Blue Mermaid ~ Chowder House & Bar

http://www.bluemermaidsf.com/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P794iJ-qOJA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQvQm-K5cT8


Thanks to Christopher Wasnewsky's suggestion (and I finally got around to trying it only several months later, C.J.), I ate at Blue Mermaid ~ Chowder House & Bar this morning. One of the reasons I have been putting it off (no one likes an off-putting breakfast, after all) for so long is that it is located right smack-dab (ever been smacked by a left-handed dab?) on Fisherman's Wharf. As it was Sunday (metered parking is still enforced 24-hours a day directly around Fisherman's Wharf), I did luck out and found a parking space three blocks away over by Galileo High School[1].

Blue Mermaid is located in the Cannery at Del Monte Square[2], a historical, hundred year old brick building built right after the 1906 Earthquake. This restaurant is mainly a touristas destination, as it is part of the Argonaut Hotel (whether officially or not, as they share the same building), and due to it being situated right on Fisherman's Wharf.





The décor inside ('cause outside décor is usually called graffiti) is of a nautical/aquatic theme, as the name would imply. Even the restrooms had blue mermaid wallpaper (well, at least the Men's Room did; I didn't check out the Ladies' Room, they probably have manatee covered walls).







Now, I know what you're thinking (and just stop it right now): "Chow-dah! for breakfast?", but they actually offer a pretty good selection of breakfast/"Brunch" items. One of the more interesting and definitely a San Francisco/Fisherman's Wharf item was the Dungeness Crab[3] Omelette; I was never much of a boiled-alive, large marine insect fan even when I ate meat, so I am not so sure how well it would go in an omelette (I do know it's not Kosher, though, George). I ended up ordering the Spinach and Mushroom Omelette ~ mushrooms, spinach, and brie cheese; served with toast (chose sourdough) and house potatoes. I also had a cuppa the house coffee which was Mr. Espresso, a local roastery that I have had before and is generally very good and strong.



There was lots of fresh sautéed spinach in the omelette, and fresh makes all the difference. I would have liked a little more Brie in it, though. All in all, it was a good omelette; nothing too fancy, just well-made (much better'n any of the failed attempts I have ever made at an omelette) and filling.

Blue Mermaid offers as condimentary supplements only Tabasco® (and probably just the standard red). However, I came prepared as always ~ like the good Girl Scout Leader that I am (seriously, I really was a Brownie Leader for a very short time when I lived in Greece… damn background checks put an end to that, though) ~ and used some Sylvia's Restaurant® ~ Kickin' Hot Hot Sauce on the omelette (Thanks again, Sean!) and a brand new[4] one to my repertoire Benito's[5] Original Naranja[6] on the potatoes (Thanks, me!).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Spinach and Mushroom Omelette ~ 6.5; Benito's Original Naranja ~ 6.8


1. This is also know as the high school where both Dom DiMaggio's older brother (I think his name was John, or Jim, or Jeff; you know, the guy that was immortalized in that song by Simon and Garfunkel only because "Where have you gone, Ted Williams?" didn't have the right meter to it) and Orenthal James Simpson went.

2. Additional Del Monte and the Cannery info:

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

http://www.thecannery.com/

3. Dungeness crab info, for those of you who don't mind boiling-alive innocent, large marine insects and eating them:

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

4. There is a brand new (open for just one month now) mini-restaurant (they really just serve wings ~ I am pretty sure they are of the chicken variety and not from actual Bison, Jessica ~ and waffles) and hot sauce retailer in the Richmond District: Hot Sauce and Panko.

Not that I really needed any more hot sauces right now; with all the new ones that I received for my birthday two months ago, I have more than enough to last me the rest of the year (and, in the case of the stupid Blair's Death® sauces, possibly a lot longer). The beauty of this place is they offer 90+ different types of hot sauces for sale on their shelves (this includes the entire gamut of Tabasco® brand products, as well as all of the ones that Cholula® offers); plus, there are about 30 open bottles from which to sample. If anyone wants a great-tasting and absolutely lip-burningly, numbing experience, I suggest trying (just a few drops!) the Holy Jolokia, which is made from the fiery Ghost Pepper (but with no extra added capsaicin extract, unlike Blair's® or Dave's Insanity).

If nothing else, the Hot Sauce and Panko "official" web-site needs to be checked out, as it is very humourous:

http://hotsauceandpanko.wordpress.com/

You can also follow them on the funny pages of defacedbook.

5. Ingredients: Vermont-grown organic Habanero peppers (mainly of the orange cultivar), organic carrots (they don't state in which State these are grown), organic lime juice, extra virgin olive oil ("Yummo", Miss Ray?), orange and red bell peppers (they don't mention if these are "organic" or not), white onions (ditto on the unknown "organic" origins), garlic, distilled white vinegar (because "organic" orange vinegar would just be overkill).

This was sweet and hot, but not too hot, with a lot of nice tempered Habanero flavour. I was really surprised to find that there is no added sugar/cane syrup in the ingredients as it has a lot of sweetness to it; I suppose that is due to the added carrots and bell peppers ("organic" sweeteners or not).

6. Stupid useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

"Naranja" means "orange" en español, as in both the colour or citrus fruit.