THE 5 SPOT 1502 Queen Anne N., QUEEN ANNE 206-285-7768 8:30 a.m.-midnight Mon.-Fri.; 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5 p.m.-midnight Sat.-Sun.
NOTHING AT THE 5 SPOT is ever really gonna blow your socks off, if you want to know the truth—it’s the genial, unspectacularly satisfying reliability of the place, in fact, that makes it the draw it is. You head here because it’s in the right place at the right time, and you don’t require or desire any surprises: You just want a neighborhood brunch, a familiar stop with friendly service before or after a show, a cozy-but-not-lifeless meeting place for pals. Even the accessibly themed regional fare (Little Italy, the Big Easy, etc.) that rotates alongside the regular menu every three months doesn’t smack you upside the head with innovation; the gastronomic challenges only go so far that they seem kicky to the ordinary palate but won’t fluster the unadventurous (red beans and rice, catfish, etc.). It’s basically a grandiose diner—the kind of place that can offer something downhome sounding like Billy Bob’s Char Broiled Pork Chops but charge you $13.25 for it—and that’s not a bad thing to be.
Once you’ve settled into the rhythms of the restaurant, you’ll easily latch onto your own favorite foods. The breakfast menu contains the most dependable of its dependable dishes (weekend brunches are packed, so expect to wait outside on the street with Starbucks-bearing couples, families, and happy young cliques): griddle cakes ($5.25- $5.75) are tasty; the egg scrams ($7.75-$8.75) are whipped together with salmon, ham, sausage, or mushrooms; and you’ll do fine with its sturdy traditional breakfast ($7.75)—two eggs, toast, choice of meat, and good hash browns (the nighttime version has three eggs and “griddled potatoes” for $8.75).
Salads are particularly pleasant. The raspberry vinaigrette, bleu cheese, and glazed pecans are efficiently balanced—not too much of this, not too much of that—in the St. Charles Botanical Garden Salad ($8.75), and the place pulls off a nice Smoked Salmon Salad ($9.75) with feta and a cilantro vinaigrette.
Dinner brings the offerings you can hold close to your heart for comfort—again, nothing earth-shattering, but appealing nonetheless: The above-mentioned pork chops are cooked just right and come with buttermilk mashed potatoes, thank you very much; the delectably sweet, crispy skin on the Honey Stung Pan Fried Chicken ($13.75) is the closest this place comes to wondrous; and though the Fried Green Tomatoes ($6.25) are never quite as juicy as you’d like them to be, you’ll order them every time you set foot in here at night.
