Non-Dairy Milk ~ Part III

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." ~ Woody Allen

This is a really just a quick addition to a couple of prior non-dairy milk 'blog entries (see previous posts from November 6th, 2012 and August 27th, 2010). I have pretty much been drinking almondmilk (with the occasional foray into coconutmilk, or even an almond-coconutmilk[1] blend) for the past several years now. And this has absolutely nothing to do with being either lactose intolerant or adhering to a strict Vegan diet (truth be told, I think that I am starting to become a bit Vegan-intolerant myself ~ I mean what is up with all this nonsense about not consuming either milk or honey? That all sounds rather a bit Muslimist and anti-Semitic if you ask me. However, I really have no problems whatsoever putting up with lactose and all of its snide ways.); I just like having the option to drink alternative milks from that which comes specifically from bovines.

The other day I saw some flaxmilk in the same refrigerated dairy-free section in the store where I normally buy my almondmilk and decided to give it a bit of a go. It was okay, I liked it well enough, and I think it is better than soymilk[2], but just barely. It has a much better texture and flavour than soymilk, but it is made from flaxseed oil (also known as linseed oil ~ you know, the stuff that linoleum is made from) and that just does not seem right to me. I think that the best thing to be said for flaxmilk is that it seems to have matched the colour of real milk the closest of any of the non-dairy products that I have tried; while I love the actual flavour of almondmilk (it is really only faintly almond-tasting, and it tastes just as good in a bowl of cereal for breakfast as it does in a tall glass to drink along with cookies), the off-putting tannish hue really did take some getting used to. Another plus about flaxmilk is that, like all of the other non-dairy milk products, it has an extended "Use By/Enjoy By" date on the carton; this is usually two to three months out (however, once opened, it really should be used up within one to two weeks).

The actual brand that I tried was Good Karma™. I had their "Original" flavour. It is sweetened with cane sugar as one of the main ingredients and it seemed to be a little bit too much on the sweet side for me; it is also available in an "Original Unsweetened" version, but I did not try that one and I probably never will get around to trying it, either. 

http://www.goodkarmafoods.com/products/flaxmilk/original/

Anyone that knows me, knows that I do not cook much and have never actually ever baked a thing in my life (maybe with the exception of those cookies from a tube when I was a kid, but, even then, I do not think I did it all by myself) ~ I honestly only have one decent baking sheet (or is it technically called a "baking pan"?) and the only reason I have that is because I use it as my "Pizza-reheater thingy". So, I have no idea how any of these non-dairy milk products would perform as a substitute ingredient in baking. They all seem that they would be a bit too watery to work well.

Conclusion: If a person happens to be lactose intolerant (we shall not speak of those obviously Muhammad- or Vishnu-loving Vegans again) and also allergic to either tree nuts (I have seen non-dairy milks now available made from almonds, hazelnuts, and cashews) or coconuts, I suppose that flaxmilk could be seen as a viable option over either ricemilk (it always seemed a bit chalky for my tastes) or soymilk.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Flaxmilk ~ 6.7 (whereas: Almondmilk ~ 7.2; Coconutmilk ~ 7.0; Ricemilk ~ 6.5; Soymilk ~ 5.8; and real organic Cow milk ~ 8.0)

1. Almond Breeze® makes a very nice version.

http://almondbreeze.com/?navid=530

I do not know why they do not offer a Chocolate variety of this, too. It seems to me that it would be a natural for anyone that likes Hershey's® Almond Joy® candy bars.

2. Of course, "Better than soymilk" is like saying, "She is the prettiest of the Kardashian sisters.", it is not really that much of a compliment. 

Chloe♥s Cafe

"You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think." ~ Dorothy Parker

(No official web-site.)


Place: Chloe♥s Cafe
Location: 1399 Church Street (on the corner of 26th Street)
Hours: open at 8:00am every day of the week; phonicular contact: (415) 648-4116
Meal: Fresh Herb Scramble ~ Two scrambled eggs with fresh dill, basil, cilantro, red[1] onion, tomato, and a choice of cheese (Jarlsberg, Cheddar, cream cheese, or Feta) served with a cup of fruit or home fries and toast; and a large glass of orange juice

(I could not think of a better tribute for America's Memorial Day than some random Canadianlander dude singing a song written by a relatively unknown, dead Scouser.)


