Squid & Ink a versatile vegan cafe with a friendly vibe

Vegan newcomer Squid & Ink occupies a stand-alone brick and clapboard building in Georgetown on the northern edge of Boeing Field, so close that the roar of approaching aircraft nearly muffles the hard-driving rock soundtrack.

The music intermittently turns mellow, and electronic pings punctuate the quiet between tracks. A woman with peacock blue hair the exact color of the walls pokes at a Mega Touch video-game terminal, a perk that's free for customers, as is use of a PC that allows Internet access.

Conviviality reigns, as happens when like-minded people gather. Single diners tend to settle at the counter; groups head for a table or one of the booths along the art-filled walls. On a clear day, sunlight streams through the south-facing front windows and sprawls across the black tables and floors, illuminating elaborate body art and a galaxy of silver rings and studs piercing lips, noses, ears and eyebrows.

There aren't many vegan cafes in Seattle, observed a friendly blonde in the booth next to us who comes here whenever she's in the area. She favors the French Kiss — maple-syrup-slathered French toast with scrambled tofu and tempeh sausage. It's among the breakfast choices ($4.75-$7.50), along with waffles, omelets, biscuits with gravy and chicken-fried steak, that are served until 4 p.m. daily. The omelets are made with tofu; the steak is seitan (pronounced SAY-tahn), a wheat-gluten product.

The dinner menu kicks in at 4 p.m. Entrees ($8.25-$8.50) include a maple-teriyaki-glazed soy-seaweed fish fillet with risotto and smoked green beans, and pasta with tofu-chicken and mushroom marinara. Overlapping both menus are all-day eats: soups, salads, sandwiches and snacks such as fish and chips or sweet potato fries. Service is swift and friendly.

Squid & Ink is offbeat and off-the-beaten-path; for vegans it's worth seeking out.

Steak seirtare: A wonderful sandwich wrapped in a toasted flour tortilla filled with a slawlike combination of red onion, bell pepper and cabbage, plus strips of meatlike seitan, well-seasoned and grilled. Dill relish and lemon enhance the tartarlike sauce. Given a choice of soup, salad or fries, I opted for salad, a fresh, bright-green mix of young spinach and romaine with carrot slivers and a tiny cup of good vinaigrette on the side.

Grilled ham and cheez: This impeccably toasted sandwich looks like the real thing. The Day-Glo orange "cheez" melts nicely and approximates the texture and bland appeal of American cheese, though the tofu "ham" doesn't come close enough to real ham to my taste. Included in the price was soup du jour, a pungent, if thin, tomato-basil broth with a bold, peppery finish.

Stuffed mushrooms: Button mushrooms turn up tangy but also soggy from their marinade. The stuffing of risotto and tempeh sausage needed more seasoning, but the bed of fresh spinach and sautéed cabbage had plenty of verve, thanks to a sharp, smoky sauce.

Sweet potato fries: Thick-cut spears had a voluptuous softness and compelling caramelized sweetness.

Itemized bill, meal for two

Steak seirtare $7.50

Grilled ham and cheez $7.00

Stuffed mushrooms $6.50

Sweet potato fries $4.50

Tax $2.37

Total $27.87