I ate until I stopped…
http://www.squatandgobble.com/
Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery has five locations currently throughout San Francisco. This morning, I ate at their original location on Fillmore Street in the Lower Haight. (The Lower Haight is so much cooler than the Upper Haight ~ where most of the touristas flock ~ and has been for twenty years or more now. There are better bars and restaurants there; including two of the best ethnic restaurants in San Francisco: Indian Oven ~ for Indian cuisine, of course; and Thep Phanom ~ for Phanomese cuisine? Both of these restaurants are highly-rated by both Michelin Guide* and Sagat** Survey; and both are also found on Fillmore Street just a block apart.) Despite the rather unfortunate choice of names for a restaurant (it always reminds me of the old "chew and screw" routine when I was younger, you'd think they would just be asking for people to come in and eat without paying; or, worse yet, check out definition #3 in Urban Dictionary for this entry: you will never want to eat turkey again… or take a bath), they are a very good place for crêpes (Note: I prefer the Frenchy spelling with the little hat thingy on the first "e"***, much like the accent aigu on the "e" in "café") and were one of the first crêperies to open in San Francisco (that was not an overpriced Frenchified place, that is), and they have been at this location since 1993.
Squat & Gobble also offer a full line of other kinds of foods: sandwiches, pastas, and other breakfast fare (omelettes, pancakes, waffles, egg cetera); but go there for their crêpes ~ just save room (if at all possible) for one of their great dessert crêpes. They also seem to employ super nice and knowledgeable people. My server was friendly and very cute (and reminded me a little of Eliza Dushku); I mean, how many people out there can reference "Home for the Holidays" (a 1995 movie starring Holly Hunter and Robert Downey, Jr., and directed by Jodie Foster) as a good Thanksgiving movie? (Plus she seemed to pretend to be interested enough in my stupid breakfast 'blog.)
I would normally order the Zorba the Greek (made with authentic Kalamata olives, I should point out), as it is one of my favourites of theirs; but after having eaten a lot of Greeky food already this weekend (see my Friday entries), I wanted to try something a little different so I went with one of their newest entries (which is not even on their printed menu or web-site yet):
Charred Tomatillo Crepe ~ Caramelized Onions, Jack Cheese, Avocado, Peppers (green bell), Mushrooms, Olives (not Kalamata, just the plain sliced, canned variety, but this is okay as no extra flavour was really needed), Tomatoes, and Homemade Tomatillo**** and Ranchero Sauces.
The charred tomatillo salsa was truly first-rate (I "gobbled" up ~ but no squatting ~ the half with it on it first); the ranchero salsa was good and fresh, too, but just not as excellent as the tomatillo one. The crêpe was absolutely stuffed with lots of fresh vegetables (it was easily 2-3 inches thick) and I was very pleased to see that they didn't scrimp on the avocado, there was probably at least ½ an avocado in it ~ nice!
They offer a choice of rosemary garlic potatoes or mixed baby green salad with most of their dishes. I went with the potatoes and was very glad I did; these were excellent and there was a huge amount of them. They were nicely seasoned with lots of rosemary. If this had been made with whole cloves of roasted garlic (see my Eats entry from November 13th, 2010), I would have married it (the Christian religion be damned! I have always been a big proponent of "Don't ask, don't eat!").
I had a cuppa the house coffee with the meal. They serve Capricorn Coffees ~ a good local coffee roastery since 1963 (which even predates Peet's® by three years; but they are just a manufacturer, they do not have their own cafés/shops) ~ it was hot, good, fresh, and strong (well, I was the first customer of the morning).
http://www.capricorncoffees.com/
There are bottles of Tabasco® (both standard red and the jalapeño ~ Green Pepper Sauce) and Tapatío® available, but I went with some of my own Trees Can't Dance ~ Tree Fire Sauce (Thanks again, Greg & Cindy!) on the potatoes only, the crêpe had more than enough flavour with both salsas on top and all the fresh ingredients in it.
My only real complaint is that you have to order and pay at the counter first, so the opportunity to really "squat and gobble" without paying is nullified…
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Charred Tomatillo Crepe ~ 7.1; Rosemary Garlic Potatoes ~ 7.0; Capricorn Coffee ~ 6.5
*(Michelin? Really? Do Goodyear® or Pirelli rate food, too? And would you really trust the word of some giant albino guy with goiters?)
