Good Food

3 Squares

By Zachary D. Lyons

Egg's Cetera once was a Broadway breakfast institution, but in the early '90s it moved to Wallingford to team up with the Blue Star Cafe & Pub to become Egg's Cetera's Blue Star Cafe and Pub (4512 Stone Way N). The Wallingford Egg's Cetera has the same fine food, service and atmosphere as its Broadway parent.

We go for the breakfast even if it is well after noon. If you get there before 11 a.m., the morning "specials" menu offers a diverse selection of goodies, including a steaming bowl of Farina, or even blueberry pancakes. Available all day (until they close mid-afternoon and morph into the Blue Star Cafe for the evening) is one of the most diverse omelet menus in town, and they do substitutions! They also have an extensive waffle menu and a very large eggs-and-such menu. I could tell you how good what I ordered was, but with a menu this diverse it is irrelevant. Everything we have ever tried we have enjoyed. We even ran into a Broadway-based friend there. She now makes the pilgrimage to Wallingford!

Egg's Cetera's is open from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Blue Star Cafe and Pub is open from 6 p.m. - 11 p.m.

Lunch in Ballard

Zesto's Burger & Fish House (6416 15th Ave NW) still offers the charm, and the food that have made it a Ballard High School lunchtime destination for almost half a century. They still have a working Wurlitzer jukebox complete with old favorites on 45s. They still have 25-cent pinball machines. And there is still a car on the roof.

The high school crowd is gone in summer, and the tourists are all down at the locks, so the lines are smaller--go now. As for the food, it's burgers, fish and milk shakes. The burgers are great, but we go for the fish and chips. Seattle has many styles of fried fish available, and Zesto's flavor is tempura. The fries are crispy and salty and the coleslaw side dish is the real McCoy: red and green cabbage and mayo--and fresh! Accompany your meal with a shake or a soda, and finish it off with an ice cream cone.

Zesto's is open 10:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. Eat in or take out available.

Dinner in Ravenna

Bella Rosa Bistro (3410 NE 55th St. near University Village) is a small, family-run joint and feels like it. Indeed, we felt like family guests. The service was excellent and intelligent, but relaxed.

The dinner menu at Bella Rosa is full of classic Italian and Moroccan dishes. To start, I had the eggplant Mediterranean, eggplant in a red sauce stacked like a pillar, with a base of green, goat cheese and egg. The flavors were distinct and intense and it is recommended primarily to eggplant lovers. My friend had the crab bisque, a rich, buttery concoction we both liked. In fact, he raved about it the rest of the evening. Starters range from $3 - $8.

For the main course we had calamari Sicilian, which is served with a puttanesca sauce and a little white wine added for flavor over capellini. The squid was tender and yummy, and, while the sauce was a tad mild for us, it was fresh and tasty and you could tell the tomato chunks were whole roma tomatoes earlier in the day. You could taste the anchovy in the sauce, though it was by no means overpowering. We also tried the halibut special, a memorable dish dressed with a similar puttanesca sauce and served with a side of capellini in a garlic and olive oil sauce. The fish was delicious and perfectly done, the side of pasta garlicky enough to please the biggest garlic fan. Entrees range from $9 - $18.

Dessert runs in the $3 - $6 range. I tried the Tiramisu and, while I have had better, it was enjoyable. I saw their signature strawberry shortcake roll out to another table, and it looked wonderful. All and all, we enjoyed ourselves. So now we have another Italian pasta joint for our list. Amen!

Bella Rosa is open for dinner only, daily 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.

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