Dottie's TRUE BLUE CAFE

Redux (which does not mean twin water fowl, I looked it up)




An old Air Force buddy of mine from Berlin-town (and fellow 'blog-meister* and WWII Veteran), Jim Turner (J.T.), was in town on business (if you call getting to hike around Yosemite National Park during the best days of the Summer and getting paid for it "business") and he was forced into having breakfast with me at "the best breakfast place in San Francisco for your buck ~ bar none"™©®. I hadn't been back to Dottie's TRUE BLUE CAFE since I started this 'blog a few months ago and it was far time for a revisit. (If we could have ever gotten my sister-in-law Kathy up before 9:00am two weeks ago during their visit here, I would have re-reviewed it then, too.)

We got there after 9:00am and had to indulge in the requisite 45 minutes to an hour wait in line, but we passed the time catching up on the past 25 years or so. As is the case with any trip to Dottie's, the wait in line can be half the fun. While in line, Jim smelled a familiar olfactory sensation wafting from behind us and made sure to point out that someone in line (or one of the many neighborhood indigenous populace hanging out on the corner) must suffer from Glaucoma and had to make sure to self-medicate (heavily and often, it seemed) while waiting… or maybe the person was just working up to a good appetite to be able to finish Dottie’s portions.

As usual, I forewent the standard menu and pointed Jim in the right direction to order off the weekend special's board. I had the frittata special which consisted of "Balsamic Portobello Mushroom, Tomato, Scallion, Pesto, & Feta" with toast and potatoes. This was a great combo. Anything with Feta or Portobello mushrooms in it is usually a good choice for me. They also had their "Zucchini Cakes topped with Poached Eggs & Spicy Marinara Sauce" (which also comes with toast and potatoes) on the specials board, but I had this earlier in the year on another visit and wanted to try something different. Don't get me wrong, the Zucchini Cakes would have been my first choice if I had seen any sign of "the vile weed" listed in the weekend special frittata. The Zucchini Cakes is a real winner, and their "Spicy Marinara Sauce" is very tasty. It is kind of an Italiano version of (vegetarian) Uova Benedetto.



Jim went with one of my other stalwart faves: Black Bean Cakes, which are served with two eggs (as you like 'em), grilled (fresh, homemade) cornbread, potatoes, and a nice pico de gallo. I can review this from heart, but Jim said he liked it himself. They do other variations on the legume-cakes that I have had and enjoyed before: Lentil Cakes and Black-eyed Peas Cakes (my personal favourite). The legume-cakes are made with beans and rice and are formed into patties. I explain them to people as vegetarian sausage patties.




As I stated on my very first review post here:
Get ye to Dottie's if you are either an Out-of-towner or a Localite!!!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Frittata ~ 7.5; Black Bean Cakes ~ 7.1 (per J.T. ~ I had coached him very well on the intricacies of the Glen Bacon Scale ahead of time)


*(If you are interested in a good, Arcadian read ~ without having to travel to Ancient Greece ~ check out Jim's 'blog of his adventures in frontiersmanship and hiking in the "World Famous" Shenandoah National Park:

http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/

And, for this unsolicited plug, I fully expect Jim to reciprocate on his next entry!!!)