$13: Grateful Bread

Where? - Grateful Bread Baking Company and Cafe, 7001 35th Ave NE

What Does $13 Get You? - Specialty Chicken Salad Sandwich ($6.95), Iced Tea ($1.25), and a truly enormous Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie ($2.00). Technically you could get another cookie and still have a little left over to give the next homeless guy you see.

Recommended? - Oh yes, yes indeed

Official Tasting Notes - While Grateful Bread is better known for its bagels and free wireless internet, the staff is beginning to recognize my lovely face thanks to the chicken salad sandwich. It is by far the best I've ever had, including the one served at the little coffee shop/cafe in Arizona that I essentially lived on during my most recent semester of college. They use their own recipe, and I am thrilled to say they don't overdo the mayo.

This is a seriously popular neighborhood hangout, and I can definitely understand why. The coffee is comfortably in my upper middle tier, the iced tea is refreshing, and the cookies are, as previously stated, enormous, and made from scratch. Plus, the staff will not harass you if you sit at a table for hours at a time using your internet, even if you haven't actually ordered yet. I know neighborhood bakery/cafes aren't necessary the most exciting place to eat, but I haven't found many that are worth the slightly inflated prices for sandwiches and the like, so Grateful Bread is cause for excitement in my book. Especially since I discovered that they have the chicken salad sandwich of the gods.