Sunday, November 24, 2019

Dottie's True blue café




(I would have used a stock-photo from last Sunday's visit... but... well... Sorry, Suzanne.)

http://dottiestruebluesf.com/


Place: Dottie's True blue café

Location: 28 6th Street 
(on the corner of Stevenson Street)

Hours: open 7:30am Thursday through Tuesday

Meal: Portobello[1] Mushroom, Scallions, Jalapeños, Roasted Tomato Tart (Cooked in Champagne) ~ (two) eggs any style (I felt like egg-style identifying as over-medium this morning) + fruit; and a glassa orange juice to drink




("Hey, Brian, what gives with yet still another Ella Fitzgerald song? Didn'ja just post two of her songs, like, just last Sunday?" First off, Lady Ella never needs any excuses for me to share her music. Secondhandedly, I feel that the elegant, pitch-perfect singing of Lady Ella complements the elegant, pitch-perfect food at Dottie's True blue café poifectly. 

The reason for the second song is simply because they were playing a few Lady Day songs this morning on the house [café, whatever] stereo. I really wanted to post "Strange Fruit", which is such a great song, but did not feel that the subject matter [Hint: It ain't a d*mn song about no apple or peachy orchards.] would really fit in well, breakfastarily speaking.

"B-b-but, Brian,  the Lady Ella song about a young star-crossed lover lamenting her abandonment after being deceitfully coerced into sexual submission, shooting-down the fiendish cad in cold blood, and then summarily being hung by a maddened mob is appropriate breakfast music?" So, what part of "Lady Ella never needs any excuses for me to share her music.", did you not understand? [Besides, if you got a problem with the lyrics, take it up with that Coal Porter guy.])


"Hey, Brian, didn'ja just eat breakfast at Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 27th. 2019) last weekend?" Yeah. So? What's yer point?




Eating solo again this morning, I knew that I was not going to (have room to) order one of their fresh-baked pastries, but there were a few new items that had just been updated/added by Baker Salá (I talk to him almost every visit, but have never really asked him how he pronounces his name; it might be "Sall-AH" or "Sall-AY"; maybe next time I will remember to ask him) to the front blackboard in the entryway which looked tempting.




Well, this scored another big "WOW!" from me! This is a brand new bakery item (as confirmed by Baker Salá hisd*mnself). It was not even offered on the Specials blackboard last week. Oh, and a major caveat, if'n you are one of those fungo-phobes, this is definitely not gonna be your cuppa tea (or puff-pastry tart even). It was way chock-fulla roasted Portobello (Portobella/Portabello/Portabella) mushrooms

I am trying to decide if I liked (loved) this new one more than their other recent new tart Mushroom, Goat Cheese, Roasted Tomato Tart, cooked in Champagne (see 'blog-entry from Saturday, September 14th, 2019). (On this week's Specials blackboard, it looks like they are now using Mozzarella in place of goat cheese, though. I am sure both work fine.) I am gonna have to give the edge to this morning's tart mainly for the profuse preponderance (which ain't a big ranch alongside Lake Tahoe out near Virginia City, Nevada, Hoss) of Portobello (Portobella/Portabello/Portabellamushrooms. (Baker Salá  told me that the other mushroom tart-thing is made with several different kinds of mushrooms, not specifically Portobello [Portobella/Portabello/Portabella].) 

The jalapeños were a very nice underscore and added (Now, what is that phrase in French when you just can not quite put your finger [or tongue] on something precisely? Well, I do not know what it is... whatever)... some kinda nice extra flavour to the smokiness of the roasted Portobello (Portobella/Portabello/
Portabella) mushrooms. The jalapeños were diced up very finely and, if you were not aware of them being in the dish, you might not even feel their small amount of heat.

And, finally, I liked how it was all capped-off (literally) with a slice of roasted tomato.

