My Seattle Bites: Sunny Day at Skillet Diner

I woke up to the sunlight streaming into my window last Friday.  This was the first  break of sun since coming home a week ago.  I hate to be a stereotype.  You would think that after being a proud resident of Seattle for so long that I would have overcome this.  But my love for snow capped mountain ranges, coffee beans and Costcos everywhere cannot change what I have come to expect, nothing but the misty rain Seattle is known.

No sitting around home in a beautiful winter day!  First task was to head over to Capitol Hill for an early lunch at Skillet Diner.  I love a good diner and the menu at Skillet Diner had me salivating, filled with all the good things I love.  Skillet Diner started out as a street food truck and found themselves a brick mortar restaurant soon enough so no more chasing trucks around for us.  By the time we got to the restaurant, it was already packed with a small crowd waiting around patiently.  And we thought we were smart by getting an earlier start on the day!

The restaurant was spacious with tall ceilings and a bustling open kitchen with ample counter space.  This provided perfect viewing for enticing dishes coming out every two minutes, making my stomach quite noisy.  Good thing the wait was much shorter than predicted.  We were ushered into one of the pale green booths by large window, basking in the warm sun.

The place setting was tucked into cute Ball jars for water glass – they must really know what makes my heart skip a beat.  A glass of the daily fruit fresca to start for me.  Apple, oranges and herbs made for a strangely refreshing combination.

I lobbied hard for the poutine to share, remembering the deliciously cheesy pile of crisp fries with hot gravy that I had in Montreal.  Sadly, the ones at Skillet Diner didn’t take me back there quite that far.  Don’t get me wrong, this was still a rather large bowl of savory and messy soggy fries gone good.  But it was missing the quintessential large chunks of cheese curds that defines a poutine.  We tried our best but one portion of the poutine was large enough for at least 6, far too big for us three.

There were too many dishes on the menu that I wanted to taste and I was torn.  After consulting with the friendly waiter, I decided on the shrimp and cheesy grits.  No, perhaps the lamb sloppy joe would have been more exciting but I had no regrets.  The version here had a spicy and deep sauce with large gulf shrimps and chunks of salty ham.  The cheesy grits were indeed cheesy and creamy, down to the last bite.

The Little Rob and the biscuits and gravy also proved to be great choices for my friends.  The portions here were quite generous, especially the biscuits and gravy.  While I really enjoyed my bite of sage gravy covered biscuits and brown sugar pork sausage which added interesting notes to the dish, I don’t know if I could have finished this large dish single-handed.

The sun held out for us throughout lunch so we squeezed in a stop at Victrola Coffee on 15th Ave on our way back.  After a quick consult with the barista, I picked out a pound of their Tri-borough espresso beans for home.  Timing couldn’t have been better as rain rolled through briefly for a visit after I got back home.

Skillet Diner | 1400 East Union Street, Seattle, WA 98122 | http://www.skilletstreetfood.com

Victrola Coffee Roasters |411 15th Avenue E, Seattle, WA 98112 | http://victrolacoffee.com/