Tartine Bakery & Cafe

"Never go against the family, Cold-one!"*




http://www.tartinebakery.com/


Tartine Bakery & Cafe is located in the Mission over on Guerrero and 18th, down the block from Dolores Park. I drove by there last month after having desayuno at Chava's and noticed a long line out the door and along the sidewalk. I figured that could only mean a new, good place for breakfast and made a mental note (with me that is really the only kind of note I know) to check it out in the future. After eating (for what seemed like) all day yesterday, it was kinda nice to have a simple breakfast of baked goods. This was not quite what I was expecting, but it was still a nice change of pace (or pastry).

I went with the Gaugére Croissant ~ with Gruyere cheese, black pepper, and fresh thyme ~ for a savory pastry; and a Frangipane Tart ~ light almond-cream filling, baked in a flaky pastry shell with seasonal fruit (plums? apricots?, not quite sure) ~ for a sweet choice. I also had a cappuccino from their coffee/espresso bar. I liked the croissant better than the tart; both were decent enough, though. The croissant was similar to a popover in texture and appearance. The cappuccino was just as good as the pastries.




I probably should have gotten a bowl of their brioche bread pudding; it looked pretty good. Otherwise, for breakfast alternatives, they really only offer quiches, sandwiches, and several different types of Croque Monsieurs. They do not really have a kitchen to speak of.

While I was there, they were playing the Kate Bush album "The Hounds of Love", one of my favourites of hers, which is always a plus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXmTvbw4kLw

They offer an interesting enough selection of baked goods; however, I am not so sure it merits the long lines ~ there was really nothing to write home about… or to write a 'blog entry about either, but that is already too late.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Frangipane Tart~ 6.5; Gaugére Croissant ~ 6.7; Kate Bush "The Hounds of Love" ~ 7.5


*(Stupid cunning linguist story for the day, Turnabout Is Fair Play Department:

Okay, just so "Greg" can feel a little better about himself ~ and so that I am assured a place to sleep this Christmas vacation ~ here is a similar story of the "art of miscommunication" by stupid 'mericans when traveling in Europe.

When I was a freshman in high school, I was fortunate enough to make a trip to Italia during the Easter/Spring vacation: Milano, Venezia, Firenze, Pisa, and Roma. One morning another student and myself ~ "Hi, Steve!" ~ ventured out on our own during some free time and felt like getting a refreshing, cold drink. We had learned that a lot of times when you order a soda in Italy, it is normally served at room temperature and you need to request ice with it.

We stopped into a corner store and wanted to make sure to ask for a "cold one". Unfortunately our Italiano was limited to a few basic sentences ~ we had learned to count to ten correctly, as there were ten of us total in our troop ~ and whatever Latin we had learned that year in Mr. O'Neil's Latin class. Not knowing the word for "cold", we just assumed you put an "a" or "o" on most English words and it would automatically become Italiano. So we ordered "Due 'colda' Coca-Colas." The lady behind the counter looked at us wide-eyed and said to us quite excitedly, "No! No 'colda' Coca-Cola!" So we answered back just as affirmatively, "Sì! 'Colda' Coca-Cola!" This went back and forth several times with neither party budging on their assertions. We finally just decided to get whatever they had and hope for the best. After she served us and we were walking away, we found the Cokes to be more than adequately chilled. So we looked at each other and said that old lady must have been crazy!

Less than a minute later, we were passing a pizza joint that sold slices on the street from its window counter. The sign read "Calda Pizza". We looked at each other and said, "Hey, they sell 'cold pizza' slices here." It took us a few more steps to figure out that "calda" actually means "hot" ~ as in the root of the English words ~ from Latin ~ "caldron", "scalding", etc. That poor old lady must have thought all American teenagers had a very strange sense of humour… or taste.

By the way, the word for "cold" in Italiano is "freddo"…)