For its size, Port Townsend is rich in breakfast places. I’d tried most of them to various degrees of satisfaction, but this weekend was my first visit to Blue Moon Cafe, which has been carefully hidden from me for 20 years.
Ensconced in a complex of industrial metal buildings serving a large boatyard and marina at the south end of town, Blue Moon fits well with the aging Boat Hippie gestalt that pervades PT. There’s a counter (a necessary, if not sufficient part of any great diner), and a none-the-same hodgepodge of 2tops, 4tops and small booths. The walls are adorned with kitschy mooseorabilia, old license plates and hand-lettered signs. (Aside: Anyone who liked Home Skillet in Bellingham’s decor will like this place minus the outre LSD theme).
Excellent food here! I put their corned beef hash in the Pantheon of CBH countrywide. One order of this is a meal for 4, full-day meal for 2, and a belly buster for one. It was so good I ate half, and was pleasantly miserable later. Wahine had the cinnamon roll French toast with cheesy eggs–the French toast was delicious, and remarkable because it snuck right up to the line of being as savory as sweet. We saw Benedicts of sundry constructs walking by, and they looked and smelled fantastic.
If I had to compare Blue Moose with another Pantheon diner, it would be Galley Diner is South Boston, once a favorite of Anthony Bourdain’s.
For me, there’s no longer any quandary of where to get breakfast in Port Townsend.
