Now, we already kind of knew that this couldn’t be The Place – it’s too far away. Lucas wanted to try it anyway, though, as he’d heard good things about it, and he wanted to buy some beans. So off we went (by car) and lo, it was delicious (Lucas wanted an americano, so I actually bought my own coffee to take a sip off. It was great. It looked great, too. I wanted to finish my cup, but my body won’t allow that.)

Pros:
-Really good coffee, really good barista
- Makes white moccha
- Cozy (on the inside)
- Serves both pastries and foodier stuff, but…

Cons:
… none of the pastries seemed tasty, no cookies
- Too far away
- Sound sound volume was so low we felt we had to whisper and I went outside to take a phonecall.

Verdict:
If this had been in Ballard, it would be a clear winner, hands down. Now it will be more of an occasional place, if we’re in Fremont, or feel like a Really Long Walk, or just like driving over for good coffee.

Nervous Nellie’s sort of has location on its lists of cons; it’s closer to our house than the Chai House was, but further from downtown Ballard, so errands can’t be combined with coffee if we were to pick this place. Which we aren’t; according to Lucas, the coffee was quite good (I am currently not all allowed caffeine for medical reasons), but my hot chocolate was mediocre.

Pros:
- Close to our house
- Good coffee
- Plenty of chairs, both soft and hard
- Ostmacka! (Swedish cheese toast).
- Cool Sweden map that I could use to illustrate out vacation to Lucas.

Cons:
- Too far from downtown Ballard
- Cash or check only (what the HELL? The actual HELL?)
- No pastries
- I make better hot chocolate myself
- Lacks in cozy
- While there might have been “for here” cups, we weren’t asked about them even if we got toast for eating in.
-  Supposedly really bad service at times (I have no personal experience there, I found it firmly in the range of average.)
- I’m pretty sure white moccha wasn’t one of their options.

Verdict: Nope, this isn’t the place. Not bad, but not the place where we’d want to hang out half our weekends.

And. Oh. Man. The owner must be baking 24/7, because the (tiny, tiny) cafe is stocked full of delicious French pastries and breads. I had a raspberry croissant, and Lucas had a pastry of some kind, and were both so delighted we thought we’d just about melt. The coffee drinks were delicious, too; my moccha (short, automatically double-shot) was served in a rustic-looking cup and tasted like heaven – not like chocolate, not like coffee, but like something heavenly in between. We would have brought some of the bread with us home too, but we were short on cash (credit cards aren’t accepted) and it will have to wait. Maybe next time, and then we’ll be there earlier and perhaps just order the rustic rolls and some jam. And yesterday’s bread is half off.

Cons? No hot chocolate, and tacky-looking fridge. But the former can probably be accomplished by special order, since both chocolate syrup and milk is available.

La Boulangerie, 2200 N 45th St Seattle, WA 98103 (I-5 exit 169). Bread, pastries, coffee, juice, chocolate.

Location: ##
Eh. When one thinks of Ballard, one (I) think(s) of Market Street and historic Ballard Avenue, not five blocks off that, on 15th (and area I associate with being on my way somewhere else.) Nevertheless, people seem to find it, so it can’t be too bad.

Look and Feel: ####
Small and insignificant from the outside, nice and cozy on the inside – this place has it all, with the exception of the red-and-white tablecloths, when it comes to Italian dining. It’s the look of the outside, and the fact that we saw straight into a work area through an open door as we were waiting to be seated, that prevented it from reaching a five.

Service: ###
Seating was fast, despite it being a Friday night. The initial ordering was fast, but then we had to wait for rather a long time before we had the chance to order our entrées. There was also a significant wait while we tried to see the dessert menu, but I believe our waiter had some sort of hearing impediment , so he’ll be forgiven for not noticing when we tried to get his attention. The service we did get was polite and attendant, and we felt welcome.

Food: ######
Score! Granted, I rarely take chances with restaurants (I don’t have the financial means or patience), but this was very, very good. Even with a stomach ache, I enjoyed my pesto tortellini immensely. Lucas had a seafood capellini which, he claims, was very good (I sort of doubt I’d like it.) Not to mention the creme caramel we had for dessert… Prices are a few bucks over chain restaurants, but not a lot, and the difference in feeling and quality more than makes up for it.