Breakfastary Road Trip:
Half Moon Bay/Princeton-by-the-Sea[1], CA
http://www.hmbbrewingco.com/
(It's always a fantabulous morning for Beer and Pizza, Van. And, yeah, the second EweToob video is another total corn-bally song, but it is Father's Day, so deal with it.)
Because the San Francisco 2013 Marathon was going on this morning and it basically cuts off half of the city from traffic, I figured this morning was as good an excuse to make a mini-road trip to Half Moon Bay Brewing Company Restaurant & Brew Pub (which is just way too long and shall be abbreviated as HMBBCR&BP for the rest of the 'blog-entry). Half Moon Bay is about a "half"-hour drive due south of San Francisco along the scenic, coastal Highway 1. HMBBCR&BP is actually located in Princeton-by-the-Sea, but who would want to drink Beer from "Princeton-by-the-Sea Brewing Company"? Both Half Moon Bay and Princeton-by-the-Sea have a nice Cape Cod-ish quality to them; with lots of good places to eat and some nice tourist shops; plus, they happen to be right along the ocean, too (hence the whole "Half Moon Bay" and "Princeton-by-the-Sea" nomenclatures). I have eaten lunch and dinner there a few times in the past, but this morning was the first time I had breakfast there.
I sat outside in the large open-air patio area. There is seating for 60-70 people easily outside and it is a very dog-friendly place to eat (there were several dogs with their human escorts there this morning). They open at 9:00am on the weekends for what I am happy to see they call "Breakfast" on their menu. It was still a bit foggy and chilly this morning when I arrived there about a "half"-hour after they opened, but that was actually "half" the fun. I had a sweatshirt on and a light jacket and I was glad I thought to bring both. They do have many of those stupid gas space heaters (you know the kind that look like streetlamps) all around the area, but I never like sitting underneath them. I figure if I wanted to be warm and comfortable, I could always have chosen to sit inside.
HMBBCR&BP's "Breakfast" menu has several interesting things on it, to include: Crab Cake Eggs Benedict (for those of you that like eating dead, decaying marine insects); Traditional Eggs Benedict (for those of you that don't like eating dead, decaying marine insects, but aren't averse to eating dead, decaying porky products); Breakfast Pizza; Breakfast Burrito; Breakfast Fajitas; Vegetarian Frittata; Chocolate Porter French Toast; Strawberry & Banana Foster Pancakes (Can you name which one of those fruits is an actual berry?); and a few other items. The French toast, pancakes, and Pizza sounded the most interesting to me, and I finally decided on the Breakfast Pizza ~ Housemade Beer focaccia[2] (Which the jeenyuses of the Microsoft Spellchecker Nazis do not recognize as a real word. Seriously, Billy-boy?! Did you write your spellchecker software program back in the 70's?) bread topped with country potatoes, eggs, cheese, marinara, and a choice of bacon, sausage, or linguiça (The Spell-Check Brown Shirts also don't recognize this word. I think der Führer-Gates and his boys need to acknowledge that both Italy and Portugal are real countries and have given many words of food origin to the English language.). I also had a cuppa the house coffee.
Now, seeing as part of the HMBBCR&BP name is "Brewing Company" and "Brew Pub", a trip there without partaking in a nice malty, hopped-up beverage would be a total waste (unless your name happens to be Joseph H. Smith or Brigham Young). They have several good Beers from which to choose. They even have Beer-pairing suggestions on the menu. They suggested the Mavericks®[3] Big Break Ale with the Pizza; however, I have had and knew I really like the Mavericks® Amber Ale and stuck with that one. (Hey, it was after Noon somewhere.)
This was a great concept with everything breakfastary on top of a Pizza. Seeing as I had a cuppa coffee with the meal, and the Pizza already had potatoes on it, if they could just figure out some way to incorporate both Ice Cream and Chocolate in the mess, that would be the ultimately complete and perfect meal for me. This wasn't really a very large Pizza, but it was still enough for me; someone with a larger appetite would probably want to order another side dish. I had my eggs over medium (and, of course, skipped any of the porcine meat products offered), but you can get the eggs done any way you want. I figured that poached eggs might be a little too soggy for a Pizza topping, but that would have been my choice otherwise. I have had better Pizza before (with better crust and sauce), but this was still a great idea. The crust was very thin and crispy; however, I was picturing that with the "focaccia" crust that it would be more of a Chicago deep-dish or Sicilian thick-crust style. There were also lots of red and green bell peppers in the mix, I just assume that they are part of the standard country potatoes ingredients.
