Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 7, July 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Breakfast specialists now serving Northgate area

By JAMES BUSH

When the Varsity Inn restaurant near Gas Works Park opened its doors in 1995, Patty Turpin was the waitress.

Nine years later, she's still waiting tables and some customers don't realize that their waitress is now co-owner of the business. That's fine with Patty. "People like consistency," she says.

Turpin and cook Rogelio Galicia bought the Gas Works restaurant in the Wallingford neighborhood from former owner Warren Semmes in 1999 (Sandy Pelkey-L'Esperance purchased Semmes' original Ravenna area location, now known as the Varsity Restaurant, at the same time).

While she and Galicia have added a few items to the menu over the years, Turpin says she's stayed focused on the restaurant's greatest strength: making breakfast.

While the breakfast-and-lunch operation has an extensive array of sandwiches, says Turpin, "people like the fact they can have breakfast all day long." Her own breakfast favorites from the Varsity Inn include waffles and omelettes.

Bringing breakfast to the masses influenced Turpin and Galicia's decision to open a new Varsity Inn location on Northgate Way, about a block east of Northgate Mall, last July.

She noted that the Northgate area lacked restaurants that served breakfast, with the closing in recent years of several longtime establishments, including the Mocha Tree, the Northgate Denny's and the Pancake Haus.

"When I saw this space, I thought it would be great to have breakfast back at Northgate," Turpin says. "It's worked out perfectly because I live right between the two restaurants."

Turpin lives in Ravenna, where she first moved in 1980 after growing up in South Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood.

She worked for Semmes at his Ravenna restaurant as a fill-in waitress during the 1980s. From 1990 to 1995, she lived in Greece where she worked in the travel industry and opened a restaurant of her own.

Upon returning home to Seattle, Turpin was informed by Semmes that he was opening a Varsity Inn restaurant near Gas Works Park and that he needed a waitress there.

"I said 'Sure, I want to work with you for a while and then I'll get a real job,' " recalls Turpin.

That "real job" never arrived. The restaurant business "gets in your blood," admits Turpin. "You don't get into this business to make money, it's about the people: the customers and co-workers."

Turpin and Galicia employ about 15 to 20 people at their two restaurants, including part-timers and students who work on weekends. "These kids have with us for a lot of years," says Turpin. "We've seen them go to high school, then college."

One waitress at the Gas Works Varsity Inn drives down from Bellingham (where she attends Western Washington University) for her shift.

Despite their devotion to maintaining the Varsity Inn's history, Turpin and Galicia will have a surprise for their customers when they next update their menu. They're planning to add traditional Mexican breakfasts to the menu, a decision influenced by the fact that Galicia and the restaurant's other cooks are from Mexico. "I think it'd be good to utilize their talent," says Turpin.

But, after hearing her enthusiastically describe chilaquiles, a traditional Mexican dish of green sauce, cheese, and a fried egg on a fried tortilla base (with a side of black beans), Turpin acknowledges that she has an ulterior motive for the menu update.

"Having been in Mexico several times," she says. "I really got a liking for the food."

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The Varsity Inns are located at 1801 N 34th St.at Gas Works and at 543 Northeast Northgate Way.