Cafe Golo

It's a fantabulous morn for a Tater Scramble… just don't add any peanut butter to mine, thanks.

(No official website)

1602 Lombard Street (at Gough Street)

Phonicular contact: (415) 673-4656 (that's 673-HoJo, by the way)

 

(The house stereo happened to be playing some songs from the 70's and 80's this morning while I was eating there. Something by the Little River Band,  "You Might Think" by the Cars, and "Moondance" by Van Morrison ~ which is one of my favourites of his, not that there are really any of his that I don't like.)


I am running out of new places to try, so I checked out some recent "10 Best Breakfasts in San Francisco" lists and Cafe Golo ~ Boutique[1] Cafe popped up on a few of them. I spoke briefly with a lady (probably the owner/manager) who introduced herself as "P.B." (in her own words "as in peanut butter" ~ Now who would name their kid "Peanut Butter"?). I asked P.B. "Why 'Golo'?" and she explained that it comes from "Gough" and "Lombard" streets. I told her that it is good that they are located near the corner of those two streets and not further up on Lombard at the corner of Jansen Street or she may have had some legal hassles with Jennifer Lopez. (Unfortunately, it took a while for that poor joke to sink in with P.B., Jay).

Cafe Golo is a completely tiny and unassuming joint; there are just two tables for four and seven tables for two. It's located on the part of Lombard Street that has many hotels/motels around, but not that many places to eat. According to P.B., they do a pretty decent business with touristas and localites alike; however, if they were located further down Lombard Street (in the direction of the Presidio, not in the direction of the curvy portion of it) or along Chestnut Street, I am sure this place would do a block-buster business, Mr. Keaton.

Cafe Golo has a pretty decent breakfastary menu (and it is served all day until 2:00pm): omelettes, waffles/pancakes/French toast, breakfast sandwiches (to include burritos, quesadillas, and others), as well as what they call their Tater Scrambles. Plus, for those of you that are fans of the dead, decaying porky-flesh, they had as Chef G's Weekend Special ~ Carnitas (pork) in a red sauce served on corn tortillas with black beans, cheese, avocado, and sour cream.

Whenever potatoes are the focus of a breakfast, I will usually go with that, so I ordered Veggie Taters Scramble ~ Country potatoes mixed with sautéed onions, peppers, broccoli, artichokes, mushrooms, zucchini, and cheese. (I jokingly asked my server if these come with a side of home fries. I don't know why he didn't laugh, though. Someone must not be aware of the laws of tipping.) I also had them add one egg (over-medium) on top of the heap, Uriah. I rounded out the meal with a cuppa their house coffee (I am not sure of the exact make or roast, as when I asked one of the servers, he said they have several brands that they usually mix together to make their own blend; he did offer to go find out what they used, but I told him it wasn't really necessary ~ see, this guy knows about tips).

All of their breakfasts are served with a little taste (tease) of some of their fresh-baked pastries. (Yeah, just like that guy on the corner, they give you "a little taste of the good stuff" in hopes that you will buy more of their baked goods/crack.) I am not sure where they find the room to bake all of their breads and pastries, but they have a display case near the back of the restaurant to tempt you even more. Like any of that blatantly obvious temptation would work on someone with such a strong resolve as me… so I only bought one of their mixed fruit pastry/tart (made with peaches, apples, pears, and cranberries) to eat with my breakfast… and the joke was on them as I only took three more home to enjoy later: sweet potato pastry/tart, blackberry-mango danish/tart, and a peach cobbler danish/tart (peaches with oatmeal crumbles). P.B. explained to me that they only use fresh seasonal fruits in their baked goods, and orchard/pit fruits (peaches, apples, pears, etc.) are the lot that are currently available.

All of this was ("All of this were"?) a very good choice, and this place really is a great find. The Tater Scramble is made with two types of potatoes: regular white potatoes and sweet potatoes (even before I had dug into the pile, I was thinking to myself that this would be so much better with both types of potatoes). I asked them to skip the vile weed for me; however, I didn't notice any artichoke in it either, but there was the added seasonal fruit of tomatoes that wasn't specified on the menu. This had lots of cheesy goodness throughout (possibly a mixture of three cheeses: Cheddar, Mozzarella, and Monterey Jack?).

