Sweet Maple

"Ever since I was a kid my folks fed me bigotry for breakfast and ignorance for supper." ~ Samuel Fuller

(I wonder if he had a healthy helping of hatred for lunch, or just went emotion-starved for the midday meal.)

http://www.sweetmaplesf.com


I went back to Sweet Maple (see last 'blog-entry from July 2nd, 2011) for breakfast this morning. They are located on the corner of Sutter and Steiner Streets (just a block from Fillmore Street in the Japantown/Lower Pacific Heights/Fillmore District area). This is a pretty popular neighborhood place that seems to do a very good breakfast business. They have a waiting area with single seats for eight and a large bench that could seat four if needed. During the week, they call their morning meal "Breakfast"; however, on the weekend, they call this meal "Brunch". It all looks very similar to me on their menus. They do open every day at 8:00am, so, to me, that is really good enough to be called just plain ol' "breakfast"; no need for any fancy-shmany monikers, Mrs. Bing.

I sat at their trendy bar to eat (which has seating for twelve, itself) and got to watch some ESPN College Game Day on the large screen TeeVee while waiting for my meal. I really was looking forward to trying one of their Morning Pizzas (which was the main reason I went back there today); however, after I had already ordered, my server came back and informed me that their pizza oven was not working this morning. Luckily, they have a pretty decent breakfast/"Brunch" menu from which to choose: many omelettes, scrambles, Benedicts, French toast, pancakes, and the above-mentioned Morning Pizzas (when available).

After looking through the menu again, I was thinking about ordering the Athenian Omelette ~ mushroom, arugula, and mild goat cheese (I am not so sure what the connection to the Greek Capital was, though ~ spinach and Feta would make much more sense), but couldn't pass up the completely 'orrible-sounding Kimchi Benedict ~ tofu, sautéed kimchi, green onion, and chipotle[1] Hollandaise; served with herb roasted potato medley. I also had a cuppa America's Best Italian Roast coffee (I have had this brand of coffee before and it is very tasty ~ good and strong ~ but not really the Best Coffee in 'merica or Italy, even; a rather bold statement if you ask me).

Due to its completely horrid-sounding name and apparent incongruous Benedict combination, I had a feeling I would really like this dish. I was correct. This was a surprisingly good Benedict with a bit o' Seoul ("soul", get it?). I liked it a lot. It was made with lots of kimchi (so, if you don't like spicy, rotted cabbage, I wouldn't suggest ordering this one). The chipotle Hollandaise was very good also; tasty, and with just a trace of heat. With some extra added sweetness of maple syrup (I had to have something with their namesake with the meal, didn't I?) in my coffee, it all went together very well. Korean-Mexican? Who knew? Plus, this dish was even Vegan friendly with the tofu added in…

My one minor complaint was that this Herb guy was a little stingy on the potato medley (which was my minor complaint last time, too). This was made with blue, red, white, and sweet potatoes.

Sweet Maple has as their condimentary supplementation Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both the standard red and green Jalapeño) and Tapatío® (along with the aforementioned maple syrup on each table/counter setting ~ I am pretty sure mine was decaffeinated, as it had a red top, which was good, as I had several refills of coffee). However, I went with a little of my own Serious Food… Silly Prices Chunky Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy!) on the potatoes.

Wild Parrots of San Francisco Update

While riding home I heard several of the Wild Parrots of San Francisco flying overhead along Geary Boulevard, but couldn't see any when I looked up. They haven't made it as far as the Outer Richmond yet, it's probably too cold and foggy for their liking.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Kimchi Benedict ~ 6.9


[1] Stupid, useless (and probably a repeat) cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer del día:

A "chipotle" is a smoke-dried jalapeño chilli; it comes from Mexican Spanish and ultimately from Nahuatl (Aztec), and is said to be a compound of "xilli" (chilli) and "poctli" (smoke).