I did not need to use any of the several different hot sauces provided by Dottie's True blue café. I went with a couple of my own condimentary supplements and used some H*ll's Kitchen Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of one egg and some Peaks of Otter Peppers Inca Gold Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on top of the other egg. I also used some (well, a lot) of grindage from my The Spice & Tea Exchange® Earthly Delight Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) on top of everything (yes, even including on top of the "Strange Fruit" bowl ~ do not question my pitch-perfect tastes!).


(another not so strange) Coffee Interlude

I skipped a cuppa Coffee with breakfast 'cause I was planning on making some of my own at home while keyboarding (It's a real word! Look it up!) up this here 'blog-entry, anyway. It got me to a-thinkin'. Just how much restaurants, cafés, and coffeehouses in general are basically (over-)charging for a simple cuppa?! (Not that I feel that Dottie's True blue café is ripping me off on a cuppa [or three refillas, which are free, anyway]. They charge $2.50 per cuppa, which is reasonable enough.) 

I did a quick Intro-Net search and a few different sources suggested that a one-pound bagga Coffee can make about forty-eight 6 oz cuppas. That translates to 288 ounces (with or without any silly Common Core Math) of Coffee. I normally make a cuppa that holds approximately ten ounces and I usually (always) make my Coffee just a tad stronger and using more grounds via the pour-over drip method; so I estimate that I can get about twenty-four 10-ouncers outta a pound. If a decent pound bagga (not any of that canned cr*p you get at your local grocery store) Coffee costs about $15.00, that comes to about 63¢ per cuppa. 

Hmmmm?! Something tells me the friendly folks at St*rbucks and your local coffeehouse are making a HUGE margin of profit for basically boiling water. Maybe they are trying to pay for all that "Free Intro-Net" service that they offer...


Thankfully, there were no regrets from Miss Otis with my meal today, Madam.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Portobello Mushroom, Scallions, Jalapeños, Roasted Tomato Tart (Cooked in Champagne) ~ 7.5;
the elegant, pitch-perfect singing of Lady Ella ~ 8.5

___________________

1. While talking to Baker Salá about his mushroom tarts, I told him (read: annoyingly bored him while he was trying to update the blackboard) a little about the history and acceptable spellings of the mature Agaricus bisporus sporocarp (aka Portobello [Portobella/Portabello/Portabella] mushroom). He was not aware of this. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bisporus

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Just For You bakery & cafe




https://www.justforyoucafe.com/


Place: Just For You bakery & cafe

Location: 732 22nd Street 
(between 3rd and Tennessee Streets)

Hours: open Monday-Friday at 7:30am, 
Saturday-Sunday at 8:00am for "Brunch

Meal: Greek Scramble ~ 3 eggs with Feta cheese, onions, spinach, tomato, and Kalamata olives, served with choice of bread (a HUGE chunka cornbread was my choice this morning) and choice of sides (the chosen side was homefries); and, to drink, a cuppa (and one refilla ~ they kept offering me more, but I did not want to be awake all day) good N'Arlins-style Community Coffee® with roasted chicory

https://www.communitycoffee.com/products/coffee/32-oz-ground-coffee-and-chicory



(These two old guys do a pretty decent cover of Them's original Garage Rock classic.)


("Hey, Brian, just who the h*ck was that guy that introduced Laura Brannigan?"... Shirley, you must be joking. 

"And, Brian, what is up with the dazzling duo of 'Gloria' songs?"... Well, as far as I know, there are not any EweToobular juxtaselections between Greek Scrambles and anyone named "Gloria". I just happened to be listening to a CD of Blues Traveler live performances [Thanks, Greg!] to and from the restaurant this morning and ol' Pop-man done sang that Them version of "Gloria" hisd*mnself. Of course, there is always the possibility that Sir George Ivan and/or little Johnnie Hooker are fans of Hellenic egg dishes, too.)


I say this every time that I go to Just For You bakery & cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, April 1st. 2018... no foolin') for breakfast, if it was not all the way cross-town, it would easily be in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation. (And, yes, while the restaurant is still in the same city in which I live, even early on a Saturday morning with no real traffic of which to speak, it still took me about a half-hour to forty minutes drive over there.)