Cafe Golo has a pretty decent selection of condimentary supplements: Crystal®, Tapatío®, and Castillo® Salsa Habanera (both the red and green versions). Even so, I went with some of my own Cherry Republic® KaBOB's Kick'en Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy!) all over the scramble mess and just a little (and by "just a little", I literally mean one drop ~ which leaves probably about five years more of this hot sauce left in the bottle. Do you think hot sauces get less hot with age? Do they have a half-life like Uranium or anything?) of Blair's Sudden Death Sauce on top of the egg (Thanks a lot, Mom!). The Tater Scramble was served with a side (a pretty good sized portion, too) of black bean-corn salsa (from what I could tell it may or may not have had a bit of heat to it ~ I did see some diced pieces of fresh jalapeño in it ~ but I probably should have tasted it before already burning my lips and numbing my taste buds on the Blair's hot sauce).

By the way, P.B. pointed out to me that they even offer a Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich on their breakfast menu.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Veggie Tater Scramble ~ 7.0; Mixed Fruit Pastry/Tart ~ 6.9


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointeur du jour, numéro un:
 
"Boutique" comes from French, probably from Old Provençal "botica", from Latin "apotheca", ultimately from Greek "αποθήκη" (apothiki) meaning "storehouse/storeroom" ~ see also "apothecary".
 
Extra added stupid, useless cunning linguist punto del día, número dos:
 
The Spanish word "bodega" also comes from the same Greek word root.

Radish

What can you expect from a word that is found in the dictionary somewhere between "lousy" and "low"?

http://www.radishsf.com/

(In case you are wondering about today's musicality selections, they were playing solely Ol' Bloodshot Eyes songs on the house stereo the entire time while I was there this morning. The second EweToob song is my favourite Frankie song; I mean, not only does it perfectly explain "Love", but just how creepy is it that he is singing the duet with his daughter?)


Now I am neither a hipster doofus, nor a 1980's valley girl, but I went back to Radish (see 'blog-entry from October 30th, 2011) for breakfast this morning, all the same. They are a little, corner neighborhood place on 19th Street (between Valencia and Mission Streets). I suppose technically that this is in the Mission District, but the atmosphere (good food/bar, with just a little twist of attitude) and its proximity to the Castro have made me label this area as the Castration District. Radish has a great selection of Beers on tap (ten that I counted, but I didn't get a photo of the pulls to comment on the specific brands; from what I saw, I knew they looked good) and another good selection of twenty or so Beers available in bottles and cans.

Their breakfast menu (and they state it as just that, not "Brunch" on their menus) isn't really that extensive, but what they do offer is a decent enough selection. Plus, there are several interesting things offered on their weekend specials board.

I probably would have ordered the Migas Chile Relleno[1] ~ their own Migas stuffed inside a Poblano[2] chili, but I had their Migas as my meal there the last time and wanted to try something different. Now if I had seen this one before I had already ordered, I would have chosen it for sure: F.G.T. Benny ~ Eggs Benedict made with fried green tomatoes and ham (just the tomatoes were green, not the ham, Sam); I have had different versions of this before and have always liked it (without the dead, decaying porky-flesh, of course). As it were, I ordered the Greek Scramble ~ olives, mushrooms, spinach, and Feta; served with hash(browns) and choice of toast. I also had a glass of fresh Strawberry-Lemonade and a cuppa coffee. I also asked for a side of their fresh/home-made pickled jalapeños as I had them the last time and new that they were very good.

