They get a lot right at Julia's, where comfort is key

Longtime Seattleites may recall the original Julia's as a funky, plant-filled, vegetarian-friendly cafe that made breakfast worth getting up for and carrot cake that has become a local icon.

Julia Miller sold her restaurant business in the early '90s to former employee Karsten Betd, who with business partner Eladio Preciado oversees Julia's descendants in Wallingford, Issaquah, Capitol Hill and, as of May, on Queen Anne.

Housed in a handsomely restored, antique-filled Victorian (vintage 1904), the newest Julia's has plenty of polish, yet it manages to preserve the gestalt of the original. Vegetarians get more than a cursory nod from a menu that is predominantly American, with a faint Mediterranean breeze; breakfast is served from early morning, right up until the dinner menu kicks in at 5 p.m.; and not only is the carrot cake justifiably iconic, it outclasses everything else on the dessert menu.

Arriving at midmorning, a customer finds no one at the front desk. A female voice calls from the kitchen — "Be with you in minute" — just as if you've dropped in on a friend. Velvet drapes and satin tassels notwithstanding, relaxed informality reigns, with no carpets hiding the beautiful hardwood floors, no linens covering the tables. Thoughtful, efficient servers tend briskly to business, as adept at warming up your coffee or tea as they are at mixing a proper cocktail.

Daily afternoon happy hour takes over the whole place, as Julia's has just a service bar, not a lounge. That means you can settle into any of the three cozy downstairs dining rooms and still take advantage of reduced prices on dinner appetizers ($6 each, regularly $8-$10), well drinks, beer and house wines ($4). Enjoy a pleasantly drinkable California cabernet or merlot along with, say, a baked goat-cheese casserole or a hummus plate. Both are ideal for sharing, plenty even for four to nibble on as a prelude to dinner.

The hummus is a little heavy on the tahini; the tzatziki is more vivacious. Both ably anoint warm pita triangles, slices of cucumber, tomatoes and red onion, with kalamata olives and pepperoncini a nice bonus. Kalamatas, onion and garlic give a rough edge to tomato sauce puddled around the herb-dusted disk of goat cheese, waiting to be smoothed across rustic slabs of toast.

Follow either of these ample starters with one of several salads — may I suggest a lush "garden grove" of raw veggies punctuated with soy nuts, or roasted beets and sautéed mushrooms in a tangle of balsamic-dressed field greens — for a filling, inexpensive supper.

Equally ample dinner entrees lean toward comfort foods: stews, braises, pastas and meatloaf among them (many offered at lunch too.) An immensely satisfying Portuguese seafood stew gathers salmon, cod, fingerling potatoes, carrots and a tender little meatball into a pool of sassy tomato sauce where chorizo and star anise play hide and seek. Soft, savory meatloaf, mixed with plenty of herbs and veggies and smothered in rich mushroom gravy, is appropriately paired with creamy skin-on mashed potatoes revealing just enough lumps to lend them character. The nearly raw steamed carrots and broccoli with it, however, belong in a salad.

A muscular braised lamb shank, though impressive to behold, was also too far from tender. But oh, what a wonderful mélange of chickpeas and couscous came with it, immersed in a ruddy saffron-tomato sauce that teases the tongue with peppery heat, citrus and spice.

Julia's gets enough things right that you don't mind so much when the kitchen goes wrong. At lunch a bowl of thick tomato soup was bland though dense with barley and vegetables. The compact Reuben, notable for its thick, tangy Thousand Island dressing, was undermined by tough, chewy corned beef.

The chicken "burger" resembled something from a fast-food joint. A curiously thin, rubbery boneless breast lay under a shroud of jack cheese, a leaf of romaine and pale tomatoes added little beyond color, and the very good whole-grain bun could have used a condiment of some sort.

At breakfast, a beautifully burnished pork chop fragrant with rosemary and thyme arrived raw in the middle, an error swiftly corrected and ameliorated by a $5 discount. It was returned in fine form, a still-juicy companion for a pair of overeasy eggs and assertively seasoned, golden-brown home fries, along with rye toast.

The chop is one of a host of breakfast choices, including eggs Benedict, burly breakfast burritos (made with eggs or tofu) topped with zesty tomato salsa, pancakes with a variety of add-ins, pastries, quiche and egg scrambles. Don't like any of their 10 omelet combos? Create your own. No wonder crowds turn up on weekend mornings, filling not only the downstairs but the spacious second floor aerie bright with skylights.

Some deliciously decadent treats are tucked in among all the wholesomeness on the menu. How could you not order something called Cinnamon Yum Yum? An enormous cinnamon roll (from Julia's Bakery in Wallingford) is prepared like French toast; sliced horizontally, it's dipped in an egg batter enriched with orange and cream, then gently griddled, to be lavished with butter and syrup to your liking at the table. The menu calls it a "breakfast appetizer." I'd say it's a pretty successful wake-up call.

Providence Cicero: providencecicero@aol.com