Brit Brunch

On a recent warm Sunday morning, a crowd waited outside the Sunlight Cafe so that they could eat mediocre breakfast indoors. Meanwhile, Atlantic Crossing, with its spacious outdoor patio (direct sunlight, people!) and exceptional brunch menu, was empty. This was a culinary crime. Me, I'm a law-abiding citizen of Yum City. Every dish on their brunch menu is a winner and comes with your choice of Mimosa or Bloody Mary. They do put a LOT of ham on their Eggs Benne. But if you like to look a gift ham in the mouth, there's always the Florentine option. The Banana Bread Pudding French Toast is decadent but not overwhelming. If you're feeling adventurous, you can go for the Scotch Egg: an egg wrapped in sausage and then fried. But A.C. is more than brunch. Being a pub, they also come equipped with your favorite beers from the British Isles. Their modern twists on traditional pub food are staggeringly clever. They cover all sorts of things in their house made beer battered from fish and chips to avocados and they soak pork in Magners hard cider for their quesadillas. It's almost as if beer is better off served in food. Almost...

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Nightlife • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Make a Space in your Heart

We'd passed the signs countless times. "NW Source's People's Pick for 2006 and 2007!" Every grocery receipt from the neighboring QFC had a coupon on the back. But I've never even heard of NW Source and besides, the Mister and I are Taste of India devotees anyway. Is there really room for more than one Indian restaurant in our lives? Well, in January, they had a new sign. Apparently, the People picked them again for 2008! We finally caved and gave it a try. And it was...pretty good! I love any place that gives you freebies and here you get Papadums (the Indian tortilla chip!) and a delicious lentil soup started included in your meal. Our curries were excellent, albeit a little spicier than we'd ordered. But what do those stars mean anyway? The sauce on my Garlic Wala was creamy and pleasant. The gentleman had the house special, lamb with mint sauce, and it was tender and...minty. No complaints about the service either. And the tiger motif is adorable. Bengal Tiger IS grrrrreat! But we live just as close to Taste of India. And frankly, it's still OUR people's pick. Sorry, Tiger.

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Restaurants • Green Lake / Roosevelt

The Fantasy of Fried Dough

I was never really a donut person. I could easily forgo the greasy gut bombs on the board meeting snack tray in lieu of a nice bagel and some shmear. I never boarded the Krispy Kreme Krazy Train. I honestly thought donuts were kind of gross. And then I had a Mighy O. Now, I'm not vegan. Butter and cream marry with sugar just fine and can live harmoniously in my stomach. But apparently, you don't need 'em. One bite of those cakey, frosted treats and I was in love. And what variety! The usual suspects like sprinkles and nuts sit alongside new classics like French Toast and Lemon Poppy. But their seasonal specials are where they excel. Fall brings Pumpkin and Apple Spice! Other seasons feature Ginger Raspberry, Strawberry Shortcake and Grasshopper (it's chocolate-mint, silly). What goes better with donuts than coffee? They've got that too. And its really, really good. Unfortunately, just because it's vegan doesn't mean it's healthy. Whatever you do, don't look at the nutrition information on their website. It will utterly destroy the fantasy.

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Restaurants • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Bier Blitzkrieg, Gesundheit!

As authentic as Die Bierstube is, don't expect big busted ladies with blonde braids to be serving your beer. This is still Seattle, so instead of the St. Pauli Girl, this German-style bar is staffed by your typical tattooed, Converse-wearing, urban hipsters. Big, warm pretzels and Spaten Optimator are what call me to the Bierstube. I've spent hours getting tanked and yelling Prost! to random strangers at the Hofbrauhaus and various other German drinking joints. If you don't look out onto the street you can almost imagine yourself in Bavaria with a nice knockwurst. You won't find Aventinus Weizen StarkBier or Erdinger DunkelWeizen at any other bar. Not that you need a special reason to chug a liter stein of German beer but hey, it is Oktober.

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Nightlife • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Here's the Deal

There are quality magazines here (People, Life, Time) and special seating for those waiting for take-out. A fat smiling Buddha watches over as you read about celebrity nose-jobs, waiting for your cashew chicken. Great fried wonton starters here. Good pad thai. If you like pad thai. Do you like pad thai? Well if you don't, then you're a silly tit and stop reading this review. Otherwise, definitely give this place a try if you're in the area. Eat in and you can stare at the fish tank. The waiter saw me taking a picture of the Buddha statue and proceeded to tell me how once he snapped a photo of it and Buddha's smile came out displaced, beside his face, removed from it completely. Wicked story, man. I told him to call one of those Discovery Channel shows that deals with the paranormal. I mean, how crazy is that? I'm pretty sure this place is haunted and I'll never go there again. But you should.

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Restaurants • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Once You Pop, You Can't....

Everybody knows that kids can be cruel to one another, particularly when it comes to dress. A wise Prince once sung about the dangers of letting your parents choose your clothes, risking ridicule by your peers. If you don't want to be counted among the parents who "just don't understand," make sure your offspring is fashionable from day one. Your youngster can be the hippest baby around, sporting a Johnny Cash or Radiohead onesie. Dress your little girl in a leopard print coat over a rockabilly style dress. Don your little boy in a racing stripe jacket and Beastie Boys T. And don't even get me started on shoes. How I wish I could have pink kitty heads on MY Mary Janes. Sizes run up to six so your little juniors will get a great head start in the cool department. After that, they're on their own.

