be. They were perfect.
Then after we were done with breakfast, Sharon brought us their signature palate-cleanser…a shot of drinking yogurt. This time it was peach – a fitting choice, being in Georgia. Last year I remember having a berry one. Whatever the flavor, a delicious ending to a fantastic meal with extra-ordinary service.
I *love* eating breakfast at the Prime Meridian. If you’re ever in Atlanta have breakfast here – your mouth will thank you at least all day & maybe even longer.
This is all Reid’s doing. Reid is a native Atlantan, so when I found out I was Atlanta-bound I asked him where I should head to get the best grits in his beloved hometown. “The Flying Biscuit” was the immediate response. So if it’s bad, Reid, it will all be on you buddy. No pressure.
Turns out that The Flying Biscuit on Piedmont Avenue in Mid-town Atlanta is a super-fun place to go. Wild painted wall colors, funky home-made glass bead light fixtures, fantastic vivid vinyl table-covers & huge floor-to-ceiling windows that open so wide that it seems like the restaurant has no outside walls. Then there’s the brightly colored tableware, the hand-painted sugar packet holders & the crazy menu. My first word of advice if you are contemplating tripping over to The Flying Biscuit for breakfast: GO EARLY. We got there just before 8 am. 20 minutes later there was a lengthy line which just kept growing & growing. By the time we left the wait was over 45 minutes. Folks around here *really* like eating breakfast at The Flying Biscuit.
Miss Connie (born in the South, so the resident grits expert) & Taylor (born in the Pacific Northwest, so a grits novice just like me – although she did at least know of their existence, unlike the ex-pat Brit at the table) joined me on my Southern Breakfast Grit-fest.
Taylor & I had perused the menu last week while still in Seattle & were already confused by so many delicious-sounding choices. We were there first & foremost to try the grits, but since just about every menu item came with “creamy dreamy grits”, we still had a huge choice ahead of us. It took us forever. We all changed our minds what seemed like a hundred times.
Miss Connie opted for The Southern Scramble: Three large farm fresh eggs scrambled with crisp turkey bacon, spicy collard greens, onions, and cheddar cheese served with creamy dreamy grits. Plus the signature biscuit.
Taylor finally determined that The Turkey Hash had to be hers: Two large farm fresh eggs over medium, topped with cheddar cheese served over slow roasted turkey pot roast and oven-roasted rosemary potatoes. She escaped the creamy dreamy grits, but not the biscuit.
I circled round & round the menu in a holding pattern until I crash-landed on The Piedmont Omelette: Three large farm fresh eggs, chicken sausage, crisp turkey bacon, sautéed onions, and cheddar cheese served with creamy dreamy grits. Complete with biscuit.
A bowl of those Creamy Dreamy Grits @ The Flying Biscuit
I tried Taylor’s Turkey Hash. The turkey was ridiculous. I swear it had been cooking for at least 3 days…it just disintegrated as soon as it hit your tongue leaving an unbelievably intense turkey flavor exploding all over your mouth.
My omelette was the bomb. Real eggs, super-yummy fillings. And Miss Connie enthused about her Scramble. But wait. Weren’t we here for grits?
The Turkey Hash post Taylor's egg attack
The verdict on the grits: seriously creamy, zero flavor. I guess I just don’t *get* grits. I can’t figure out what it is about them that appeals to people. I don’t understand why anyone would want to eat a whole bowl of them. Sorry folks. I guess it’s just one of those culture things. Likewise with the biscuit. To me it was dry & tasteless. Even with fruit spread slathered all over it. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t the best grits & biscuits anywhere. It just means that I don’t like them, even the best. Just give me a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal or an English scone anytime :-)
In The Flying Biscuits defense, they have had a huge amount of great press in the likes of Bon Appetit & Gourmet magazines, so really, what do I know? If you like grits & biscuits, I am pretty certain that you will be completely enamoured with the ones served at The Flying Biscuit.
Chocolate Biscuit Bread Pudding
Yes. I know you are asking yourself just what an image of Chocolate Biscuit Bread Pudding is doing in my breakfast blog. It wasn’t me…it was Miss Connie. She was completely wooed over by the dessert menu before we’d even had our breakfast. Well, I mean. It was served warm with vanilla cream sauce. And when our server told Miss Connie she could have dessert whenever she wanted it, she figured she’d hit a home run. Dessert for breakfast. Fantastic.
We left The Flying Biscuit full to the brim & with a long line of eager diners eyeing up our now vacated table. Great job Reid, you did us proud.
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by carrie
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