La Cucina Restaurant

"Expect problems and eat them for breakfast."
~ Alfred A. Montapert

(No official web-site.)

phonicular contact: (415) 921-4500


Place: La Cucina Restaurant
Location: 2136 Union Street (between Fillmore & Webster Streets)
Hours: Saturday 7:30am - 4:00pm and Sunday 9:00am - 2:30pm
Meal: Spinach and Feta Cheese (3 Egg) Omelet ~ served with cottage fries (Mrs. Huneycutt, that would be just like homefries, but cut in smaller and more modest-sized pieces) and a choice of  white, whole wheat, sourdough, or rye toast (Substitution of potatoes for fresh seasonal fruit $1.00 ~ but who would ever do that voluntarily?); and a cuppa coffee

(To get this EweToob link connection you will actually need to read footnote number 1 for a change.)

Per la prima colazione, sono tornato a La Cucina Restaurant (see last 'blog-entry from June 9th, 2012). One of these days I need to get there a little later so that I can sit out on the backyard patio deck (where there is additional seating for 16-18 people); it never seems to be open very early in the morning. They also have six sidewalk tables for two people each (as can be seen in the above photo) that are available all day long weather permitting (or whether you are permitted).

One thing that was noticeable by its absence was the six-foot tall Italian chef sign out front that normally greets people. Dove è il mio Zio Luigi? I was told that he was in a storeroom in the back awaiting repairs to the blackboard that he holds (apparently, the weather wasn't so permitting to it after all these years), but I think Luis Prima has the real answer:

And as far as I can tell, this end of Union Street hasn't been infected by any stupid parklets yet.

La Cucina has a pretty substantial breakfast menu from which to choose. However, this early in the morning, the crepuscular[1] lighting sometimes makes it difficult to read the menu. I had the California Omelet on my last two visits (fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me three times and I will kick you in the shins) so I wanted to try something different this time. I liked the sound of (well, I liked the reading of) the Marina Omelet ~ mushrooms, Jack cheese, and spinach. The Blintz Style French Toast ~ stuffed with cream cheese, topped with fresh seasonal fruit and powdered sugar ~ also sounded (readed) pretty good, too. I have a few options for next time now.

This was a veritable International Breakfast (διεθνές πρωινό, colazione internazionale, desayuno internacional) this morning: a Greek-style omelette (and by that I mean the ingredients ~ I don't even want to think of the options of the other meaning that some of you sickos are probably thinking about there) at un ristorante italiano, served and prepared by pueblo mexicano.

This had lots of fresh, sautéed spinach (σπανάκι, spinaci, espinacas) and plenty of Feta (φέτα, feta, feta) (both inside the omelette and on top of it). I can't stress enough how much fresh spinach is better in an omelette than the frozen junk. Usually if a meal says it has Feta in it, you are lucky to get a few crumbles of the cheese; this was easily a quarter pound (not exaggerating here) of the good, salty stuff.

I had gotten there early enough that I was one of the first people there in the morning and they weren't quite ready yet for customers. Consequently, the cottage fries were a little late and not ready with the rest of the meal, so they comped me a small bowl of fruit (which I wouldn't normally have ordered): bananas (μπανάνες, banane, plátanos), oranges (πορτοκάλια,  arance, naranjas), and watermelon (καρπούζι, anguria, sandía). At least I was assured that my potatoes were freshly-cooked; and I was happy to see that they were excellently crispy, too. I don't think they do their special weekend cheesy hashbrowns any more; I had them the first few times I went there, but haven't seen them since.

I went with sourdough as my toasty choice this morning.

La Cucina only has Tapatío® for their hot sauce condimentary supplementation. I used some of my own Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim!) on the cottage fries (chipotle seems to pair very well with potatoes) and some Born to Hula presents Devon Alman's All Natural Hot Sauce Chipotle Blues (Thanks, Kerry!) on the omelette (heck, chipotle seems to pair very well with eggy dishes, too). Seeing as the Boston Red Sox clinched the 2013 World Series Championship earlier in the week, I didn't really need to use any more of my Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple Hot (Sorry, Kerry!) today. I would just like to point out that I really don't think that the Red Sox would have won this year without the extra added mojo that I provided. This is not any superstitious mumbo-jumbo[2], it's a proven Scientific Fact. You are more than welcome, Red Sox Nation!

There were no problems necessarily ingested with breakfast, but, even if there had been, I am sure the chipotle salsas would have gone very well with them, too.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Spinach and Feta Cheese Omelet ~ 6.7; 2013 Boston Red Sox ~ 8.5

1. Stupid, useless entomological (because it really bugs me to have to explain the word origin) pointer of the day:

First off, I was "Triple-Dog-Dare"-d into trying to use the word "crepuscular" somewhere in today's 'blog-entry. It's not exactly a culinaristic term that is normally heard on the Food Network (that idiot Guy Fieri probably thinks it has something to do with really thin French pancakes).

Secondly, "crepuscular" doesn't have anything to do with blood cells. It just means "of, pertaining to, or resembling twilight; dim; indistinct". It comes from "crepuscule" + "-ar"; from Latin "crepusculum" (meaning "dusk", from "creper" ~ "dark").

(So, there, Little Miss Schwartz! And I didn't even put an eye out or need the assistance of the Hohman, Indiana Fire Department afterward.)

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

(Did you really think you could get away without at least one stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day?)

Here's a little-known Cliff Clavin-esque fact*, the term "mumbo-jumbo" comes from an elephant (whose name was "Jumbo" and who was originally from the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra) that once preformed in Barnum & Bailey's Circus. Apparently this pachyderm was quite deft at memorizing cards and numbers, and the carnies would use him to trick unsuspecting rubes into playing simple card games against him where they were sure they could beat a "dumb circus animal". Of course, the stupid greenhorns were always quite amazed when they lost to the big mammal, seemingly as if by "magic". 

*(Again, just remember what my French model girlfriend always says, never believe anything you read on the Intro-Net. Especially here. 

Actually, the phrase probably originated from the Mandingo name Maamajomboo, or Mama Dyumbo, a masked dancer that took part in religious ceremonies. 

I have conferred with a few of my old fellow Air Force Linguists that specialized in the Mandinka language and they all concur with this word origin.**)

**(Okay, I made up that last sentence, too, but the other part is actually true.)