You need a good breakfast place. You need a good cup of coffee, not a bad one. You need a little walk. You need Citizen.

If Seattle is one big cozy sweater, Citizen cafe fits snugly in the Lower Queen Anne pocket, by the Space Needle. You know, between the beer garden and the reassuringly named Werner’s Crash Shop.

Go on a weekday morning when it’s been raining. Sit inside. Outside if it’s sunny. Order the refillable cup of coffee for $3.5o. Or the lavender latte, to put you right back to sleep. Take a gratuitous amount of time to read the menu. Pause to argue with yourself every time you see the word biscuit.

Ask questions. Consider the Farmer’s Breakfast. Ultimately land on huevos rancheros, if that does it for you. Accept the hot sauce on the side.

Service is fast and pleasant. You notice the perfectly over-easy fried eggs, oozing their golden nectar over soft, warm corn tortillas. The beans, the avocado, the chopped tomatoes and onions and cilantro otherwise known as pico de gallo in Texas. 

Just one in a sea of breakfasts over a lifetime, perhaps, but memorable for its inoffensiveness. Just good. Simple, homey, cozy morning goodness.

Citizen

706 Taylor Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98109