I’m fat because I love food. Often I’ll eat or overeat when I’m nervous, worried, or angry, and I’ve been all three since Tuesday’s election, so there might be a flurry of restaurant reviews in the next few days.

I’m just back from drowning my sorrows in a Filipino breakfast at Ludi’s, downtown. It’s a family owned-and-operated restaurant that’s frequently nominated as the best breakfast in Seattle, on Yelp, Reddit, Google Reviews, etc.

Ludi’s has been open since 1936, but it’s moved a few times, most recently in 2022. Me being a big dumb boy, I went to their former address, from an online menu I’d read on one of those post-a-menu sites (not on Ludi’s site).

Fortunately, the restaurant only moved a few blocks, and when I asked a passing bum for directions, he pointed me the right way.

The chatter online had warned that Ludi’s is very popular, so my intent was to beat the rush by going early, and arriving before they opened, 7AM. By being lost, though, I got to Ludi’s at about a quarter past 7, and a line was snaking out the door.

Being a hermit, I don’t do well with crowds. I considered heading elsewhere, and coming back to Ludi’s some other day, but what the heck. I was there, and I was hungry. There were only ten people ahead of me in line, and the line was moving, so I joined it and stood on the sidewalk. In a few minutes I’d worked my way inside.

Ludi’s is not fast-food, but you order at the counter. This is explained by a sign at the door. They offer all the American breakfast standards, but also Filipino choices, and I ordered the Spam-silog, a dish new to me. It’s three slices of fried Spam, with scrambled eggs and garlic fried rice. And because the whole point of my visit was overeating, I also ordered a short stack of pancakes. And coffee, of course.

After I’d paid, the nice lady handed me a number and said to sit anywhere. The restaurant is laid out with perhaps 30 tightly-arranged tables, most of which were full, and a counter with tall stools, along the window.

I took a counter seat, and the stool was comfortable, but — me and crowds, again, and being a big guy — it felt cramped beside the stranger on the next stool. All through our breakfasts, though, we never bumped elbows.

My seat faced out the window, and I counted 17 homeless people during my breakfast. Too many cars. Litter blowing by. Seattle’s skyline is lovely from a distance, but up close like this, downtown is kinda ugly over eggs and coffee.

The music was Rod Stewart, played about two clicks too loud. Then the Carpenters. And then, a 1980s hit I’ve always disliked, Lionel Richie’s “My Love.”

My love, just thinking about you baby
Just blows my mind
My love, just thinking about you baby
Just blows my mind … all the time

And then came breakfast. I’d ordered silog plus a side of pancakes, so of course my meal was on two plates, which took twice the counter space. There wasn’t much counter space, leaving me a little more self-conscious of how close me and my counter-mate were.

The pancakes arrived without syrup, and with only one wrapped dab of cold, hard butter, which couldn’t really be spread, only tucked between the cakes to melt. Not ten seconds after the pancakes, though, just as I was frowning, another waitress appeared with a generous container of syrup, and asked if I’d like more butter. “Two,” I said, and she gave me two more pads, with a smile. Hard butter again, but now there was enough.

I’m a Spam fan, but this was my first time having Spam in a restaurant. When I fry it at home, being a cheapskate and all, I slice it very, very thin, but Ludi’s slices it very, very thick. It was perfectly browned, and delicious.

The eggs were eggs. It’s hard to screw up scrambled eggs. The pancakes were good, and the coffee was on the edge of terrific.

The rice was… weird. Billed as “garlic fried rice,” it looked like plain white rice, boiled, with a few shallot slivers on top, and it tasted vaguely fishy/musty, but not garlicky. It came with a small plastic tub of salsa that didn’t pack any punch. I ate about half the rice and salsa, and maybe it’s marvelous for a Filipino palate, but this old white man didn’t care for it.

There was also a generous chunk of juicy, sweet pineapple.

The too-loud 1980s music continued with “Love Shack,” and Laura Branigan’s “Gloria,” but then it was Lionel Richie again, singing about how just thinking about you baby just blows his mind. I don’t know what I’d done to deserve it. Nobody needs an entire song, twice, that’s built around a cliché, “blowing my mind,” that was stale a decade before the song.

I didn’t leave a tip, which felt weird, but I’d pre-tipped on-screen, when I’d ordered at the cash register. My tip would’ve been bigger if it hadn’t been front-loaded, because the service was fine, friendly, and fast.

Breakfast should be relaxing, but with the music and the crowd, Ludi’s wasn’t that. They were very nice and didn’t try to rush me, even brought two coffee refills without me having to ask, but the restaurant was sooo busy, a cacophony of conversation and clinking silverware and ’80s rock, it couldn’t help but feel like eat-and-get-out.

Mostly that’s me, though, my claustrophobia and discomfort with crowds. Normal people would enjoy Ludi’s, and maybe even dig the music.

Other than the rice (which might’ve been a cultural disconnect) it was a fine breakfast, and I’m giving the place a thumb’s up, even though, for me, just thinking about it, baby, just blows my mind.

Ludi’s Restaurant
120 Stewart St, Seattle WA (downtown)
Food & drink: good
Price: OK
Service: very good
Transit: any bus going downtown
Verdict: YES.

Cheap Seattle

Affordable eats

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