The Silver Fork has served generations of Seattleites looking for the simple consolations of soul food and comfort food and breakfasts served all day in generous portions. And while it does good business on most mornings, if you're really looking to atone for (or recover from) Saturday night's sins without actually setting foot inside a church, the Silver Fork on Sunday morning is the next best place. Early in the morning, it seems as if every church in the Rainier Valley deposits all their hungriest parishioners straight into the Fork's run-down dining room. The menu is solid American greasy-spoon, with plenty of eggs and toast and hash browns and coffee served hot and in never-ending supply. But the best thing this kitchen does is pancakes?big ones, golden-brown and perfect, topped with butter and slathered in syrup. Add the boisterous crowds in their Sunday bests, a radio playlist that runs through the greatest hits of 30 years of soul music, and occasional interruptions by customers breaking into gospel songs of their own, and what you have is a scene that's like a catered sunrise service, minus all the hell and damnation. ?Jason Sheehan 3800 Rainier Ave. S., 721-5171