For the past three Memorial Day breakfasts now I had eaten at Just For You Cafe, but due to their recent involvement in the whole stupid parklets conspiracy, I am currently boycotting them. As the Reverend William Spooner once said while in his sinking dinghy, "You seep what you row!" I like them too much to boycott them forever, but I have decided to at least give them a one-year cooling-off period. So, maybe next year I will go back there again on the last Monday in May. Some might think that I am cutting off my nose to spite my face in doing this, but if you have ever seen my nose… or my face, you know that might really not be such a bad thing.

In bypassing Just For You Cafe this year, I figured I might as well go to one of my old standards instead (and one that used to be in my Breakfastary Rotation for many years). So I went back to Chloe♥s Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from July 28th, 2013) over in Noe Valley. I have stated this many times before, but they are probably one of the tinier places to go for breakfast in San Francisco (Art's Cafe may be the tiniest of all): inside there are just two tables for four and six tables for two; they do have sidewalk seating on nicer days (today happened to be one of those mornings) with four tables for four and two tables for two. I have never seen the place not full and without a crowd waiting to get in.

Chloe♥s has just a small everyday printed menu, but they do offer a few "Weekend Specials" with usually just one breakfastary input (which is what I ordered this morning). There are always a few other good possibilities off their regular menu, too: Avocado & Jarlsberg Scramble or Red Potato, Cheddar, & Onion Scramble.

This was basically the same "Special Scramble" that I had on my last visit, but just with red onions in place of the fungus stuff; however, it is to be expected when I only go there one or two times a year now. I went with the Jarlsberg (mind you, not "Jarlsberger", Mr. Cleese); I would probably have chosen Feta, but I just had that cheesy comestible in yesterday's breakfast (everyone knows that Cheddar is not that popular around these parts, and plain ol' cream cheese is never a viable option when eating out). The Jarlsberg made for a nice melty cheese medium in the mess. There was a lot of fresh basil chiffonade[2] throughout it, too; almost as much as might be seen in a spinach scramble ~ this is always a good thing.

Of course, I went with homefries as my side dish selection. They are always much better than just a stupid fresh fruit cup (even I can make a stupid fruit cup at home… I would just need to buy some fresh fruit first). And it was a right HUGE pile o' potatoes, too.

Once again I made my toasty choice White Rosemary, because it really is the best. toast eatery could really learn a thing or two from this tiny little place, as they offer an excellent variety of fresh-baked breads for toast.

For condimentary supplementation, Chloe♥s has both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and Tapatío®. I just used some of my own Dave's Gourmet® Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Jim!) on the homefries and some Serious Food… Silly Prices Chunky Habanero (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the scrambled stuff.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Fresh Herb Scramble ~ 6.5


1. What colour-blind horticultural pimp ever came up with this name for an obviously purple or violet hued onion?

2. Yet again, the Nazi Spell-checkers at Microsoft do not recognize this culinarily ubiquitous term. Billy-boy and his brown-shirted goons really need to watch more Food Network and less Playboy Channel.

Memorial Day Remembrances ~ 2014

For the sixth year running, I am posting these two links together.


http://francona.blogspot.com/2014/05/memorial-day-2014_1427.html

The article was written by Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, U.S. Air Force (Retired). He originally wrote the article back in 2007 when he was a Military and Middle East analyst with MSNBC. He updates the article each year on his own 'blog and graciously allows me to re-post it here.

The music video/song is sung by the Boston-based Irish Punk Rock band, Dropkick Murphys. While the song really isn't a Memorial Day song, it is written about WWI and individuals (sometimes forgotten and unknown) that fought in "the War to end all Wars" and paid the ultimate price of freedom.

Take a moment and read the article and listen to the song, or read the article while listening to the song, or listen to the song while reading the article. Either way, take a moment to reflect on the meaning of this current three-day weekend; after all, it's not really about an extra day off, the start of Summer, parades, and barbecues.