Not that there was really anything that I considered ordering, but on the weekends, they offer several items on a separate printed Today's Specials menu. Off which, Today's offerings were:

Blueberry Lemon Mimosa! (They added the explanation point there!) ~ Our 16oz mimosa with fresh blueberry lemon thyme syrup, blueberries & lemon wedge! Ask your server for other flavors! (See, they kinda like them explanation points!);

Corned Beef Hash! (Again, with the explanation point?! Apparently, they do not have Elaine Marie Benes editing their printings!) ~ Homemade (well, bakery & cafe-made) Corned beef hash with peppers, onions & potatoes served with two eggs any style & choice of bread. (Hmmm?! Someone seems to have missed the explanation point at the end of that sentence!);

Chicken Apple Scramble! (I will not even mention the addition of the explanation point here!) ~ Three egg scramble with chicken apple sausage, cherry tomatoes, arugula, mushrooms & blue cheese. Served with home fries or grits, and choice of homemade (again, bakery & cafe-made) bread.

Clam Linguine! (Maybe the exclamation point is standard in Italiano!) ~ A homemade (you know the drill) wine butter sauce with clams, shallots, fresh basil, and tomato over linguine pasta, topped with parmesan cheese. Served with a small green salad.;

and lastly(!)

Pastrami Benedict! (Whatever!) ~ Hot Pastrami, spinach & tomato topped with poached eggs & hollandaise sauce over choice of bread (They do not specify here if it is "homemade" or not!). Served with home fries or grits.(!)




Having already run the gamut (and, I will have you know, that I did it in under 10-minute miles!) of viable st*pid vegetarian-friendly dishes off their standard weekend All-Day "Brunch" menu (which is really pretty extensive), I simple went with a choice that I knew was very good and that I liked a lot. Of course, once again, this was a great meal and a whole lotta food. The portion of homefries was enough to feed two people and the HUGE hunka cornbread was almost too much for me to finish it all (but I did!). If I had one minor quibble with this morning's meal, it was that the scramble-mess was a bit light on both the amount of Feta and Kalamata olives in it.

As has been documented many times in the past (so I am not gonna do so again in the present), Just For You bakery & cafe offers one of the best selections of condimentary supplementation in the city. Oddly enough, even so, I  used some of my own Old St. Augustine Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the potatoes and some H*ll's Kitchen Sriracha Chili Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the scrambled stuff. I also grinded several grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange® Pirate's Bite Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) all over everything.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Greek Scramble ~ 6.6 (with the sufficient amount of Feta and Kalamata olives, I think that I normally would rate this as 6.7 or 6.8);
Community Coffee® with roasted chicory ~ 6.8

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Dottie's True blue café



(Unfortunately, there will not be any corresponding photos of either Dottie's True blue café façade, Suzanne's smiling façade, or our meals this morning. Apparently my little Kodak EasyShare C340 has finally given up the ghost, Casper [it is about thirteen years old or older, after all]. The memory card-device does not not seem to be recording properly. When I got home, I checked it with a few different memory cards, and it was not recording to those either; so it was not just due to an older memory card itself not recording properly. Sorry, Suzanne.)


http://dottiestruebluesf.com/


Place: Dottie's True blue café

Location: 28 6th Street 
(on the corner of Stevenson Street)

Hours: open 7:30am Thursday through Tuesday

Meals: (me [and I know a "true gentleman" would report a "lady's" meal first, but I have never been labelled as one of "those kind of men"; hey, I did remove my Baseball cap at the table during breakfast at least]) Sweet Potato, Caramelized Onion, Gruyère Tart, eggs any style (I felt like styling as over-medium today) + fruit;
(Suzanne) Zucchini Cakes topped with poached eggs, Marinara sauce, fruit + potatoes;
(Suzanne and me [see, I did give Suzanne head-billing here]) a 1929 Bronze Goddess Banana Rum Roll to split (Get it? Banana-split... whatever);
and, to drink, we both went with cuppas (and one refilla each) of whatever the house Coffee might have been




(A little Lady Ella ~ pitch perfect to go with a perfectly pitched [just not perfectly pictured] breakfast! Suzanne has the good taste to know that Lady Ella is truly one of the Greatest [if not The Greatest] 'merican Voices of the 20th Century and does not need to be schooled on this fact [unlike some snot-nosed nephews who have finally come to agree with me on this acutely accurate 
assessment].)