**(What is the deal with all these Sagat Survey ratings restaurants seem so proud to display? Is Bob Sagat supposed to be some kinda humourous disciple of Epicurus? Next thing you know, the Olsen Twins will be rating all the bars and nightclubs around the country… well, and get paid for doing it.)
***(Useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
This diacritical mark is actually called a "circumflex", but I just like the term "little hat thingy" better.)
****(A tomatillo ~ pronounced "toh-mah-TEE-yo" ~ is part of the tomato family ~ and comes from the Spanish diminutive of "tomato", but should not be confused with a standard "green tomato":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatillo )
… R(es)ST(a)U(rant), VWX. Y? Z!
http://www.qrestaurant.com/
Breakfast by the numbers at Q Restaurant and Wine Bar?
I went back to Q Restaurant and Wine Bar on Clement Street (see the July 31st, 2010 entry) and again was not disappointed. It was another rainy Saturday morning in sunny San Francisco, so it was the perfect weather to stay inside and eat a nice breakfast. I got to sit at my favourite table, the one with the "Wooly Willy"*. However, there was not a magnet to be found to make any tonsorial changes; this was a little disappointing, but the good food and fast, friendly service more than made up for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTBukDar6vE
There were some nice weekend Brunch Specials (I am sure the Fried Green Tomato Eggs Benedict was very similar to the most excellent Chayote Benedict that I had a few months ago, it's just not as fun to say), but I went with an omelette off their regular menu ~ Bacon (skipped it, Glen) with Red Onion Marmalade and Blue Cheese (served with home fries and buttered toast). This made for a very nice combination with just the sweet onion relish (as best as I can tell, made with caramelized red onions and some kind of barbecue sauce?) and the tangy Blue cheese.
For a change I found a restaurant that does not even offer any Tabasco® sauce, but they do have Tapatío®, Castillo® Salsa Habanero, and Original "Louisiana" Brand available, which is a pretty decent and varied selection. It really didn't matter much, as I went with some from my own collection: I made a combination of both a little HP® (original Brown) Sauce and some Trees Can't Dance ~ Belizean Habanero Sauce (Thanks once again, Greg & Cindy!). I did not see fit to put any of the HP® (original Brown) Sauce in my coffee, though, Mr. Farrell.**
I also like that a Tootsie Roll®*** Midgee® comes with the check in place of a peppermint hard candy. That is always fun.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Omelette ~ 6.8
*(I have often been told I have a "magnetic personality" myself. I just happen to have the reverse polarity of everyone else.
http://www.smethporthistory.org/smethportspeciality/wollypage.htm
I like the name of some of Willy's aliases: "Harry the Hermit" and "Dick the Dude"... Isn't that a local watering hole in the Castro?)
**(You will need to see the 2003 movie "Intermission" starring Colin Farrell to get this reference:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332658/
It's well worth the viewing.)
***(Tootsie Rolls® are named after Clara Hirshfield, whose nickname was "Tootsie". Clara was the daughter of the original maker of these candies, Leo Hirshfield.
http://www.tootsie.com/
They have nothing to do with the 1982 Dustin Hoffman movie, but that movie is worth seeing again, too.)
Cupertino, CA
http://www.yiassoo.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UgndyMfe-8
On my way home from Gilroy this afternoon, I still had Greek food on my mind so I stopped for lunch at yiassoo (or "γειά σου" in Greek, which simply means "Howdy!"), the one located in Cupertino*. Not only is this place ABSOLUTELY THE BEST fast food restaurant in the Bay Area, it is one of the better Greek restaurants here, too. This place has an authentic Γλυφάδα ταβέρνα feel to it; the only thing missing is a bunch of stray cats wandering around the place.
I have eaten there many times in the past (as opposed to eating there many times in the future?) and have tried just about all of the vegetarian dishes that they offer. Today I just ordered the same meal that I must have ordered a thousand times over in my 3½ years living in Greece: χωριάτικη
σαλάτα, πατάτες, και τζατζίκι με πίτα.
