HistoryLink Tours

Before there was Café Campagne, there was Campagne, which from 1987 to 2011 occupied the upstairs restaurant space that sits just across from the entrance to the Inn at the Market. This building complex was constructed in 1985, on a site that had decades earlier included two modest hotels, retail space, and a tavern.

A French restaurant serving elegant, seasonal fare, Campagne felt more welcoming than pretentious and was a favorite of Seattle diners. A number of respected Seattle chefs passed through its kitchen, including Jim Drohman from Le Pichet, Tamara Murphy of Terra Plata on Capitol Hill, and Daisley Gordon, who has been here since 1995, now chef-owner of Café Campagne.

In 1994 this restaurant opened in the level below Campagne, with a more casual, brasserie-style menu — albeit one overseen by the same chefs as upstairs, and with the same fabulous wine list. A diner could slip into Café Campagne for a seat at its bar and indulge in an outrageously good lamb burger and frites, sipping a luxurious Burgundy should she be so inclined — which can and does still happen today, even without Campagne upstairs. Originally about half the size, the restaurant added space over the years and now encompasses the full Post Alley level of its building, complete with a patio atop the cobblestones.

Carefully cross Pine Street and continue south on Post Alley, passing Rachel’s Ginger Beer.