For your listening pleasure:
La Vie en Rose
Seattle has summoned me once again! I am always happy to oblige, specially during spring time when Pike Place Market is just blooming with my favorite tulips and peonies at $10 a bunch...while Chicago is still holding on to the last icicle of winter.
Holy my plane flew in all sense of the word! My plane left on time for once, and touched down approximately 20 minutes early; the one time that I wouldn't have minded being delayed because I had 2 hours to kill in the airport, or in other words, 2 hours to plan my nosh while I'm in Seattle. 2 hours passed, and my day's itinerary is set: go to the hotel, and find food that would recoup the meals I've missed since the day prior.
During my previous market visits, I always walk passed Cafe Campagne with vows to eat there and get my croque madame fix"next time." Well, the time is now! With the rare Seattle sun welcoming me and The Great Dane (TGD) with open arms, we hugged it back by dining alfresco. Skimming the menu, I spied with my sleepy eyes the words "sipping chocolate." My interest was quickly peaked, but I want booze! Our waitress happily informed me that there is an adult version to this!
CHOCOLAT CHAUD:French Sipping Chocolate. It's served as a pitcher of hot chocolate with a bowl of chantilly cream. Real cream! The Avec Chartreuse Verte was the 21 and over addition to this gastro luxury. As this pompous but necessary presentation was brought to my table, I was quickly transported to the imaginary Paris in my head. With every sip, the bustle of Pike Market was quickly replaced by the melody of La Vie en Rose.
The waitress explained that one is supposed to sip the chocolate, then sip the chartreuse. Sip, sip. That's it! This is the only way to have hot chocolate from now on.
Maybe we should eat something, as the Paris in my head is starting to go beyond the normal realm of daydreaming.
TGD got the House-made Pork & Chicken Sausage: It came as an open faced sandwich with melted Comte de gruyere with dijon mustard. What pray tell is comte? It's basically unpasteurized cow's milk cheese. The more you know! This sandwich may look dainty in carnivore land, but it was very hearty, and would fulfill any meat lover's inner desires.
My Parisian hallucination was quelled with the one thing that attracted me to this place in the first place; The Croque Madame : It had Parisian ham inside with gruyere cheese melted on top, and boom put an egg on it! Now, I was not very satisfied with the madame. Where's the bechamel or the mornay?!...or did America add this on? Whichever country decided on adding that creamy and buttery roux deserves a medal. Cafe Campagne's Madame needs a butter bath!
Overall, Cafe Campagne needs to be a stop while you're out exploring Pike Place Market; tourist or not! Back when my frequent West Coast (anything west of Chicago is west coast to me) travels brought me to Las Vegas, it became my tradition to visit Bouchon and get my croque madame fix. It was exclamation point to the fact that I have thawed out from the cold! Now that Seattle is my new west, Cafe Campagne is my new west coast Pacific Northwest tradition, not for the madame, but to sip hot chocolate with chartreuse. There's no better exclamation than chocolate and booze!
Cafe Campagne is worth gaining:
4.5lbs out of 5 lbs
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