The Greek Salad is very simple and made with tomatoes, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, onions, green bell peppers, and Feta; all were very chunky, as a true χωριάτικη
σαλάτα should be, and, I am happy to state, there was NO lettuce in it, ευχαριστώ πολύ. The salad comes with no dressing on it, just some dried herbs. You can add your own vinegar and olive oil to taste, or they provide a bottle of their own special homemade creamy Greek dressing to put on it. I used a little of their dressing on part of the salad, but went with the vinegar and olive oil on the rest of it.
The French fries are nice and large ~ not the wimpy shoestring version served at most crummy fast food places (you know who you are, Ronald), but they were not the steak fries variety either; however, they were still sufficient enough to dip into their most excellent:
Τζατζίκι! Served with authentic Greek pita bread (this was just like the kind found at o'Μάκης place, not the poor imitation you can find at most grocery stores in the States); and the τζατζίκι was made with shredded cucumbers, not diced or chopped cucumbers, just the way I like it.
It was all way too much food for me to eat as I was still pretty full from breakfast, so I ended up taking most of it home with me… however, I will not be sharing it with any spoiled dogs.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Όλα καλά** ~ 6.5
*(Cupertino is a small city just northwest of San Jose in Silicon Valley. Cupertino is best know as the home of Apple, Inc., the computer people, not the fruit guys. To most people from San Francisco, anything south of Mountain View and north of Morgan Hill is generally considered "San Jose", it's just easier that way.)
**(Another entirely stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer:
This is just Greeky for "Everything is good!". The Greeks also claim that "O.K." comes from this phrase. Maybe, maybe not. I always thought it came from Tombstone, AZ.)
Gilroy, CA
I had Thanksgiving dinner down in Gilroy yesterday with an old Air Force buddy ("Hello, Dave!"). For any of you that have never been to Gilroy, it is about 80 miles due south of San Francisco (about 1½ hours drive away), so I spent the night after a great meal ("Thanks again, Dave!"). Gilroy's nickname is "the Garlic Capital of the World", although Gilroy does not actually lead the world in garlic production (while garlic is grown in Gilroy, its nickname comes from the fact that Gilroy Foods processes more garlic than any other factory in the world; most pickled, minced, and powdered garlic comes from Gilroy; check in your fridge or pantry, more than likely you have some Gilroy garlic products). Driving through Gilroy in the summertime at night with the windows open always smells like a pizza factory, and that's a good thing, Martha. Gilroy is also known for its annual Gilroy Garlic Festival where they feature all types of garlicky foods… Garlic Ice Cream, anyone?
This morning Dave and I went to breakfast at a local diner-ish place called Sunrise Cafe (sans accent aigu). Dave said he had never been there before (he has lived in Gilroy for over 10 years now), so this was a new experience for the both of us. When we walked in the door, I saw a business card for the restaurant that had the name "John Karas" on it. I immediately thought this had to be a Greek-owned place. The special breakfasts that Dave and I ordered would pique this assumption. Dave told me a little story about the Sunrise Cafe: several years ago apparently there was a little local scandal with the previous owners, as the wife had the husband killed for the insurance money. That kind of thing always adds to the flavour of a place.
(Here is a link provided by Dave of the nefarious affair:
http://secure.gilroydispatch.com/news/12764-after-two-years-twisted-murder-for-hire-trial-begins )
Sunrise Cafe has a pretty decent breakfast menu from which to choose. I ordered the Greek Scramble ~ scrambled eggs, fresh diced tomato (noted as singular on the menu), onions, Gyro* meat (which I skipped), and Feta cheese. Dave ordered the Gyro Omelette ~ filled with slices of Gyro meat, fresh diced tomatoes (which was plural here for some reason), and Feta cheese. There was lots of Feta in both the Scramble and Omelette, and from what I could see, there was a good amount of Gyro meat in the Omelette, too. Breakfast meals come with hash browns and toast of your choice; marble rye for me, Jerry, and Dave had plain white bread toast.
Everything was great. Both servings were huge, there had to have been 3-4 eggs in each dish, and the hash browns filled up the rest of the plate. I did the best I could and ate almost all of my meal; Dave finished about half of his and the rest was taken home as a literal "doggy bag" for a mid-morning snack for Dave's "girls": Morgan, Zoey, and Nellie (three very spoiled, but great dogs ~ each was a rescue dog, too). The only thing I might have added in either/both meal would have been some chopped/diced/or whole Καλαμάτα olives; now that would have truly been πολύ καλό. Dave told me he will be going back there again soon.