HMBBCR&BP just has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) as a condimentary supplement. As usual, I had come prepared and used some of my own Dave’s Gourmet® Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Jim!) and some El Yucateco® XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on different slices of the Pizza.
Pizza + Beer + breakfast?!? Now what could beat that?
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Pizza ~ 6.7; Mavericks® Amber Ale ~ 7.0
1. a. Half Moon Bay is a small coastal city in San Mateo County located about twenty-five miles south of San Francisco and forty-five miles north of Santa Cruz.
b. Princeton-by-the-Sea is an unincorporated community located about one mile north of Half Moon Bay.
2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day:
"Focaccia" comes from Italian from Late Latin "focacia" (neuter plural), derivative of Latin "focus" (meaning "hearth, place for baking"). In ancient Rome, "panis focacius" was a flat bread baked on the hearth.
3. Mavericks is a surfing location in Northern California. It is located about two miles from shore just north of Princeton-by-the-Sea. There is an annual winter surfing contest held there.
Per Wikipedia, the name "Mavericks" came from:
"In early March 1961, three surfers, Alex Matienzo, Jim Thompson, and Dick Knottmeyer, decided to try the distant waves off Pillar Point. With them was a white-haired German Shepherd named Maverick, owned by Matienzo's roommate. Maverick was used to swimming out with his owner, or with Matienzo, while they were out surfing.
The trio left Maverick on shore, but he swam out and caught up with them. Finding the conditions unsafe for the dog, Matienzo tied him up before rejoining the others. The riders had limited success that day, surfing overhead peaks about 1/4 mile from shore, just along the rocks that are visible from shore. They deemed the bigger outside waves too dangerous.
They decided to name the surfing location after Maverick, who seemed to have gotten the most out of the experience. It became known simply as 'Mavericks'."
None of this has anything to do with Kevin Youkilis' brother's restaurant named "Maverick", though (see 'blog-entry from July 24th, 2011).
… you hop, we all hop for a free pancakes!
(Do you really need to see a photo of what an IHOP Restautant® looks like?)
http://www.ihop.com/
(The first EweToob video is just because one of the lines is "There's a grasshopper sittin' on the railroad tracks…" and I like the song. The second video ~ as cornball as it is ~ is just because "tiramisú" in Italiano means "pick me up" or "lift me up".[1])
As has been my breakfastary tradition for the past several years, I went to IHOP Restaurant® (see last 'blog-entry from June 23rd, 2012) for a free Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity® (or up to the equivalent dollar value of $9.99). IHOP has this deal where you can register and get a coupon for a free breakfast on or around your birthday at the closest restaurant near you; mine happens to be the one along Lombard Street. I suggest that everyone do this (it is valid for either your birthday or anniversary, but I can't see too many people being jacked about going to IHOP for an anniversary meal, even if it is a freebie). Granted it's only IHOP, but it's still a free meal. If you do register, they are pretty good about only spamming your e-mail once every few months or so and are not really that much of a bother. So, (maple syrup) stick it to the man!
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude
I parked over by the Lombard Gate of the Presidio again, but only heard a few of the Wild Parrots of San Francisco and didn't really see any of them as they were all too high up in the eucalyptus trees there.
IHOP has several "New! Featured Summer Signature Pancakes" on their menu: Banana Graham Nut Pancakes; Jelly Donut Pancakes; and Tiramisu Pancakes. I was thinking about getting the disgusting-sounding Jelly Donut Pancakes, but settled for the even more horribler-sounding Tiramisu Pancakes. I got this as the Pick-A-Pancake Combo, which comes with two pancakes, two eggs, two bacon strips or pork sausage links, and #browns. I also had a large glass of orange juice.
Stupid Intro-Net/Microblogging Social Networking Services mini-rant of the day
Is anyone else getting sick of seeing all those stupid metadata tags (you know, those stupid "#"[2] that you see everywhere) on defacedbook and tweeterland? #imean #gimmeabreak #already. Every time I see one, I want to try and convert the imperial weight into metric units.
I got this without either the bacon or sausages and had my eggs over-medium. The two pancakes came topped with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and some caramel sauce, with a tiramisú-flavoured filling between the two pancakes. I suppose that this could have been much better with some real mascarpone cheese in between the pancakes and a bit more coffee flavour to it, but it was free and still much better than I could have ever made at home (I think the last time I made pancakes at home, they came out of a can, literally ~ see 'blog-entry from February 15th, 2011).
