Comfort food and recycling, too

Wild Mountain Cafe

1408 NW 85th St

297-9453

8:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., closed Tuesday

By Patricia Devine and Jim Anderson

Having dinner at the Wild Mountain Caf/ is not so different than eating at a friend's house, not only because the restaurant is in a beautiful old looks-like-stucco house (actually it's concrete), but also due to the homey atmosphere.

Mismatched furniture, mosaic-topped tables (made from found treasures) and substantial wooden chairs add to the comfort factor, and the rows of candles in the fireplace of the former living room add a glow. The owners remodeled with care, preserving the historic integrity of the house.

With one server working two rooms of seating, we worried at first about getting our food in a timely matter, but we needn't have. Like at a dinner party with friends, we soon had our salads and drinks, and learned that Monday is Margarita night! Spinach Salad with tomatoes, red onion, and grapes topped with a fried round of goat cheese ($5.75) and Greek Goddess with cucumbers, peppers, Kalamata olive and feta, ($5.75) shared honors for first place in the salad category.

The tapenade appetizer with grilled bread is served on a bed of spinach, a great combo with the woody spinach taste and fresh, ripe, coarsely cut olives, like a snack someone made for you instead of something mass produced ($6.25). We're guessing the guacamole shows equal care, and hope to find out on a future visit.

Reading the menu can be a bit of a chore, with the long descriptions and explanations of how everything is made fresh so they might run out, the warning about the Rib Eye being marbled, and a detailed history of the restaurant. But after digesting it all, we were able to soothe our eye strain and relax over a nice pour of cabernet until the Shepherd's Pie ($14.75), and Fried Chicken ($16.75) arrived.

The Shepherd's Pie was a comfort-food lover's dream come true. This rich, dense ground beef and vegetable stew was a deep, chocolately brown, fragrant with the scent of fresh herbs. Topped with a layer of roasted garlic mashed potatoes, this was a pie to celebrate. And of course no celebration would be complete without wine, so we ordered another glass from the balanced and bargain-priced list.

The Fried Chicken ($16.75), crunchy with reddish coating of paprika and pepper, marries spicy, salty and sweet with the honey battering. That's a lot of things for a fried chicken to be, but the sizable bird carries the responsibility well, and the unusual treatment works. Nestled along side and up under the chicken is artfully cooked squash, with mashed potatoes buttressed against the vegetables and chicken.

Portion sizes here are bountiful, and you can count on taking home tomorrow's lunch. We played the "it's mine now, and I can mix it up how I wish" card, we threw the leftover salad in with the pie to excellent effect.

The adjoining tiny bar feels warm and inviting with red walls and candles. Rotating art (for sale) adorns the walls. Mature landscaping and blooming flowers grace the yard, and seasonal outdoor seating is available. A kid's menu and the casual atmosphere make Wild Mountain a nice place for children, with room to park strollers on the front porch.

Breakfast at Wild Mountain is a long time favorite in the neighborhood, and lunch is available every day as well. It might be worth playing hooky to hang out and try one of their talked-about egg dishes for a leisurely breakfast, or a healthy sandwich on multigrain bread. It's OK to have lunch for breakfast or breakfast for lunch here, by the way. They seem to understand how that might be necessary on occasion. Breakfast is served until 4 p.m. and lunchy items also appear on the morning menu.

With their notable commitment to recycling and their green philosophy (they recycle everything, compost their coffee grounds and kitchen scraps, and equip the restaurant with second hand dishes, furnishings and cookware) Wild Mountain's environmental awareness make it a swell fit with Ballard's fondness for recycling. And if that and the tasty comfort food is not enough, Sunday is half priced bottle of wine night, and that rib eye on the menu looks pretty good, too. What could be better after church than splitting a bottle of nice, bargain priced syrah! Cheers!

Patricia Devine and Jim Anderson are seasoned restaurant reviewers who may be reached via bnteditor@robinsonnews.com