(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.
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