The Purple Cow
6301 Seaview Ave. N.W.
206.784.1417
Weekdays, 7 a.m.-5 p.m. (Closed Tuedsay)
Saturday, 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

Named after the subject of the 1895 poem by Gelett Burgess, The Purple Cow is a welcome sight for neighborhood walkers, liveaboards and anyone looking for good coffee on their way to the beach.

Although it's one of the last chances for espresso on the way to Golden Gardens, Purple Cow is as much cafe as it is coffee house. Serving breakfast and lunch six days a week, the Cow is as cozy as a friend's living room

While the place has changed hands a few times in recent years, our visits have been noted by smooth(ie) sailing and warm and delicious BLTs.

The breakfast smoothies are a cool, creamy and usually healthy way to start the day – healthier than milkshakes, anyway! All come with berries, peanut butter or banana and juice with frozen yogurt. Whether you choose from the Shilshole Sunset (strawberry and OJ), the namesake Purple Cow (blueberry, strawberry, cranberry juice), or the SS Minnow (pear, banana, strawberry and OJ), you'll pay about $5, and it will be worth it.

Portions are generous, and one sandwich or smoothie is certainly enough to share, unless you are super hungry or hungover, then you better go for one-per-diner.

The BLTs ($7) are generously stacked with lettuce and tomato, and deliver top-notch action when whole wheat toast is the vehicle.

Cow personnel always pick up on the fact that we're sharing and bring out the goods all divvied up on two plates or in two glasses, even if we forget to ask.

Sandwiches come with ridged-type chips. When we're in the mood for a breakfast-type experience are there any finer activities than wading into a small stack of potato chips on a Sunday morning? Endorphin activation, anybody?

Actually, it reminds us of one of our childhoods (guess which one), when we'd get up very early on Saturdays, tip-toeing ever so gently out into the family room, to the cupboard to crack open one of those three-bags-in-a-box formats, then sit quietly in front of the TV, just us in our jammies, working through a bag of chips while watching black and white cartoons.

More traditional breakfast fare of Eggish Muffins ($2.75) is also offered, but when we get a chance to have lettuce with breakfast, we don't pass it up.

Coffee is served in real cups, which don't match, adding to the homey feel. (Although at our houses, coffee cups matched. So make that "funky," not "homey").

The original owners of the Purple Cow conceived it as a home away from home and as a living room for the neighborhood boating community. The vibe has been carried on, with newspapers and magazines strewn invitingly about, cultural event posters lined up neatly along walls and windows and free wifi.

During the chilly months (June, July, August) it's warm inside. Outside, the dog-friendly deck invites when the sun comes out. Soups ($3.20/$4.50) change every day and several other basic sandwiches are available, too – roast beef, turkey, ham, tuna, egg salad – they really do a pretty fine job with these.

This stretch of Shilshole is evolving. A big sign in the Purple Cow window notes that you can be the new owner if you want. The surf shop across the road rents paddle boards and the Burke-Gilman Trail is getting heavier use.

The little houses on this street that were originally unheated beach cottages, used only in the summer months. A few are still around or have been converted to offices, but others are starting to be torn down. And, that makes us sad

Just up the street is the phony house on the water that pretended to be a business to get the good zoning, and on it goes. All we can do is hope the funky little buildings, like the one housing The Purple Cow, don't disappear entirely.

Relax at The Purple Cow, and watch it all happen. And, if you buy The Purple Cow, will you do us a favor? Stay as convivial as the current owners, and keep making the BLTs.

The Ballard Food Police visit all establishments anonymously and pay for all food and drink in full. Know anything we should know? Tell the Ballard Food Police at ballardfoodpolice@gmail.com.