Today was an epic day from start to finish. Exciting, thrilling, at times trying, it’s one of those days I hope to remember for a very long time.
Highlights of the day included pastries and coffee at Essential Baking Company, cramming a record five people into a Mini Cooper, jaywalking in front of a police officer (as if he would have arrested me at a parade), and getting a table for 10 at Lola.
I’ve eaten at Lola several times, but always for lunch and dinner. Today they were serving brunch when we walked in (shortly after 1.30p) and I knew I would have my chance to taste the much-touted Tom’s Big Breakfast. From their menu:
Tom’s big breakfast: grilled pacific octopus, pork belly hash, bloomsdale spinach, feta, olive oil fried egg
I can tell you that the dish lives up to the hype. The octopus was fleshy and tasty, grilled perhaps 2 seconds beyond my preference, but quite a minor quibble. The pork belly hash was chunky and rich – less a classic hash than a small handful of cubed delight. Eating a piece of octopus, a small pork belly piece, and a mouthful of egg with its blissfully orange/yellow yolk… paradise.
Let me also sing the praises of the bloody mary; it was the best bloody mary I’ve had in Seattle, hands down. Hallelujah! What was it around the rim? Sea salt, to be sure, and something that added a smoky flavor to the drink. Smoked paprika? No idea. We’ll have to go back and check; we were all laughing too hard by the end of the meal to suss out the ingredients.
Of course I couldn’t stop there. The woman sitting next to me ordered pork kebabs with harissa and honey. Can we talk about the pork for a minute? Grilled to perfection, tender, bursting with smoky, piggy flavor. A slightly spicy sauce (the harissa) had been added, balanced with a brush of honey. How do I know this dish so well? After finishing Tom’s Big Breakfast, I ordered a plate of the pork kebabs. And another bloody mary. Yes, an entire second meal. People were staring, perhaps appalled by my gluttony, but I didn’t care. This was a meal that deserved to be consumed with gusto, and I did my level best.
This hedonistic brunch for 9 came to around $210, tip included, although one person (I won’t say who), with his voracious appetite for food and drink, probably accounted for much more than his share. I’ll be returning as soon as I possibly can.
