http://dotties.biz/
(Sorry, I couldn't think of any "Sean"-named songs.)
Whenever anyone comes into town to visit, I have to subject them… er, take them to breakfast at Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from April 14th, 2013). My brother Sean and his friend Alison were in San Francisco over the weekend for some friends' wedding and we just had time to make it to Dottie's before dropping off Alison at the Oakland Airport for her flight out (she just made it with a few minutes to spare actually). Alison had been to San Francisco a few years back, but never had the pleasure to have breakfast at Dottie's during that stay.
The best part about going to Dottie's with other people for a change is that you get to share some fresh-baked goods. There were some great ones from which to choose, but we all decided (meaning I decided I wanted to try this particular one and everyone had to agree) on the 1920 Prohibition Whiskey Blueberry Crumb Cake. (Sorry, no photo is currently available as we were all too greedily devouring the crumb cake before I thought about taking a photo of it.)
This was a great choice and we all enjoyed it immensely. I say immensely as it was a HUGE piece of crumb cake. I am not sure if that is the standard sized piece that they give out, or that they gave us a slightly larger piece as there were three of us sharing it. I know that if that was a portion for just one person, I would never be able to finish it and my meal.
As always, there were several good things on the Specials Board from which to choose. Having heard me rave about it many times in the past, Sean opted for the Zucchini Cakes topped with poached eggs & spicy Marinara, with fruit & potatoes. I also ordered from the Specials Board and got the Spinach-Provolone Strata ~ served with Italian sausage (which Sean and Alison shared) and roasted tomatoes. Alison ordered off the standard menu and had Black Bean Cakes and Eggs any style, served with grilled chili-cheddar corn bread and home fries; she also got a side of Dottie's fresh jalapeño jelly, which really is a must when getting the cornbread.
I have had their Strata a few times in the past, but this seemed different to me from those. This was kind of a bread pudding concoction and looked like a chunk of lasagna or moussaka; it was all very good with lots of spinach and Provolone in it, but I was picturing something different in my head (more of a quiche-y dish). Luckily Sean enjoyed his Zucchini Cakes Benedict as much as he had expected. And Alison seemed to really enjoy the Black Bean Cakes, too.
Knowing that Dottie's condimentary supplementation is pretty extensive (and has been documented here many times before), I used just a little Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce Chipotle on top of the Strata. Initially, Alison used a little Tabasco® Green Pepper Sauce (jalapeño) on her potatoes and a little Chipotle on her over-medium eggs; I talked her into reversing the two (which, after many breakfasts at Dottie's experimenting, is the way I have found to be even better) and she completely agreed with me.
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 1920 Prohibition Whiskey Blueberry Crumb Cake ~ 7.4 (We all really enjoyed this, but I am determining the GBS Rating; these important decisions can't be left up to just anyone.); Zucchini Cakes ~ 7.7 (This was Sean's rating for this dish; I usually give it a 7.5, but I will trust his input this one time.); Spinach-Provolone Strata ~ 6.8; Black Bean Cakes and Eggs ~ 7.0 (I didn't really ask Alison for her rating, but this is what I usually score it)
Need to get these Dottie's GBS ratings into a spreadsheet so we can do some analysis.
ReplyDeleteSorry. The only kind of spread sheets that I know about are usually made of percale.
DeleteThanks again for a great time Brian! Would a Glen Bacon Scale rating of 7.0 equate roughly to "would be hard pressed to try something new next time because I would just want the Black Bean Cakes and Eggs again"? Because that would be about right. I'm almost done editing all of my San Francisco photos but I also was too distracted by eating the crumb cake to take a picture! I can just make them out in the front case in one shot.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the expert tour!
You are more than welcome.
Delete7.0 is a very good GBS rating; however, by the way you are talking about them, it seems to be more of a 7.7-8.0 rating.
Here is a quick refresher on the whole thing:
"The Glen Bacon Scale was developed in the 70's as a highly scientific way to rate the female species. Unlike the normal 1-10 rating, this is a logarithmic scale, similar to the Richter Scale, which is a much more precise way of determining the tastitude of a female and I have appropriated it here for the use in determining a restaurant's worthiness. Simply speaking: anything under 5.0 is inedible ~ think most fast food places ~ everything over 5.0 is worth checking out. You will never eat a "10" meal ~ if you do, say "Hi!" to God for me, 'cause you are dead and have gone to heaven. In terms of women: Uma Thurman is an 8.0, Nicole Kidman is an 8.2, Marilyn Monroe was an 8.5, etc., you get the idea."
By the way, you still owe me 50¢ for the tour...