Rose’s Café

Ce n'est pas une fenêtre

 
 

Rose's* Café** seems to be a local neighborhood favourite (judging by the amount of people already there and the people waiting outside). It is in the Marina/Cow Hollow area, over on Union Street ~ in the upscale shopping area of that street.

www.rosescafesf.com

The last time I ate here was several years ago now and I remember that I liked it and made myself a mental note to come back again soon… however, such is the case with "mental notes" with me that they tend to be more of "retarded messages" (with all due apologies to Rahm Emanuel as I really don‘t want to steal his bigoted spiel).

The place is normally packed, but I had gotten there before 10:00am and was seated right away. There is also bar/counter seating for singles and lots of outdoor seating (just ask my Uncle Al, whose last name happens to be Fresco) on sunny days/mornings. The décor is in a French bistro or Italian trattoria style. The centerpiece to the kitchen area is a big wood-burning stone oven ~ which is normally used for pizzas and such ~ but they were also using it to cook (reheat/toast/etc.) bacon and toast in it, pretty cool.

Outside in the patio area there is a painting on the wall of a femme plantureuse, done in the French Post-Impressionism style, with the wording "Ce n'est pas une fenêtre.", which simply means en français "This is not a window." I don’t know if there is any deeper meaning to that in the French vernacular, I just thought it was a nice painting (of which even Hooters would have been proud). They use the same image on postcards that they give out with the checks at the end of the meal.

 
 

I had the Yukon Gold Potato Hash with asparagus, mushrooms, Cheddar cheese (do you think it is really necessary to add "cheese" after the word "Cheddar" outside the county of Somerset, Mom?), and "organic" poached eggs (I guess this means that the eggs were pilfered strictly in accordance with USDA guidelines). I rounded it off with a cuppa coffee and a Lavender Lemonade. 



 

My only critique would be that they were pretty skimpy on the amount of asparagus in the dish. It was in really thin slivers or chopped very fine. I estimated there was only about one complete stalk in the entire meal. They only offer a few items on their menu (which changes daily) and I had chosen this one specifically because it contained asparagus ~ one of my favourite fruits. Had I know it was gonna be that small of an amount, I may have opted for their Breakfast Pizza instead, which looked pretty good, too (Breakfast AND pizza? What could be wrong with that scenario?). All in all, I enjoyed the meal, but I would probably have liked it a lot more and given it a higher Glen Bacon Scale rating analogous to the amount of asparagus included.

I am also always wary of restaurants that actually have matching plates and coffee cups, though. Plus, "la toilette" in this place was much nicer than even my living room. What the heck's up with that?


 

They only had Tabasco® on the tables, so I asked the (very cute) waitress (who kinda reminded me of Maggie Gyllenhaal) if they had any other hot sauces and she brought me out this HUGE bottle of an "organic" chipotle habañero (again with the "organic"?) sauce. She was then nice enough to put a small amount of it in a saucer for me to use (which was all duly noted in the amount of the tip I left her for "service above and beyond the call of duty" ~ whatever that standard is in the serving world. "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know…" ~ Carl Spackler, Caddyshack). It was pretty good, too; smoky with just the right amount o' heat. I had come prepared with a couple from my own stock, but always like to try new hot sauces whenever possible. This was not a brand I recognized or had tried before.

After breakfast, I wandered up and down Union Street "la fenêtre" shopping and basically lazying the morning away ('cause it’s the thing to do when there). I passed by lots of Pilates places ~ you won’t fool me twice with these places ~ they are not the place to learn to become an amateur aviator (and I am pretty sure that guy who liked to wash his hands after killing off Messiahs has nothing to do with them either). And don't EVEN get me started on the corporate rip-off known as "Yoga" shops ~ none of 'em offer any kinda flavours of frozen dairy products from which to choose (I asked).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Potato Hash ~ 6.5; Lavender Lemonade ~ 6.5; Service ~ 7.2


*(I had to ask the maître d' "Is there an actual 'Rose' associated with the restaurant?" But, as is the case with most of my favourite restaurants with female nomenclature: e.g. Dottie's, Ella's, Boogalos… the answer was a resounding Gallic "Non." He explained that the previous owners just liked the name for a café. The same people also operate Rose Pistola in North Beach.)

**(Here is as good a place as any to address the great "Café" vs. "Cafe" distinction. Dottie's is a "Cafe", for some reason; Rose's is a "Café"; Chloe's is also a "Cafe"; and Baker Street Bistro is… well, a bistro ~ so never mind that one. I think it mainly has to do with how fancy a place wants to sound, or maybe the others just don't want to have to deal with the whole accent aigu/accent grave determination. It just Galls me to no end, of course.)