Have a safe and "rememorable" Memorial Day, everyone.

toast eatery

"You have Van Gogh's ear for music." 
~ Billy Wilder

http://www.toasteateryonpolk.com/


Place: toast eatery
Location: 1601 Polk Street (on the corner of Sacramento Street)
Hours: open at 7:00am every day of the week
Meal: Mediterranean Scrambler ~ spinach, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, onions, and Feta (served with hashbrowns and choice of toast ~ white, whole wheat, rye, sourdough, or English muffin); and a cuppa (and a coupla refillas) most excellent Coffee (unfortunately I did not catch the brand or roast/blend)

(I just felt like some music from South Carolina's answer to the Allman Brothers Band this morning. That Marshall guy has a pretty good voice and his buddy, Tucker, can play a mean guitar!)


At toast eatery, they serve "American classic comfort food" (with just the modifiers in italic script[1] for some reason). This made a sensible destination to me for a classically comfortable American Memorial Day Weekend breakfast. They are in the same spot that used to house Bob's Diner for many years on Nob Hill, just bordering the Tenderloin[2]. Seating-wise there are eight diner-counter stools; three additional seats at the lower end of the diner-counter; four window-booths for four; three tables for four; four tables for two; and, weather permitting (or whether permitted), there are also five sidewalk tables for two. 

There are two other locations for toast eatery (and both are in Noe Valley; see previous 'blog-entry from October 31st, 2010) that may or may not still be owned by the same people. For some reason, this location on Polk Street has their own separate web-site, but the menus are still basically the same. Nu?! As with the other two locations, there is original artwork inside by local San Francisco artist, Sirron Norris. 

http://www.sirronnorris.com/

(By the way, that clock/watch in the Ferry Building tower actually works.)


I like that they open up pretty early (and I was not the first customer of the day for a change) every day of the week and that breakfast is served all day, and I was happy to see that it is actually called "Breakfast" on their menu, not stupid "Brunch". They have a pretty extensive breakfastary menu from which to choose. Some other tasteful ideas: California Scrambler (egg whites, tomatoes, fresh basil, Cheddar, and avocado ~ I was leaning towards this one [and almost fell off my seat in doing so, too], because I do not think in all the times that I have eaten breakfast [or stupid "Brunch"] that I have ever had an "egg white" omelette or scramble dish before; however, the deciding factor[s] for me was [were] the inclusion of artichoke hearts and Feta in my meal today); Polk Street Omelette (avocado, spinach, bacon [which I would have had omitted, of course], onions, and Cheddar); or Wet Veggie Burrito (flour tortilla filled with black beans, scrambled eggs, Cheddar, and sour cream; topped with ranchero salsa[3] and avocado) also sounded pretty good.

Feta, spinach, and artichoke hearts. What is not to like?! (And anyone not named "Greg" would not mind the mess of diced, fresh tomatoes in it, either.) It really only had two artichoke heart quarters in it, but they were grilled/charred before adding them in, so that is a plus. There was a sufficient amount of Feta in it, but I could always go for more. 

If I have one major complaint about the joint, it is that for a place that takes their name from the burned bread genre, they really only offer standard bready choices. And those are all just from pre-sliced commercial loaves. You would think they could at least offer a few fresh-baked items from which to choose.

toast eatery offers the standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces® (Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce ~ the standard red; Cholula® Hot Sauce; and Tapatío®) for condimentary supplements. While I wish that I had had some of that Cholula® yesterday, this morning I just went with some of my own Big Papi En Fuego Hot Sauce Off The Wall Triple Hot (Thanks, Kerry!) on the scramble mess and Pickapeppa Sauce (Thanks, Amy!) on the hashbrowns.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mediterranean Scrambler ~ 6.5


1. I was going to make some kinda corny joke about "Non capisco!" the script for not being completely in Italiano; however, I just discovered this morning that the adjective "italic" actually refers to anything "of or pertaining to Italy". Ain't the World Wild Webs just full of information?!

2. I like to tell people that the Tenderloin goes from "Polk-Bush" all the way down to the corner of "1 Polk & 2 Fell", which is actually close enough for comic purposes.