Here is a picture of my meal (with noted marble rye, ya old bag!):
This is Dave's most awesome meal:
And this is a totally posed photo of Dave pretending to eat his meal:
They have both the ubiquitous Tabasco® sauce (the standard red version) and Tapatío® on the tables; I went with some of the Tapatío® on the hash browns. In my opinion, the only thing missing was some authentic τζατζίκι for either of the dishes or, better yet, for use on the hash browns.
As we were leaving, I spoke with the owner, Γιάννης Καράς, and he confirmed that he was Greek. Μίλησα λίγα ελληνικά in my best (worst) pigeon-Greek with him.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Scramble ~ 6.5; Gyro Omelette ~ 7.0 (I had coached Dave on the intricacies of the GBS and he changed his original assessment from a 6.5 to a 7.0; the omelette really did have a lot of Feta and Gyro meat in it)
*(Completely useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
"Gyro", or more correctly "Gyros", is most closely pronounced in English as "yeero" or "yeeros", not as "jiro" or "jiros". "Γύρος" in Greek means "turn", as the meat ~ normally lamb, or a combination of lamb and beef ~ is generally on a rotating vertical spit. The word root can be seen in the words "gyrate" or "gyroscope"… or "yeerate" or "yeeroscope" even.)
Since 1938 (well, with a short hiatus in the early 2000's)
http://www.searsfinefood.com/
Sears Fine Food (and it is interesting to note that they use the word "Food", not "Foods", in their name; both are acceptable, but more places would normally go with the pluralization) as their logo/emblem states is "World Famous Since 1938"; I guess prior to that the San Francisco Tourist Industry must not really have been in full tilt yet. Sears Fine Food is only ½-block uphill from Union Square and right along the Powell Street Cable Car line and in the heart of the hotel district, hence its popularity with all the touristas. I am sure that many locals know about it, but its location downtown (and lack of affordable parking) would preclude many "natives" going there more than once every ten years or so, or just on special occasions. I actually lucked out (it was still pretty early on a Sunday morning and during the tourista off-season) and found a parking spot just one block uphill.
This was my first ever (as opposed to one's "second ever"?) visit here. I had been meaning to get there for many years now, but, like I said, parking, special occasions, etc. I am glad I finally got to eat here, now I won't have to worry about revisiting it for another 10-20 years. The building and its décor were actually worth the visit. I am not sure when the building was built, but Sears Fine Food has been at this location since 1964 (it moved down the block from its original spot on Powell Street). They have many old San Francisco photos inside and some cool antiques. This old Kazoo* range was being used as a sideboard and coffee pot warmer holder.
They offer many good choices on their breakfast menu, but I had to try The World Famous 18 Swedish Pancakes ~ served with Warm Syrup and Country Fresh Whipped Butter (like I could really tell the difference if the butter was from the City or what its sexual proclivities were) and lingonberries (for a small additional charge, but it was well worth it). I figured I had waited this long to try the pancakes, I should actually order them.
The pancakes were good, but the addition of the lingonberries made this breakfast so much better. The flavour of lingonberries is very similar to cranberries, a little tart and a little sweet and goes very well as a topping with little pancakes. At first, I thought that 18 pancakes would be way too many to eat, but they were of the "Silver Dollar" variety (which are about 3" in diameter, not the size of actual Silver Dollars) and I had no problem finishing mine. I probably could have used a little more of the lingonberries, though.
I had a cup of their house coffee with the meal. It was black and hot. That is about the best thing I can say about it; it was no better, nor worse, than most diner coffee.
At the end of the meal they give you a souvenir coin (about the size of a real Silver Dollar, so a lot smaller than the pancakes) which you can use at an antique slot machine, located near the front counter, to see if you will win a free meal. I kept mine as a souvenir; I suppose I can always use it the next time I eat there… in 2020 or 2030.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: The World Famous 18 Swedish Pancakes ~ 6.5 (I would have preferred The World Famous 18 Swedish Vestal Virgins, though ~ next lifetime)
*(And yes, as best as I can figure with a quick Intro-Net search, this is a stove manufactured by the same company that still makes the musical instrument:
"The plant opened in 1907 as a sheet metal workshop, producing stove and furnace parts and peanut vending machines. It began making kazoos in 1916 after its owner was approached about creating a metal version of the wooden instrument that had been around since the 1840s.")
