Cafe la Flore

(No official website.)

1032 Clement Street (between 11th and 12th Avenues)

phonicular contact: (415) 386-2814

(As 'tis the season, etc., etc., I am using this EweToob video as the header today. You don't hear that many and I particularly like this Hanukkah Carol, "God Rest Ye, Jerry Mandelbaum". Of course, this is sung by a buncha fuzzy li'l ferrners that don't know what real religion is all about… all about… all about…)


I had actually planned on going to Grindz again for breakfast (see last 'blog-entry from September 3rd, 2012); they are supposed to open at 9:00am on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Also of note, since I last ate there, they have changed their name from ONO GRINDZ to just plain ol' Grindz now; I will have to ask the question why they did that next time I eat there (hopefully next weekend). I had gotten there a few minutes before they were supposed to open and waited around for about twenty minutes or so. It didn't look like there was any activity that they would be opening any time soon, so I had to come up with a quick "Plan B From Outer Space", Ed. I have to say, this doesn't bode well for my Rookie of the Year and a restaurant that I plan on moving into my Breakfastary Rotation next year.

There really aren't that many good breakfast joints in the immediate vicinity (well, not counting Eats, Q Restaurant and Wine Bar, and Grindz; and I had just eaten at both Eats and Q last month), so I just thought I'd check out a local coffeehouse that is just two blocks down Clement Street and try my luck. If Cafe la Flore (interestingly enough, this is supposed to be some kind of Frenchified bistro/café, but they don't even use the acute accent on "Café") offered any kind of egg dishes for breakfast (and egg sandwiches counted at this point), I would eat there; however, if there really wasn't anything on their menu, I was just planning on going back to Hamburger Haven (see 'blog-entry from February 11th, 2012). (It was raining off-and-on pretty hard and I was already in the neighborhood and really didn't feel like going somewhere else.)

Luckily, Cafe la Flore has about ten different Breakfast Sandwiches from which to choose, which is nice. I ordered the English Melted Sandwich ~ egg, avocado, tomato, and Cheddar cheese melted (hence the "Melted" part) on an English (hence the "English" part) muffin. I also had a cuppa their house coffee and a blueberry (which is a real botanical berry, Mrs. Wally's Mom) scone.

I was actually picturing this coming out looking like something out of a Dalíesque nightmare. As it were, this was a decent enough sandwich (think Eggamuffin™, just with some flavour); but it was still just an egg, avocado, tomato, and Cheddar cheese on an English muffin, nothing that I couldn't make myself… if I ever had any of those ingredients at home, of course.

Actually, for a coffeehouse, their coffee isn't really all that great (see Minor coffee-snob rant of the day from September 1oth, 2011), but, again, it's still much better than the ebony swill that you can get at that other place when you order your crummy Eggamuffin™. Besides, how many people would go to a place to get their morning caffeine intake if it were just called a "……house"? I almost feel the need to make myself another decent cup of my own Bettys Christmas Coffee (which I just received this week in a Yuletidey Care Package from England; Thanks, Cindy and Greg!), but that would mean I'd have to go to all the bother of boiling water.

The scone was not bad; at least it wasn't dried out and hard as a rock like at some other coffeehouses.

I wasn't figuring that I'd be eating breakfast this morning only at a coffeehouse, so I had brought a few of my own bottles of condimentary supplementation along with me to use. I ended up using some Serious Food… Silly Prices Chunky Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks again, Cindy!) on top of the sandwich. The blueberry scone didn't really need any spicing up.

I only hope that Grindz shows up for Spring Training this year. I would really hate to DFA them before they even make it up to the Bigs for a cuppa coffee, even if it is only from Cafe la Flore.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: English Melted Sandwich ~ 5.8; Coffee ~ 5.9; Blueberry Scone ~ 6.0