8809 North Harborview Drive
Gig Harbor, WA 98332
It might be weird to most of you that our last meal in Washington was with my dental hygenist. Yes, I may not make regular trips to see my doctor, but I'm meticulous about going to the dentist every six months. It's easy for me because my dentist and my dental hygenist, Karilyn, are the best. It's more like seeing my friends, who just happen to clean my teeth and check for cavities. Totally normal, right?
I was a little sad when I went in for my cleaning and checkup this past February and was told that Karilyn would be moving to Gig Harbor, Washington, and this was going to be the last time that she was going to be cleaning my teeth. We have always had a great time laughing and catching up while she worked, and I just sat there. Katie and I had planned this Seattle trip early in the year, and I promised Karilyn that we'd meet up with her and her husband while we were up in the Evergreen State.
I had everything worked out perfectly. We checked out of our hotel in Seattle at 10am and could make it to Gig Harbor an hour later. That would give us plenty of time for a late leisurely breakfast and then drive back up to SeaTac for our 4pm flight home. Karilyn picked Devoted Kiss Cafe for our breakfast, a restaurant where she quickly became a regular customer. She boasted that she knew all the servers in her short time living here, but we saw no evidence of this. Like when she lived in Southern California, many people ignored her. Just ribbing you, Karilyn.
Devoted Kiss has been in business for 11 years now. They are a breakfast/lunch spot with a spectacular view of Gig Harbor, which was quite breathtaking with its many anchored boats, tall trees lining the shoreline, and the sun playing hide and seek with some puffy white clouds. We were seated on the back patio, which was not as cold as I thought it would be on this 60-degree late morning.
The menu at Devoted Kiss Cafe is focused on breakfast, but there are also plenty of choices for lunchtime. Soups, salads, a bunch of paninis, and other sandwiches are offered for those who are not big fans of breakfast. However, we all wanted to partake in the day's first meal, so we all got breakfast. Let's see if Devoted Kiss Cafe will send us back home happy and with our bellies full.
Not the most giant or gooey Cinnamon Roll ($4.25), but this housemade roll got the job done. With enough cinnamon and icing, it was not too sweet, allowing the pastry portion to shine a bit more. Definitely worth trying if you are like me and like to have both a sweet and savory part to your breakfast.
I knew I'd like Karilyn's husband when he ordered the Scratch Biscuits and Gravy ($13.95). Two Beecher's biscuits are bathed in a very well-made and rich peppered bacon and sausage gravy, with two eggs perched on top of the pile. In the 13 years of writing this review site, I can not recall such lumpy gravy, and that's not a complaint. This is real stick-to-your-ribs food. Unfortunately, he didn't finish this, but I don't blame him for wanting to savor it later in the comfort of their new home.
Katie did not want to be left out of the biscuit bonanza, so she selected the Devoted Kiss Cafe Biscuit-wich ($14.95). When this was sat in front of her, I knew there was no chance that this would be a biscuit sandwich you'd be able to pick up with your hands. So instead, this is a knife and fork sandwich. This one utilized a split Beecher's biscuit with oven-roasted chicken, ladled gravy, provolone cheese, and an over-easy egg. The provolone and chicken are not your typical breakfast staples, but Katie found this one of the better breakfast biscuits she's had.
In all the twenty-five years that Karilyn has been cleaning my teeth, I never imagined that she would have picked the Corned Beef Hash ($14.95) out of everything on the Devoted Kiss menu. She always seemed like a sliced grapefruit and two egg whites gal. This was another big plate. The house braised corned beef was cubed and mixed with potatoes, topped with two eggs, and finished with a drizzle of whole-grain mustard sour cream. Just like her husband, she only finished half of this meal. Katie and I were starting to get a complex, as we both had no problem completing our meals. Karilyn loved this, claiming she had partaken of this hash many times.
I usually do not get breakfast sandwiches. Instead, opting for scrambles and benedicts. However, this late morning, I needed to try Devo's Favorite ($13.95). This sandwich is stacked with plenty of slices of Boar's Head ham, peppered bacon, sliced avocado, gouda, pesto, chipotle mayo, and an over medium egg, all sandwiched between two slices of wheat toast. This was so good that I didn't even mind that it was on wheat toast. The show's stars were ham and bacon, and the runny egg bonded nicely. I would have liked a little more chipotle mayo, but a very well-done sandwich. Their potatoes were pretty good, well seasoned, and tender. I like mine a little crisper, but still good.
Devoted Kiss Cafe is a must-try if you ever find yourself in Gig Harbor. It's the kind of breakfast spot you wish you lived next to. Lucky for Karilyn, she now does live just a few blocks away. I enjoyed the little tweaks they used to make their breakfast items stand out, whether it was the whole grain mustard sour cream on the hash, the gouda and pesto being applied on my breakfast sandwich, or the use of chicken with the biscuit-wich. These nice touches help distinguish themselves from the other breakfast joints in town. Service was on point and friendly, and even though they were pretty busy, our food did not take too long to come out. I will miss my two visits with Karilyn every year, but I'm thrilled that she and her husband have found where they want to live.
Out of five long-distance dedications (because Gig Harbor was where radio personality Casey Kasem lived until he died in 2014), five being best to zero being worst, Devoted Kiss Cafe gets 3.5 long-distance dedications.
For more information about Devoted Kiss Cafe, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.devotedkisscafe.com/
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