No Reservations

Well.  Who knew that you’d need a reservation for a weekend Brunch in Duvall?  Yes, Duvall.  Really??  Yes, really.  This might not be downtown Seattle, but the food is good enough for it to be.  Expect a crowd.

I had a whole family of brunch buddies today – enter E2, Tammy, E3 & Belle + their lovely neighbor Jo.  I’d suggested an 11 am start because E2 is not the world’s earliest riser and since I make him come to the office early all the time I thought I’d leave him to sleep in today.  When I got to The Grange Cafe I realized I should have either made him get up early or made a reservation.  Who knew?

The Grange Cafe is delightful.  A Country Cafe but with Chic Country where I was expecting Grandma Country.  Upscale Country in place of Downhome Country.  With an emphasis on buying local & eating organic, they source all their ingredients from nearby artisan farmers.  We love that.  And we hadn’t even sat down yet, let alone tasted the food.

Once a table became available & the staff had deftly added a section to make it a bigger table, we all gathered round, more than hungry.  Belle & I headed straight for the hot chocolate while the adults went straight for the fun stuff – Mimosas and Bloody Marys.

I was so not disappointed when my hot chocolate showed up with *real* cream floating on top.  And, not only that, the cream was delicately flavored with cinnamon.  It was delicious. 

We seemed to spend almost all of our time together talking about food.  We swapped notes of great places to go.  One of them is right on my doorstep, apparently.  Isn’t it always the same?  Locals never know what is right under their noses.  It always takes a visitor to make the introduction.  Funny how that works.

Jo & Tammy are Eggs Benedict aficionados, so it didn’t take them long to decide what sounded good to them.  E3 just couldn’t decide.  Made more complicated by the fact that it had by now turned 11:30 when the entire lunch menu became an added option.  Or twenty.  Ever the great Dad, E2 ordered the Meatball Sandwich ($12) & the Meat Lover’s Breakfast ($12) & E3 just had some of both.  I’d never heard of a Meatball Sandwich and I must say it was not appealing to me.  Until it showed up.  Then I just wanted to scarf it all down.  I was polite and restrained myself.

Yeah, looked mighty fine to me too.  The E’s assured me that it was mighty fine in the taste department.  E2 also raved about the fries.  The Meat Lover’s Breakfast was a huge plateful of food.  E3 tackled it like a pro.

 Belle stuck with her usual plate of scrambled eggs and added some pancakes ($6).  I think there may have been a little ham snuck off of Mom’s plate of Eggs Benny too.  The pancakes were not a huge hit, but then when you’re 5 & your favorites list changes on an hourly basis, I am guessing that the pancakes were fine, judging by the rest of our food.

Jo & Tammy *raved* long & loud about the ham tucked between the perfectly poached eggs & the home-made biscuits ($12).  Tammy loved the potatoes, Jo was on the fence about her Hollandaise, but then she is a Hollandaise Guru, having been completely spoiled previously by her fantastic cook of a husband.  The verdict was that it was just a bit on the thick side.  Hollandaise is not the easiest thing in the world to make perfectly.

I also had potatoes with my Steak & {scrambled} Eggs ($16), but I didn’t love them.  They were kinda limp to me.  It was definitely nice to see potatoes served a different way though.  Here’s a close-up.

My steak was a really nice chunk of cow.  Cooked to a perfect medium, tender & flavorful.  Better than the Steak & Eggs served up in The Georgian @ The Fairmont Hotel, downtown.  A lot better, if the truth be told.  And it was a big old slab too.  I still had no trouble finishing it.

I loved brunch today.  Everything about it – from the ambiance to the food to the company.  Especially the company.  Duvall, too, is just a lovely little village to drive to.

I have absolutely no reservations about returning to The Grange Cafe for another lovely weekend breakfast or brunch.  Except next time, I’ll make sure I don’t turn up with no reservation.