Suzanne Bergeron, a very old friend (and by "very old", I mean I have know her since way back in Medway[1] High School [Go Mustangs!]; and by "friend", I mean my first real girlfriend in high school [Go Mustangs!]), was in town for a conference and suggested that we get together for breakfast. Knowing my penchant for Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 15th, 2019), Suzanne suggested that we head over there this morning. As much as I tried talking her out of it, she was adamant, Mr. Goddard, and forced me to take her there...

As Suzanne was staying at a nearby downtown hotel, it was only a short five-minute walk over to Dottie's True blue café, anyway. When we arrived there (probably a little before 9:00am), there was not the normal "line-around-the-corner-wait" for a change. There were only about four groups in front of us and we were seated inside within fifteen minutes. (I had caveated her beforehand that after 9:00am the wait can be anywhere from forty-five minutes to an hour.)


(Please see above photos of Suzanne's pretty smile, our meals, and the 1929 Bronze Goddess Banana Rum Roll... oh, wait... never-mind! I guess I am going to be forced to schlep-around a real [much heavier] camera from now on. I wonder if I should look into getting one of them there mobular-devices that are all the rage with the kids these days; I have heard that you can make telephony calls AND take photographic pictures with those contraptions.)


The tart was a slightly different version of the same meal (which Kurt always used to call a "Gallette") which I have had many times in the past. Today's entry was a circular, single-serving tart; whereas in the past, it was a pie-slice from a larger tart (Gallette). I think I liked the older version just a bit more, the crust seemed a bit flakier when it was from a larger whole.

Just because I was paying for the meal (my town, my favourite breakfast-joint, my treat!), I did not tell Suzanne that she had to order the Zucchini Cakes, but she is pretty d*rn smart on her ownsome (she is a perfesser or something like that at Michigan State[2]... or some such higher learning facility thereabouts in the Mid-West) and did see the ultimate intelligence in this choice. I was very glad to see that she did enjoy it as much as I always have, too. To me, this dish is Dottie's True blue café flagship item (if there is such a thing at restaurants).

However, I did "force" Suzanne into sharing the 1929 Bronze Goddess Banana Rum Roll. There is no way either of us were going to be able to finish that on our own (and, as it turned out, both of us could not finish it entirely either). When we ordered this, it was meant to be a pre-breakfastary starter kinda-thing, but they seemed to have forgotten that we ordered it and had to be reminded twice. It was all good, all the same, as it proved to be a perfect middle-of-breakfast/end-of-breakfast dessert thing. Suzanne mentioned that this reminded her of a Bananas Foster in a ramekin. (Perfect call, Suzanne! See, I told ya she was wicked smaht. You do not get to be a perfesser at the University of Illinois if you ain't.) I could definitely taste some cinnamon in the spices, and, per Suzanne's discerning taste-buds, she noticed some nutmeg, too. I was wondering if there was possibly some allspice it, too  (like I really have any kinda discerning palate).

We both skipped any of the offered condimentary supplementations by Dottie's True blue café. I used some of my own H*ll's Kitchen® Smoky Bourbon Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of both eggs. Suzanne also used some H*ll's Kitchen® Smoky Bourbon Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of one of the poached eggs and some Tijuana Flats Tex-Mex Smack My *ss and Call Me Santa (Thanks, Rick!) on top of her other egg. We both used generous grindings from my The Spice & Tea Exchange® Italian Street Fair Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) all over our plates.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
(Suzanne was genuinely interested in how the Glen Bacon Scale worked and I gave her a quick course [and a bit of history] in this highly scientific rating-system.)
Sweet Potato, Caramelized Onion, Gruyère Tart ~ 6.6 (I think I normally would rate the old-style version as 6.7 or 6.8);
Zucchini Cakes ~ 7.4 (per Suzanne's very intelligent assessment ~ did I tell you that she was a perfesser at some Wisconsin kolledge?);
1929 Bronze Goddess Banana Rum Roll ~ 7.4 (where we both agreed on this rating)
the eloquent singing of Lady Ella ~ 8.5 (I did not ask for Suzanne's input on this one, I just trust that she would agree with that rating; after all, she is some kinda perfesser at Ohio State University or something)

