Cafe Campagne is one of those places that carries you back to your favorite bistro in Paris, whether you’re seated in the main dining room watching the bartender (or tendress) mix Kir Royales, to the right of the entryway where tourists navigate the steep sidewalk outside the big picture windows, or outside at the cozy cafe tables along Post Alley.

For brunch, I’ve always loved the House-Cured Salmon Gravlax, Salmon Rillettes and Demie-Baguette. It’s served with a fennel, red onion, and citrus salad, but I always order a small field-green salad as well. I figure you never can eat too many greens, and I like the contrast of the salad’s crunchy textures and bitter flavors with the lush salmon.

Spencer opts for the Lamb Burger with Balsamic-Grilled Onions, Roasted Peppers, Aïoli, and Pommes Frites, a recipe from my “Pike Place Market Cookbook” that I chose as my Recipe of the Month back in March, 2009.

Tucked back behind the main dining areas at the ever-popular Steelhead Diner in the Pike Place Market you’ll discover a small outdoor patio with just about four tables and a couple of overhead braziers to keep away the cool Northwest chill. Peekaboo views of Post Alley (depending on where you’re sitting) tantalize at this secret aerie; if the floor were just a few inches higher, you could even see Puget Sound.

But chef and co-owner Kevin Davis’s food is enough of a view. Here’s the Steelhead Diner House Salad–iceberg lettuce kicked up to the highest notch thanks to the addition of chopped hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, red onion, avocado, crispy bacon, and blue-cheese crumbles with Lorenzo dressing (the best Thousand Island you’ve ever tasted, more like a Remoulade sauce).

And here’s the nightly salmon dish–Copper River king the night we visited–perched on a pond of herb-rich green sauce enlivened with tender artichokes and preserved lemon. Yum!

Whole Grilled Idaho Trout couldn’t have been prettier, served with roasted chestnuts and swimming in a pool of cracked-sage brown butter.

We paired our fish with Mark Ryan 2006 Chardonnay, whose fruit comes from two renowned Washington-State vineyards: Conner Lee and Stillwater Creek. This not-overly-oaked white is balanced, yet focused, with pleasing citrus and tropical-fruit flavors and medium mouthfeel that enhance seafood entrées instead of overwhelming them.

Dense Chocolate Mousse and strong cups of decaf brought our outdoor repast to a sad, but inevitable end, and made us hungry to head back to Steelhead Diner soon.

One of our perennial favorites for outdoor dining is the long-running Pink Door, where the Antipasto of the House platter never fails to delight with a lovely array of shareable foods: tapenade and bean salad, roasted red peppers and grilled veggies, fresh mozzarella and prosciutto.

The fruit- and vegetable-decorated oilcloths that festoon the tables add a festive touch to what I’ve referred to in my “Pike Place Market Cookbook” as “a garden party with 100 of your most attractive friends.”

Here’s the Pink Door’s spicy rendition of Squid Ink Spaghetti del Pescatore brimming with a boatload of shrimp, calamari, clams and mussels.

And here’s the Fish of the Day. . .halibut in a tomato-y sauce teaming with Market-fresh veggies.

Swordfish with Grilled Eggplant and Green Pesto was another toothsome dish that we savored under the stars. . .

While we enjoyed the happening scene.