A Blue Moose is on the Loose…

in Port Townsend, WA.

We met up with Chuck’s cousin David and headed off for a late breakfast and it was serendipity that our choice of restaurant—The Blue Moose Café—was in keeping with the events of the morning (see yesterday’s entry).

“One step into the colorful cafe, located in Port Townsend’s Boat Haven Industrial Park, you realize you have happened upon one of those fabulous down-home cafes that is a favorite with the locals, visiting boaters, and the shipwrights. It’s great casual dining at its best with an emphasis on fresh. No cans opened here!” (peninsuladailynews.com).

Since the café doesn’t have its own web site, we had to rely on reviews like this at startribune.com: “…(M)y former next-door neighbor… had mentioned a ‘scuzzy joint in the boat works that serves up the best breakfast in town, if you're patient.’ We asked around and were pointed to the Blue Moose Café, a tin shack where a friendly group was waiting to get in to the 20 or so seats…”

Or this comment from Eddie E. at yelp.com: “Quirky. Bizarre. Funky. Perfect. This is a place straight out of every Northwestern movie where interesting characters emerge one-by-one from the road to create a breakfast chorus and novelette.”

And there is this from Michelle T., also at yelp.com: “We have traveled to Port Townsend several times to visit local family. They referred us to this place years ago, and every time we're in the area, we come back. It is definitely a local favorite. The place is a dive, in need of a major overhaul, but seriously that is actually part of its charm. If they did remodel, it would lose that something special about it. My aunt built the bench in front of the restaurant, so please have a seat, but not with sharp objects in your pockets….”

But my favorite is this from Jeff B. at yelp.com: “It's such a funky little place; it's almost a caricature of itself. Gnarly dude artsy types and Bohemian hipsters from Port Townsend come here for breakfast and you can too…. (I)t's a fun & funky atmosphere and worth a visit. And if you happen to be searching for a place to try out your new dread locks wig look no further!”

As we were preparing to leave the Kinetic Skulpture Race prelims, Chuck turns to me and asks “Who do you think are the most unusually dressed people here?” Without hesitation I responded “The two of us.” So neither of us thought twice when one of the café’s servers had outfitted herself with face paint and bunny ears.

Why should we find anything unusual about that? Or the fact that her pen had been stuffed into a carrot.

Breakfast is the only meal served on Sunday’s and the four-page menu offered an array of choices. Since I thought it would be rude to sit and quickly scribble notes when we had a dining companion, you’ll just have to take my word that there was something to satisfy even the pickiest of diners.

David selected the South of the Border Scramble with eggs (naturally), onions, beans, salsa, sour cream, and sliced avocados. This came with a side of home fries and an English muffin.

One of the Blue Moose’s specialties is what they call a “scooter” and Chuck ordered the Johnny D. Scooter.

This is a flour tortilla stuffed with eggs, potatoes, zucchini, spinach, mushrooms (which he didn’t eat, but I did), and broccoli. The scooter was topped with a really good salsa that was quite spicy and highly seasoned with cumin. The baking made the flour tortilla crisp and flakey, and when balanced with the softer fillings, made for nice textural contrast.

He added a toasted bagel with cream cheese and described it as “good to someone who hasn’t had a bagel in a long time.”

After many changes of mind, I finally settled on the smoked salmon omelet that was a fluffy three-egg version, stuffed with the items you might find on a bagel in a Jewish deli—cream cheese, smoked salmon, tomatoes, onions, and capers.

This was very filling and, because of all the cream cheese used in the filling, very rich. So I pushed the potatoes (a home fry mix of white and sweet potatoes) aside to eat the next morning and just concentrated on the omelet. And at that, a small piece of omelet joined the potatoes for reheating.

So here we are at the end of our meal when David looks down at his plate and with great pride exclaims: “Look at this. I have exactly one bite of everything left.” OMGoodness! It’s in the Dannenberg gene pool. Chuck’s meals always had to “come out even.” Has this obsession affected the next generation?

“It's a dive and it’s delish!” wrote FoodieKarla at tripadvisor.com. "When we pulled in my husband said, ‘We're not eating here.’ Trusting my Trip Advisor reviewers, I dragged him in and SO glad I did! What it lacks in ambience, it made up for in food quality!”

What does she mean by “lacks in ambience?” As I said to David as were shown to our table “This is the kind of place that we travel to find.” What more can you ask for than funky atmosphere and 4.5 Addie food?

To review the role of Adler, Kitty Humbug, and the Addie rating system, read the November 14, 2011 blog.