___________________

1. Where the h*ck?!

aka "Cupcake, Massachusetts":

https://www.townofmedway.org/

2. Actually, I am well aware of the university where Suzanne professors at:

https://umich.edu/

As they say in Ann Arbor: "Go Spartans!"

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Split ~ American Kitchen




https://www.spliteats.com/


Place: Split ~ American Kitchen

Location: 2300 Polk Street 
(at the corner of Green Street)

Hours: open for Weekday Breakfast (Monday - Friday) 9:00am, open for "Brunch" on Weekends (Saturday and Sunday) 9:00am

Meal: Grilled Little Gems[1] & Sunny-Side Up Eggs ~ grilled little gem lettuces, two pasture eggs, avocado, applewood smoked bacon (which I had 86-ed, natch'), Sriracha ranch, topped with breadcrumbs; a side of Crispy Butterball Potatoes[2]; and, to drink with the meal, a glassa orange juice



(I will let you all infer your own EweToobular juxtaselection from this song. I remember when this song was originally played on the radio. Man, is this song old!)


Having now (double-dippingly) exhausted all of the restaurants in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation over the last month and a half, I decided to check out a new (to me, at least, and relatively newly opened, anyway) restaurant and headed over to eat at Split ~ American Kitchen on ol' Roosky Kholm. I first espied them a few months ago when I was having lunch at a nearby joint along Polk Street; after lunch, I walked around the neighborhood a bit and "discovered" a few more places that seemed breakfastarily sound.

The first thing I asked myself was "Why is this place called 'Split'?" It did not look like they specialized in any specifically Croatian food items. I suppose that I probably could have asked one of the front-counter employees this question, but I forgot to ask it. With a little digging on their web-site, apparently they used to be called "Split Bread" (possibly some kinda local bakery?), but abbreviated and changed the name "... to convey the broader array of delicious menu items we now offer." There are two other locations in downtown San Francisco: one on 4th Street over by Yerba Buena Gardens and another one just a few blocks away on Mission Street between 1st and 2nd Streets.

As for any other ideas (at least viable options for st*pid vegetarian-types), I saw a few other good menu-entries:

Fried Egg Sandwich ~ two pasture eggs, aged Cheddar, arugula, on a toasted challah bun (which I assume they bake themselves);

Huevos Rancheros ~ two pasture eggs over easy, tostadas, avocado, aged Cheddar, black beans, shredded lettuce (they do not specify if this is shredded "little gems", though), homemade ranchero sauce, cilantro, lime crema;

Shroom Scramble ~ sautéed mushrooms, herbed goat cheese, kale, chives;

or

Design Your Own Scramble ~ three pasture eggs with your choice of three ingredients: applewood smoked bacon, homemade pork sausage, chicken apple sausage, Mexican chorizo, roasted red pepper, sautéed onion, kale, sautéed mushrooms, avocado, cherry tomatoes, aged Cheddar, herbed goat cheese, or Parmesan; served with Mixt greens side salad.




I was happy to see that this was a pretty basic and clean dish, which was perfect because I really did not feel like another big, heavy scrambled dish like yesterday. The two sunnyside-up eggs were on top of a whole mess o' sliced avocado (easily half an avocado or more); the avocado slices were on top of the nicely charred/caramelized halves of lettuce heads; and all of that was sitting atop a very nice Sriracha-ranch sauce. Of course, with the side of Crispy Butterball Potatoes, it all ended up being a pretty filling meal all the same. The potatoes were excellent, too. These were halved and deep-fried (whatever the h*ck a "Butterball" potato is supposed to be) potatoes ~ making for a nice crispy outside shell and a creamy (potatoey, whatever) inside.

