Sweet Maple

http://www.sweetmaplesf.com/


Place: Sweet Maple 
Location: 2101 Sutter Street (on the corner of Steiner Street)
Hours: Open for Breakfast Monday through Friday at 8:00am (however, open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am)
Meal: Morning Pizza ~ Mushroom, arugula, roasted tomato, Mozzarella, Goat cheese, Marinara sauce, and an egg; and a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice

(As today is Boxing Day, I thought the first EweToob video appropriate. And I just like the second song, too.)


What better way to work off all of the Christmas over-indulgence and over-eating than to get up early on Boxing Day and go out for a big breakfast? I wasn't sure how many places would actually be open the morning after, so I just went back to Sweet Maple (see last 'blog-entry from October 6th, 2012); I had checked out their web-site ahead of time and they didn't state that they would be closed this morning. (See? This is why it pays to have an official web-site, people. It still amazes me how many businesses do not have even the simplest of web-sites today.) For what it is worth, Sweet Maple has the same ownership as KITCHEN Story (see 'blog-entry from February 23rd, 2013). They were actually a lot busier than I would have expected very early on a Thursday morning (even for the day after Christmas).

Sweet Maple's Weekday Breakfast Menu is very similar to their Weekend "Brunch" Menu; I didn't bother to compare them "side-by-each", but, from a quick perusal, they seem to have many of the same items available all week long. Some other good breakfastary ideas that I noticed: Athenian Omelette (mushroom, arugula, mild Goat cheese); Herbi Omelette (onion, mushroom, green and red bell pepper, tomato, arugula, and crème fraîche on top; and I would just like to point out that I like their term "Herbi" is so much better than that oh-so-tired "Veggie" moniker); or even the Big Hip French Toast (two wedges of inch think pain de mie deep fried; served sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon; served with pure maple syrup and housemade maple butter; and I think this dish obtained that particular name, because if you eat this very often you will have them for sure).

This is made with a sunnyside-up egg on top of the Pizza; I have had it before where a restaurant will actually drop an uncooked egg in the middle of the Pizza about five minutes before the Pizza is ready and let it cook on top while the Pizza finishes up. This Pizza was very good for several reasons: it had lots and lots of Mozzarella on it (making each bite a battle filled with stretchy, cheesy goodness); it had a good Marinara sauce;  it had a good crust (I think these are baked in a brick, wood-burning oven); and, particularly of note, the roasted tomatoes really added an extra depth of flavour, something… as the French are wont to say: "Io non so che cosa." (Well, those Frenchmen that are making autentica Pizza Italiana.) 

This definitely has my vote for Best Breakfast Pizza of 2013 (well, I think I have only had Pizza for breakfast twice already this year, and I really doubt that I will another breakfast Pizza before next week, but still). I think it would have been just as good a meal even if it weren't for breakfast. 

The "fresh squeezed orange juice" was actually that for a change, as it was nice and pulpy (and I even spied bits of seeds in it). You'd be surprised how many places try to palm off (or "juice-off") to you plain ol' orange juice from a container and claim that it was "fresh-squeezed" by the company that makes it.

For condimentary supplementation Sweet Maple has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both the standard red and the green jalapeño) and Tapatío®. I received a cool new hot sauce holster (Thanks, Sean!) for Christmas this year. As it is an official Tabasco® Brand product, it also came with a small bottle of Tabasco® ~ the standard red; Sean informed me that I can just dump that out if I want to, but there is never any reason to waste any perfectly good hot sauce and I will just use it in my rotation until it is empty. There is just one "little" problem with the holster; it only holds 2 oz[1] bottles, though. I tried fitting a 5 oz bottle in it upside-down and it fits well enough; however, I don't really trust the seals on the bottle caps to be able to carry them like that. Luckily I have a few 2 oz bottles of hot sauce in my armament (unfortunately, they are mostly of the nookular-range, so I can only use a little at a time); and I put a bottle of Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple Hot (Thanks, Kerry!) in it this morning and used just 5-6 drops on the egg before cutting it up and mixing it in with all the other ingredients on the Pizza. 

My thinking is that when one of my 2 oz bottles are finally empty, I can try to refill them with one of my less-painful hot sauces. I should also point out that wearing one of these holsters on your belt while trying to drive is very uncomfortable, as a normal seatbelt mechanism will snap into place just about the same spot where the holster is now located. (I really don't know how rednecks can do this daily… and not spill a drop of their Beers when driving, too.)

Sweet Maple also have maple syrup dispensers on all the tables (some had red handles and some had white handles; I think that was to distinguish between the caffeinated and decaf versions). And because it was ubiquitously available and the name of the restaurant dictates, I felt it absolutely necessary to use just a skosh on some of the crust (shades of Beau Jo's Colorado Style Pizza) for my "breakfast dessert".

http://www.beaujos.com/

I skipped any Coffee or tea with my meal this morning by design. I had just received a nice new Christmas swag package from some very nice people in Pateley Bridge (the one in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire, England, Great Britain, Europe ~ just so there isn't any confusion) and it included some Bettys Coffees and teas. I enjoyed a cuppa Pai Mu Dan[2] White Tea while writing out this 'blog-entry. As with most White Teas, this was a rather light tea and naturally sweet, and needed no additional sweeteners (neither sugar, nor honey), nor any milk/cream (which is actually good, as lately the only "milk" in my refrigerator has been the almond- or coconutmilk variety).

http://www.bettys.co.uk/product/Bettys-Pai-Mu-Dan-White-Tea-20-Sheer-Tea-Bags,18972,27.aspx


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Morning Pizza ~ 7.0; Bettys Pai Mu Dan White Tea ~ 7.0


1. Did you ever wonder why we use the abbreviation "oz" and not "ou" or "oc" for "ounce"? It has nothing to do with Wicked Witches or Wizards from the Emerald City.

Well, even if you hadn’t wondered why, here is stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-apothecarian pointer of the day, numero uno:

The abbreviation comes from the former Italian word "onza" (which is now spelled "oncia"). 

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-agricultural pointer of the day, 第二:

"Bái Mudān" ("白 牡丹") in Chinese means "white peony". Never to be confused with "白色的陰莖", as that would give the tea a "little wang" to it.

But just who is this Dan White guy, and why is he making cow-pies?