The scramble was served on a bed of baby spinach. I was expecting the spinach to be in the scramble mixture, but this worked nicely, too. It was made with green olives, not Kalamata olives. Now this was an interesting twist and it fooled ME, Jerry. I would have preferred Kalamata olives, but this was still very good; it was made with a brined, not vinegar-based, variety of green olives. They call their breakfast potatoes "hash", but these are actually a very decent, crispy-crunchy version of homefries. The sourdough toast was made from real sliced sourdough (which is better than the pre-sliced faux stuff), and it was very crispy and crunchy, too. Their house coffee is Mr. Espresso®, a good local roastery (and espresso machine manufacturer), and was very worthy of several cups being drank. The lemonade drink was good (with fresh mulled strawberries in it), but I didn't like it as much as the first time I had it; the lemonade base just seemed a little watered-down today.

http://mrespresso.com/

Radish offers as condimentary[3] supplementation just Cholula®. I used a brand new one from my collection (well, it was a gift at Christmas that I just opened now; Thanks, Cindy!) Serious food… Silly Prices Chunky Habanero Hot Sauce on the scramble and a little Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple[4] Hot (Thanks, Kerry!) on the potatoes.

Love may stink, but Radish is very good.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Greek Scramble ~ 6.5; Strawberry-Lemonade ~ 6.4


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinary punto del día, número uno:
 
"Relleno" is simply the Spanish word for "stuffed". Chile Rellenos are a Mexican dish made with roasted Poblano chilis stuffed with cheese, egg-battered, and then either pan fried or deep fried.

[2] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinary punto del día, número dos:
 
"Poblano" is the Spanish word for inhabitants of the State of Puebla, Mexico. The Poblano chili originated there.
 
[3] Not really a stupid, useless cunning linguist (or pseudo-culinary) pointer of the day, but just a grammatical pointer of the day:
 
For some time now, I had been using the term "condimentary" as what I thought was an original, made-up portmanteau word from "condiment" and "complimentary"; however, I recently discovered that it is an actual word and is just the adjectival form of "condiment". This won't alter the fact that I will still be using the term, it just takes away some of its panachery (which I am pretty sure is an original, made-up portmanteau word, Mr. Dodgson).
 
[4] I am not so sure as to the veracity of that nomenclature. Yes, it is extremely hot ~ it is made with both habanero chilis and naga jolokia chilis ~ however, most Triples in Fenway Park actually come from balls hit into the tricky corners of Centerfield and not off the Green Monstah, Wally. A seasoned, veteran Leftfielder can play balls off the Monstah and usually hold a batter to a Double or a Single… or in Manny Ramirez' case, just sit on the ball.

Land O’ Lakes® Butter?

And just who the hell is this Rolf Mao guy, and why does everyone seem to think he is so damned funny?

(Take your pick of versions of this song. It was originally written and performed by Nick Lowe, but Mr. MacManus had a much bigger success with his version. I included the last video as a counterpoint, you ignorant slut, Jane. That one was just by some no-name guy and his buddies; I felt sorry for him as it is very obvious that he will never have a career in the Rock-and/or-Roll World.

By the way, I had the pleasure of hearing both Nick and Elvis sing their versions [as well as one by Steve Earle; however, I couldn't locate his version on stupid EweToob] ~ and all on the same weekend ~ at one of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festivals a few years back.)


(This is not a breakfastary 'blog-entry whatsoever, but a)

Stupid Intro-Net Jargon Rant

LOL… lol… lulz…

ROFL… ROTFL… ROFLMAO…

Hardyharhar…

I don't know about you, but I am pretty fed-up with all of this newfangled, cutesy Intro-Net jargon that is out there lately. Now, I am not saying that we need to form some kind of Intro-Net Vernacular Police (which really ain't that bad an idea), but what the hell is wrong with just typing out complete words now-a-days?

The first time that I ever encountered "LOL"/"lol" in a chat room or forum, I thought someone was commenting about me being a "Loser On-Line" or something. Either that, or I really couldn't figure out why they were giving a random shout-out to some dairy company in Minnesota. By the time I had it figured out, they had already logged off and it was too late to get the joke.

The next time that I saw "ROFLMAO", I was equally as confused and could only think that it must be some kinda Italiano curse word aimed at me! I had to have it explained to me that this was not a misspelling of the name of Richie Cunningham's redheaded buddy on "Happy Days" or the actor that played "The Karate Kid". Maybe it was a Teutonic Communist reference?