As for any condimentary supplements, Split had bottles of Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce and Huy Fong Foods Inc. (I did have to ask to have that specific brand confirmed) Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce (in a large rectangular tin ketchup-style push-pump dispenser-thing). I used some of my own H*ll's Kitchen Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!), but just a few drops on top of each of the egg-yolks, and some Old St. Augustine Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!), where I liberally doused a lot more on the potatoes. Additionally, I grinded several grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange® Florida Sunshine Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) all over the eggs and grilled lettuce, and potatoes.


Crafty Coffee Confabulation Interlude

Before breakfast, I stopped in at Saint Frank Coffee (which was just down the block from Split) for a cuppa pour-over style Burundi Ninga Hill. I do not think that I have ever had any Burundian Coffee before. This was kinda light on flavour and roast, but it was mellow and sweet anyhow. As a comparison, at Split they serve Mr. Espresso® (I did ask that question, but not which particular roast/blend, though).

https://www.saintfrankcoffee.com/products/burundi-ninga-hill?variant=39006020164


the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

While I was walking around before breakfast, I heard several of the noisy feather-brains (Telegraph Hill, which is just "next door", is home to a major pandemonium, of course) overhead. However, I did not see neither beak nor feather of any.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Grilled Little Gems & Sunny-Side Up Eggs ~ 6.5;
Saint Frank Coffee - Burundi Ninga Hill ~ 6.9;
Crispy Butterball Potatoes ~ 7.2;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5 (even sight unseen)

___________________

1. Just what the h*ck?!

https://produceexpress.net/products/produce/item/lettuce-little-gem.html

2. Just what the h*ck, Part 2?!

https://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/German_Butterball_Potatoes_9175.php

Saturday, November 9, 2019

the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House


"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." 
~ Groucho Marx

"Mustard's no good without roast beef." 
~ Chico Marx

"*honk*, *honk*!" 
~ Harpo Marx



https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/


Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

Location: 1090 Point Lobos
(at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am

Meal: Sautéed Vegetable Scramble (an off-menu item now) ~ scrambled eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, scallions, button mushrooms, melted goat cheese, served with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes; to drink, a glassa Ocean Beach ~  | Skyy Vodka | peach schnapps | pineapple | cranberry, which came with another neo-retro paper straw; and, of course, a basket (which included two this morning) of (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) 




(Hey, Brian, just what the h*ck does Queen or "Bohemian Rhapsody" have anything to do with today's meal? Well, maybe Freddie Mercury and the rest of those Queenie-boys liked them some [World] Famous Cliff House Popovers[!], too. And there is the fact that this song was prominently featured on their album named "A Night at the Opera". Mamma mia, now d'yer get it, Signore Galilei?!)


Doubling-up/-down/-heading on all of the restaurants in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 3rd, 2019; so, basically, last week) again this morning.




Holy smoke (fog, whatever)! What a difference a week makes! Unlike last Sunday morning's gorgeous weather, the view out the window today was... well... almost nonexistent. The coastal fog was so thick that you could barely see Seal Rocks, which are only about one hundred yards offshore. (For a change, the blurriness of this photo is not really my fault or due to any intentional bokehocity.)




This particular item is no longer listed on their Breakfast menu. Luckily, Chris had informed me last week that it could still be ordered/made. Otherwise, the choice of items for st*pid vegetarians is very limited. This was always one of my favourite offerings of theirs, anyway. I suppose, in a pinch, I could always order a Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwich ~ ciabatta bread, red peppers, goat cheese, fresh basil, garlic fries; it is actually listed on their Lunch menu portion, but I was informed by my friendly waiter/server-person guy[1] that the Lunch menu items can also be ordered during breakfast hours. Cool!

(Same as last weekend) Today's side of fruits included: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, strawberry (one), and red grapes (two).

Thankfully, the Ocean Beach did not taste anything like the Pacific Ocean. However, I thought there was a bit of grittiness when drinking it and coulda sworn there was some sand from outside in it.

