Chloe♥s Cafe

Chloe's Cafe is in Noe Valley way down on Church Street. It is located in an old Victorian house (because the new Victorians really aren't much to speak of). It is a really tiny place; it only seats 20 inside with another 4-5 outside tables (weather permitting… or whether permitting). Get there early on the weekend, as you will probably have to wait at least 20-30 minutes for a table, or longer on a particularly nicer day. It was raining this morning, but I got there right when they opened and had no wait whatsoever.

I have noticed a pattern with my favourite breakfast places: the top three all have female names, and seem to have non-existent eponymous owners. Dottie's is owned and operated by Kurt; Ella's has new ownership and just kept the old business name; there may actually be a Chloe involved with this place, but I have never met her (in the dozens of times I have eaten there in the past 15 years or so).

Now would be a good time for a Baseball analogy (not that I ever need an excuse, this opportunity just seemed like "a can o' corn"*). I have six favourite breakfast restaurants that I usually go to several times a year, rotated with new (and old) places I want to check out (or re-check out). My "Starting Line-Up", so to speak, is: Dottie's, Ella's, Chloe's, Baker Street Bistro, Boogaloo's**; and the Cliff House would be my "Closer".

My breakfast today was the Scrambled Eggs with Avocado and Jarlsberg. They did not scrimp on the avocado at all; it had LOTS of avocado, at least ½-1 whole avocado. Plus, Jarlsberg is one of my more favourite cheesy comestibles. This was served with their White Rosemary toast ~ with butter and jam. I don’t know if they bake their own breads or not, but this one is excellent. The rosemary actually goes great with a raspberry jam on it. Their Home Fried Red Potatoes are perfect ~ crispy and blackened enough, just the way I like 'em. I also had a glass of cranberry juice and a cup of their house coffee (which really is nothing to speak of ~ I always go back for the great breakfasts, toast, and potatoes).




This was one of the only times I have not ordered off of their "Specials" board. Today's scrambled eggs special included "the vile weed" ~ ugh! Even with the additions of dill, tomatoes, and a choice of Cheddar, Jarlsberg, or Feta, I really couldn't bring myself to order it. What kind of sadistic bastages would ruin a perfectly good breakfast like that?!

They only have regular Tabasco® as a hot sauce condiment on the tables… and I completely forgot to bring any of my own "Heavy Hitters" with me as I left pretty early this morning to get there when they opened. With all the mentions of Tabasco® in my 'blog (whether positive or negative ~ free publicity is still publicity), you'd think that the McIlhenny Company oughtta be giving me a little kick-back here and there… ("Hey, McIlhenny, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know?!" And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive a Scoville rating of 16,000,000." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Scramble ~ 7.0, Toast ~ 7.2, Potatoes ~ 6.9, Coffee ~ 5.4


*("A can of corn" in Baseball-ese usually means a routine/easy catch. The explanation I have heard about this term comes from the old general stores where they would usually stock cans of certain items up high on the shelves and, in order to get them down, they would nudge them off the shelf with a broom handle or something and be able to make an easy "basket catch" into their aprons or hands.)

**(My auto-spellchecker thingy ~ the actual technical term, by the way ~ does not seem to like this word and is offering me several alternatives: "Bugaboo's", "Bungalow's", or even "Beefalo's" ~ because all of those are much better sounding breakfast joints.)