Food Is Industrial Strength At Beth's Cafe In Bothell

------------------------------------------- Restaurant review / Bothell

Beth's Cafe at Bothell Landing, 10001 Woodinville Drive, Bothell. Breakfast, lunch, dinner 6 a.m.-midnight Sunday-Thursday, 6 a.m.-3 a.m. Friday-Saturday ($2.75-$12.50). Smoking section. Major credit cards. No alcohol. No reservations. Wheelchair access. 425-482-0537. -------------------------------------------

Say "Beth's Cafe" in Seattle and the name evokes a breakfast-centric 'round-the-clock spot where the word "spoon" is inevitably prefaced with the word "greasy." Speeding down Aurora late at night, you might come dangerously close to picking-off the midnight-munchie-mongers illegally crossing the highway, headed in the direction of Beth's "world famous" 12-egg omelets and all-you-can-eat hashbrowns.

Last spring Beth's opened a far-flung outpost housed in a space left vacant by Petosa's at Bothell Landing. While it doesn't have the funky, party-hearty hangout atmo of the original, it is, like its sibling, a way-too-greasy spoon. On arrival, the first thing I noticed was the smoke. And it wasn't coming from an overworked deep-fryer. Glancing toward the back room - where tables share space with pinball machines and video games - I asked for the nonsmoking section and was led past the counter seats and the grill to a table in the front dining room, which is dressed-down in drab blues and grays and swaddled in a thick Marlboro haze.

Coffee and OJ in hand, we checked out the eat-what-you-want-when-you-want menu (a replica of the original) where you might consider chili for breakfast, a rib eye steak with mashed potatoes for lunch, and corned beef hash and eggs for dinner. Breakfast offerings are, as ever, the main draw, and include Beth's much ballyhooed 12-egg omelets and less preposterous four- and six-egg renditions. For the lighter eater (or those with slim pickings in their pockets), "mini" meals are available, including a no-frills burger and fries for only three bucks. Trouble is, you get what you pay for, as the skinny burger on a cheapo bun and a basketful of starchy fries will attest. You could spend the full quid ($6.25) for "Beth's Baddest Burger" - a half-pound patty with bacon, cheese and all the trimmings - but if it's any badder than the mini version, do yourself a favor and order up some bacon and eggs.

THE VEGGIE: Leaving the full carton to heartier souls, we chose the four-egger, which was nothing special and in need of seasoning - fresh veggies notwithstanding. The zucchini was bitter, the Swiss cheese skimpy, the whole oily. Half a helping of Beth's tastes-like-frozen all-you-can-eat hashbrowns was more-than-we-could-eat.

EASTSIDER: There was something nacho-esque about this mound of industrial-quality hashbrowns topped with mushrooms, diced tomato, zucchini and lots of melted cheddar sided-up with sour cream and tinny-tasting salsa. Bulk. Nothing more.

BREAKFAST COMBO: How can you go wrong with a couple of over-easies, a pair of pancakes, and a quartet of sausage links? You can't. The eggs were fresh and cooked just right, the cakes hot and fluffy, the links still juicy.

ITEMIZED BILL/BREAKFAST FOR THREE

THE VEGGIE: $6.25 EASTSIDER: $4.99 BREAKFAST COMBO: $4.75 2 COFFEE: $2.30 LARGE ORANGE JUICE: $1.60

TAX: $1.81 TOTAL: $21.70