http://www.cliffhouse.com/bistro/lunch.html
I happened to notice that this entry is my 100th post in this stupid li'l 'blog. So it seems fitting that I went to one of my favourite (and historical) places for breakfast this morning. This was my first visit to The Bistro Restaurant @ Cliff House for the year (see my last post from Saturday, December 11th, 2010). I really love their Popovers(!), but have to disagree with the whole name of "Bistro Restaurant"; that just seems kinda redundant to me, and it says the same thing all over again even. I sat at a table with a large picture window overlooking Ocean Beach. There was a great view as the Sun was out and the heavy fog that we have had for the past few days has decided to take a holiday to London; there were a few surfers out braving the waves and coldish weather on Ocean Beach this morning.
After breakfast I took a short hike down to Sutro Baths ruins (Jim, this was the same place we went to in July, where you got the cool video of the mother osprey teaching her young how to hunt/catch food). Sorry, Jim, this doesn't really count as a cross-'blog entry as it was less than a mile there and back, and I don't have one of those nifty hiking watches like you do. I am pretty sure the altitude went from sea level to a little above sea level. Per my standard watch, I am sure that the time was close to 10:20am, on a Saturday in January. I can't be any more specific than that as the calendar date part of my watch is not synched with the rest of the dials. I was given this really nice watch last year for Christmas by some friends (Thanks, Cindy and Greg!) which they had bought in Russia during a Volga River cruise. Unfortunately, all of the instructions are in Russian and are a bit confusing (and just in case you think I'm a terrible cunning linguist, it has been over twenty-four years since I last had to pretend to be a русский шпион; plus, I asked one of my native Russian neighbors for help, and he even said the instructions don't make much sense). Hey, I did get three out of four of the dials synchronized correctly; that is good enough for this дурак.
I was going to write a short history about Sutro Baths, but I am a bit lazy, and what good is the Intro-Net if you can’t "borrow" from it once in a while. This is from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutro_Baths
Now, the main reason I keep going back to the Bistro @ Cliff House (I have decided to forego the additional Restaurant part of their name here to save on typing… but, having just typed this parenthetical sentence, I guess it would have been easier to have included it after all) is for their most excellent Popovers(!). Their egg breakfasts are all very good, too, but I can get those at any other bistro-restaurants. They brought me a record five (5!!!) Popovers(!) today; three are always more than sufficient for me, but I did "force" myself to eat four of them. With the first one, as is my habit, I put some (well, a lot) of butter on it while it was still warm and fresh outta the oven and added large dollops of orange marmalade, Lady (sorry, no mocha chocolata ya-ya was available)... 'cause that is just how I Popover(!).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQa7SvVCdZk
I ordered the Classic Eggs Benedict ~ it was decent enough, but nothing extraordinary (see my post from July 31st, 2010 for an excellent take on the Benedict family, Arnold). Of course, as I had it without the ham/Canadian bacon, it really couldn't be considered very classical. The fresh fruits with it today were watermelon*, cantaloupe*, honeydew melon*, pineapple*, and grapes*.
I went with some fresh, cracked black peppercorn (from my portable McCormick® grinder) on everything ~ and, yes, even on the melons (actually, especially on the melons, as this has a great flavour combination). And I did something new for a change instead of adding hot sauces on the eggs and potatoes. For Christmas I was given several bottles/jars of spices (Thanks again, Cindy and Greg!); however, if you know me and how much I hate to actually cook, this would be like giving Mel Gibson a non-alcoholic beer… or a copy of the Torah. Well, I brought a particularly interesting spice jar with me: DASH Slíce Chilli** Dukkah*** ~ "A slice of chilli crushed with premium nuts and spices giving a tasty tang to our Australian dukkah." This one was made of: Hazelnuts, Almonds, Cashews, Peanuts, Sesame seeds, Corriander**** seeds, Cummin***** seeds, Chilli, Turmeric, Papprika******, Salt & Pepper. I used this generously on top of the Hollandaise sauce on the poached eggs; the Hollandaise sauce was fine as it was, I suppose, but they never really have that much flavour, anyway.
On the wall next to/above my table today were these Hollywoodland photos (top to bottom, left to right):
Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom; ???
???; ??? (possible name of June C…)
??? (w/dogs); ???
William Powell; Claudette Colbert
Leonard Franklin Slye; Mary Martin
(Interestingly enough, this is one publicity photo of Roy Rogers without a cowboy hat on. They were pretty rare.)
Marlene Dietrich; Wallace Beery
??? (possible initials "LV")
Most of the names/signatures were either too faded or too high up on the wall to read; someone at the restaurant-bistro really needs to chronicle this collection (I asked one of the older servers there for help and he could only identify Slapsie Maxie for me). Again, anyone that can help with identifying these "???" individuals will get my eternal gratitude and a free breakfast of your choice at Dottie's TRUE BLUE CAFE.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Classic Eggs Benedict ~ 6.0; Dash Slíce Chilli Dukkah ~ 6.6; Popovers(!) ~ 8.2
*(Useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
I knew that in Spanish watermelon is "sandía" and cantaloupe is "melón". One day, I was at a local taquería and they had a fresh honeydew melon juice drink. I asked the Mexican guy at the counter what is the word for "honeydew melon" in Spanish. He really didn't know; he said maybe it's just "melón verde", which simple means "green melon". Muchas gracias, dude.
By the way, the word for pineapple in Spanish is "piña", but a lot of people probably already know this.
I have no idea what the Spanish word for grape is; I never really order grape juice.)
**(This would be the Britishlander/Aussie-Aussie-Aussie spelling for chili pepper. This is not really a useless cunning linguist pointer as, technically, we all sorta speak the same language, mate.)
***(Useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, part too:
A dukkah, or alternate spellings duqqa or dukka, is an Egyptian side dish consisting of a mixture or nuts, herbs, and spices. Dukkah in Arabic means "to pound", as that is how the mixture is usually prepared. This appetizer is usually served in a little plate or bowl along with some good olive oil and bread. The idea is to dip some bread in the oil and then in the dry mixture. It is really pretty tasty. There is a local Lebanese/Turkish place that I go to that has a great version made with sumac.)
****(sic. This was the actual spelling on the jar. I could not really locate this alternate spelling anywhere on-line, though. So, I am just assuming it's actually "coriander" and not some kinda Aussie-Aussie-Aussie aboriginal hallucinogenic herb.)
*****(sic. See above Aussie-Aussie-Aussie spelling explanation.
Hmmm? Maybe I ought to reconsider these as cunning linguist pointers after all.)
******(Okay, they really didn't spell it this way, but they had added the extra consonants to all the other words, Mr. Dundee.)
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