This particular IHOP (and I assume most IHOPs in California, as I have been to a few others locally that have the same choices) offers both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce and Cholula® Hot Sauce for condimentary supplementation. I brought a few from my own collection and used some Nando's® Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry! And in keeping with the whole "International" theme, this is made in South Africa and was bought in India.) on the #browns and a little Serious Food… Silly Prices Chunky Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg! Also in keeping with the whole "International" theme, this is made in 'merica and was bought in England.) on the eggs. I left the pancakes alone, though.
After taking off the allotted $9.99, I only had to pay 85¢ total for my meal (don't worry I left my friendly server-lady, Mayra, a $2.00 tip all the same; mainly because I couldn't calculate what 20% of 85¢ was).
#freestuffisalwaysthebest
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Tiramisu Pancakes Combo ~ 6.2
1. You can consider that your stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, part the first; however, I have used it here before in the past.
(Did you ever notice that people use the phrase "before in the past"? When else would "before" take place? "It happened to me before in the future…" makes no sense whatsoever.)
2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number two:
I am pretty sure this derives from the Chinese symbol for "a well" ~ "井"(pronounced "jing") ~ denoting that the Intro-Net is such a bottomless well of information, of course.
Happy Popovers(!) Day to me!
http://www.cliffhouse.com/bistro/index.html
To celebrate another year of existence, I went back to the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from April 28th, 2013) for breakfast this morning. They (and they will be referred to simply as the Bistro from here on for brevity purposes) open up at 9:00am during the week for breakfast. This morning was a great sunny day along the coast. From my window table, I could see that there were several surfers off Ocean Beach, but no dolphins or porpoises were spotted (or bottle-nosed, even).
Today's Hollywoodland Wall of Autographed Photos Interlude:
(Picture 1, top to bottom and left to right)
Howard Michael Mandel (Television game show host and some other stuff); Leif Erickson (born William Y. Wycliffe Anderson; leading man in 1930's Westerns and other films; once married to Frances Farmer)
???; Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; "The Thin Man" series with William Powell, as well as many other films)
(Picture 2, same directions)
Glenda Farrell ("Little Caesar"; "Gold Diggers of 1937"; etc.); ???
Noah Beery, Sr. (silent and talkie film star; brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery and father of Noah Beery, Jr. ~ of "The Rockford Files" fame himself); Martha Raye (born Margy Reed; comic actress/film and TeeVee star)
(Picture 3, ditto)
??? (I know I should know her); Kevin Costner ("The Untouchables"; "Dances With Wolves"; "JFK"; and, of course, "Crash Davis" in "Bull Durham")
???; Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; Fred Astaire's dancing foible in many musicals; Academy Award for Best Actress in "Kitty Foyle")
Alice Faye (born Alice Jeanne Leppert; actress and singer; once married to Phil Harris ~ "Baloo" in "The Jungle Book"); Johnny Weissmuller (born Peter Johann Weissmüller; five time Olympic Gold Medalist; and "Tarzan" in several films)
Once again, if anyone can fill in any of the "???s" with the correct names, I will treat them to all the free (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) that they can eat (my treat).
There really are only a few items on the Bistro's breakfast menu that I can eat, so I once again just had the Farmer's Breakfast Scramble ~ Scrambled Eggs, Ham, Potatoes, Green Onions, Cheddar Cheese. I also had a glass of orange juice. And the main reason I keep going back over the years: a basket of (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), 3 each today.
I skipped any coffee there as I had a cuppa Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain beforehand, which I had just received in a C.A.R.E. package (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) yesterday. This is not only the best coffee that I have ever had (Sorry, Gretchen, Bettys Nepal Snow River is good, but it just can't hold a candle to the Jamaica Blue Mountain.), but at £12.00 per 100g (that works out to be about $81.00 per pound 'merican), it's also the most expensive coffee I have ever had. This stuff is so flavourful and naturally sweet, that even if you are stupid enough to normally ruin a perfectly good coffee by adding sugar, you don't have to (add any sugar, that is; you are more than welcome to be stupid all you like).
http://www.bettys.co.uk/product/Jamaica-Blue-Mountain,19028,5.aspx
I ordered the scramble without the ham, and my server-guy, Chris, offered to substitute another ingredient in place of the dead, decaying porky product. I didn't feel it necessary as the rest of the junk in it was sufficient for me. I do have one minor complaint, though. They state right on the menu: "All Egg Entrees Served with Fresh Fruit and Roasted Potatoes". However, they actually forgot my side of potatoes this morning. I think they also did that the last time I ordered this same dish; someone must assume people wouldn't like a side of potatoes when the scramble already includes potatoes in it. Well, they assumed wrong. That does it. I am never going back there again… well, until the next time. Of course, none of that really mattered, as there was still more than enough food to finish, especially with the (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), 3 each.
