For the Love of Food begins with a small test: finding the door. The entrance is on the right and…read moreis shared with the business next door. It feels slightly like you need insider information to get breakfast, so consider this your briefing: Enter on the right and know that culinary happiness awaits.
Once inside, the menu delivers another surprise. I stopped for breakfast and found the two headline choices were breakfast burritos and biscuits and gravy. That's not a pairing I expected to see occupying most of a menu. It reads less like a traditional breakfast lineup and more like two exceptionally confident dishes staring you down and asking, "Well, which direction are we going?"
I chose the jerk chicken breakfast burrito because YOLO, and--oh my goodness--that thing was fantastic.
First, it was enormous. I eat man-sized meals, and this burrito was still a beast. I could have divided it in half, eaten one portion for breakfast and the other for lunch, and never felt as though I had begun a diet. This was not a breakfast burrito trying to look impressive by being wrapped in extra foil. It had mass, purpose, and possibly its own gravitational field.
More importantly, it tasted every bit as good as it looked. The ingredients were clearly high quality, and every part contributed something. The cheese was beautiful rather than being tossed in as the obligatory dairy participant. The jerk chicken brought incredible flavor, and the entire burrito was toasted to perfection. That final toast transformed the outside into exactly the right wrapper for everything happening inside.
The gentleman cooking is less a chef than an artisan. This burrito did not feel assembled; it felt composed. Someone had clearly thought about the ingredients, proportions, texture, and preparation instead of merely putting breakfast into a tortilla and calling it a meal.
If you are in Bellevue, go. If you are anywhere nearby, it is worth the detour. Run, don't walk--then remember that driving is faster, go back for the car, find the shared entrance on the right, and order the burrito.
Just don't make lunch plans; you'll still be full...