Boulevard Cafe

Do you know the way to Daly City*, Fielding Mellish?



http://www.theboulevardcafe.com/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqWt49o7R-k&feature=related

(You try finding a song that references Daly City; besides, anything south of the City is San Jose as far as most locals are concerned.)


On the recommendation of a co-worker, I had breakfast this morning at Boulevard Cafe. They are located in the old Lyons restaurant building in the Westlake neighborhood of Daly City along John Daly Boulevard; and while their address is not technically on John Daly Boulevard, calling it (Poncetta) Drive Cafe may have confused many people.

They have a pretty extensive breakfast menu selection from which to choose, but as soon as I saw this entry I knew what I was going to get: Bananas Foster French Toast ~ Texas French toast, caramelized bananas, and fresh cinnamon cream. I also ordered a side of Yukon Gold Hash Browns (because you can never have too many carbohydrates) and a cuppa coffee.



The meal comes with three thick slices of French toast, lots of bananas, and the large dollop of cinnamon cream was very good, too. Now this was not quite as good as Merchants Way version of their Bananas Foster French Toast, but seeing as they have been a defunct restaurant for several years, I would highly recommend this place instead, and it is definitely worth a return visit.** The only minus I can think of was that they did not provide any (extra) maple syrup to use on it; however, this really didn't matter as it was very tasty on its own and especially with the cinnamon cream on top (there may have been some maple syrup in the caramelized bananas sauce, though). The Yukon Gold*** hash browns were very good, too. I doubt I would have known they were "Yukon Gold" other than the standard "Russet potatoes" if they hadn't noted it on the menu.

The condimentary supplements at Boulevard Cafe are just Tabasco® (the standard red) and Tapatío®. So I went with some Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce ~ Monster Double Medium Hot (the green one) on the hash browns (Thanks, Kerry!).

Note: no actual bananas were harmed in the eating of this meal… well, some of them did get their egos bruised a bit, though.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Bananas Foster French Toast ~ 7.0


*(Daly City is known as "the Gateway to the Peninsula". I am just assuming that is the San Francisco/San Mateo Peninsula and not the Yucatán Peninsula.

http://www.dalycity.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donald_Daly

People call San Francisco "Fog City", but both Daly City and Pacifica ~ just to the west of Daly City and due south of San Francisco ~ are really much foggier all year long, Mr. Tormé. As San Francisco is peninsular-based, I always tell people it is almost impossible to get lost in San Francisco: you just drive until you either hit the water ~ in which case you are either at the Pacific Ocean, Golden Gate Bridge, or the San Francisco Bay ~ or the fog ~ and you are in Daly City. However, I did know of two Air Force buddies that actually got lost in West Berlin, and this is when it was still a walled city…

Some notable Daly Citians: John Madden, NFL Coach and NFL Hall of Famer ~ "Bam!"; John Robinson, NFL Coach; and Sam Rockwell, actor.

Here's a little known fact: John Daly was actually from Maynila, Republika ng Pilipinas; his real name was Juan Dalycito, he just anglicized his name when he moved to 'merica.)

**(It just goes without saying that this wasn't as good as the Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro, either, but that comparison is unfair to most French Toasts and breakfasts in general.)

***(Yukon Gold info/link:

http://potatoassociation.org/Industry%20Outreach/varieties/White%20Rounds/yukon_gold.html

This is the "official" information from the Potato Association of America… Really?! Who knew such an organization existed? I wonder if this is where Dan Quayle went to work after his political career ended.)