"Elle est une 'BRIK'-maison… "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBx6mAWYPU
http://www.lezinc.com/
Le ZiNC is a French Bistro/Wine Bar over in Noe Valley, right along "Main Street Noe Valley" ~ 24th Street (between Castro and Noe). Apparently, "zinc" is another term for a café or bistro in Paris; the name is derived from the pewter bar tops which became a trademark of those establishments. Although this is technically a "Brunch" place (as stated in their menu), I cut them some slack because they open up early enough for my liking (9:30am).
They have a very nice backyard patio space (with a lemon tree and a fig tree ~ both fruit-bearing even) that has several tables; however, it was still wet out there from the earlier morning rain, so I opted to sit inside for a change. Although it was sunny and warm enough to have sat outside otherwise this morning if the tables and seats had been dry. And this was another one of those embarrassingly nice restaurants that had their bathroom decorated nicer than my apartment (and it was almost as large) with many nice photos and artwork, and one pretty cool (?pewter?) coat-hook that was in the shape of a cat (your coat/hat would hang on its tail).
I had the Vegetable 'Brik' ~ crispy Moroccan crêpe with Feta, red bell peppers, niçoise olives, and tomato. As best as I can discern, a brik is an interesting North African pastry dish made with a thin pastry shell very similar to Greek phyllo dough. The Vegetable 'Brik' has no eggs in it; whereas, their Egg 'Brik' has ham in it, so I couldn't try that one.
My one major complaint (une plainte majeure): les niçoise olives* seemed to me to be just the plain ol' canned, sliced black olive variety; this was really very disappointing. I suppose the cans could very well have been imported from Nice, but that would be like going to Edinburgh and buying a bottle of Jim Beam and calling it "the finest Single malt Scotch whisky". The olives were really rather plain and tasteless; this would have been soooooo much better avec olives de Nice authentique.
There were some pluses, too: it did have lots and lots of Feta and roasted red peppers in it, which is always a nice combination (it was just a shame about les olives, Popeye). I did not ask for (nor bring any of my own) hot sauces, but the meal was pretty tasty as it was with a spicy harissa coulis encircling the brik. And they do have small pepper mills on each table, which is always nice.
I also found it odd that a French café does not really have any "regular" style coffee on their menu; the closest would probably be the Café Americano. So, I ordered un café (not "bistro", nor "zinc") Viennois ~ which comes avec crème Chantilly (which would actually be called Schlagsahne in Vien); it was sprinkled with some chocolate and spices and was okay enough, but I have never been to Vienna (nor Vien, nor Vienne even), so I really have nothing to which to compare it.
I also ordered a glass of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (jus de pamplemousse). It was very good grapefruit juice ~ Pink or Ruby Red? ~ but was served in just a wine glass (granted a large wine glass, but that is still pretty small for a juice glass).
I have had their Eggs 'Aurore' in the past; that was a much better dish than today's and was one of the reasons I went back to try a different breakfast. I have not tried their "French Toast" yet (again, as this is an "authentic" Frenchified bistro/café/zinc, why don't they call it "Pain Perdu"?); it looked like a good choice and I may have to go back again to try it one of these days. They did not show any side orders of potatoes available on the menu; I would like to have tried them as I seem to remember them being decent.
All in all, everything was très bien.**
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegetable 'Brik' ~ 6.4; (Café) Viennois ~ 6.3; Jus de Pamplemousse ~ 6.7
*(Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
The word for "olives" in French is "olives"; the "niçoise" we have already borrowed from the French to specify "from Nice".)
**(This does not mean "Cool Beans!" in French, Luke.)
… or Café Flore, or Cafe Floré, or Cafe Flore
(it's all very confusing)
http://cafeflore.com/
Café Floré* is over on Market Street right in the heart of the Castro. There is really nothing fancy about this place at all. You order at the back counter, they give you a number to put on your table, and they bring out the meal when ready. You order and pay for your drinks separately at the bar. The main attraction seems to be the good, hearty food and its location along "Main Street Castro"; a place to see and be seen. Another big attraction is having Prima Colazione al Fresco** in their large outdoor patio area (plus there are several additional sidewalk tables, at least 10-15 or so, available outside the fenced area); this was a great thing on such a sunny Sunday Fall morning.
