Oddfellows Cafe & Bar

Saturday morning was breakfast at Oddfellows Cafe & Bar on Capitol Hill. It had been on my To Sample list for the last little while, then I was reminded of it when the folks at Molly Moon's in Wallingford told me that they would soon be opening a second ice cream joint in that very building. The Oddfellows Building, in fact, on 10th between Pike and Pine.

It's the newest of Linda Derschang's increasingly hipster restaurants/bars (Smith, Linda's, and King's Hardware, among others) and I loved the interior -- a big, open space with high ceilings, what could be communal seating or not, and presumably floor and walls original to the space. At 10:30am it had a very casual vibe with a friendly and helpful service staff. There to offer a refill of coffee, but not hovering to clear my plate the second I forked that last bite.

I had one of the daily strata offerings, a perfect combination of bread, egg, ham, spinach, and egg with the requisite heavy cream (had to be), as well as a side mixed green salad with a light dressing of citrus-y something or other. Looking across at my friend's breakfast panini -- my original pick -- I was pleased that I had swerved toward the strata at the last second. It had bacon, smoked cheddar, and gruyere but looked a little lonely on the plate without a salad or other. I'm happy to have tried out Oddfellows for breakfast and will be back to sample the dimly-lit evening version some time soon.

[Image courtesy of Oddfellows Cafe & Bar]