I understand that a lot of these words came into the Intro-Net lexicon due to the ease and brevity that it takes to type them, and some came about due to "texting" (and don't EVEN get me started on the stupidity of that phase… um, kids, this was called telegraphing and Morse Code back before your great-grandparents were born; it is not such a new technology) charges. However, how hard is it to type "hahaha" or just simply "ha!" instead? "Hahaha" only requires a few additional keystrokes more than "LOL", and "Ha!" has the exact same amount of spacing. Most mobular phone plans have unlimited "texting" already built into the charges now-a-days, anyway. If you are in the comfort of your own home, typing away like one of the good Intro-Net monkeys we all have become, just how hard is it to type a few extra letters on your home PC or laptop? IMHO, this is really just an excuse for extreme laziness…

Now before you start calling me a technophobe or "grumpy ol' man McGowan" (and if I catch you damned kids playing with that Frisbee pie plate thingy on my lawn one more time, I will keep it for good and call your parents!), I have nothing against 21st Century (or even outdated 20th Century) technology. I know many people that own and use one of those micro-waveable oven contraptions and are very happy with their nuclear-heated, tasteless food. And I do plan on getting myself one of the newest telephony devices as soon as they come out with the "implant" or something better than just a wannabe Star Trek communicator. (By the way, the motor on my Betamax is about shot, does anyone know of a good electric repairman?)

If you still must insist on abbreviating your emotions, at least have the decency to be original about it. Here are a few examples that will get your mindless friends thinking for a change:

"555" in place of the ubiquitous "LOL" (By the way, "ubiquitous" is a great word to learn as you see it everywhere now-a-days. Look it up, you lazy bastages! It's not as if you don't have access to the World Wild Webs at your fingertips!); it has the exact same amount of keystrokes and is actually quicker to type as it uses the same key three times. The word for the number "five" in Thai is pronounced "ha"; hence, this would be "hahaha". Get it?! Good!

"xaxaxa" in place of "LOL", too. This is simply the Russkij transliteration of "hahaha". The letter "x" in Russian is pronounced as a guttural "kh" sound; this is sort of the sound your cat would make while coughing up a hairball.

(You can consider those first two examples as stupid, cunning linguist extra pointers of the day if you like.)
 
"GA" ("Guffawing Audibly") in place of "LMAO".

(And my personal favorite)
 
"CMBOMN" ("Chortlin' My Beverage Outta My Nose") in place of "ROLFMAOTSE-TUNG".

I blame it all on Al Gore for inventing the Intro-Net and his stupid Global Colding conspiracies. Besides, when it comes to "LOL", I much prefer Parkay®…

What's so funny 'bout acronyms, banality[1], and misunderstandings, Deckie?


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Nick Lowe ~ 6.8; Elvis Costello ~ 7.5; Rick Springfield and friends ~ 7.0


[1] (Just in case you thought you could get away without another) stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo etymological pointer du jour: 
 
"Banality" comes from the French noun "banalité", meaning "commonplace". This comes from the French adjective "banal", meaning "up your arses, ya buncha lazy buggers".
 
And don't think that I am being banal retentive about all of this Intro-Net crap, Mr. Miagi.
 

Nob Hill Grille

So, do you think that they will change the name of that large phallic monument in Trafalgar Square to "Wiggins' Column" now?[1]

http://nobhillgrille.com/

 

(Today's EweToob video link is in honour of Wiggo's triumphe in the 2012 Tour de France ~ Félicitations, Monsieur Wiggins!; and, also of note, Brian May's birthday was on the 19th ~ Happy 65th Birthday, Commander Brian, CBE!)


After eating breakfast last week at MyMy Coffee Shop (Hey, Hey!), it reminded me that it had been some time since I last ate breakfast at Nob Hille Grille (that is not the correct spelling, but it should be) and decided it was time to revisit the place (see last 'blog-entry from October 23rd, 2011). Nob Hille Grille is located on the corner of Hyde and Pine (and, where else, but on Nob Hill?), which is just a few blocks away from MyMy Coffee Shop. This is a great little neighborhoody place; it has limited seating capacity, but is worth checking out if it's not too busy. The 2012 Tour de France was showing on the TeeVee above the counter this morning (hence the silly video link).