The Fresh Fruit of the day was: grapes, strawberry (singular, as there was really just one large one), watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon.[1]
The Bistro only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce for condimentary supplementation. So I used some of my own Cholula® Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) and the new Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim!) on the scramble (I portioned this out as Little Orphan Annie's dog, Sandy, would have done: "'arf-n-'arf").
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Farmer's Breakfast Scramble ~ 6.5; (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2; Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain ~ 8.5
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
Just 'cause I feel like it, here are all of the same fruits in Russkij:
"Bиноград" (pronounced "vinograd"), "клубника" (pronounced "kloobnika"), "арбуз" (pronounced "arbooz"), "канталупа" (pronounced "cantaloopa"), and "мускатная дыня" (pronounced "mooskatnaya deenya").
I am definitely no Hipster… but I have been confused for a Doofus many times.
http://thecreamerysf.com/
(Sure I could have linked a Cream or an Eric Clapton EweToob video, but I didn't feel like it; besides, I am still waiting for their new album to come out.
The first song is just 'cause I like this cover version of the Band's old song. The second song is because Mayer Hawthorne was in town yesterday playing at a free festival in Golden Gate Park; I didn't go to it, but I probably should have as it was held only about eight blocks away. FYI, that Hipster Doofus on organ is none other that Booker T. Jones his-hipstery-bad-self.)
Here is why you should never believe everything you read on the Intro-Net, the Creamery seems to have reviews all over the place, both good and bad, on yelp*. I only mention this as I had to refer to that site to find out when the Creamery opened in the mornings and happened to check out a few of the most recent posts. Do your own research, everyone, don't take the word of complete strangers on the World Wild Web, even if their last name happens to be "Snopes". I think that they open at either 6:30am, 7:00am, or 7:30am daily, which is plenty early enough for this Doofus (though, they do call their weekend early morning menu "Brunch").
Marketing mini-rant of the day
The Creamery's official web-site really doesn't specify what their hours are. Seriously?! What is up with that?! C'mon, people, if you go to all the trouble to have a company web-site, at least have the decency to post your hours of operation. Maybe Hipster Doofi[1] don't care about owning a watch (unless it is a retro Timex or something), but most normal Doofi would like to know. (That is all.)
There used to be an actual creamery located in this same building years ago when I first moved to San Francisco (hence, the Creamery moniker, nu?). It is located on the corner of 4th and Townsend Streets (confirmed by both their official web-site and yelp*; I didn't feel it necessary to check with snopes.com), and just two (long) blocks away from AT&T Park, home of your World Champion San Francisco Giants. In addition to a pretty decent-sized coffehouse area, they have a large triangular fenced-in sidewalk patio seating area. Plus, they must have some kind of relationship with the taqueria next door (the Iron Cactus), which has a much larger seating area to it, as they have an adjoining door and have a sign directing people there if there is no room in the coffehouse space.
This early in the morning, the only other Doofi in the place were a few local street people asking to use the bathroom and some travelers catching a bite to eat while waiting for a train (the Caltrain Station is kitty-corner to this place). Like most coffeehouses, you order and pay first at the counter and they bring the food out to you when it is ready. Their standard breakfast menu has several savoury and sweet crêpes from which to choose; I was thinking about getting the Eggs Florentine Crêpe, which sounded very good. They also have a "Brunch" menu that includes a few Baseball named omelettes (due to it's proximity to the ballpark, I assume) and other specials. In honour of Justin Pedroier and athletic midgets everywhere, I ordered the 2nd Base Omelet ~ olives, spinach, red peppers, and Feta. I also had a decent enough cuppa coffee; however, I never really asked what brand it was (and I am not going to do another rant on the lack of information on their official web-site).
This turned out to be another good version of a Greek omelette. (Can you say "Μπέιζμπολ ομιλείται εδώ."?) They get extra points as this was made with real Kalamata olives. This also included sautéed white onions that they didn't list on the menu. This was a very good omelette (especially because of the inclusion of the sliced Kalamata olives and lots of fresh sautéed spinach), but I would have liked a bit more Feta in it, though.
