Not just a pretty face

So in the spirit of full disclosure, Trellis shouted me breakfast.  But lest you think for 1 picosecond that them shouting me breakfast makes this post somehow un-worthy or in any other way less authentic or somehow more biased, let me reassure you.  I am hosting a large group of lovely folks in Seattle for a week in January & I was in the process of finalizing accommodation & sustenance.  Would I choose to put my beloved guests in a place with crappy food just because they shouted me a breakfast?  Er, no.  That doesn’t make one iota of sense now, does it.  Would I choose an establishment  just because they shouted me breakfast?  How silly.  No.  We had a meeting at The Heathman Hotel at 9 am & they serve breakfast, so we ate.  Simple as that.  So, as always, my little post will be an accurate recounting of my (and my taste-buds) experience at Trellis, warts & all.  If we don’t all insist on telling the truth, how can we ever expect the world to become a better place?  Phew.  Got that out of the way.  Now we can get down to the {very} serious business of eating.

I have eaten at Trellis several times before.  I still remember the first dinner that I ate there – it was awesome.  Very memorably awesome.  One of the few meals that have made me go “Wow!” out loud.    That’s one of the reasons that the Heathman Hotel got on my list of possibilities for housing & feeding my gaggle of guests.  Just as an aside, the Heathman have the most comfortable beds I have ever slept on.  I swear I had my life-time best nights sleep there.  That’s another reason the Heathman made the list.  Anyway…I digress…can we get back to the food already?

Trellis is one of those farm-to-table gigs where Chef Brian grows many of  the fresh ingredients on a 10-acre farm close by.  How in the world do chefs find time to do that?  The menu is simple.  Nothing wild & extraordinary sounding, just classic breakfast dishes:  Eggs Benedict, Granola, Corned Beef Hash, Brioche French Toast & all the other usual breakfast suspects.

I have to say that if there was an award for Best Looking Breakfast, Trellis would win it hands down.  I’ve seen a *lot* of breakfasts this past 9 months & Trellis’ are simply stunning.  Perfect presentation.  Perfect.  See for yourself:

Between us we chowed down a Kirkland  Breakfast, A Savoury Breakfast Croissant & a Classic Eggs Benedict.  The fruit bowl that came with the Kirkland Breakfast was extraordinary.  Now THAT is a fruit bowl.

The Eggs Benedict were delicious, except that the biscuit was a little crunchy, a little over-done I suspect.  The Hollandaise was perfect.  The potatoes totally tasty & a nice change from hash browns.  I think I’ve typed that last line an increasing number of times over the last few months.  There seems to be a trend moving away from hash browns.  Yay!

The breakfast food at Trellis was every bit as good as I suspected it would be from my previous foodie experiences there.  In fact, I would say it was even better than expected.  The Eggs Benedict, in fact, made my Favorite Seattle Breakfasts of 2010 list (coming soon!), and considering the number of Eggs Benedict that I have consumed this year, I would say that’s quite an achievement.

If you’re up for a fantastic-looking, wonderful-tasting classic breakfast in a delightful setting I thoroughly recommend heading over to Trellis.

And yes I did decide to host my guests at the Heathman Hotel for the week.  Which had {absolutely} nothing to do with the free breakfast.  (But “THANK YOU” Trellis!)

The Heathman Hotel & Trellis just have the best beds & some of the best food on the Eastside.  And that makes it the perfect place for my peeps to be holed up for a week.

Perfect.