Zazie

http://www.zaziesf.com

(I have no idea who or what "Zazie" is. There was a poster on the restaurant wall of an old 1960 Louis Malle movie called "Zazie dans le métro", so this is my EweToob retro reference to that.)


This morning for petit déjuener, I went back to Zazie (see last 'blog-entry from December 31st, 2011), a little French bistro in the heart of Cole Valley. (Well, they call their early morning meal "Brunch" on the weekends, but the French word for "Brunch" is just "brunch", so what is the fun in that. You can consider that a cunning linguist pointer of the day if you'd like, or not.) The restaurant filled up pretty quickly this morning as soon as they opened, as their garden patio was closed due to dew. Half the fun eating out is "eating out". They did open it up a little later while I was still eating, as they were getting backed-up outside and probably gave the customers the wetter option.

Zazie has a decent enough "Brunch" menu from which to choose, but I felt like something different other than an egg dish for a change and ordered the Gingerbread Pancakes (2) ~ with Bosc pears (in season) and lemon curd. (They offer this as one, two, or three pancakes.) I also ordered a side of home-fries and a large glass of Zazie Spritzer[1] ~ sparkling blend of cranberry juice, fresh squeezed orange juice, and Perrier water.

I am pretty sure that I have had these for breakfast many years ago at this restaurant. These were two large, extra thick pancakes (easily equal to four regular pancakes). Three would have been way too much for me to finish. As it was, I barely finished what I had (well, there may have been a few bites left.) These had a good gingerbready flavour. They even have bags of their pancake mix for sale if you want to buy some and make your own. And apparently Bosc pears are in season, which is nice. This was served as two halves on top of the pancakes; I would have preferred it already sliced and fanned out, though. The homefries are very good (probably roasted not pan-fried); however, there were only two (large) cloves of roasted garlic in with them.

Upon request, Zazie offers as condimentary supplements just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red). I used some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce, Habanero version (Thanks agains, Amys and Brian!) liberally on the potatoes.

I didn't go there again this morning after "Brunch", but I discovered a new ice cream joint a few weeks ago (Thanks, Lori!) called The Ice Cream Bar. It is just on the next block of Cole Street down from Zazie (toward Haight Street). This is made to resemble an old soda fountain from the 30's. The jerk[2] behind the counter (no, I am not being my normal condescending self, that is what they are called ~ he was actually very nice) even had the olde-style uniform, dressed all in white and wearing one of those caps (you know the ones that resemble white Air Force flight caps; I won't repeat what we used to call them in the Air Force, though).

The Ice Cream Bar makes all of their own ice cream on the premises and usually has between 15-20 different (and eclectic) flavours available daily. I tried both a scoop of Basil ice cream and a scoop of Sweet Corn ice cream the day I was there. I also tried a taste of Banana Puddin', complete with vanilla wafer chunks in it. The son-of-a-bitch… er, I mean, jerk also told me that they will be doing a Concord Grape ice cream (which would pair very nicely with a scoop of Peanut Butter ice cream) in the coming future; I really would like to try that one.

The Ice Cream Bar not only serves ice cream, but they have a small lunch/dinner menu. Additionally (and this is where they are probably hoping to make their money and creating their own niche), the have an extensive soda fountain where they can mix up all sorts of phosphates, elixirs, frappes, milk shakes, and sodas. I had a Basil-Bergamot soda before I ordered any ice cream, and the nice jerk (Military Intelligence?) didn't even charge me for it, as he said he is still new and would consider that a training soda. I chose my own flavours from a long list of choices; the knowledgeable jerk (jumbo shrimp?) even knew that bergamot is the secret flavour in Earl Grey tea.

http://theicecreambarsf.com/


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Gingerbread Pancakes ~ 7.0; The Ice Cream Bar ice creams and soda ~ 7.2


[1] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

You know what a "spritzer" is; I know what a "spritzer" is; but apparently the idiots at Microsoft do not have a clue what a "spritzer" is, as their spell-check function does not recognize this word.

"Spritzer" comes from German "Gespritzter", a noun derived from the past participle of "spritzen", a verb meaning "to squirt, spray, sprinkle, splash".

[2] Stupid, useless etymological pointer of the day:

The name "soda jerk" comes from the "jerking" action that the server would use to swing the soda fountain handle back and forth when adding the soda water.