(Again, same as last weekend) For condimentary supplementation, the Bistro Restaurant at 
Cliff House only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce). I used some of my own Dat'l Do-it® Spicy Jalapeno (noted sin virgulilla, Ms. Swinton) Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) generously doused all over the scramble-mess and some Dragon's Lair Extra Hot Cayenne & Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks again, Mom!) on the potatoes. Additionally, I sprinkled a whole lotta McCormick® Grill Mates® Smokehouse Maple Seasoning all over everything... and I mean everything... including the fruits! (Well, I did not sprinkle any on the [World] Famous Cliff House Popovers[!], 'cause that woulda just been sacrilegious!) Do not mock my fruit-spicening, this is a very common practice in Mexico with watermelon and mangoes.





Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day

I think this is a photo of Louis Feinberg, Moses Horwitz, and Jerome Horwitz ~ better known professionally as the Ritz Brothers.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Sautéed Vegetable Scramble ~ 6.7;
Ocean Beach ~ 7.0;
(World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2;
the comedic antics of the Ritz Brothers ~ 8.5 
(I would rate them higher, but everyone knows that the real humour-talent in that family belonged to Milton and Herbert.)

___________________

1. Whose name I completely forget, but he has worked there for thirteen years now and always recognizes me as "the hot sauce guy" whenever I am there when he is working. He told me this morning that his favourite hot sauce is Marie Sharp's (original) Habanero Pepper Sauce. It is a good one. I like that one, too.

https://www.mariesharps.bz/portfolio-item/original-fiery-hot/

He also told me that he was a D*dgers fan... at least he has good taste in hot sauces.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House



(World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)... 
for what ails ye!



https://cliffhouse.com/bistro/


Place: the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

Location: 1090 Point Lobos
(at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach)

Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am, Sunday at 8:30am

Meal: Shakshuka ~ two poached eggs on a bed of lightly spiced tomato and red pepper sauce with goat cheese & green onions served with warm pita bread, and also served with a side of fruit and roasted potatoes; to drink, a Ramos Fizz ~ Gordon's® Gin | sweet & sour | egg whites | cream | orange flower water (so, your basic Breakfast-themed beverage), which came with another neo-retro paper straw; and, of course, a basket (which included three this morning) of (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) 




(Despite the contradictory themes in these two temporal-related songs by the Rollink Stonz boyz, I am sure that both Sir Mick and Kommoner Keef hate Daylight Saving Time [either the Start or the End] as much as I do.)


When I woke up this morning, I was not sure that I was going to go out for a breakfastary repast. I think something that I ate yesterday did not agree with me (much like my family... except, with an upset stomach, I can always take some Pepto-Bismol; unfortunately, they do not offer that for family get-togethers yet). It was quite possibly the Burger King® Impossible Wh*pper® that I had yesterday for lunch. But then I got to thinking, if (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) can not quell my stomach woes, nothing could. So, (even though Baseball Season ended last week ~ Congratulations to the 2019 World Champion Washington Nationals!), to close out my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I simply went back to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, May 26th, 2019).




What a gorgeous Autumn day to be a seabird out on Seal Rocks! 
(This was the view from my seat this morning.)




This is a brand new item on their menu. It was not offered back in May on my last visit. My ever-informative waiter/server-guy, Chris, (who has been working there as long as I have been going there; I usually pester the H*ll outta him about some of the lesser-know Hollywoodland stars' photos on the walls) said that they just added this to their menu in the last four months. Chris also told me that the Shakshuka has become an instant hit with many of the patrons; he also told me that most patrons usually have to ask him just what the h*ck exactly is a "Shakshuka". At first, this did not look like an awful lotta food, but with the three (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), potatoes, and fruit, it ended up being almost too much for me to finish. I did "force" myself to eat the last bite of my (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), though. Needless to say, I fully enjoyed this version of Shakshuka.

With the recent menu change, they no longer offer either Farmer's Scramble or Sautéed Vegetable Scramble (which had been two of my stalwart favourites in past years). However, Chris astutely informed me that you can still order both of these items "off-menu", too. Seems like a decent menu trade-off to me.

