Flipper’s Gourmet Burgers

"I'll have the tuna-free pancakes, please!"

(No official web-site. Which is strange, as they are a local mini-chain with other restaurants in Oakland/Piedmont and Novato.)

482 Hayes Street

Phonicular contact: (415) 552-8880

 

I went back over to Hayes Valley and ate at Flipper's Gourmet Burgers this morning; and I was very happy to see that they were actually open by the time I got there (which was after 9:00am today). Flipper's is basically a burger joint (which is where I assume they get their name) and offer eighteen types of burgers (which all can be substituted with either chicken breasts, turkey-burgers, or veggie-burgers); they do also have a pretty decent breakfastary menu from which to order. There is an outdoor patio café that has a Royal Ground kiosk[1] in it along with about 12-15 tables for four (which is probably as many seats as there are inside); it was still just a little overcast when I got there (and no other idiots were out there yet), so I opted (read: wimped-out) for a table indoors.

This is a photo of a fountain in the outdoor patio depicting some dolphins (or porpoises, I didn't get close enough to discern).

'Smart Fish' Rant:

This reminds me of a story about one time when I had lunch at Tillie Gort's in Pacific Grove (which is the town right next door to Monterey). Tillie Gort's is mainly a vegetarian restaurant and I have been going there since 1978 when I was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey. It's one of my favourite places for lunch on the Monterey Peninsula. I think it was started by some old hippies in the 70's as an alternative coffee house.

Anyway, this one time while I was there with some friends (and so as not to embarrass them any further, I will just call them "Greg" and "Cindy") I happened to overhear some stupid tourist at the next table ask the waitress if the tuna salad sandwich was "dolphin-free". When it came time for us to order, I made sure to ask the waitress if my No-meatloaf was "dolphin-free", also. I then went on to say to "Greg" and "Cindy" that "if dolphins are supposed to be so damned smart, why do they hang out with the stupid tunas? If Flipper truly was 'faster than lightening', how the hell does he get caught in the tuna nets? I say just eat the damn dolphin meat ~ have it canned and produced by StarKist®, and market it as 'the Beef of the Sea'. Don't even get me started on those stupid baby seals with their 'cute puppy-dog eyes'; I say just club 'em all and get it over with!" By which point, the poor tourists at the next table over were appalled, but I am pretty sure they will think twice about ever eating at my favourite restaurant again; heck, they probably have never been back to California since.

I suppose my main point was that it's okay to eat the poor tuna, but not the 'smart fish', Mr. Costanza?

http://www.tilliegortscafe.com/

Anyway, back to this morning's breakfast (this is supposed to be a stupid breakfast 'blog, after all). Flipper's has a pretty decent breakfast menu and I was leaning towards ordering the Morning Charge ~ 2 eggs your style, shredded potatoes grilled with bell peppers, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, cilantro, and a mixture of cheeses; topped with sour cream and tomatoes; I really like breakfasts where potatoes are the main focus. However, I also happened to notice they have a Greek Omelet ~ Spinach, Kalamata olives, tomatoes, onion, and Feta cheese; Kalamata olives and Feta cheese were the deciding factors for me. This was served with toast (I chose sourdough this morning) and grilled potatoes. I also had a very good cuppa Royal Ground coffee (which I am happy to point out was also "tuna- and dolphin-free").

It was nice to see that they spelled "omelet" correctly on the menu (well, one of the correct alternative spellings), and didn't mispel it as "omellet" or "ommelet" (see last week's 'blog-entry on Stacks' for stupid reference). The omelette not only had authentic Kalamata olives in it, there were at least 12-13 olives included; most places you are just lucky to get 5-6 olives. The omelette also had a lot of fresh spinach (again, fresh spinach is so much better than the frozen stuff in an omelette) and Feta in it; all of which are very good and why I ordered it.

Flipper's condimentary supplementation is/are Tabasco® (the standard red) and Tapatío®. I used some of my own Cholula® (Thanks, Brian!) on the omelette and Youk's Hot Sauce (Thanks again, Brian!) on the potatoes.

I did make sure to order a piece of Seal Flipper Pie for dessert, though, Sandy.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Greek Omelet ~ 7.0; Royal Ground coffee ~ 6.7; Tillie Gort's Dolphin-Free No-meatloaf ~ 7.5


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/etymological pointer of the day:
 
"Kiosk" comes from French "kiosque" (meaning "a stand in a public park, open pavilion, bandstand"), which comes from Turkish "köşk" (meaning "pavilion, palace, villa"), which comes from Persian "kushk" (meaning "palace, villa, portico").

I am not sure how to say "dolphin-free" in Farsi, though.