Velo Rouge Cafe

"Je veux faire de mon bicyclette…" 
~ Frédéric Mercure et Reine

http://www.velorougecafe.com/

(This is their official website, but I had problems loading it. It might still be a valid/working website, but I can't tell for sure.)

(Do I really need to explain the connection between today’s EweToob video selection and the restaurant?)


For some time now, I have been meaning to get to Velo[1] Rouge[2] Cafe, which is located in the Richmond District over on the corner of Arguello[3] Boulevard and McAllister[4] Street (just one block north of Golden Gate Park), and I finally got there this morning for breakfast. They have been open for about five years now and are basically a corner neighborhood coffeehouse. Due to its proximity to Golden Gate Park, this seems to be a very popular spot with bicyclists (and all their stupid, healthy ilk); plus, they are a bicycle-themed joint (hence the café name) with many bicycle posters and photos on the walls, as well as some pretty cool chairs and tables made from old bicycle parts.

Velo Rouge Cafe does not have a very extensive breakfastary menu, but what they do offer all looks pretty good. I thought about getting the Mt. Ventoux[5] sandwich or Leipheimer[6] Breakfast Burrito, but ended up going with something I could pronounce: McAllister Scramble sandwich ~  three eggs scrambled with bacon (skipped the dead, decaying porky-flesh), grilled onions, mushrooms, spinach, and Feta cheese on an English muffin; served with roasted potatoes (which they do not state anywhere on the menu, but I was very happy to see on my plate). I also had a cuppa mighty fine Blue Bottle Coffee Co. Mexico - Chiapas PROISH (each cup is personally made as a fresh-drip for you).

This was all simple enough, but very good. This was served as an open-faced sandwich (à la Oeufs Benedict); I was not expecting that at all, but was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it very much. Plus, I am always a sucker for anything that has both spinach and Feta in it.

Surprisingly for "just a coffeehouse", Velo Rouge Cafe has a pretty selective condimentary supplementation: Tabasco® (the standard red); Tapatío®; and Pico Pica®. I was not figuring on them having more than the ubiquitous Tabasco® red, so I used some of my own collection with which I had come prepared:  a little Cholula® (Thanks, Brian!) on the sandwich and a little Cherry Republic® KaBob‘s Kick‘en Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy!) on the potatoes.
 

Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  McAllister Scramble Sandwich ~ 6.5; Blue Bottle Coffee Co. Mexico Chiapas PROISH ~ 7.0


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numéro un:
 
"Vélo" (avec accent aigu, which is the correct spelling; I am not sure why a Frenchy-named place would omit it ~ as well as in "Café") simply means "bicycle" in French. It can also be called "vélocipède" or "bicyclette". "Vélocipède" word roots comes from Latin "velox" (the genitive* is "velocis") meaning "swift" (as in "velocity", etc.) and "pes" (the accusative* is "pedem") meaning "foot" (as in "pedal", etc.)

*(One of these days I probably should explain the different cases of nouns used in some ferren languages: i.e. Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Ablative, Accusative, and, most importantly, Guitarative.)

[2] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numéro deux:
 
"Rouge" in French simply means the colour "red/rouge". Now did I really need to explain that?
 
[3] You may be asking yourself: "Just who the hell was this 'Arguello' guy and why the hell did he deserve a street/boulevard named for him in San Francisco?”
 
José Darío Argüello was the founder of Los Ångeles and twice the Spanish colonial governor of Alta California.
 
After reading that, you may still be asking yourself: "But why the hell a street/boulevard in San Francisco?"
 
I don't have an exact answer for that. Sorry.
 
[4] You may also be asking yourself: "And just who the hell is this 'McAllister' guy and why the hell did he deserve a street named for him in San Francisco?"
 
(And I would really hella appreciate it if you would just stop the using the word "hell" so much in my presence.)
 
This street was named after the McAllister family. Apparently, they were some prominent (read: snooty-assed white folk) San Francisco family in the 19th Century.
 
[5] As far as I can discern, this is some little hill that is prominent in a stupid little annual "bicycle race" in France.
 
[6] Levi Leipheimer is some stupid 'merican that likes to participate in the same stupid little annual "bicycle race" in France.