They call their early morning meal "Brunch" (and their menu is basically that ~ fancier breakfastary items), but they open up at 8:30am, so I can cut them some slack for the snooty nomenclature. They only have a small "Brunch" menu from which to choose for stupid vegetarian types (and I had their excellent French toast the last time I was there), so I went with the build your own omelette ~ goat cheese, spinach, and tomatoes, which is served with home fries and wheat toast. I also ordered a cuppa coffee.

This was good. It had lots of goat cheese in it and lots of fresh spinach (which they really don't offer as one of the choices on the build your own, but it was available as an ingredient in another item and they were nice enough to let me include it in mine). The home fries were a little too salty, Jarrod, but they were nice and extra crispy which made up for it a little.

Nob Hille Grille has as condimentary supplements Tabasco® (just the standard red and sometimes Chipotle) and Tương Ớt Sriracha. I used up the last (*sniff-sniff*) of my Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks onces agains, Amys!) on my omelette and some Serious Food… Silly Prices Sweet Heat Hot Sauce on the home fries (which tempered the saltiness a bit, Cap'n Jason). Nob Hille Grille also has these mini-pepper mills (for really tiny peppercorns?) on each table, which I put to good use liberally on both the omelette and home fries.

http://www.paloaltofirefighters.com/

R.I.P., good soldier! (Looks like I might need to head to a local street festival soon to get another bottle. I know I could order a bottle on-line, but I also could drink St*rbucks coffee while smoking a cigarette and texting on my mobular phone. I also just noticed that this is now available at one retail store in San Francisco and might be worthy of a trip over to the Castro to pick up a bottle or two.)

I got to talking with the manager/waiter guy and found out that he was also a hot sauce aficionado[2], Ernest. I left him the empty bottle of PAFFPS so that he can locate some on-line for his personal collection when he gets the chance. I also informed him about Hot Sauce and Panko over in the Richmond that specializes in 100's of hot sauces for sale.

http://hotsauceandpanko.com/


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  b.y.o. omelette ~ 6.5


[1] I am pretty sure this is the first time that the British have defeated the French since Waterloo, Arthur Wellesley. And it is interesting to point out that Bradley Wiggins was actually born in Belgium.

Stupid English kaniggits! 
 
[2] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
 
"Aficionado" literally means in Spanish "amateur", from the past participle ending in "-ado" of "aficionar", meaning "to engender affection".

Taste of Rome

Who knew that Rome tasted like stinky, moldy cheese?

(A mini-roadtrip to Sausalito[1])

http://www.taste-of-rome.com/

I had breakfast this morning at Taste of Rome in Sausalito, right along Bridgeway (and I have no idea how much a bridge weighs, so don't ask me) with some old friends (well, some a lot older than others *cough*Harvey*cough*) that were back in town after moving to Seattle recently: Harvey, Jamie, and their little daughter, Lizzie. That is a picture of Harvey and Lizzie (with her new tiger friend) in front of the restaurant. Like most establishments in town, this place is located just yards from the San Francisco Bay.

Sausalito always reminds me of a Left Coast version of a Cape Cod tourist town ~ lots of souvenir and art shops, but short on good places for breakfast or "Brunch". Harvey, Jamie, and Lizzie are staying at Casa Madrona and the house restaurant there really had nothing much substantial for breakfast (just coffee and pastries, etc.), so it was good that I happened to find Taste of Rome. I actually ran into Harvey, Jamie, and Lizzie a half hour before I was scheduled to meet them for breakfast while I was walking around Sausalito looking for a good place to eat; I had already passed by Taste of Rome and liked the looks of their breakfast menu, and it was just two blocks away from where they are staying.

