Bechelli's

... Seconda Parte

















Bechelli’s ~ “a Chestnut Street tradition since 1977”... 30-plus years in the same location must mean something. It is located in an old (1950’s-ish) coffee shop/restaurant right next to the Presidio movie theatre. The theatre itself has probably been around since the 20’s or 30’s from the looks of some old photos on the wall. There are several other good breakfast joints in the Marina/Cow Hollow neighborhood (namely Baker Street Bistro ~ to be extolled further on another visit) and at least 5-10 along Chestnut Street itself that I could recommend.

I had the Tex-Mex Scramble Special ~ Scrambled Eggs, Tortilla Strips, Tomato, Bell Peppers, Green Onion, Green Chili, Tomato-Corn Salsa, Guacamole, and Sour Cream. This was much like chilaquiles but without any melted cheeses in it. It was very good and made even better by the addition of both a fresh tomato-corn salsa and homemade guacamole. Both the coffee and potatoes were much better than at the Flower Market Cafe yesterday. But I still felt the need to get another cup of coffee up the street afterward: Peet’s® Chocolate Raspberry Mocha (a bit sweet, but still a nice “morning-cap” to breakfast).

I also liked that this location offered a variety of hot sauces: Tabasco® ~ Regular and Jalapeño, Cholula®, and Tapatio®. The friendly wait staff went the extra effort to bring out the Tapatio® when I asked about “other hot sauces”; however, the Cholula® and Jalapeño Tabasco® were actually sufficient. I had come prepared with my own bottles of Cholula® and El Yucateco® Chipotle-Habañero. (Fool me once, shame on you ~ fool me twice and you will be hearing from my lawyer, Jackie Chiles!)

They also have their walls adorned with Bay Area Sports Stars signed jerseys and photos. There was a Barry Zito one from his stint with the Oakland AAA’s. Barry happens to be one of my favourite local athletes (now being highly overpaid, unfortunately, with the San Francisco Giants). I have followed his career since his college playing days when I first saw him pitch for the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape Cod Baseball League* back in 1998. Even back then, his curveball had “Major League” stuff written all over it (no, really, I am pretty sure that he cheated and was using an official MLB baseball and not a standard CCBL one).

Unfortunately, this smaller/original restaurant does not have an official website like it’s fancier sister spot. Check it out for yourself and critique it on Yelp! or something.




Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Tex-Mex Scramble ~ 7.0; Potatoes ~ 6.3; Coffee ~ 5.2; Peet’s® Chocolate Raspberry Mocha ~ 6.5


*(The Cape Cod Baseball League is a premier collegiate summer league that has become a passion of mine. I try to catch a few games each Summer when I am visiting Massachusetts. My favourite team is the Wareham Gatemen; Wareham happens to be the town where my parents live most of the year ~ it is known as “the Gateway to Cape Cod”. Academy Award® winner Geena Davis hales from there.

Some notable Gatemen alumni currently in the Majors: Barry Zito ~ SF Giants, Daniel Bard ~ Boston Red Sox, Aaron Hill ~ Toronto Blue Jays, Carlos Peña ~ Tampa Bay Ray Devils, Nick Swisher ~ NY Y*nkees, and many others. Even 2-Time back-to-back NL Cy Young Winner Timmay Lincecum was a CCBL player back in 2005 for the Harwich Mariners.

http://www.capecodbaseball.org/

http://www.gatemen.org/

Catch a game or two if you are visiting Cape Cod during summertime. It is great, cheap entertainment ~ entrance is free, but they do suggest a donation of some amount, I usually give them $5.00. For about half the price of a movie now-a-days, you can see top quality Baseball being played on a hot summer night by many future MLB stars ~ and played with REAL wooden bats, none of that “ding!” of aluminum bats crap here.

If I could ever figure out how to link videos or songs here, this is where I would have a link to Meat Loaf’s "Paradise by the Dashboard Light".)