3. Stupid, useless (and, in this case, pretty nitpickery) cunning linguist pointer of the day:

Technically, I think this should either be called "Ranchero salsa" (if they wanted to use the "Ranch/ranch" modifier as a proper noun) or "salsa ranchera" (if they wanted to agree with gender… and gender agreement is all the rage these days, of course!).

Bayside Café

"There are no differences but differences of degree between different degrees of difference and no difference." ~ William James (while high on Nitrous Oxide)

(No official web-site.)


Place: Bayside Café  
Location: 2011 Bayshore Boulevard (at Hester Avenue[1])
Hours: Monday through Saturday open at 5:00am and Sunday open at 6:30am;
phonicular contact: (415) 467-2023
Meal: Nopales Plate ~ onions, bell peppers scrambled with eggs, served with rice & (refried) beans (arroz y frijoles refritos) and tortillas (choice of corn or flour/maíz o harina); and a cuppa Café Mexicano

(Today happens to be Robert Allen Zimmerman's 73rd birthday. And as much as I would like to honour him with actual versions of his own songs, who the heck can really understand a word when he is singing ~ other than Keith Richards or Tom Petty, perhaps? So, I am just going with these EweToobular covers of his tunes.

And I know I could have linked the quintessential Dylan cover, "All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix, but everyone knows that ~ even though Bob may have penned the song ~ Jimi really owns that one.

Don't worry, if Bob were asked about all this, I am sure he would reply with an agreeable: "Heeminna hummina hominna…" or something else equally as unintelligible.)


My breakfastary peregrination this morning took me all the way 'cross town to Bayside Café. They are located right where the Bayshore Boulevard/3rd Street flyover to Highway 101 is in Visitacion Valley[2]. However, they are not really "bayside", as the San Francisco Bay is about another half mile south-eastward still; you can easily see Candlestick Cove from the street, though. "Highwayside Café" just didn't have the same cachet, I suppose.

Bayside Café is an old 50's family diner-style place. They have fourteen diner-counter seats; eight booths for up to four people (all along the window-sides of the joint); one extra large corner booth for about six people (there was actually one family of eight squeezed in there this morning, but four of the eight were little kids); and one solitary (because two really isn't such a solitary number, is it?) table for four by the entryway. 

The breakfast menu (and, believe me, there ain't no fancy-shmancy "Brunch"-ified menu to order off of here) was pretty diverse with many 'merican breakfastary standards and several desayunary mexicano dishes, too. Some other decent suggestions: Popeye Omelette (zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, and onions); Creamed Spinach & Mushroom Omelette (garlic butter and mushrooms in a rich, creamy sauce ~ this was going to be my fallback decision, because I was really interested in seeing how creamed spinach worked in an omelette); (and for those dead, decaying animal flesh fans) Fajita Omelette (choice of beef or chicken, onion, bell peppers, mushrooms & Jack cheese, topped with salsa & sour cream); or maybe even Huevos Rancheros. 

I really liked my scramble. It made the trip all the way over there this morning worth it. All of the vegetables were grilled/charred first before adding them to the mix ~ this was all extra good to me! There was a good amount of nopalitos (hence the name of the dish) diced up into small bite-sized pieces all throughout. I went with corn tortillas (of which there were three, tres); I always feel these are a much better choice with a desayuno típico mexicano. The cuppa Coffee really wasn't called Café Mexicano, I just call it that whenever I add three to four creams (leche) and two to three sugars (azúcar) to it.

For condimentary supplementation, Bayside Café only offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (just the standard red) and Tapatío®. This was kind of disappointing, seeing as they looked to be mostly a Mexican-owned-and-operated place, I was expecting some fresh, homemade salsa around. Or, if it was available, I would probably have gone with some Cholula® Hot Sauce all over the scramble mess. As it was, I ended up using some of my own Mama Africa's™ Zulu Sauces Chilli Mint (Thanks, Kerry!) on the scramble. 

