I went back to Eddie's Cafe (see October 16th, 2010 post) over on Divisadero, near Alamo Square, for breakfast this morning. I got there a little earlier than they open, so I walked over to Alamo Square for a few minutes (this was only a 15-20 minutes walk through the park, so it does not constitute a "Hiking" cross-post, Mr. Turner). Unfortunately, it was a pretty foggy morning and the views were not quite as spectacular as most tourists come to see.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamo_Square
Why "Alamo" in San Francisco you ask, Mr. Bowie?
"Alamo means poplar tree in Spanish and in the early 1800s, the lone cottonwood on Alamo Hill marked a watering hole along the horseback trail from Mission Dolores to the Presidio. Mayor James Van Ness set aside 12.7 acres of the hole in 1856, naming it Alamo Square. Confirmed by the state legislature the following year as a public park, Alamo Square and its Victorian residences started down the potholed road to Historic District, over 100 years later."
(Excerpt from the Alamo Square Neighborhood Association site.)
Now how many of you will remember this?
Of course, Alamo Square is best known for all the surrounding historic Victorian houses in the neighborhood and most notably for a row of Victorians known as "The Painted Ladies" along the eastern side of the park. Friends of mine actually own one of these (Hi, John and Erin!); their house is the second from the left end (or the first one of all the similar ones in the row); this house was also owned by author Alice Walker (Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Color Purple" and other novels) back in the 70's.
Like the good (ex-)Greek (resident) I am, I went back to Eddie's Cafe bearing a premeditated gift of a Cavern Club mug (imported and hand-delivered all the way from Liverpool, Englandia, mind you). As noted during my last visit, they have a pretty significant collection of coffee mugs and I wanted to add to it. While I was "on holiday" last month in England, I made sure to pick up one that I figured they wouldn't already have. I was going to just get a Beatles one ~ a Sergeant Pepper one or an Abbey Road one ~ but figured those could be purchased in most gift shops anywhere else. This mug I actually bought at the "official" Beatles gift shop in Albert Dock (along the Mersey, ferry ride optional) in Liverpool.
For breakfast this morning, I had the Cheese Omelett* (with Swiss cheese) with "Greets"** and Homemade Biscuits. They offer a choice between hash browns or grits and toast or biscuits. Homemade biscuits are always a better choice than plain ol' toast. I normally prefer home fries or hash browns with breakfast (potatoes being the true breakfast fruit), but I figured the grits (which were a very nice heaping mound/glop) would go better with my "Seoul" food. I also had a cuppa coffee served in the Cavern Club mug.
The food is really nothing much special, but it was still good and so much better than I could ever attempt to prepare at home (whenever I make "omeletts" myself, they tend to just turn out as "scrambled eggs with sh*t in 'em"™). All in all, it is good ol' hearty diner-fare in a very friendly neighborhood atmosphere.
I knew from my last visit that they only have Tabasco®, Crystal®, and Tapatío® as hot sauce condiments, but I also knew they are a Korean family-owned/operated restaurant so I asked for (and received) a little Korean hot sauce ~ gochujang ~ from their private stash. I had come prepared with three bottles from my own collection, but did not even need to use them. The gochujang was very tasty: both sweet and spicy, with lots of flavour.
I was informed by one of the owners(?) that because I had brought a mug for them as a gift, my breakfast would be on the house (that is kind of what the Korean words at the top of the page mean). It seems that this is their policy. Who am I to argue with Korean traditions? Kim Jong-il?
Holiday to Liverpool/England: £1,000
Magical Mystery Tour: £14.95
Cavern Club mug: £6.00
Free breakfast: Priceless
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Cheese Omelett ~ 6.0; Gochujang hot sauce ~ 7.2
*(I am not really making fun of the spelling on the menu, I like the originality of it. Heck, if I didn't have a "spel-chek" thingy on my "kompyooter", I would have no idea how to spell it "eyether".)
**(That would be "grits" as pronounced by my Uncle Tom from Northern Florida, aka Southern Georgia. I had never had "greets" until he came to stay with us one Winter and my mother had to learn how to prepare this standard Southern breakfast staple.)
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