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Shopping • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Don't Forget Your Vespa

Seattle's best (if not only) scooter bar is brimming with character. Mods and rockers alike can enjoy all that Cafe Racer has to offer. And they offer much. Sustenance includes sandwiches, espresso and a small bar menu. Play some old skool video games, read a book or chat with the charismatic owner who bares a striking resemblance to musician Daniel Johnston while he makes your breakfast to order. Kick back and work on your screenplay in the upstairs lounge area. In the evenings, you can catch live music or open mic performances while downing a creative cocktail or a good ol' PBR. Just don't drop in if you're in a hurry. Racer is understaffed and laid-back making patience not only a virtue, but a necessity.

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Coffee • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Finest Fake Indian in Town

The food here is consistent and damn tasty, definitely a favorite in the U District for Indian. The place is strictly Indian-run, but my friend from that part of the globe says it’s not real Indian food. I’m a little confused, but for fake Indian food it’s damn tasty (like I said). The gravy is spicy and flavorful, the naan is huge and comes in several varieties. The rice is, you know… well cooked. If you want to get appetizers and the whole deal, be prepared to spend a couple bills with zeros on them, however it should be more than worth it. I get the impression that a lot of people bring dates here and have dinners for special occasions, but the place never struck me as formal. It’s a bit crowded actually and during dinnertime, you will wait. On a busy night, maybe 30-40 minutes or more. And I don’t think they take reservations. But come early or don’t come starved and have a great meal. Afterwards you’ll be ready for a sweet little nap.

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Restaurants • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Vegan Delights

The Wayward Cafe is an odd name for a vegan cafe with clear procedures about operations. You walk in and claim one of the few available seats. You grab a menu and choose from a steady list of vegan staples like tempeh sandwiches and tofu scramble. You order at the counter and pay cash. Then you sit and wait for your food. And wait. And wait. Hey, competent vegan cooking takes time! While you wait, you read the vegan literature or take in the colorful outfits of the other patrons. When your food finally arrives, you are astonished at how large the portions are, considering what you paid. You are pleasantly surprised at just how delicious a plate of food containing no cheese, eggs or butter can be, even if you are staunch carnivore. If you aren't accustomed to the heaviness of the vegan diet, you MAY need a to-go box which you can purchase for $1 (which goes to help the little piggies you aren't eating). You will bus your own table and probably want to grab a Mighty-O-Donut from the case for later. This is how things always are at the Wayward Cafe: regimented and explicit, but never boring. Not the atmosphere, nor the food.

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Restaurants • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Down Home Cooking

Lovers of kitsch (myself included) can’t help but be drawn in by the fifties-style blue exterior of this converted gas station. Continue to delight in the knick-knack adorned walls and velvet paintings of the interior. If you’re like me, you may also recognize their Ikea chairs. But the sign outside Blue Onion Bistro isn’t boasting “Seattle’s Most Comfortable Dining Room.” No, no. It’s “Seattle’s Best Comfort Food.” That is, if “comfort” is code for “greasy.” Blue Onion’s menu of traditional down-home cooking is served for dinner (excluding Monday) and weekend brunch. Dishes like Chicken Fried Steak and Hotdog Mac and Cheese Bake are delicious for the first couple of bites, but soon become overwhelming if you aren’t used to that much oil. If you decide to clean your plate, know that the meatloaf you just inhaled is going to take up residence in your stomach for the next 12 hours. The vegetarian dishes aren’t exempt from the oil-sploitation either. If your mama raised you on heavy cooking, you’ll feel right at home at the Blue Onion. But I prefer to get my comfort from a bento box.

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Restaurants • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Acupuncture

Does the sun rise after you get to work and set before you return home? Does the latest IPCC report get you down? Fretting about further GW debacle or even the thought of another Republican administration? Then you to battle those sunless winter blues! But what can you do besides eating lots of chocolate, weekly trips to the tanning salon, and binge drinking? For starters, there's ACUPUNCTURE! It’s been curing everything from the common cold to shingles for over two thousand years. Weary of getting poked? A statistic of our national health care travesty? The head to Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine. A measly $30 will treat your ailment du jour: colds, sprained ankles, allergy, Season Affected Disorder, etc! Treatments are administered by final-year students under the eye of some of the most knowledgeable acupuncturists in the region. And if the needles don't cure you outright, the herbs are highly recommended.

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Services • Green Lake / Roosevelt

Smooth Sushi

As you open the door to Sushi Tokyo, you’ll notice the bright blue aquarium that stands out against the warm reddish-lit restaurant. As for seating, there are only a couple of semi-isolated booths that seat about four people; otherwise there are smaller tables for couples dining out. If you’re keen on watching the chef prepare your meal you can grab a seat at the bar. And if it’s the raw goods you seek, your seat shouldn’t matter much. The freshness of their seafood hasn’t failed me so far, especially compared to similar establishments. They have a great assortment of original rolls and combinations, as well as all the staples. Their chicken teriyaki is exquisite. I mean, many places that specialize in it can’t even come close. For about $16 (a little less at lunch) you get a bento box with a choice of chicken teriyaki or kunkatsu (breaded pork) and an assortment of scrumptious sushi and sashimi. Order a side and you have a meal for two. On the down side, their choice of music is kind of generic, a bland mix of smooth jazz with the occasional Coltrane ballad if you’re lucky. What can I say, the food more than makes up for the restaurant’s poor musical taste.

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Restaurants • Green Lake / Roosevelt