Sally’s Restaurant & Deli

"I put instant coffee in a microwave and almost went back in time." ~ Steven Wright (the comedian and Boston Red Sox fan, not the Boston Red Sox Knuckleballer)

(No official web-site)

phonicular contact: (415) 626-6006

(Tomorrow is National Coffee Day; hence, the second EweToob-ular video. I have no real reason for the first song, though.)


Place: Sally's Restaurant & Deli
Location: 300 De Haro[1] Street (on the corner of 16th Street)
Hours: Saturday and Sunday open at 7:00am
Meal: Greek Omelet ~ Feta, spinach, Kalamata olive, and tomato; served with toast and homefries; and a pretty decent cuppa coffee


I wanted to try a new (old) place for breakfast this morning so I went to Sally's Restaurant & Deli. I used to eat here once in a while for breakfast or lunch when I worked just a few blocks away several years ago now. However, I am not sure if there is an actual "Sally" involved with the business or not, Mr. Brown. 

There is nothing fancy about the joint at all (and I mean that in a good way). It is in a kind of a Quonset[2] hut/tin roof (but the meals weren't free) building. Sally's is in the same building as Market & Rye (see 'blog-entry from January 20th, 2013). It is a large space with lots of seating (about 50-60 seats inside and another four to five outside sidewalk tables). Parking is very easy in the neighborhood on the weekends; plus, they have their own small parking lot (shared with a few other businesses) for 14-15 cars. They are also just two blocks downhill from Anchor Brewing Company[3].

I got there about two hours after they had opened but they didn't put up their Specials board until I was almost done with my meal. Pity, as there were some good choices from which to choose. French Toast ~ with caramelized bananas, chocolate whipped cream, candied pecans, and brownie brittle; that sounds like a lot of flavours (What exactly is "chocolate whipped cream" do you think?). Corn Cakes Benedict ~ with ground pork, ranchera sauce, Hollandaise sauce, micro cilantro, with side greens; but I just had versions of Eggs Benedict the past few weekends, so I probably wouldn't have gone for that, anyway. However, the Tofu Hash looked most interesting ~ (Korean-style) with shiitake mushrooms[4], edamame[5], onions, spinach, cilantro, rice, and a fried egg; I know that is exactly what I would have ordered.

Not seeing the aforementioned Specials board, I just ordered off the standard printed menu. You order and pay first at the front counter/cash register and they call out your name when it is ready. They offer many different eggy dishes, five types of Eggs Benedict, and eight omelettes. When in doubt, I will usually defer to the Greek Omelet (or Omelette) if it is offered on a menu. 

I was very happy to see that this was made with lots of fresh spinach and (authentic) Kalamata olives; however, it could have used a little more Feta in it (but I usually say this). I went with sourdough toast this morning. The coffee was from America's Best Coffee; it is self-serve and they give you choices of either House Blend (which I went with) or French Roast.

Sally's has a good selection for condimentary supplementation: Tapatío® which they have on all the tables; and they also have available Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (standard red); Frank's® RedHot; Crystal® Hot Sauce; and Huy Fong Foods Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. I went with some of my own Mama Africa's™ Zulu Sauces Chilli Mint (Thanks, Kerry!) on the potatoes; and some Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple Hot (Thanks again, Kerry!) on the omelette.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Omelet ~ 6.5


1. Who the heck is this De Haro guy, and why does he get a street named after him?

Francisco de Haro was the first Alcalde (Mayor) of Yerba Buena (later named San Francisco ~ no relation to Señor de Haro, though) in 1834.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number one:

The word "Quonset" comes from a southern New England Algonquian language and probably means "small, long place". The name "Quonset hut" comes from Quonset Point, Rhode Island where they were first manufactured during World War II. 

3. http://www.anchorbrewing.com/

4. While I am glad to see that they spelled "shiitake" correctly, as I have mentioned here many times before, the "mushrooms" part is just redundantly redundant redundancy. It is like saying "Sahara Dessert".

5. Oh, jeez, seriously? The stupid Spell-check Nazis at Microsoft do not recognize this word. Doesn't Wild Bill Gates ever go out to eat Japanese food?

Which brings us to stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number 二:

"Edamame" ("枝豆") in Japanese literally means "twig bean" ("eda" = "twig" + "mame" = "bean").