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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Za8HggalY&feature=related
(I am sure there will be at least one of my loyal readers that enjoys this EweToob link, but he has no choice as he is my little brother… and this was probably his theme song growing up in the same house as our maniacal oldest brother, who shall remain nameless for familial harmony purposes.)
As it was time for my annual eye exam, I decided to have breakfast in the same neighborhood (which would be West Portal) before my morning appointment. As luck would have it, there is a little place directly across the street: Manor Coffee Shop (Restaurant); I write it as such as their awning just reads Manor Coffee Shop, but their menu actually says the completely redundant Manor Coffee Shop Restaurant redundancy. By the way, the name of my eye doctor: Dr. Karen See, Optometrist[1].
I have eaten at this place a few times for lunch in the past, but this was my first time having breakfast there. They may call themselves a "coffee shop" (or even "coffee shop restaurant"), but they are very much a "diner" (in the best sense of the word, Mr. Fieri). They have probably been at this same location since the 50's. I sat at their long linoleum counter (which takes up most of the space, anyway) to get the full diner-effect; they have about twenty stools ~ maroon vinyl-covered and all ~ and only six tables/booths. The servers wear olde-timey pink and white waitress uniforms (and, boy, did my server, Bruce, ever look silly in that dress). They even have this great wall paper design and border thingy that I want for my kitchen.
Their breakfast menu is pretty extensive and has a lot of good choices. I am not sure you can order these for breakfast, but they have both sweet potato fries and something called Silly Spuds on their regular lunch/dinner menu. I have had the Silly Spuds before and I can tell you they are very tasty; they are basically one large potato chip made from a swirl-cut of an entire potato and served on a skewer; it comes with a choice of fifteen different flavours (which are just some sprinkled on powder, but still very good), e.g. Cajun, Chili Lime, Curry, Dill Pickle, Pizza, etc.
I ordered the Popeye's Garden Omelette ~ spinach, mushrooms, and cheese; served with buttered toast (went with the choice of English muffins) and homemade hash brown potatoes; and a cuppa good diner coffee (hot, black, basically tasteless… coffee). (Now I am not really sure what kinda garden Popeye is keeping, but he may need to be reported to the authorities if he is cultivating his mushrooms in a cow pasture.)
This was made with lots of fresh spinach, but for some reason it was on the outside of the omelette; I am not even sure how they did that. However, there was just plain ol' 'merican cheese inside the omelette; I suppose I could have asked for Swiss cheese as I did notice it on the menu, and that always seems to pair well with spinach and mushrooms. It really was a lot of food, combined with the huge portion of hashbrowns. The coffee may have been just diner coffee, but they kept refilling my cup, so I kept on drinking it.
Manor Coffee Shop only has as condimentary supplementation Tabasco® (and just the standard red); but I had come well prepared and went with a little (well, a lot really) Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains, Amys!) on the hashbrowns, and a little Benito's Original Naranja on the omelette.
While there was absolutely nothing spectacular about the entire breakfast, would I go back there again? You betcha. The whole atmosphere was diner-esque and the wait-staff were all very friendly.
Breakfast is not unfair, Malcolm.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Popeye's Garden Omelette ~ 5.5
[1] I can't make this stuff up. This is like having the last name of "Cook" or "Baker" and working in the food industry.
Which brings us to the stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
There is a dentist in my neighborhood named Dr. Zubov. The Russkij word for tooth is "зуб", which is transliterated as "zub" and pronounced "zoob".
I am just glad that Dr. See's first name isn't "Anita", or that her Chinese surname wasn't "Ho" or "Wang" or there is no telling which direction her profession may have taken her.
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