Munching at the Queen Bee

My husband came back from one of his neighborhood & beyond walks one afternoon saying “We have to eat breakfast at this place” and proceeded to tell me about all the varieties of crumpets available. I had once purchased a package of crumpets at the grocery store (after reading an English novel) and frankly, I was underwhelmed. I felt I would rather have a homemade scone from an old Surrogate Hostess recipe. But of course, I accepted the invitation rather than slave over a hot toaster in the morning.

Parking is hard to find; we were two blocks north on 22nd and with my bad knee, it was a slow hobble to the front door of the Bee. The Queen Bee is attached to Aegis, the assisted living facility at the corner of Madison and 23rd. The cane and the hobble identified us as possible residents of Aegis and we were greeted on both the to and fro trips with cheery greetings, asking how we were doing and other pleasantries. Even runners took time to welcome us! Sure beat our neighborhood for a welcoming atmosphere!

I was surprised to see the clientele at 8am; it was not the infirm from Aegis, but tables filled with the young and fit chomping into crumpets. I ordered a crumpet with pesto and smoked salmon and hubby ordered a crumpwich of ham, scrambled egg and cheese. Coffee is Stumptown and of course, there is tea for the true Anglophile. My crumpet was slathered with pesto-flavored cream cheese and topped with smoked salmon, arugula and a generous serving of capers. I am a caper devotee, so this won my heart. I have been known to run out of milk, but not capers. It was very tasty, but of course, the cream cheese and salmon overwhelmed the crumpet, which is basically a delivery vehicle for the various toppings. The crumpet could use a serrated knife to cleanly cut through it; the dining knife was not a match without a struggle.

My husband felt that a good review should cover all options, as he eagerly eyed the case of sweets. So, we took home a lemon bar, which was split later with leftover coffee. It was very good; the crust was unusually thin and the filling was thick ….not sure how they managed that without a disaster in the eating process, but it worked!

The Queen Bee

2200 E Madison St. Ste B, 98112, 206-757-6314

Mon-Fri 7am-4pm, Sat-Sun 7am-5pm

~Diane Snell