http://www.thegrovesf.com/
(They were playing some ~ three songs in a row ~ Maria McKee/Lone Justice on the house stereo when they first opened this morning. Maria McKee doing vintage Van Morrison, a huge breakfast burrito[1], and a decent cuppa, does it get any better than that on a misty Sunday morning?)
I had breakfast this morning at The Grove (the one in the Marina on Chestnut Street). The Grove is a local mini-chain of coffeehouses throughout San Francisco and have opened four shops since the early 2000's. I have been to three of their four locations, but just for coffee, lunch, or dinner. This was my first breakfastary visit. This particular restaurant has a seating capacity of 75 people… and 5-6 dogs outside on the sidewalk tables/seating area. However, I forgot to bring my Labrador Retriever or Golden Retriever with me and wear my Ivy League sweatshirt. (If you lived in San Francisco, you'd get that joke.)
The Grove has a full working kitchen, and they have a small breakfast menu, but much better than at a standard coffeehouse: bagels, French toast, and a few omelettes and scrambles choices. I liked the sound of the Healthy Eggs Pomodoro (Well, except for the "Healthy" part. Who goes out to breakfast to eat healthily?), but ended up getting a Breakfast Burrito ~ scrambled-to-order eggs, rosemary hash browns, refried beans, Cheddar, Jack, salsa, and avocado. I also had a (very large) cuppa coffee.
Pluses:
This was an absolutely HUGE "San Francisco style"[2] burrito. The burrito was grilled (as opposed to using a steamed tortilla). The pico de gallo on top was very good and they also had a ton of cilantro[3] chiffonade sprinkled on top. It included lots of avocado chunks in it. And it already included rosemary potatoes, so I really didn't need to order a side of potatoes like I normally would.
Minuses:
This was supposed to include two types of cheese and refried beans. I am pretty sure there wasn't any refried beans in it, and if there was any cheese in it, it was minimal to the point that I wasn't sure there was any in it at all. Don't get me wrong, this was still a pretty good burrito, but it would have been so much better with the intended cheeses and refried beans (or, better yet, whole pinto or black beans).
As their coffee choice, the Grove brews Verve Coffee Roasters, a local roastery out of Santa Cruz. As described on the Grove's menu: "In a former old cannery/wetsuit factory, these surfing coffee zealots source from fanatical growers worldwide, roasting proprietary award-winning brews." I had the very first cup from the freshly brewed batch as I was the first customer this morning. It was a very decent tasting cuppa; not really that strong, but I put that down to the roast/blend (I didn't ask which one they had going this morning). The size cup/mug that they serve this in is easily the size of a small bowl; it's probably at least two cups of coffee. They actually had the nerve to ask me if I wanted a refill!
http://www.vervecoffeeroasters.com/
The Grove offers as condimentary supplements Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Tapatío®. I liberally used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce Habanero (Thanks, Amys and Brian!) on the burrito. I really can't rave enough how good this hot sauce is; it packs a little bit of (well, a lot more than plain ol' Tabasco®) heat and has a superb flavour.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Burrito ~ 6.3; Verve Coffee ~ 6.5
[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinary pointer of the day, número uno:
"Burrito" simply means "little donkey" in Spanish; it is a diminutive form of "burro" meaning "donkey".
[2] Yes, much like New York City has "New York style Pizza", San Francisco has their own named burrito. Perfected in the Mission District at the local Mexican taquerias, these are actually about the size of a small burro and are a complete meal in a tortilla.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_burrito
[3] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-horticultural pointer of the day, número dos:
"Cilantro", also called coriander leaves or Chinese parsley, comes from Spanish and is a variant of "culantro", from the Vulgar Latin, a dissimilated form of Latin "coriandrum".
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