I had the Flóré Bénédíct ~ poached eggs, homemade cornbread, oven-roasted tomatoes, mushroom ragoût, hollandaise sauce, and garlic fried potatoes. The use of of cornbread instead of English muffins in this Benedict was an interesting concept; however, their cornbread was a little on the sweet side and it really didn't work for me. The roasted tomatoes are a nice touch, if not a bit chunky/unwieldy on top of the cornbread and under the poached eggs (I don't know if it would be feasible to slice the tomatoes first, then roast them; probably not). The mushrooms were plentiful and chunky in the ragoût (sorry, Skip) which is a plus in my book***. Most breakfast dishes come with garlic fried potatoes; they were good, but not as good as yesterday's Excellent! home fries with the huge tracts of roasted garlic cloves. Overall, it was a nice breakfast combination.
Because 'tis (almost) the season, I decided to go with their special Eggnog Latte****, with some ground nutmeg, Ms. Whitman (from a shaker only, though, fresh-ground would have been much better; and they did not have any Cardamom to sprinkle on top ~ neither fresh, nor in a shaker ~ I asked). It was okay, but I still prefer plain ol' black coffee. Their coffee selections are all from Peerless® Coffee.
Just like Eats yesterday, they also offer Tabasco® (again the standard red), Tapatío®, and Cholula®. This is not a bad selection, but I had brought some from my own collection just in case. I went with some Trees Can't Dance Tree Fire Sauce (Thanks again, Greg and Cindy!) on top of the hollandaise sauce on the poached eggs and with some Roland® Piri Piri with Lemon (Thanks, me!) on the potatoes.
There was one breakfast choice on their menu called Bear's Breakfast ~ I figure they must be either Cal fans or fans of the Chicago NFL franchise.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Floré Benedict ~ 6.4; Eggnog Latte ~ 6.3
*(I am going with this spelling avec accents aigu at the end of each word just to make it easier and because it's my 'blog. They actually had this spelled three different ways throughout the restaurant and on their website: Café Flore, Cafe Floré, and Cafe Flore. I know this is the Castro and things can sometimes seem ambiguous, but I did ask and didn't get told what the correct spelling should be.)
**(This is simply Italiano for "breakfast in the fresh air/outdoors". It is not one of the goombahs from "Godfather I", "II", or "III".)
***(Unfortunately my book is just a 12-page colouring book, but I do try to stay inside the lines.)
****(Completely random, useless cunning linguist note of the week:
This is the correct spelling of this coffee drink. It is of Italian origin, not French. It is sans accent aigu; it is sometimes incorrectly spelled as Latté or Lattè ~ see last week's comment on hyperforeignism.)
(Sorry, there is no website currently available… huh?!
I asked and they said they are working on one. I don't get it, as both of their older sister restaurants, Burma Superstar and B ★ Star Bar Bar, have decent websites.)
I made another trip over to Eats on Clement Street in the Richmond District (see April 1oth, 2010 entry). They have had some major menu tweaks since I was there last; some good, some bad.
First the bad:
They have axed the Poached Eggs Italian that I had there back in April. Apparently people (read: a buncha idiots) complained that the spicy tomato sauce was too "spicy" ~ ummm, it stated "spicy" right in the description. I'm sorry, if you have a problem with "spicy", order something else; plus, it really wasn't that "spicy" to begin with*. This is really a shame, as it was very good and I especially liked the addition of the broccolini.
They have also nixed the freebie mini-scones at the beginning of the meal. Too bad, as they were also very good.
As for the good:
Please continue reading and pay special attention to the home fries.
Before going to Eats, I stopped at Martha & Bros® Coffee Company a block up the street. Martha & Bros® makes a pretty decent cuppa; much better than St*rbucks, but not as good as Peet's® (this is not just IMHO**, it is a fact, because it's my 'blog). I just had a small cup of their standard "House Blend" and it was very good.
http://www.marthabros.com/
Once again, deciding on which of their breakfasts from which to choose was very difficult. After much deliberation, your Honour, I went with the Garden Scramble ~ corn (fresh and always a very good ingredient), summer squash (I wonder if this will be changed to Winter Squash or Solstice Racket Ball next month), Asparagus*** (Excellent!), mushrooms (I didn't ask if they were "shitake" ~ which, I found out, is apparently an acceptable transliteration, but I still prefer "shiitake"), goat cheese, basil (fresh and chiffonade), and parsley (also fresh and chiffonade). There were lots and lots of asparagus and corn ~ both a very good thing; no chintzy amounts of either here, which is always a plus with me as these are usually a deciding factor when I make a choice.
