Ballard Coffee Co.

Biscuits at the center

The open kitchen bakes biscuits all morning, sweet and savory, and that is the shortest description of Ballard Coffee Co. It opened in July 2022 in the room that had been Biscuit & Bean and kept the biscuit at the center of the menu rather than treating it as a side, which is why the case reads more like a bakery than a coffee counter with pastries brought in from elsewhere.

The named plates follow from that. A biscuit breakfast sandwich with tomato jam, biscuit and gravy, and a cinnamon roll for the sweet side. Two biscuit styles are made, and the chive one is the version to ask for under gravy. House-made pastries fill in around them, while salads and sandwiches cover the middle of the day for anyone who is not eating breakfast.

A casual Seattle cafe

The room is compact rather than a long-stay workspace. The kitchen is visible enough that baking becomes part of the impression: biscuits and pastries are not only menu items, they are the thing you watch while you wait.

Seating is modest indoors with a patio outside, and there is a drive-through, which gives the cafe more ways to be used than a walk-in bakery counter has. It suits a biscuit and a latte on the patio, or a breakfast sandwich taken away, more than a formal meal. Service is personal in the way neighborhood places are, with the owner recognizing regulars and sending them off with something extra.

Order the snickerdoodle latte with a biscuit

Start with the snickerdoodle latte if you want a sweet coffee. It is the drink people single out, and one regular reckoned it deserved an award of its own. The rest of the list is straightforward: black coffee, a mocha latte, a pumpkin spice latte when the season turns, and the standard espresso drinks.

Then order from the biscuit side. Biscuit and gravy is the direct savory choice, best with the chive biscuit. The biscuit breakfast sandwich with tomato jam is the fuller morning plate, and the cinnamon roll covers the sweet route. For midday, the salads and sandwiches do the job. The practical order is a snickerdoodle or mocha latte with a biscuit plate, which ties the cafe back to the Biscuit & Bean room it grew out of.