It looked like the Creamery only had Tapatío® as condimentary supplements. I really wasn't expecting much more and used some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce ~ XX Habanero (Thanks agains, Amys and Brian!) on the potatoes, and to keep with the whole Baseball-y theme I used a little ("a little" goes a long way with this one; while it doesn't include any of that nasty extract of capsaicin ~ see yesterday's 'blog-entry for a reference ~ it is made with both habanero chillies and Naga Jolokia chillies, two of the hottest little berries out there) Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off the Wall Triple Hot (Thanks, Kerry!) on the omelette.
Now, I wasn't accosted by any Hipster Doofi in porkpie hats or cravats[2] the whole time I was there, but I could swear the guy working behind the counter con el puro cubano was Cosmo Kramer.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 2nd Base Omelet ~ 6.7
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numerus unus:
I have decided that the plural of "Doofus" is going to be "Doofi", like with "octopus" and "hippopotamus". If you have a problem with that, take it up with the Latini populi.
2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-sartorial pointer of the day, numéro deux/broj dva:
"Cravat" derives from the French "cravate", a corrupt French pronunciation of "Croate"; so called because these neckpieces were worn by Croatian mercenaries in the French army during the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648.
So, I guess the first real Hipster Doofi were from the Adriatic coast.
http://www.bluejaysf.com/
(Okay, I know that there is a difference between a blue bird and a blue jay, but you try to find any blue jay related songs. And I had previously linked the EweToob video for the Beatles "Blue Jay Way" here in the past with this particular restaurant.)
Much like the swallows returning to San Luis Obispo[1] every Spring, I went back to BlueJay Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from September 8th, 2012) for breakfast this morning. They are located in the Western Addition along Divisadero (just a few block from Alamo Square). They open at 10:00am on the weekends (and for what they call "Brunch" at that, but, not to worry, this is no snooty-ass "Brunch"-ified joint, it's actually just a good place for late breakfasts). I finally got around to sitting in the small backyard patio area, where there are five tables that can seat four each. It was a bit cool (it was still in the shade as the Sun hadn't reached back there yet; that is, if it actually ever does, as this smaller building is surrounded by taller apartment buildings), but still comfortable enough all the same and I only needed a sweatshirt and not my jacket, too.
BlueJay Cafe has a good selection of Beers on draft (as well as several others available in bottles): Pilsner Urquel, Blue Moon, Fat Tire New Belgium, Lagunitas Indian Pale Ale, Trumer Pils Berkeley, and Porter Black Butte Deshute. Additionally they have a Saturday "Brunch" 2-for-1 Mimosas special, which is always nice if you want to share… or just get stinkin' on your own quickly and cheaply.
They have several things on their "Brunch" menu from which to choose, this includes: a few different omelette choices (of particular interest for you dead, decaying porky products-lovers is the BBQ Pulled Pork Omelette); four types of Eggs Benedict; pancakes, plain or with bananas or blueberries (which can be ordered by the each, if you want to mix and match); cinnamon French toast with baked apples; waffles with baked apples; and because it is "Brunch", after all, they also have several salads and sandwiches on the menu. I went with the BlueJay Omellette[2] (sic, but they did have all the other omelettes spelled correctly) ~ spicy house made sausage, Swiss (cheese; it wasn't really specified, but I assumed they didn't mean chocolate or banks), and Shin (sic) Slice red onions; served with grits, fruit, small salad, or homefries (which I was happy to see they have as one word; so, suck it Billy-boy!) and choice of toast, biscuit, or cornbread. I also had a cuppa pretty decent coffee (when I asked the super-friendly server-guy ~ also named "Brian" by the way, Mrs. Huneycutt ~ what brand it was, he wasn't sure as he said they change it often; he offered to go check for me, but I told him it wasn't really necessary as they were hopping with customers and I didn't really want to waste his time).
This was a large, good, fluffy omellette; if not a pretty simple one without the added sausage (but that was my choice). It did have lots of Swiss cheese (I was happy to have guessed correctly that this was actually made with the Swiss fermented milk curd product and not their confectionary or money-laundering facilities) and those shin-sliced red onions in it. I selected the homefries (always better than any stupid fruit or small salad; grits might be a toss-up, though) and biscuit choices (also always better than plain ol' toast; but I don't think I have ever tried their cornbread and should try to remember to try that next time I eat there).
I think that BlueJay Cafe only has Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce for condimentary supplementation. However, I was excited (yeah, I lead a pretty boring life) to get to use the two newest additions to my collection that I had received just last weekend. I used a good amount of Hula Girl ~ Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Cabin Jim!) on the potatoes and some Dave's Gourmet® ~ Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, J.T.!) on the omellette. Hula Girl is from Hawai'i and the label states "All natural ingredients: Habanero peppers, red ripened jalapeño peppers, chipotle peppers, vinegar, and salt." Dave's is now based in San Francisco with "Ingredients: Peach nectar, sugar, red chilies, ginger, cane vinegar, spices, salt, and xanthan gum.”
