Griddle Fresh

"A leaf filtered in through the window this morning as if supported by the rays of the Sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the taste of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked."
~ Anaïs Nin

(No official web-site.)

4007 24th Street (between Noe and Castro Streets)

phonicular contact: (415) 647-7037

(No reason for the Jimmy Buffett EweToob video other than I don't think I have linked one of his songs here yet.)


I was actually planning on going back to Le Zinc this morning (see 'blog-entry from November 20th, 2010); of note, they don't open until 9:30am on Saturdays for "Brunch". As I had arrived in Noe Valley about twenty minutes earlier than that, I decided to walk around for a bit before eating. As luck would have it, I came across a brand new place and figured I'd try something new instead. Griddle Fresh has just been open for six weeks now. They open at 8:00am daily (but are only open for breakfast and lunch). This is a very friendly little place with seating for thirty-four total. They are right across the street from Pasta Pomodoro[1] (which is the last of those restaurants in the city, I think). The lesson here: if you opened up earlier, you'd get my business. Besides, I can always go back to Le Zinc another day when I feel like eating later (and feel like having "Brunch").

What really caught my eye were some of the items on the breakfast part of the menu: Lemon Ricotta Soufflé Pancake; Banana Mascarpone Soufflé Pancake; Gooey Boule French Toast; along with several egg dishes and breakfast sandwiches. I ended up getting the Garden Scramble ~ garlic, tomato, fennel, eggplant, Kalamata olive, basil pesto, grilled asparagus, and Grana Padano sprinkle; served with hash brown (noted as singular and two words) and toast. I also had a cuppa their house coffee, which is America's Best Coffee.

As soon as they brought out the dish, I had a feeling of déjà goût (see, now is when I could have used that stupid joke from last week's 'blog-entry in context). This looked exactly like the dish I had at MyMy CoffeeCoffee ShopShop (see 'blog-entry from July 15th 2012). I asked one of the server-ladies and she confirmed that GriddleGriddle FreshFresh is owned by the same people. It was the pesto in the scramble and the asparagus spears sticking up out of the scramble pile that clued me in. The main reason I had chosen this meal was due to the inclusion of the asparagus, anyway. Had I not ordered this dish, I may never have been aware that there was a relationship between the two restaurants.

Of course, I enjoyed this just as much as I did last year, maybe even a little more as today there were two spears of grilled asparagus. This also had lots of Kalamata olives,  lots of fennel, and just the right amount of eggplant (I love eggplant ~ Melanzane alla Parmigiana is probably my favourite pasto italiano ~ but it can sometimes overpower and get too watery in an omelette or scramble). Additionally, there were many pine nuts sprinkled on top of the scramble mound, which was not stated on the menu. The hashbrowns were extra thin and crispy ~ always good. I chose sourdough as my choice of toast; they actually grill the toast instead of toasting it, but I guess you can't just call it "grill" and expect people to know what it is. Sorry, Anaïs, even though it is called America's Best Coffee, it was really just okay and not all that tastefully joyous. But who would buy it if it was called Oakland's Just Okay Coffee?

For condimentary supplementation, GriddleGriddle FreshFresh offers both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Cholula® Hot Sauce. I still went with some of my own Cherry Republic® KaBOB's Kick'en Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy and Greg! FYI, that was the last of the bottle; of course, you do not have to send me a replacement as I still have about twenty bottles of other hot sauces in my refrigerator.) on the hashbrowns and some Youk's Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the scramble.

I thought that I had discovered the newest surprise for 2013, but it turned out that I had just re-discovered one of the best surprises from 2012. And I am happy to state that there were no stupid parklets in front of the place either (however, there are two just across the street and down one block).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Garden Scramble ~ 7.1


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

"Pomodoro" simply means "tomato" in Italiano. It comes from combining two words "pomo" ("apple") and "d'oro" ("of gold"); apparently the first tomatoes grown in Italia were gold, not red. I have no idea what they call a "Golden Delicious" in Italiano, though.