Festivals like Folklife and Bumbershoot aside, what incentive would the average Seattleite have to visit the Center House for lunch? With the totality of Seattle Center’s grounds in Century 21 facelift mode, very little, especially in a city of refined gastronomes who pride themselves on their tourist-degrading, chain-shunning ways.
Yet like the roadside McDonald’s Seattleites might sheepishly patronize on a rural stretch of highway en route to the Oregon Coast or Chelan for a long summer weekend, there’s something comforting about a food court. The options might be mediocre, but they’re diverse and familiar at the same time. And one can walk into a food court without having a precise idea of what he or she’s in the mood for. It is in this context and this context only where a place like Quincy’s Burgers is prone to thrive.
Quincy’s sits in the far southwest corner of the Center House food court, back by Steamers Seafood Cafe. The dining area’s decor is generic Route 66 nostalgia—it will neither inspire nor offend anyone.
The same can be said for Quincy’s edible fare. While its bacon cheeseburger is not dissimilar to what a Burger King might serve (i.e., overpowered by tomatoes and tomato- flavored condiments), Quincy’s fries are a good deal thicker than the King’s. Also unlike BK— or just about anywhere else in the Center House, especially now that the bistro bar’s been shuttered—Quincy’s serves reasonably priced pitchers of beer, including a couple handles devoted to local microbrews.
But the best thing about Quincy’s is its moniker, which it shares with a notoriously feisty orange and white tabby who lives in West Seattle’s Highland Park neighborhood. Quincy the cat is battling both kidney and heart disease. Similar to his namesake restaurant, he doesn’t just survive, he thrives—especially during peak tourist season.