Now a little about their Excellent! home fries: They are made with red potatoes and mucho, mucho garlico. The garlic**** is roasted whole cloves which are served still in the papery skins, so you can either just push them aside if you don't like garlic (if this is the case, please do not ever invite me to dinner) or peel them and spread the sweet, buttery goodness on the home fries or on your toast. There had to have been at least 10 cloves ~ nice! The below photo really doesn't do it justice, as I had already eaten half the meal before I remembered to take some photos. You can see a little pile of the skins towards the back of the plate and there were still 2-3 large cloves left among the potatoes. I can still taste the sweet roasted garlic now, even hours later… mmmmmm *burp*!
They also offer some nice, blended drinks from their juice bar. I had the Detox ~ Carrot, Apple, Beet (yes, beet), and Ginger. It sounded disgusting, so I knew I would enjoy it. It was actually very good and the apples temper out the carrots and beets, plus there is just a hint of spiciness from the ginger (for which, I hope people won't complain and get it banned, too).
Their hot sauce condiments selection is pretty decent; I had remembered this from my last visit, so I did not bring any from my own collection. They offer Tabasco® (the standard red), Tapatío®, and Cholula® (they just had the plain version today as they were all out of the Cholula® Lime). I went with some of the Cholula® on the home fries only; however, they really didn't need any extra flavouring with all the Excellent! roasted garlic. They also have pepper mills on each table ~ always another good thing, Martha, my dear! And I discovered by accident that cantaloupe with fresh cracked black pepper is a very interesting combination.
Unfortunately, I only noticed after I was done eating that they had a special Fresh Green Grape Mimosa (see the picture above at the top of this entry). I would definitely have liked to try that concoction, too.
I just might have to rethink my Breakfast Rotation in 2011 and add this one in (but who would get DFA'd?); the location is close to me and their breakfast selections are excellent.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Garden Scramble ~ 7.2; Excellent! Home fries ~ 7.5; Detox ~ 6.8; Martha & Bros® Coffee ~ 6.7
*(I know that you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but you try to re-write this to read smoothly: "With which to begin" just sounds too awkward. This always reminds me of the punch line to that old joke: "Where's the liberry at, jerk?!")
**("IMHO" is Intro-Net speak for "I am right and you are wrong, so just STFU." I will let you discern for yourselves what "STFU" means on the World Wild Webster.)
***(Some people complain that "Asparagus makes your pee smell funny." ~ Sorry, Nancy! ~ I don't care; it is still one of my favourite vegetables.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus
As if normal urine smells like Eau de Toilette, anyway.)
****(Just a little edjification on the "stinkin' rose":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic )
Eat this mess around… (sorry, no Shy Tuna on the menu, I checked)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN8hV4AyNss
I revisited Boogalos in the Mission (see April 25th, 2010 entry) this morning. Boogaloos is one of the places in my Starting Rotation of breakfast eateries. There are many great vegetarian breakfasts from which to choose on their menu: e.g. Boogaloo Classic (2 eggs any style, homefries and a biscuit smothered in vegetarian herb-cream gravy, topped with green onions), Polenta-n-eggs (Grilled polenta and salsa ranchero served with 2 eggs any style, black beans, sour cream and cabbage salad), or the "Make It Funky" Scram (2 eggs scrambled with your favorite ingredients from The Kitchen Cupboard: http://www.boogaloossf.com/cupboard.html ). My corner seat provided me with a nice view of an egg-lectic Rooster/Chicken tableau (see below) while waiting for my meal and listening to a little Patsy Cline playing on the house stereo ("Crazy", etc.).
http://www.boogaloossf.com/
I had one of my favourites of theirs, Desayuno Típico (which is Spanish for "Typical Breakfast"; however, there really is nothing típico about this meal unless you happen to be un habanero*) ~ 2 eggs any style (my style: over-medium), grilled plantain cake topped with tamarind** sour cream, served with black beans and corn tortillas. The plantain cakes are excellent all by themselves, but served with the tamarind sour cream this is really a special meal; and all go very well paired with los frijoles negros.