A Breakfastary Update

There was a guy and his young teenage son sitting next to me at the diner-counter and they both used to be big fans of Breakfast at Tiffany's (see last 'blog-entry from February 12th, 2012) also; we all agreed that their hashbrowns were truly "Stella". He told me that they still haven't reopened yet, but there is a lot of construction going on (they basically gutted the entire place). So, hopefully, they will be reopening up later in the year.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Nopales Plate ~ 6.2


1. For any of you geeky Superman fans, it should be noted that Hester Avenue circles around to cross (and the very next street along Bayshore Boulevard is) Lois Lane. I looked on a map and did not see a Lex Luthor Way in the neighborhood, though. Interestingly enough, there are a Clark Street and a Kent Street in San Francisco, but they are both in the northern part of town.

2. If you want a little more information on Visitacion Valley, here is a link from those friendly folks at Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visitacion_Valley,_San_Francisco

heartbaker

http://www.theheartbaker.com/


Place: heartbaker 
Location: 1408 Clement Street (at 15th Avenue)
Hours: Tuesday through Friday open at 7:00am and Saturday at 8:00am (just for standard bakery items); Sunday open at 9:00am for "Brunch" (however, they need to update their official website to reflect this, and maybe list a sample Sunday "Brunch" menu there, too)
Meal: French Toast ~ with cardamom custard, caramelized fruit and whipped honey ricotta; a side of Gabrielle's roasted potatoes; Cherry Mascarpone Galette[1] (for breakfastary dessert); and a cuppa pour-over/drip Hearth Coffee Roasters

http://hearthcoffee.com/

(Do do do do do you get today's EweToobular juxtaselections?

Well, it's a well-known fact that both Mick and Keith are fond of their Full English Breakfasts.)


I went back to heartbaker (see previous 'blog-entry from October 5th, 2013) this morning to check out their brand-new "Brunch" offering. They have only been open for "Brunch" now for the past two months, and have only been open at this Richmond bakery spot since about June 2013. It's a rather small joint (well, it's basically a bakery joint, not really an eatery joint) with just three tables for four people, four tables for two people, four counter seats, and four tables for two out front on the sidewalk. This morning, they were playing several old Hank Williams (the original guy, not Junior or III) and Johnny Cash tunes on the house stereo (probably from some kinda Pandora radio channel or such).

The "Brunch" menu is a bit sparse with only about five to six items from which to choose, and it changes weekendly. Some other items that I noticed on the menu: Huevos Rancheros; Shrimp & Grits (with pickled okra ~ they may have listed this as simply "Shrimp Grits" and I really didn't pay much attention to what else it entailed, but if you eat of the dead, decaying marine insects, you might like that one); plus, there is their full line of standard bakery items (there were two different quiches this morning: one suitable for stupid vegetarians and the other for idiots that partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh).

After Baker Street Bistro's ultimate Pain Perdu, this has to be the best French toast that I have had this year, and probably one of the best I have had in a long while. I told the waitress/server lady-person that I could only think of two words to describe it: "Wow!" (I don't think she quite got my joke. It's okay, though, no actual tipping points are ever deducted due to someone not understanding my stupid sense of humor.) It is hard to actually describe the whole thing, but the bread that they used had a very eggy-custardy texture to it, too; I have no idea what kind of bread they used to make this. The only minor complaint that I might have (and this is just a little ultra-nitpickery on my part) is that I would liked to have tasted a bit more cardamom in the whole thing (I absolutely love cardamom, so maybe it was just right for "normal" people). The caramelized fruits this morning were peaches and apricots[2], and provided a bit of a nice, syrupy sauce on the side.

The "whipped honey ricotta" was outstanding, too. I can't be sure, but I think they finished it off with just a soupçon of sea salt on top. At first, I had forgotten that it was whipped ricotta and was wondering why their "whipped cream" was so lumpy ~ mighty tasty, but lumpy…

The portions were a bit on the small side (both the French toast and the side of potatoes), but more than made up for it in huge flavour. This was all okay with me, as that just left me more room to order a breakfastary dessert (I still need to come up with a decent portmanteau word for that). Even including the pastry, I wasn't quite as full as yesterday's Godzilla-sized (and Godzilla-coloured) omelette.

The Cherry Mascarpone Galette was made with large black cherries (extra bonus points there) and was outstanding; however, after eating their amazing French Toast first, it was a bit anticlimactic. I am sure that if I had the breakfastary dessert first, I wouldn't be so harsh on it. And this is no fault of the Cherry Mascarpone Galette itself, it is just like comparing apples to oranges (or cherries to cardamom, I suppose).