For a coffee house, Taste of Rome actually has a very decent selection of breakfast dishes. They have several omelettes and scrambles, Eggs Benedicts, and frittatas. I ordered the Frittata col Gorgonzola[2] ~ egg, bacon & Gorgonzola cheese with Potatoes (choice of toast and a cup of fruit). Harvey had the Denver Omelet ~ Ham, Cheddar cheese, bell peppers, and green onion (I am pretty sure that whenever Harvey eats breakfast in Colorado's capital city that he orders the Sausalito Omelette). Jamie had (Traditional) Eggs Benedict ~ with Canadian bacon. Lizzie just had a Toasted Bagel with butter and jam. For drinks, I had a Doppio Espresso; Harvey and Jamie both had non-fat Lattes; and Lizzie had a Strawberry Smoothie.

(I suppose I could have taken a picture of all of the other meals, but in the end I just took a picture of mine only. Harvey and Jamie can start their own Seattle version of a breakfastary 'blog if they want to.)

I skipped the dead, decaying, crispy pork flesh (Sorry, Glen.) and substituted mushrooms instead (Sorry, Skip.). It was nice that they even offered to substitute something else for me (the counter-lady was very nice and helpful… and cute, too). This was not a very large frittata, but it was pretty good with lots of stinky, cheesy goodness.

You can choose from either home fries or hashbrowns as your potato side dish; I love a place where you get to choose from two different types of potatoes. We all went with the home fries. I asked the cute counter-lady which she would recommend, and she agreed with what I always say that "potatoes of any kind really make it a breakfast" (it didn't really make a decision for me, but did I mention she was cute?). We all agreed that these were really good home fries (with whole rosemary sprigs roasted in with them).

I went with sourdough toast this morning (I liked that it was grilled, not toasted; as was Lizzie's bagel). Harvey had English muffins as his toast/bread choice. Jamie didn't really get to make a choice for her English muffins with the Traditional Eggs Benedict, of course. I thought it pretty funny that they actually forgot Lizzie's butter with her bagel, but we had more than enough butter to go around.

Taste of Rome offers for condimentary supplementation just Tabasco® (but they offer two types: the standard red and green Jalapeño), which isn't that bad for an Italian caffee place. It really didn't matter as usual, as I had come prepared and used some of my Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains, Amys!) on my potatoes; Harvey and Jamie used some, too (Harvey on both his omelette and potatoes and Jamie just on her potatoes); and they both agreed with me that this little, local sauce has some great flavour and just the right amount of heat. Lizzie just had butter and a little strawberry jam on her bagel.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Frittata col Gorgonzola ~ 6.5


[1] Sausalito is located in Marin County and is the next town due north of San Francisco directly across the Golden Gate Bridge. It's not really much of a "roadtrip", more like just a "$6.00 bridge trip".
 
Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
 
"Sausalito" is not Italiano for "a small amount of gravy", it actually comes from the Spanish "sauzalito", meaning "small willow grove", from "sauce" (meaning "willow") + collective derivative "-al" (meaning "place of abundance") + diminutive suffix "-ito"; with orthographic corruption from z to s.
 
[2] Gorgonzola cheese is one of my favourite of the stinkier, blue cheese varieties.  It is named after the village near Milan, Italy where it was first made.

MyMy Coffee Shop

"It's better to eat breakfast than it is to eat rust…"

(No official website, but they do have a defacedbook page ~ go figger)

1500 California Street (at Larkin Street)

Phonicular contact: (415) 800-7466

(What good is one Noel Yang song without the bookend?)


Now this was another nice little find. I happened to be in the neighborhood the other day and passed by MyMy Coffee Shop. (This is not a typo, or even Type AB Negative, they have it spelled as "MyMy" on their defacedbook page, too; I really couldn't tell from the awning if there was supposed to be any spacing or not.) I looked at their breakfastary menu in the window, liked what I saw, made note of it, and went back there this morning to check it out. MyMy Coffee Shop is on the corner of California and Larkin Streets along the scenic San Francisco "Trolley Car" line. This is a cute little neighborhood (if your cute little neighborhood happens to be Nob Hill) restaurant; they have four window-counter seats, seven tables for two, and four tables for four = (if my math is any good) just a little over thirty, right?