I also ordered a side o' homefries (just because there was not enough carbohydrates already coming) and a large grapefruit juice. (Don't let the picture fool you, their side order of homefries is usually HUGE; I just asked them to go light on me, as I knew it would be way too much food as it was.) The house coffee is Peerless Coffee & Tea®; it is usually very good and strong, and tastes great all by itself, but I added some maple syrup to it (this has become a tradición of mine whenever I eat there). It's just nice that they have maple syrup on the tables; as it was already there, I used some.
There is only Tapatío® available on the tables, so I went with some of my own Cholula® on the homefries and some Chipotle-Habanero salsa on the eggs.
Gracias por el desayuno delicioso, Fidel!
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Desayuno Típico ~ 7.4; Homefries ~ 6.9; Peerless Coffee ~ 6.5
*(Stupid cunning linguist pointer of the day:
"Habanero/habanera" is the Spanish word for a person from the capital city of Cuba. The fiery hot chili pepper gets its name from the same root word; it was actually native to the Yucatan peninsula, but was traded through Habana/Havana apparently and the name stuck ~ kinda like "tangerine" through Tangier, Morocco.
I did find something out today ~ Isn't the Intro-Net wonderful? You look for things and can find them. ~ the correct spelling is "habanero", not "habañero" as I had always thought. This is due to something called hyperforeignism. From Wikipedia: "A hyperforeignism is a special type of hypercorrection resulting from an unsuccessful attempt to apply the rules of a foreign language to a loan word (for example, the application of the rules to a word borrowed from another), or occasionally to a native English word believed to be a loan word. The result may be 'absurd,' reflecting 'neither the… rules of English nor those of the language from which the word in question comes.' For example, habanero is sometimes spelled with a tilde (habañero), which is incorrect in the Spanish from which the word comes, and this error is perhaps influenced by the correct spelling of another Spanish-named pepper, jalapeño."
Since finding this out, I will be careful to spell it correctly in the future… but there is ño way I am goiñg back añd correctiñg it iñ all my past posts here, that would just be ñuts.)
**(For those of you unfamiliar with tamarinds, it is an ugly little fruit, but very tasty:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind )
West Portal edition
As best as I can tell, there are two restaurants in San Francisco named Cafe Rain Tree (and both are sans accent aigu); they may or may not be related. There is one on Irving Street in the Sunset and one over on West Portal in the West Portal area. I went to the one in West Portal*/on West Portal; this happens to be just down the street from The Village Grill (see October 30th, 2010 entry) where I went last weekend.
(No website available. Really? What is this the 2000's?)
This is a simple enough local neighborhood joint; nothing really fancy about it or the menu. They offer several decent enough breakfast choices (no "Fritattas", though) and a few weekend specials. I went with one off their specials board: Mediterranean Scramble ~ Artichoke hearts, olives, onions (both white and green), tomatoes, and Feta cheese. Most egg breakfast dishes come with home fries and a choice of toast; my choice was English muffins. Pluses: there was lots of Feta and artichoke hearts, which is always a good thing. Minuses: the artichoke hearts were just the marinated variety and the olives were your standard canned/sliced black ones. If I were making this scramble (fat chance), I would have used whole, pitted Kalamata olives and brined artichoke hearts instead; even sliced green olives would have been a better addition.
They only have bottles of Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce on the tables, so I went with some Sylvia's Restaurant® Kickin' Hot ~ Hot Sauce on the home fries (actually I went with a lot of this today; "Thanks again, Sean!").
http://www.sylviassoulfood.com/KickingHotSauce.html
I skipped a cuppa coffee with breakfast as I knew the Peet's® down the street would have much better quality coffee. I had their Holiday Blend; Madonna (sorry, not you Ms. née Marcone, the other one) would be proud of this blend ~ very tasty and robusty (much like Nick Terlizzi's mom, I must say; "Hi, Madonna!").
http://www.peetscoffee.com/freshtruth/index.php?cm_re=topnav-_-link1-_-text&cm_sp=freshtruth-_-topnav-_-text
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qJaq3jv2P0
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mediterranean Scramble ~ 6.3; Peet's® Holiday Blend ~ 7.o
*(A brief history of West Portal if anyone is interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Portal,_San_Francisco )