(Sorry, I could not locate an official web-site for Hula Girl.)
http://www.davesgourmet.com/
Both of these new hot sauces are very tasty. Of the two, I think I liked the Chipotle Habanero a little better. The Ginger Peach went well with the omellette, though. I think that the sweeter Ginger Peach needs to be paired with the right foods: potatoes (I tried a smidgeon on part of my potatoes just to make sure ~ Yup!); oyster shooters (if you like that kind of fresh, slimy shellfish thing); and (which they even suggest on the bottle) on top of Ice Cream (I will be sure to try some later today on some Three Twins™ Dad's Cardamom that I have in my freezer). Of the two, the Chipotle Habanero was the hotter (naturally). I only mention this as Dave's Gourmet® Insanity Sauce was one of the first to turn up the heat (wayyyyyy up) on the Scoville Scale by adding extract of capsaicin to the mixture, but the Ginger Peach doesn't have any of that stupid stuff added to it.
No good deed should go unturned. So, in thanks for the two new hot sauces, I suggest you check out the 'blog-spot of my old Air Force buddy, Jim Turner:
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: BlueJay Omellette ~ 6.4
1. Like any of you really know the difference between San Giovanni da Capistrano and Saint Louis, Évêque de Toulouse.
2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
"Omelette" (or "omellette" even) comes from French. It is the metathesis of "alemette", from "alemelle" (meaning "blade of a knife or sword"), probably a misdivision of "la lemelle" (mistaken as "l'alemelle"), from Latin "lamella" (meaning "thin, small plate") a diminutive of "lamina" ("plate, layer").
"And now leave me in peace for a bit! I don’t want to answer a string of questions while I am eating. I want to think."
"Good heavens!" said Pippin. "At breakfast?"
~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
http://butlerandthechef.com/
(Because every good breakfast needs a little bread[1], be it "lost" or "found".)
I went to breakfast at the Butler & the Chef this morning; this was my first ever visit there. They are located in South Park[2] (which is just two and a half blocks away from AT&T Park, home of your 2012 World Champion San Francisco Giants), where there is lots of free early-morning parking to be had. They open at 8:00am on Tuesday-Saturday, but don't open until 10:00am on Sunday (not a big fan of that, though).
The Butler & the Chef has a Frenchified bistro atmosphere to it (I think the owners are actually Frenchified themselves). There is plenty of seating; however, these are mostly small round tables for two (where you would need to push two together for a group of four, and they also make a point of it that they don't seat parties of more than six). There are also two tables for two on the sidewalk, but those can tend to be surrounded with people waiting in line to get in (so just be sure to order enough food to share with those waiting).
Their "Le Brunch" (their le words, not le mine) menu has an okay array of items on it: a few different egg dishes, some buckwheat crêpes (savory or sweet), and four different Belgian waffles. What I ended up ordering, though, was Pain Perdu ~ French Toast made with organic sweet French bread (pain de mie) dipped in organic egg & milk with real (they don't specify whether it is also "organic" or not, though) vanilla, served with 100% pure (but not necessarily "organic") maple syrup. I also had a good, strong cuppa Graffeo coffee (again, I didn't ask if it was "organic" or not). One very disappointing thing is that they do not offer any type of potato side dishes (either "organic" or not) for "Le Brunch".
http://www.graffeo.com/
This was made with two extra thick slices of bread ~ good. They almost had a cake-like taste and texture to them ~ also good. These really sucked up the maple syrup like a sponge (which I liked). However, this really needed something extra to make it "special"; some side fruit, or something. They also put wayyyyyyy too much powdered sugar on top of the slices (for a change, I actually agree with some of those snooty-ass judges on Chopped ~ just a little dusting is all that is really needed for appearance; the maple syrup is more than enough to sweeten this). All in all this was good, but it just goes without saying that it really doesn't compare with Baker Street Bistro's version (Mission Beach Cafe's was also better ~ see 'blog-entry from June 16th, 2012).
As I had only ordered the Pain Perdu (and, again, no potatoes? What's up with that?!), I didn't bother to ask what they had for condimentary supplements. And I had just received two brand new bottles of hot sauces in the mail yesterday afternoon (Thanks, J.T.!) which I was really looking forward to trying out this morning; looks like they will have to make their debut next weekend now.
