Something about alternative youth culture and big greasy breakfasts just go together like ... well, misspent nights and painful mornings-after.

This may be why so many of West Seattle's large population of arty slackers (and those who resemble them) head for Easy Street Records' adjacent cafe on a Saturday or Sunday morning for plate-filling helpings of omelettes, hotcake stacks and locally famous breakfast burritos. And CD shopping. And plenty of coffee.

The place, accessible through its own entrance or through the record store, is casual in the venerable tradition of Seattle's most beloved breakfast haunts. The décor resembles a haphazardly charming stage set of an alleyway — corrugated tin here, fence pickets there — all behind a retractable garage door.

Indeed, it won't be for everyone. The music, the melodious rock of My Morning Jacket on my visit, is loud. The tables are close together. Faux-mean waiters — young pierced creatures with their own sense of timing — might bark at you for fun.

But when they make it up to you with some endearing gesture — super-sizing your espresso drink or researching details on the music you're asking about — you'll discover that Easy Street is an uncommonly affable place to be. Especially when you get your huge hash-brown-veggie-tofu fry-up, or cheesy Italian sausage scramble. (Both breakfast and lunch — salads, sandwiches, quesadillas and more — are served every day, 7 a.m.-3 p.m.)

And for those who go in for such things, the menu offers more musical puns (New Wave O's Rancheros, Dolly Parton Stack, Green Day Salad, Culture Club Sandwich) than a diner nursing a five-alarm morning-after may really find laughs for.

Check please

Billy Breakfast Burrito: The burritos have a big reputation at Easy Street, so with high hopes I ordered the one stuffed with two scrambled eggs, black beans and cheddar cheese, topped with salsa. It was yummy, no doubt about it, the filling of the big green flour burrito making a deliciously colorful and uncommonly tasty mess as it tumbled out of its wrapper and onto my plate. I only wish the hash browns had been more redolent of the potatoes than the oil in which they'd been fried.

Frances Farmer French toast: You'd think a dish commemorating West Seattle's most famous dish would feature a little of the star's legendary verve and sass. Alas — the perfectly edible French toast, dusted with powdered sugar, offered little to render it the toast of the town. So unlike its namesake.

Latte: Of course it's terrific — it's Caffe Vita. (The espresso bar does a respectable takeout business in addition to servicing the restaurant.)

Side of fruit: Surprise — fresh, juicy fruit in a greasy spoon! Sizable chunks of ripe cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple and orange made a sunny morning greeting and did their darnedest to cut through the grease of the hash browns.

Itemized bill, meal for two

Billy Breakfast Burrito $6.95

Frances Farmer French toast $6.25

Double-tall latte $2.65

Side of fruit $2.99

Tax $1.65

Total $20.49

Kathryn Robinson: kathrynrobinson@speakeasy.net