Wild Parrots of San Francisco Update:

I saw just one solitary (because two really can't be called "solitary", can it?) parrot[1] flying overhead on California Street as I was walking around after breakfast.

MyMy Coffee Shop is only open for breakfast and lunch. They have a pretty diverse breakfast menu, though. They offer seven different types (again, if there were only one type, it couldn't be called "different", could it?) of Eggs Benedict; lots of scramble/omelette choices (the Marguerita ~ sun dried tomato, mushroom, basil, & Gruyere ~ looked tempting); and they even have something called Rosemary Potato Irish Pancakes that looked very interesting. I ended up ordering the Harvest time Scramble ~ Garlic, tomato, fennel, eggplant, Kalamata olive, basil pesto, grilled asparagus, & Parmesan sprinkle; served with hash browns (they have this as two words ~ Gates must have gotten to them, too) and toast (I went with sourdough). I also ordered a cuppa coffee.

The scrambled eggs were strangely verdant (due to the basil pesto, of course), which was kinda cool to see (I was just happy that there was no green ham, Sam). This had lots of fennel, lots of Kalamata olives, but just one stalk of asparagus (however, it was nicely grilled); now this would have bothered me if that were the only vegetable in the scramble, but they didn't skimp on either of the other two ingredients that had caught my eye to begin with. The sourdough bread was served as grilled toast, which I thought was a nice touch.

Their house coffee was America's Best Coffee (it's not really the best, but it was okay ~ I suppose calling yourself America's Okay Coffee might not be such a great selling point) Special Roast (this is like a French Roast, but just a little darker ~ as was described by my waitress/server person lady). About half-way through my first cuppa, I added the mint sprig adornment thingy to my coffee and a little later on I also added half of the orange slice (I ate the other half); this all ended up being an interesting flavour combination (I did not feel it necessary to add any of my HP® Guinness® to the coffee, though).

As for condimentary supplements, MyMy Coffee Shop has a pretty decent selection: Tabasco® (the standard red); Cholula®; Tapatío®; and Crystal® Hot Sauce. But my collection/selection is better; I used some Oaxacan Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the scramble and some HP® Guinness® (Thanks, Cindy!) on the hashbrowns. 

"It's better to burn toast than fade away…"

Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Harvest time Scramble ~ 7.0


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-ornithological pointer of the day:
 
This is pretty interesting (well, if you like cunning linguistics), the English word "parrot" comes from the French word "perroquet" (meaning "parrot", see also: "parakeet"). The English word "popinjay" has the archaic meaning of "parrot" and comes from the Old French word "papegai". Now, this makes a lot more sense as variations of that word are used for "parrot" most of the World over:
 
Afrikaans = "papegaai"
Albanian = "papagall"
Belarussian = "папугай"
Bulgarian = "папагал"
Croatian = "papiga"
Czech = "papoušek"
Danish = "papegøje"
Dutch = "papegaai"
Esperanto = "papago"
Estonian = "papagoi"
Filipino = "papagayo"
Finnish = "papukaija"
German = "Papagei"
Greek = "παπαγάλος"
Hungarian = "papagáj"
Icelandic = "Páfagaukurinn"
Italian = "pappagallo"
Latvian = "papagailis"
Lithuanian = "papūga"
Macedonian = "папагалот"
Maltese = "Pappagall"
Norwegian = "papegøye"
Polish = "ptak zielony"
Portuguese = "papagaio"
Romanian = "papagal"
Russkij = "попугай"
Serbian = "папагај"
Slovak = "papagáj"
Slovenian = "papiga"
Spanish = "papagayo"
Swedish = "papegoja"
Turkish = "papağan"
Ukrainian = "папуга"
Yiddish = "פּאַפּוגייַ"

STRAW

http://strawsf.com/

(I can't really say that I know what tin men or scarecrows eat for breakfast, but I bet cowardly lions don't much care for the Toto-free omelettes.)