The bill comes with a chocolate truffle, which is always nice.
I can recommend this place to people, but for me it's really not worth a return trip just for the Pain Perdu (and I would suggest to just go on a Saturday when "Le Brunch" is served two hours earlier ~ same food, just at a better early hour). I suppose that if I lived in the neighborhood, I would probably go more often… to Town's End Restaurant & Bakery (see 'blog-entry from October 28th, 2012).
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Pain Perdu ~ 6.5
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, Part A:
"Bread" in Latin is "pane" (pronounced "pah-nay"). It is the word root for "bread" in several other Romance languages:
French ~ "pain" (hence the "Pain Perdu" this morning)
Italian ~ "pane"
Portuguese ~ "pão"
Romanian ~ "pâine"
Spanish/Galician ~ "pan"
Catalan ~ "pa"
Esperanto ~ "pano"
Haitian Creole ~ "pen"
Now I told you Part A so that I could explain the Bad Company EweToob link above. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, Part B:
I heard this on Pizza Cuz on the Cooking Channel, and it was only said as a joke: "Company in Latin means 'with bread'". It is actually "cum pane", but close enough for Government work.
Finally, stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, part C:
The English word for "bread" is related to Old Norse "braud", which comes from Old Frisian "brād", from Old High German "brot".
2. This South Park is not a cartoon series located in Colorado. It is just a neighborhood in San Francisco with the same name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park,_San_Francisco
I had about half an hour to kill before the Butler & the Chef opened this morning so I walked around the oval park a bit. I came across this young lady sunning herself shamelessly topless in the morning warmth.
Yeah, only in San Francisco.
"We lived for days on nothing but food and water." ~ W.C. Fields
http://www.sealrockinn.com/restaurant.html
http://sanfrancisco.menupages.com/restaurants/seal-rock-inn-restaurant/menu
(There really isn't any Six Degrees of Kevin ~ or Glen ~ Bacon between today's EweToob selections and the restaurant. I just happened to learn yesterday that many words of Arabic ~ not "Arabian" ~ origin that begin with the prefix "al-" have made there way directly into English; for example: "alcohol"[1], "algebra", "Alhambra", "Al Gore", etc.)
I really didn't feel like traversing anywhere far away this morning for breakfast, so I just headed back to Seal Rock[2] Inn Restaurant (see last 'blog-entry from March 31st, 2012). As they are basically the house restaurant attached to a motel (and seeing as the definition of "inn" ~ according to my Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language ~ is "a commercial establishment that provides lodging, food, etc., for the public", I am going to drop the superfluous "Restaurant" part of their name in the rest of this 'blog-entry. However, I suppose it would have been a lot more succinct to do away with this explanation altogether and just use "Restaurant" throughout, but… "My 'blog, my 'rules!"), they open up bright and early at 6:00am every day to provide food to the touristas and locals alike.
I got there plenty early enough before the invading hordes took over the place and I sat in the front room/atrium area with the canvas-covered roof, which has seating for about 60 or more. Additionally, the entrance room dining area has seating for another 20-30 people. On a clear, sunny day (like this morning), it's always much more enjoyable to sit in the atrium area with a view of the Ocean (and beyond).
Seal Rock Inn (See how much smoother it flows without the additional "Restaurant" attached to it and takes much less typing?) has a very extensive breakfastary menu. They are particularly known for their large selection of "International Omelettes" and "The Good Old American Omelettes". In the past I have tried many of their omelettes, but once again I ordered the Greek Omelette No. 1 ~ Feta cheese, olives, bell peppers, onion (they had this in the singular, but there were both red and white onions in it), and tomatoes; served with hash brown (they had this as two words on the menu and in the singular again for some reason), toast (I went with sourdough as my choice) and jelly (they actually brought out two different types, they must just really like their singulars). I also had a cuppa so-so coffee (but it was still good enough for me to not refuse another two half-cup refills, of course).
