http://rigolocafe.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TrIl-EgHJQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnf8CbswEss
As a counter-point to yesterday's totally "Brunch"-ified meal at The Elite Cafe (as noted previously: sans accent aigu), I had a simple "breakfast" this morning at Rigolo* Café (avec accent aigu, Monsieur Hellequin). Rigolo Café is a completely unassuming (but "fun") place in the Laurel Village strip mall along California Street. They even have a cool play area inside for the little ones (so you can lock 'em in while you enjoy your meal in peace).
The counter persons/servers all wear les uniformes traditionnels like those of NFL Referees (or the standard-issue prison garb in old Three Stooges shorts), thick black and white horizontal lines (vertical lines would be more slimming) on their jerseys (of which I was informed that these are actually imported from France). The walls are adorned with fun designs and some local artwork for sale. Plus, above you, there are these cool chandeliers and black and white parapluies, both of which I was also told are imported from France, aussi.
For petit-déjeuner, Rigalo Café offers la gamme complète des Œufs** Bénédictines, Mr. Ziffel: Smoked Salmon, Jambon de Bayonne (Ham; sorry, Arnold!), and Florentine (Spinach); plus many other œuf dishes and even a Pain Perdu, which may need a secondary visit to check out their version of this dish. I had the Forager's Jardinière*** (avec accent grave, Monsieurs Wilson) Scramble ~ Baby spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and Gruyère**** (aussi avec accent grave, Monsieur Love); served with fresh-baked organic sprouted 8-grain (now if that ain't a mouthful…) toast, plus a choice of one side: organic (again with the organic?) mesclun greens; provincial herb-roasted potatoes; fresh fruit; smokey***** (sic) bacon or Aidells sausage. This is also available as an "omelette" (correctement dans la version française, unlike The Elite Cafe ~ see yesterday's 'blog-entry) if you would rather. I also had a cuppa Equator Coffees & Teas ~ French (what else?) Roast.
http://www.equatorcoffees.com/
This combination of fresh ingredients was all very similar and just as good as my "Brunch" from The Elite Cafe yesterday morning, but at half the price and about twice the portion (and there were no fancy "cloth" napkins here ~ paper napkins all the way, and I even had to get up and get them myself). Unlike the Brie cheese in yesterday's "omelet", I felt that the Gruyère cheese seemed a better pairing with all these ingredients. The "choice of sides" really wasn't much of a "choice" for me, I can make my own salad and the porky products really weren't an option, so I went with the provincial herb-roasted potatoes, bien sûr.
For condimentary supplementation Rigalo Café only has Tabasco® (the standard red) for hot sauces; however, they do offer the omniprésent (and that's avec accent aigu, Le Elite Café, s'il vous plaît) spread found in most European/French joints, nutella®******, to use on toast, etc.; I took full use of the hazelnutty-chocolatey goodness on one of my slices of toast, merci beaucoup. I also used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce on the potatoes (Merci, Amie!), and some Trees Can't Dance ~ Belizean Habanero Sauce (Merci, aussi, Cindi et Grégoire!) on the scramble.
And, as "family-friendly" as this place claims to be, I was very disappointed that I didn't get to see any cheap-thrills breast-feeding going on again... so I took off my own shirt.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Al Jardine Scramble ~ 6.5; Equator French Roast ~ 6.5
*(Stupid useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, première partie:
I know this word sounds like it might actually come from Italiano, or even a Swiss cough drop; however, "Rigolo" en français simplement means "fun, funny" as an adjective; or "joker" as a noun. It comes from the noun "rigolade", meaning "fun".)
**(Stupid useless cunning linguist/etymological pointer of the day, deuxième partie:
The little "œ" marriage symbol-thingy is actually called a "grapheme" or "ligature". For more information on this, see this "borrowed" link from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%92 )
***(Stupid useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, troisième partie:
"Jardinière" means "gardener" in French, Al. It comes from the noun "jardin" ~ "garden" and the verb "jardiner" ~ "to garden".)
****(Gruyère cheese is better known as "that fondue cheese":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruy%C3%A8re_%28cheese%29 )
*****(Not quite a useless cunning linguist pointer, but just more of another useless etymological pointer:
They had this spelled as "smokey" on their menu. This is an acceptable spelling for the Bear or the State Troopers, but more correctly it probably should be "smoky" when used in this context. Unless the French actually like their bacon ursine or are cannibals; in which case, maybe I should have ordered this with a side of Fava beans and a nice glass of kee-yan-tee.)
*****(If you have never had nutella® before, shame on you!
http://www.nutellausa.com/history.htm )
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