This morning for breakfast (because "breakfast" at night is usually called "dinner") I revisited STRAW (see last 'blog-entry from August 27th, 2011) over on Octavia Boulevard in Hayes Valley. They recently remodeled the place by taking out the bar-counter in order to have room for more seats, but it's still a rather small place with seating for about thirty people, Mr. Smart (that would be Max to the rest of you). I got there when they were just opening (10:00am), but shortly thereafter they did fill-up and had to start taking names for a waiting list. They actually take reservations for "Brunch" (which is what they call this early meal), but I am not sure that reservations are really that necessary as there were only a few people waiting outside when I had finished.

STRAW always has interesting music playing on the house stereo whenever I am there. This morning it was mainly 60's and 70's Motown and R&B hits: Bill Withers ~ "Ain't No Sunshine"; War ~ "Why Can't We Be Friends?"; the Temptations ~ "Get Ready"; and (the penultimate classic by) Marvin Gaye ~ "Let's Get It On"; etc. I also like the kitschy feel that they serve their drinks in Kerr Mason jars and that water is served in glass milk bottles (I assume that those lead/tin milk bottles that they use at carnivals for a baseball toss might be a little too heavy and harder to clean).

There are several good things to choose on their "Brunch" menu. The whack-a-mole (red velvet Belgian waffles) looked interesting; plus, I was thinking about getting the spud lover (hash brown omelette). They also offer the state fair, which is a trio of beignets: apple-cinnamon caramel/strawberry lime/lemon blueberry ~ which really needs to be investigated another time. For today, I ordered the fiesta grande ~ chilaquiles with house-made tortilla chips/chili-tomato ranchero sauce/fried egg/queso fresco/shredded jack/cilantro/sour cream/avocado. I also had a glass of strawberry basil lemonade.

This chilaquiles dish was served in a cast iron mini-skillet. This was an okay version of chilaquiles (and like I have stated before, no two versions of chilaquiles are usually the same; it's like tiramisù, every restaurant or family has their own recipe for it); however, both Chava's or SanJalisco® are much better, as they serve theirs more as a saucy-soupy style. I did like that STRAW makes their own tortilla chips for this dish; and I think they were made from either tomato or chipotle tortillas. Their chili-tomato ranchero sauce may have had a nice flavour/bit o' heat, but there really wasn't enough of it to discern (plus, see below for condimentary supplementation used); the nice waitress/server person offered to get me a little dish of it to try, but it really wasn't necessary (again, see below for condimentary supplementation over-used).

I really liked the lemonade. I had just mentioned to someone the other day how I bet fresh basil would be good in ice tea in place of mint leaves. This had a very good flavour, and it was not overpowering with basil, Mr. Faulty.

STRAW has for condimentary supplementation just Tabasco® (the standard red). The chilaquiles probably didn't need any extra spicing-up, but I will never know, as I used a little (well, a little too much; it pours out kinda fast) of my own El Yucateco® XXXTRA HOT SAUCE Salsa Kutbil-ik®[1] de CHILE HABANERO (Thanks, Brian!) on them before even tasting the dish. This is the newest addition to my collection. (Not that I really needed another bottle of hot sauce right now, but I saw it at a Mexican bodega in the Mission the other day and at only $1.99/bottle I couldn't pass it up.) I have had this hot sauce many times before and knew I liked it. It not only packs a nice amount of heat ~ measured at 11,600 on the Scoville Heat Unit Scale; this is about twenty times the heat of normal Tabasco® and about twice as hot as some other habanero sauces ~ but it has a really nice flavour with all of the other ingredients. This is about as hot as I like it, but I should have gone a little lighter on the amount used.

http://www.elyucateco.com/english/products/sauces/kubil-ik.html

I will go back again to STRAW (for "Brunch" and Dinner), as they have lots of other good things to eat and it's a pretty fun atmosphere. I will be sure to go a little easier on the hot sauce if I order the beignets, though.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  fiesta grande ~ 6.2; strawberry basil lemonade ~ 6.5


[1] Stupid, (extremely) useless (unless you happen to be a 16th Century Spanish Conquistador or Explorer) pointer of the day:
 
"Kutbil-ik" is the Mayan word for "crushed chili".