I went through a phase of blogging boredom where the frequency of posting suffered a lot. The restaurant review category especially was outright ignored during this phase. As the year is coming to an end, I’ve been doing some housecleaning of the drafts and restaurant pictures and found many many food pictures waiting for a write up. I have accumulated quite a collection over the past few months, so it was no surprise that I couldn’t remember half of those dishes or in some cases even which restaurant we had it at. But not Portage Bay Cafe, the food was too good to forget.

Portage Bay Cafe is arguably the most popular weekend brunch destination in the Seattle area. With three locations in Seattle and all three locations so crowded that the wait time is usually 60-90 minutes, you can imagine the popularity of this place. The food here is made from all organic ingredients sourced from local, sustainable farms. Their motto is “eat like you give a damn” as in give a damn about where the food comes from, the ethics of how the food is raised and handled , how your food tastes and what goes in your body.  It is truly a green restaurant, and you know how Seattleites are about going green. While I am all for organic food, the eating locally thing really hasn’t been a big deal for me, so it is really the taste that gets me back here.

The breakfast/brunch menu (served mon-fri 7:30am-11am and sat-sun 7:30am-2:30pm) has the widest variety I have ever seen on a brunch menu, there is something for everyone. In addition to a multitude of egg preparations like benedicts, omelettes, scrambles, hashes etc, they also offer various types of porridges, oatmeals, pancakes and french toasts all of which gives you a trip to their famous toppings bar. The toppings bar is well stocked with fruits, nuts, butter and organic maple syrup.  For those who are into sweet breakfasts, the toppings bar is heaven. Me, I am more of an eggs and meat kinda girl.  The first time I had the Greek Omelette ($12) with pepper bacon, herb roasted onions, baby spinach, basil postou and Greek cheese. This dish just blew me away. The second time I really wanted to go with the Greek omelette again, but forced myself to get the Goat Cheese Omelette ($12) with baby spinach, mushrooms, green onions and goat cheese. Since it didn’t come with any meat, I ordered a side of their thick cut pepper bacon to go with it. While it was a really good omelette, the Greek Omelette remains my favorite and that has been my regular here.

Once I went there with M who is vegetarian and this place has some nice selections for vegetarians. She got the Curried Veggie and Tofu Scramble ($12) a tasty option for vegans as it is totally eggless. It is a scramble of tofu, olives, roasted onions, diced tomatoes and greens with an yellow curry. It looked darn delicious even to a hardcore carnivore like me and M really enjoyed this dish. The last picture is of the Speciality Hash with Chicken Basil Sausage ($13) which Siv got once. It is sausage mixed in with grilled organic vegetables like onions, bell peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes etc topped with three organic scrambled eggs. There is a vegan version of the scramble as well.

These are just a few of the options you have at Portage Bay Cafe. We have been to both the Ballard and South Lake Union locations, while the menu and the taste is exactly the same at both places,the Lake Union location is our favorite. Not just because it is closer to home but because they have a few bar seats available for self-seating. I’ve noticed that many people choose to wait an hour for a table instead of grabbing a seat at the bar, I guess they are there for the experience. But we go for the food, and it is quite convenient not having to wait even if the bar seats are a bit uncomfortable.

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