Chez Lounge

When I was very little, I was afraid of sleeping alone. My grandparents had a wonderful piece of furniture in their room that I was allowed to sleep on...a cream and green chaise lounge. Naturally, though I don't own one today, it remains one of my favorite pieces of furniture. That is why when we bounced our Friday heels up the stairs to the third floor of the corner Pike Place Market Building...above the butcher and the ice cream shop and several vegetable vendors...I had high hopes for such a cleverly named cafe.

Chez Lounge is a pun based derivative of Chez Shea, a longtime market venue previously only available for dinner. In a time when most restaurants are cutting back hours, its nice to see more choices available. C suggested that we take advantage of one of the Thirty for Thirty promotions. G and J met up with us over a raggedy half hour where we sat sipping wine and overlooking the painted pigs on the roof of the main market building. Gradually the intimate space filled up, and though small, the tables aren't particularly crammed together and the high ceilings did not amplify noise as I thought they might. We wereprobably the loudest people there.

For $15 (not much of a splurge before wine -- which we all had), Chez Lounge offered a 3 course prix fixe menu that catered to meaters and veggies alike. G and I started with a wonderful butter lettuce salad with perfectly candied and slightly salty walnuts (so often nuts are candied to the point of being painful to eat). J tried the creamy broccoli rabe soup and C started with the salmon mousse. The mousse was a tad salmony to be honest, but we helped C finish it anyways, and really that was probably the only low point of the meal. For the second course, we all had something different. I tried the artichoke gratin, G braved the boulliabase, J went for the burger, while C tried the grilled three cheese sandwich with greens. The boulliabase looked delicious, but I just have issues with sea shells in my soup (say that 10 times fast). I parceled out pieces of gratin and tried a hunk of C's delicious cheese sandwich. I think on the right day with a steaming bowl of tomato soup, it would be just the ticket.


But much like a fairy tale princess, I had to suddenly abandon the pursuit of the third course and high tail it back to the office for a meeting that was suddenly just 10 minutes away. I stuck C with my bill and scurried down the street as fast as my little heels would carry me. Breathlessly I sat down three minutes early onlly to be told that I was late as they wanted to start 5 minutes early....Ahh, the best laid plans. In short, Chez Lounge was delicious and a wonderful space. The service was pleasant, but not overbearing...with just enough eyebrow wagging to keep one in line, but not enough to feel intimidated. This is the way French food -- European lunches, should feel. I may have been late, but as I ran down the street feeling warm and relaxed, I thought to myself, "It was worth it."