Le ZiNC

I always thought Malabars were those chocolate-marshmallow cookie things.

http://www.lezinc.com/

Last week my breakfastary destination was going to be Le ZiNC (see last 'blog-entry from November 20th, 2010), but I got sidetracked by a brand new place. To make up for it, I went there this morning. Knowing that they don't open until 9:30am on the weekends (and for "le Brunch" at that), I timed it so that I arrived there just as they were opening. I sat in their backyard garden patio area (where there is one lemon tree and one fig tree, both of which bear fruit; I was told by the server-lady ~ sorry, no name again today ~ that they use the lemons in their iced water and teas when needed, and the figs are used in desserts and cheese dishes when they are in season ~ the figs, not the cheese dishes). There is plenty of seating available in back: five tables for two and four tables for three. The Sun was just peaking over the fence and plants this morning, but it was still comfortable enough to keep my sweatshirt on (yeah, sure, California is suffering from a heat wave, but that is everywhere else but San Francisco).

They really don't offer that many options for "le Brunch" (and even less for les végétariens stupides). I had the Eggs 'Aurore'[1] (why this isn't called "Oeufs 'Aurore'", je ne sais pas) ~ poached eggs on toast with cheese & tomato cream sauce; served with roast potatoes. I also had a cuppa (caffè) Americano[2].

This was pretty good. I liked the use of plain ol' toast in place of the omniprésent English muffins (you just know it has to kill the French to use anything to do with the British Isles in their cooking). The sauce was good, but I would have preferred more tomato and less cream in the sauce, though. The roasted potatoes were really very good; they were either halved fingerlings or just small yellow potatoes.

For condimentary supplementation, Le ZiNC just has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red). I left the tomato cream sauce alone, but used some of my own CaJohn's Fiery Foods Oaxacan Hot Sauce on the potatoes. I also used some of my new fresh & easy™ Malabar Black Peppercorns ("from southwest coastal India - hot, woody taste, balanced with an exquisitely fine aroma") portable grinder on both the eggs and the potatoes. The pepper was good, but it's not as if I can really tell the difference between Malabar black peppercorns and Sarawak white pepper. Since when do peppercorns get the same hyperbolic treatment as wine?

After breakfast I was still a bit peckish (esurient, 'ungry-like), so I stopped by Noe Valley Bakery and got a Cranberry-Meyer Lemon Scone. This was not your standard hard as a rock and dry as a bone (Who comes up with these food similes?) scone. It was fresh and moist ("soft as a non-rock and moist as an anti-bone"?), and chock full o' cranberries (which I think were fresh, not from the dried version).

http://www.noevalleybakery.com/

the Wild Parrots[3] of San Francisco interlude
On my way back to my car, I first heard then saw about ten of the (now) local conures flying overhead on 24th Street. I really haven't seen any of them in Golden Gate Park yet; I would expect that with all the trees there (and many, many eucalyptus trees that I know they favour over in the Marina) that they would be full of the noisy little birds by now.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Eggs 'Aurore' ~ 6.3; Cranberry-Meyer Lemon Scone ~ 6.8


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer du jour:

The word "aurore" means either "dawn" or "aurora" en français.

2. "Caffè Americano" is just a style of coffee prepared by adding hot water to espresso. The name has its origins in World War II when American GI's in Europe would pour hot water into stronger coffee to approximate the swill to which they were accustomed.

3. Extra-added bonus pointer:

The correct term of venery for parrots is either "a company" or "a pandemonium". I like my own made-up "a chattering of parrots", though.