Meet the Moon – Leschi

This is a new-ish place down by the Leschi Marina, Meet the Moon. Not sure when it opened, but certainly within this past year. This cafe is the latest addition to the Heavy Restaurant Group - the same people who've brought us such places as Purple and Barrio, among others. We had checked out the menu and thought it looked a little “precious” and perhaps trying too hard to be different. We did end up going one weekend morning. Eating crow now. The food was pretty darn good. The baked goods, while tasty were a bit on the ridiculous side, however, in terms of size. I’m not sure why bakers feel the need to make breakfast breads and sweets in enormous sizes other than for some wow-factor. Of course, the easy answer is that customers demand the huge, ½ loaf sized carmel-covered pecan cinnamon roll or the scone worthy of several meals. Meet the Moon has you covered on the bread and bread related products. We split one of the cinnamon rolls, taking ½ with us as we headed out on road trip that morning to our off-road Land Rover Experience (perhaps more on that in another post).

Steven had the Carne Asada Skillet ($18) – cough. It came with the expected pico de gallo, avocado and eggs, and their breakfast potatoes. Steven is a kind of connoisseur of carne asada, so fair warning, he’s hard to please. This version unfortunately missed the mark. The description did not give any indication that it wasn’t actually a small breakfast steak. Rather than receiving a nice medium rare piece of meat, it turned out to be chopped carne asada, skillet fried until hard and dry. The real test is when ordering medium rare and arrives well-done. Rookie mistake.  You pretty much have to simply walk by the flame on the way to the plate to get a true MR even with such a thin slice of meat as flank or (or preferably skirt) that should be carne asada. Chopped up as it was, it stood no chance! The seasoning was very good though, and with the avocado and eggs to mash up in there, it wasn’t a loss.

The show stopper was the potatoes. They were so good we asked one of the waiters to give up the secret on how they got them so crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The secret, too easily given, is to prepare the potatoes (clean, peel if you want, and cube) then freeze them. Pull out the frozen cubes (or whatever shape you want), toss is seasoning and deep fry. The moisture from the potato stays inside and steam them from the inside when the hit the hot oil. I wondered if they were double cooked, perhaps in duck fat they were so good, but, no, just frozen, seasoned, and deep fried. I had the Avocado Toast with poached egg. It was really just what I wanted.

The deep yellow-orange yolk was perfectly done and oozed over the avocado and toasted baguette when cut. Everything on the plate was balanced, a little acidic edge on the greens cut the fattiness of the both the avocado and egg. Just wonderful. I’ll have it again. In the end, I’m revising my rant, to a sigh. Go if you find yourself along Lake Washington in the Leschi area, though finding a seat might be a challenge. It’s a small place. We got there early so had our pick of seating but it was full by the time we were done.

In all, they do a nice job with flavors and the potatoes cannot be beat. Steven will probably opt for something other than the carne asada next time.