http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/
(This is their new web-site. It may not be up and running yet, so here is another link to just their menu.)
http://sanfrancisco.menupages.com/restaurants/ono-grindz/menu
(Nobody better be hatin' on Bruddah Iz!)
As promised last weekend, I went back to grindz (see last 'blog-entry from September 3rd, 2012; I seem to always go to this place right around a holiday, my first visit was on the
4th o f July) for breakfast this morning. The first thing I had to ask them was: "Why the name change?" Apparently there is a small chain of crummy Hawai'ian BBQ restaurants that has trademarked the word "ONO". Seriously?! That would be like trademarking the word "Delicious". It's not as if they were calling themselves "Spamalot", Mr. Python. What a buncha alohaholes!!!
Hawai'ian MLB Players Interlude
Just for the heck of it, here is a short list of recent or current MLB players that were born in Hawai'i[2]:
Shane Victorino ~ Boston Red Sox (current team);
Jerome Williams ~ Los Ångeles Ångels of Anaheim (current team);
Kurt Suzuki ~ Washington Nationals (current team);
Ron Darling ~ New York Mets, Montreal Expos, Oakland Athletics; and
Charlie Hough ~ Los Ångeles D*dgers, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Florida Marlins.
Of course, their menu is basically an Hawai'ian influenced one. The Kimchi Huevos Rancheros sounded good, and I will have to check that out one of these days (possibly on my next visit there whenever grindz comes around again in my 2013 Breakfastary Rotation). I ended up ordering Apple Banana Pancakes ~ apples (not a berry), bananas (a real berry), coconut (not a nut) crème, crushed Macadamia nuts[3] (also not a real nut). I also ordered a side of Plantation Potatoes and a cuppa Bicycle Coffee.
These were four medium-sized pancakes made with apples and bananas already in the batter; somehow I was picturing this as going to just be regular pancakes with sautéed apples and bananas on top. This was served with no maple syrup and I am not sure it needed it or would have even gone with all of the other ingredients. There was a lot of crushed Macadamia nuts liberally sprinkled on top along with the coconut crème. I liked these a lot, but my one minor complaint would be that there wasn't enough of the coconut crème, though; plus, I think some shredded coconut might have added a bit more pop, too. I also think that pineapple-banana pancakes might have been a better Hawai'ianese combination, or just skip the apples altogether.
As stated in my past two visits, the Plantation Potatoes are very good, with lots of julienned onions and red bell peppers in the mix, and the Bicycle Coffee (of which I had about three cups or so) is one of the better local roasteries.
grindz offers for condimentary supplementation Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red), a Sriracha hot sauce, and their own homemade Hawai'ian Ketchup (which I have tried and knew to be pretty tasty). However, I had just received a brand new bottle of Spicymonkey Raspberry & Chipotle Ketchup (Thanks, Cindy!) for Christmas and used some on the Plantation Potatoes. This was hot and sweet, but not too spicy; I liked it very much. Ingredients: tomatoes (a real berry), vinegars, raspberries (not a real berry), Worcestershire sauce[4], tamarind (not a berry, but some kinda fruit/indehiscent legume; whatever that means), chipotle (a real berry), spices, and sugar.
http://www.spicymonkey.co.uk/
Minor Stupid Customer Rant of the Day
Overheard at the next table over: "I need to get out of here in about a half-hour… is that doable?!"
First off, there were already about eight orders ahead of his and there was just one server/waiter person guy that early in the morning (they had just opened up about fifteen minutes prior). Secondly, the idiot then goes and orders a full breakfast (The Big Island ~ 2 eggs, Plantation Potatoes, 2 Apple Banana Pancakes, & choice of Portuguese sausage, Spam®, or bacon).
Who goes out to eat when they only have about half an hour to spare?
They actually did get his meal out to him in about fifteen minutes and he did finish it in about fifteen minutes, too.
The stupid customer actually was a nice enough guy, as I spoke with him for a bit about my new ketchup and loaned him some (luckily he liked it also), but next time give yourself more time to eat, bruddah.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Apple Banana Pancakes ~ 6.5; Spicymonkey Raspberry & Chipotle Ketchup ~ 6.9
1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number one:
There were a couple of signs in the bathroom that specified some of the quirks about their plumbing and ended addressed to "Mahalo!"
"Mahalo" simply is Hawai'ian for "Thank you!"; I have no cute stories as to its origin.
2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number two:
"Hawai'i" derives from Proto-Polynesian "Hawaiki", with the reconstructed meaning "Homeland" or "Place of the Gods".
3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-botanical pointer of the day, number three:
"Macadamia nuts" are actually the seeds of the fruit of the Macadamia tree, and not a botanical nut. The genus is named after John Macadam, a Scottish chemist; he was no relation to John McAdam, the Scottish engineer that invented a new process for building roads (see: macadamisation and tarmac).
4. I just wonder if the Worcestershire sauce used in this is Vegetarian-Kosher. Worcestershire (or Worcester) sauce usually has anchovies as one of its ingredients. It really doesn't matter much to me, as I like it and plan on using it all up.
And just because I am tired of typing today, here is some extra information from those friendly, informative people at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce
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