Today's side of fruits included: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, strawberry (one), and red grapes (two).

For condimentary supplementation, the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce). I just used a little of my own H*ll's Kitchen Whiskey Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the potatoes and several grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange® Earthly Delight Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) on top of the Shakshuka and potatoes.




Hollywoodland Spotlight of the Day

Positioned just over my left shoulder this morning was the above autographed photo of Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland. She is a two-time Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award winning actress ("To Each His Own" [1946] and "The Heiress" [1949] ~ both for Best Actress). Still alive today, at 103 years of age, she is among the last surviving movie stars of the Golden Age of Classical Hollywoodland. I think her younger sister acted in a few Hollywoodland movies, too.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Shakshuka ~ 7.2;
Ramos Fizz ~ 7.1;
(World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2

Sunday, October 27, 2019

LaLe


No actual Nederlandse kindjes were harmed during the writing of this 'blog-thing.



https://www.lalesf.com/


Place: LaLe

Location:  731 Irving Street 
(between 8th and 9th Avenues)

Hours: "Brunch" is served at 9:00am during the week and at 8:00am on Saturday and Sunday

Meal: Dutch Baby Pancake ~ w/ caramelized apples & housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) whipped cream; a side order of homefries; and a cuppa (and one refilla; I drank a whole cuppa while waiting the 15-20 minutes for the pancake to be baked; they warn you ahead of time that it can take a while to prepare this dish) Sightglass Coffee (I forgot to ask which roast/blend they serve, though)

https://sightglasscoffee.com/





(There were not meant to be any EweToobular juxtaselections with the above two songs/videos. 
These two songs were played [back-to-back] on the house [restaurant, whatever] stereo while I was eating my meal. However, I bet that Sir George Ivan and those the Four Tops fellows would all enjoy a good Dutch Baby Pancake. I mean, who wouldn't?)


As I have been double-heading all of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation for visits this month, it was back to LaLe (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, October 26th, 2019... so, basically, yesterday) once again this morning.

Even before I had left my apartment this morning, I had already known exactly what I was going to order for breakfast ("Brunch", whatever). However, I really do need to try their new(-ish?) frittatas that are now offered. I think earlier this year was when I first saw the new items on their printed menu (their web-site does not even show these yet). There are three different frittatas (served with salad and fruit; where I would probably request a substitution of their very good homefries), thusly:

Paris ~ leeks, bacon (sorry, Glen, but you would have to be nixed), peas, goat cheese;

Seattle ~ asparagus, peppers, chicken-apple sausage (which would have to go the way of poor Glen above), Cheddar (this would most likely be my first choice of frittata);

and 

Milan (v) ~ spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, Cheddar.




See? No tulips in the vase on my table again this morning. Just some (if not a bit on the wilting side) roses and such. There were various colourof roses 
on all of the other tables, too.




This was so good! This dish is probably my second favourite breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) meal that they offer. Dutch Baby Pancakes are only offered during weekend "Brunch", though. It can also be ordered with bacon or strawberries; I just prefer the caramelized apples version. I am not sure exactly what kind of flower petals (they were quite possibly tulip petals, but never having eaten a tulip before, I could not tell you for certain) were used as a garnish on top of the whipped cream. I hope they were edible... 'cause I done edibled them both. I bet these pancakes would be extremely good with fresh rosemary sprigs on top of the whipped cream, too.

For condimentary supplementation, LaLe had... same as yesterday. I used some of my own H*ll's Kitchen® Chipotle Chocolate Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) all over the side order of potatoes... and even a skosh on a small part of the pancake. ("No, you did 'nt, Brian!" Do not judge my culinary quirks!) I also used some grinds of The Spice & Tea Exchange® Pirate's Bite Spice Blend (Thanks, Cindy!) on the homefries. (Relax. I did not sprinkle any on top of the pancake, because that would just be silly.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Dutch Baby Pancake ~ 7.5;
Sightglass Coffee ~ 7.2