While this is a pretty predictable choice of mine (I usually get this one or the Greek Omelette No. 2 and recently discovered the Sophia's Omelette, which I am calling Greek Omelette No. 3), it beats their French Omelette, Swedish Omelette, or the (truly 'orrible) Sunrise (Omelette With No Country). (Bananas, raisins, and carrots should never be combined as ingredients in any omelette! Believe me, if you have ever tried it, you would know that no country would ever take claim for this atrocity. I think it's even mentioned in the Geneva Convention under "Cruel and Unusual Punishment".) All the Greek spices (probably at least oregano, parsley, and black pepper) in the omelette makes it taste just like αυθεντική χωριάτικη σαλάτα. I really like all three of their Greek Omelettes and can't decide which is my favourite. The No. 1 included an unbelievable amount of Feta cheese in the omelette today (and this is always a very good thing); there was easily as much Feta in this as can be found on a good Γλυφάδα ταβέρνα χωριάτικη σαλάτα (those that have lived there know exactly what I mean; the only thing missing was a glass of ρετσίνα to wash it down with). Plus, you had better not call yourself a "Greek Omelette" otherwise. The hashbrowns (and I was happy to see that there was actually more than just one) were verrrrry good and extra-crispy this morning.
Seal Rock Inn only offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) for condimentary supplementation. I used some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce ~ original flavour (Thanks agains, Amys & Brian!) on half of the hashbrowns and some Serious Food… Silly Prices Mango Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the other half of the potatoes. I really didn't want to mess with the flavours in the omelette.
After breakfast, I went for a little walk down the street to Lands End[3] and looked out over the actual Seal Rocks. However, I didn't see any seals or sea lions on the rocks. (There was lots of bird guano all over them, though. I really think they need to rename these "Bird-shit Rocks" for truth in advertising.)
Cape Cod Baseball League/Wareham Gatemen Interlude
It ain't[3] really summer until there is Baseball being played on Cape Cod. I just received notification this morning that the Wareham Gatemen are holding their tryouts for this season starting today.
Go Gatemen!
http://www.capecodbaseball.org/
http://www.gatemen.org/
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Omelette No. 1 ~ 6.7 (now this would be easily a 7.0+ if they used real Kalamata olives in it); Wareham Gatemen/CCBL ~ 8.0
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
Contrary to popular belief, the word "alcohol" didn't come from an Irish drunkard named "Albert Coholic". "Alcohol" was borrowed from French, which took it from Medieval Latin. Ultimately the word is from Arabic "الكحول" ("al-kuhl"; "kohl" is a powder used as an eyeliner). "Al-" is the Arabic definitive article (equivalent to "the" in English). The word "alcohol" was originally used for the very fine powder produced by the sublimation of the natural mineral stibnite to form antimony sulfide (hence the essence or "spirit" of the substance), which was used as an antiseptic, eyeliner, and cosmetic.
It is interesting to see that the same (or closely related) word is used in many other languages:
Afrikaans/Bosnian/Cebuano/Croatian/Czech/Danish/Estonian/Filipino/Hungarian/Indonesian/Javanese/Malay/Norwegian/Polish/Slovak/Slovenian/Swedish ~ "alkohol"
Albanian ~ "alkool"
Basque ~ "alkohola"
Belarusian/Russian/Ukrainian ~ "алкаголь/(alkagol')"
Bengali ~ "এলকোহল/(Elakohala)"
Bulgarian/Macedonian/Serbian ~ "алкохол/(alkokhol)"
Catalan/Dutch/Galician/Spanish/Welsh ~ "alcohol"
Esperanto ~ "alkoholo"
Finnish ~ "alkoholi"
French/Romanian ~ "alcool"
Georgian ~ "ალკოჰოლის/(alkoholis)"
German ~ "Alkohol"
Greek ~ "αλκοόλ/(alkoól)"
Haitian Creole/Turkish ~ "alkol"
Irish ~ "alcól (pronounced: Guinness®)"
Italian ~ "alcol (pronounced: Vino)"
Japanese ~ "アルコール/(Arukoru)"
Korean ~ "알코올/(alkool)"
Latvian ~ "alkohols"
Lithuanian ~ "alkoholis"
Maltese ~ "alkoħol"
Portuguese ~ "álcool"
Thai ~ "แอลกอฮอล์/(alcohol)"
See? Alcohol is the one true equalizer in the World. I say, let's all get drunk and screw!
2. They have this also in the singular; whereas, the rock formation is actually in the plural on most maps and in tourist guides. Why it is called "Seal Rocks" and not "Sea Lion Rocks", I have no idea, though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_Rocks_%28San_Francisco,_California%29
3. Seriously? Herr Wilhelm Tore, you and your Auto-Spellcheck Nazis don't recognize this nonstandard ~ but generally accepted ~ word?! If you have a problem with this contraction, Billy-boy, I reckon you take it up with some bloke named Charles John Huffam Dickens that popularized it in his novels way back in the 19th Century.
4. Why this park is called "Lands End" and not "Land's End", again I have no idea.
http://parksconservancy.org/visit/park-sites/lands-end.html
