Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry

South San Francisco




(No official website available.)


I went to Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry (their menu actually says Jo Ann's Cafe & Pantry, but their printed cards read Jo Ann's Cafe ~ sans accent aigu on both, though) for Easter breakfast today. Jo Ann's is in South San Francisco* right on El Camino Real. It's kinda in an unassuming mini-strip mall with a few other restaurants and insurance places. I love this little, local place; and I have been going there for 10-15 years now. If it were closer, this would definitely be a candidate for my "Breakfast Rotation".

Unlike Dottie's, Ella's, Chloe's, Et Cetera's, there was an actual "Jo Ann" associated with this restaurant, but she sold the place about three years ago. Luckily, most of the staff were kept on and the menu remains basically the same as before. They have lots of good choices on their standard/regular menu and they always have great/interesting choices on their weekend specials menu.


Off their standard menu one of my favourite "go-tos" is the Spicy Migas, which is very similar to a chilaquiles dish and very tasty. I almost went with the Fancy French Toast, but decided on the Easter Sunday Special Omelette ~ Prawns (skipped this one, Mr. Way), asparagus, Fontina cheese, tomatoes, white onions, & Hollandaise sauce. Served with home fries and choice of toast, muffin, bagel, tortillas, or scones. I chose the cranberry-orange scone. They bake all of their pastries on the premises; who would choose plain ol' toast when you can get a homemade muffin or scone?


There was lots of asparagus in it ~ always a good thing ~ which was fresh and grilled (a nice touch). The omelette was incredibly huge and I really couldn't finish it all. I did make sure to scrape out all of the asparagus-y good stuff, though, and eat-up all of that. The scone was good, if not a little dry, but more than made up for it with the amount of cranberries and orange zest/peels in it.

Their condimentary supplementation is simply Tabasco® (just the basic red type) and Cholula®. Once again, I used some Trees Can't Dance ~ African Hot Sauce (Thanks yet again, Cindy and Greg!) on the home fries.

Their Hollandaise sauce had something in it that I just couldn't put my finger on (or, more correctly, my tongue on). Like I said yesterday, I really can't tell a Béchamel from a Hollandaise (see 'blog-entry from April 23rd, 2011). Was it cinnamon, possibly? So I asked my server and she confirmed there was something added to the traditional sauce, but said it was a family secret and could not divulge the special ingredient to me. I swore I would tell no living soul and take it with me to my grave, so she divulged that it was a little bit of cayenne.

Anyone reading this, please commit Harry Caray right now:

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


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Easter Sunday Special Omelette ~ 7.2; Cranberry-Orange Scone ~ 6.4


*(South San Francisco is not actually affiliated with San Francisco in any way; unlike South Boston, South London, or even South Detroit†, Mr. Perry. South San Francisco does not even share a border with San Francisco proper; there are Daly City and Brisbane ~ not the one in Aussie-land ~ between the two San Franciscos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_San_Francisco,_California

†This is an inside joke, as I have been told by more than one indigenous populace of the Motor City/Michigan that there is no such thing as "South Detroit"; there is of course a southern portion of the city, but "South Detroit" would actually be Windsor, Ontario, Canadialand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I-SbwCHJ80 )