Saturday, November 13, 2010

Seattle Saturday Brunch! Cafe Campagne, Mighty O Donuts & Paseo

I am pretty excited today: (1) I am *almost* done with this intense  project so that means more time to blog again ! and (2) I get to talk about some great Seattle eats!

On Saturday, Diana and I returned to Pike Place Market (which Diana will tell you more about soon!) for our "appetizer" meal of the day @ Cafe Campagne, a cute little French eatery tucked in an alley away from the Market.

They are known for their "oeufs en meurette:  poached eggs served on garlic croutons with pearl onions, bacon and champignons in red wine-foie gras sauce with pommes frites."  The first time I read that description my stomach churned a bit, but I was also really intrigued, so we ordered one plate to share.

Oeufs en meurette, in their red crowning glory


Pommes frites!  Perfectly crisp and not greasy.  Diana and I had zero trouble polishing off the entire, overflowing plate of potato goodness.

This is what I call a sexy shot.
The ouefs were as decadent as the menu made them sound, but they were seriously delicious.  The thick garlic croutons made a unique and tasty base.  Diana loved the pearl onions (which I knew Greeshma woulda been all about too!), while I swooped in on all the fat rimmed bacon slivers (naturally).  We were glad we ordered just one plate to share as we could not imagine eating the whole thing ourselves.  Because where would be the room for dessert?

And dessert was to be had at our first key doughnut stop: Mighty-O!



Mighty-O appears on Diana and my life goal list of Bon Appetit's Top Best Donut Places in the Nation.  They are known for their vegan doughnuts: dairy- and egg-free, trans-fat and cholesterol-free.  Like what?

Mighty O interior, rockin' on a Saturday morning.  The place smelled of warm spices.

Diana and I ordered four doughnuts: grasshopper to the left (my favorite from the bunch), peanut butter chocolate to the right
Pumpkin to the left, nutty french toast to the right
And we went halfsies on the whole thing, o' course!
On Yelp, the nutty french toast is heralded the best, but Diana and I found this one the most disappointing of all.  It tastes nothing like french toast, and I wasn't a real fan of the sharp peanuts against the soft, light interior.  I can't really say what it tasted like.  A bit of a bummer all around.

Pumpkin interior.  Diana liked this one best I think.  It had a really light pumpkin flavor.  The texture of the doughnuts here are really great.  Just light and soft.

What is remarkable about Mighty-O is that Diana and I did not even know these doughnuts were vegan at the time.  You can't even tell.  The doughnuts tasted every bit as sweet and tasty as cholesterol-rich ones.  I wish we had more of these around Dallas; they'd be totally guilt-free!

After our breakfast(s), we checked out Gas Works park which is my favorite view of Seattle during our trip there.  It's just a neat little park with this great, aged industrial manufacturing type plant to one side and lots and lots of open fields overlooking a great view of the city.  I wish we had had more time to just linger there and loaf around.



But we didn't because nearly an hour had passed and we still hadn't eaten anything new!  We made a pitstop at Paseo before hopping on a train to Portland.

Paseo is tiny shop, as you can see from the overflowing, but patient, customers above, that specializes in Caribbean sandwiches.  The restaurant seats maybe a dozen people, so most customers opt to take their food to go and loiter around the area and eat their giant, meaty sandwiches.

I got the grilled pork since it was described as their original, legendary sandwich.  I only want to eat legendary sandwiches from now on.  It features a grilled pork loin, marinated in their namesake marinade and grilled over an open flame.
The sandwich was immense and SO. DELICIOUS.  The meat was tender, the pork  was citrusy and savory, sweetened by the caramelized onions and then immediately spiced by the jalapenos...the flavors were having a rave party in my mouth.  It was such a great combination and a great last meal in Seattle before we headed southward to Portland!

1600 Post Alley @ Pine
Seattle, WA 98202

Mighty O Donuts
2110 N 55th St
(between N Kenwood Pl & N Meridian Ave) 




Paseo
6226 Seaview Ave NW
206.789.3100
Seattle, WA 98103

1 comment:

  1. i still cannot believe those donuts were vegan-friendly!! so amazing. hopefully i dream about them tonight! :)

    ReplyDelete