http://www.pomelosf.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtlNlTHe-_0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp6j5HJ-Cok
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q80vPeejm7k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5ecvBaqHBk
(I was originally just going to link the Big Bopper song to tie it in with the "Chantilly cream" that was on my pancakes this morning. Then I remembered what day yesterday was the anniversary of; so I added these other three songs to complement it all. Plus, I could not find any songs dedicated specifically to cardamom on EweToob.)
I thought it kinda interesting to go back and eat at Pomelo[1] (the one in Noe Valley) again this weekend after having breakfast/"Brunch" at Tangerine on Sunday. I hadn't eaten there since last Spring (see 'blog-entry from May 7th, 2011), but used to eat there all the time years ago when it was still called Valentine's.
Pomelo has a pretty interesting "weekend brunch" menu from which to choose. They have several items on their menu that they designate as specifically vegetarian, but most of the other items look like they would be good without any of the dead, decaying animal flesh, too. I want to get back there again to try the makena (a banana-stuffed mascarpone brioche French toast); plus, the couple sitting at the next table over had ordered the ulsan (Korean scallion pancakes with a buncha junk on top of it ~ this basically was served like a breakfast pizza, always nice) and the miraflores (crispy Afro-Peruvian bean and rice pancake stacked with fried plantains and one sunny-side up egg on top), both of which I would like to check out, too.
All "Brunch" meals start with a freebie mini-muffin. Today's was a pear-almond mini-muffin.
This was very good. It would have been better if it was not so "mini" (two bites and it was gone), but there was more than enough to eat with the rest of my meal.
For breakfast, I settled on the battery street (burlington) ~ three scandinavian cardamom[2] pancake rolls served with ginger-vanilla pear compote, toasted almonds, and chantilly[3] cream. I also ordered a large glass of grapefruit juice (Unfortunately, they don't offer any pomelo juice. I was mistaken last week when I said that Pomelo doesn't have anything on their menu that incorporates an actual pomelo; they do have the pomelo salad that is made with segments of pomelo.) and a side trip of house potatoes. Before they had opened I bought a cuppa coffee from Café XO[4] and brought it in with me.
The "Scandinavian pancakes" were more like crêpes rolled up into a cigar-shape, Mr. Mandelbaum. There were lots of cardamom and cinnamon in the pancakes (and possibly a lot of lace in the Chantilly cream); the inclusion of the cardamom in the pancakes was the deciding factor for me today in choosing this dish. I am not so sure what Chantilly cream is supposed to taste like, but it was good and there was a large amount on top. The ginger-vanilla pear compote was very good; these flavours pair (pear?) very well with cinnamon and cardamom.
Now why this dish is called "Burlington" (as in Vermont; I asked) is a good question (I did not ask). Does there happen to be a large population of Swedish or Norwegians in that area of New England?
As for the coffee, it was pretty good, too. Café XO is located right next door to Pomelo at the very end of Church Street. And if you were wondering, Café XO is okay with same sex marriages; I asked the owner and (after a pretty perplexed look) he assured me that he has no problems with marriage equality (I completely forgot to ask him how he felt about heterosexual marriages, though). Now the reason for that little break from my normal breakfastary rant is…
St*rbucks/Same Sex Marriage Rant:
Now, I hate St*rbucks as much as I do "organized religion" ("chaotic hypocrisy" is a better euphemism), so when the two are at odds with one another, which side do I take?
It seems that some stupid christian groups are advocating the boycott of all St*rbucks because St*rbucks is a major supporter of an initiative in Washington State for marriage equality. Now, I have no problem with boycotting St*rbucks on the general principle of their World Coffee Domination corporate policy; but, when I am told to boycott them for doing something actually laudable, I am at a loss for what to do. Do I go to St*rbucks to piss off some religioso fanatics, or do I agree with their boycott ~ not for their misguided reasoning, but for my own ratiocination?
This was probably the same kind of difficult decision that 'merica had to make during WWII. Side with the despotic Stalin or the much-hated Mein Führer? I would have the same problem choosing sides if the D*mn Y*nkees ever meet up with the D*mn D*dgers in another World Series. (Yes, I did just compare the Y*nkees and D*dgers to Stalin and Hitler, and I am aware that this is very unfair to both Ioseb and Adolph.)
So, my "final solution" was to just keep it local and maintain my current boycott of St*rbucks and to just check out the establishment's own feelings about marriage equality. Truth be told, if the owner had said he was against it, I still would have bought a cuppa and just not mentioned it here.
Either way, you know this should be a fun debate: Coffee God vs. dogma Dog. You just know that pope guy probably can't live without his daily vente half-decaf mocha latte with a twist, too. (Okay, rant over for now.)
As for condimentary supplementation, Pomelo offers Tabasco® (the standard red, Chipotle, and green Jalapeño) and Cholula®. I went with some Chipotle on the potatoes; this really is one of Tabasco's® best entries.
Now I just hope that I can find a place named Tangelo to eat at next weekend… or it might just be "the day the breakfast died".
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: battery street ~ 7.0
[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/etymological/agricultural pointer of the day, nummer een or número um:
Pomelo is pronounced as "POM-a-loh", not "pom-ELLO", Mr. Anthony. The word probably comes from the Dutch word "pompoen" (meaning "pumpkin") combined with the Portuguese word "limão" (meaning "lemon").
A tangelo is a hybrid of tangerine and pomelo. It is pronounced as "TAN-ja-loh", not like "tan-Jello®" which I sometimes have heard. (What flavour is "tan", anyway?) It simply comes from the two citrusy words combined.
[2] Some additional information on cardamom, which happens to be one of my favourite spices:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CardamomIt really makes for an excellent flavour of ice cream or kulfi.
[3] Now, I really wouldn't know the difference between Chantilly lace and Crème Chantilly, so here is a little explanation (borrowed directly from Wikipedia):
"Crème Chantilly is a French light whipped cream sweetened with sugar, and often flavored with vanilla, or more rarely, simply whipped cream with no additions. In France, whipped cream is called crème fouettée, and crème Chantilly is much lighter and fragrant than the standard whipped cream.
The original recipe is attributed to François Vatel, maître d’hôtel at the Château de Chantilly in the 17th century."
You can look up Chantilly lace on your own if you really care to, Mr. Richardson.
[4] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, νούμερο δύο:
Don't let the "XO" fool you into thinking this means it's some kinda lovey-dovey sorta coffee joint. I have it under good authority that the owner is Greek and as everyone knows the Greek letter "X" is pronounced like a guttural "h" in English. I am pretty sure this was just the owner's way of naming his establish as a place where the local "professional women" can hang out and enjoy a good cuppa off the hard streets.
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