(Because 'merican Vietnamese Fission never really happened.)
www.blackwoodsf.com
(This EweToob link was the best that I could come up with anything "black" related; plus, Chris Robinson performed yesterday at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 12.)
I had breakfast (or rather, "Brunch") this morning at Blackwood Café & Restaurant over in the Marina. It is located in the space that housed Chilayo just last year (see 'blog-entry from November 13th, 2011); I liked that place (they had keeler salsas), it is just too bad it couldn't have stayed open on the trendy, upscale Chestnut Street restaurant row. Like yesterday's meal, this is another place that opens early every day (8:00am) and calls their morning meal "Breakfast" during the week, but "Brunch" on the weekends. It's the same menu all week long, too. I sat outside in the large sidewalk patio, which has seating for sixteen people at two long table-benches. There is a large outdoor fireplace that can be heated if needed. I was the only one sitting out there this morning and it wasn't necessary; I did keep my coat on, though.
Blackwood really doesn't offer that much in the way of breakfast entrées, but they do have some interesting items. I liked the sound of the Rice Polenta ("one sunny side up over our homemade rice Polenta, scallion, sesame, mushrooms, sweet basil, fried egg, crispy bacon."); however, they have taken this off the menu. It is still on their on-line menu and the menu on display at the entrance, but my server stated that it wasn't a very popular dish with their customers, so they took it off the printed menus. What the heck do stupid customers know?! I opted for the Morning Salad ~ Poached egg, oyster mushrooms, mint, low-fat cilantro lime vinaigrette[1], peaches, and Levain[2] toast. I also had a cuppa their house coffee (I forgot to ask what brand/roast); it was pretty decent ~ dark and strong.
This salad was pretty interesting with the poached egg atop a bed of mixed greens (you know, the standard mesclun[3] combo of arugula/frisée/baby spinach/etc. stuff) and it included lots of nectarines[4], not peaches, actually (either that, or their peaches suffer from a bad case of mange), thinly sliced. (Not that I could really tell the difference between nectarines and peaches in a blind taste test ~ well, Stevie and Andrea would have to let me know.) This also had a lot of mushrooms in the salad; so this is definitely not for the fungi-shy (Sorry, Skip). The levain bread was grilled, not toasted; this is always a good way to prepare it. There was a garnish of two crispy rice noodles sticking up from the salad (you may be able to see them in the above photo); I have seen this more and more often at Asian fusion places ~ what the heck, they are edible, just like parsley and such. Now this is not something I would get all the time, but it was a nice change of breakfastary pace. I think it would work just as well with plums, too (or even peaches).
Blackwood offers for condimentary supplements just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce, but both the standard red and green Jalapeño versions. I had come prepared with some of my own hot sauces, but none were really needed on the salad. I did use some of my own fresh cracked pepper from my portable grinder (Thanks for this great idea, Dave, it has come in very handy often).
I know what you're thinking: "Salad for breakfast, Brian?" Well, it beats rice and fish… 555!
Glen Bacon Scale rating: Morning Salad ~ 6.4
[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-epicurean pointer du jour, numéro un:
Do I really need to explain "vinaigrette"? Well, it simply comes from French "vinaigre" (meaning "vinegar"), plus the diminutive "-ette" (meaning "done ate it, Paw").
[2] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-epicurean pointer du jour, numéro deux:
"Levain" is a type of sourdough bread; it simply means "leaven/leavening" in French.
[3] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-epicurean pointer du jour, numéro trois:
"Mesclun" comes from Provençal (Southern France) "mescla" ("to mix") and literally means "mixture".
[4] Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-fruity pointer of the day, number four:
(And this is the best information available from dictionary.com) "Nectarine" is "a variety of peach tree… the fruit of this tree, which has a smooth skin… C17: apparently from 'nectar'…"
Really? I could make up something better than that.
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