I really have no idea what heartbaker might offer in the way of condimentary supplements; I didn't ask and they didn't really need to offer any. I simply used some of my own Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim!) on the potatoes. No way was I going to mess with the awesome French toast.

I really like that this is walking distance from my apartment: just seventeen blocks (each way… and uphill both ways!), and if they offered more "Brunch" items on the menu, I am sure I would make it a new call-up for my Breakfastary Rotation. As it is, I will definitely be going back to check them out again and can highly recommend the French Toast.

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: French Toast ~ 7.7; Cherry Mascarpone Galette ~ 7.1

1. Once again, Billy Gee and his Spell-checker Nazi-boys do not seem to recognize this simple French baked item. Do people at Microsoft subside on bad burgers and fries only?

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

(Just because I felt like it) here are the French words for today's fruits (fruits):

Peach = pêche (pronounced "pesh"; sometimes, it's not really Roquette Science)

Apricot = abricot (pronounced "AB-ree-co"; and sometimes it's not really Chirurgie du Cerveau, either)
Cherries = cerises (pronounced "sa-REES-eh")

Caffé Union

"I do all my writing in bed. Everyone knows I do my best work there." 
~ Mae West

(No official web-site.)


Place: Caffé[1] Uníón 
Location: 1830 Uníón Stréét (between Octavia and Laguna Streets)
Hours: Monday through Friday open at 8:30am; Saturday and Sunday open at 8:00am (or 8:00ám); phonicular contact: (415) 673-4119
Meal: Basil Pesto, Fresh Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Parmesan Cheese Omelet[2] ~ served with red country potatoes or herb potato pancakes with choice of sourdough or whole wheat toast; and a cuppa America's Best Coffee

(I really couldn't find any good Caffè-, Caffé-, Union-, or Uníón-related EweToobular songs, so I just figured I'd go with a couple of old Blues classics this morning.[3])


Sono tornato al Caffé Union (see 'blog-entry from June 24th, 2012) per la colazione di questa mattina. They are a medium-sized place with seating of five tables for four people, seven tables for two (which could always be combined for more tables of four if necessary), and even two Dog-friendly sidewalk tables for three people each (or two people and one large, black Dog each, like there was outside this morning).

Caffé Union has a few other good breakfastary ideas: Eggs of Paradise (two poached eggs in fresh homemade Tomato sauce with grilled French bread ~ which I had on my initial visit there; these were very good and always worth a return taste); a few different decent-sounding omelettes (Roasted Red Pepper, Smoked Ham, and Green Onions; Spinach, Tomatoes, and Feta Cheese; or Black Bean, Avocado, Homemade Salsa and Sour Cream); or the weekend special, Chicken Apple Sausage, Zucchini, Sundried Tomato Pesto, Yellow Onions, & Fontina Cheese Scramble. 

This was an absolutely HUGE omelette. The Basil Pesto was added into the egg mixture making it all very verdantly Seussian  ~ just with no side of green ham, Sam. While I liked this all well enough, I would not recommend this to those of you that are faint of heart with regards to either mushrooms or tomatoes, as they were both very much in abundance inside the omelette. For my potatoed side dish, I chose the red country potatoes (which I was happy to see were not from the country of Россия); the potatoes were all very nicely blackened/burned and crispy just likes I likes 'em (and apparently this is how they are normally prepared in one of them thar red countries). I went with sourdough toast as my choice in that department. 

The first cuppa Coffee was really kinda weak. I have had America's Best Coffee before, and while their moniker may be a bit on the lofty aspirations side (based in Oakland, CA, I wouldn't really even say they are the Bay Area's Best Coffee), it is still usually a decent enough cuppa. I was happy to see that the subsequent refilla was much better. So, I will just put it down to someone making the first potta the day a bit crummy (plus, I added the orange rind from the garnish on my plate ~ I ate the orange sections first ~ to help flavour it a bit more).

For condimentary supplementation, Caffé Union offers the San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces® (Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce ~ the standard red; Cholula® Hot Sauce; and Tapatio®). I simply used some of my own Youk's Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the commie potatoes and some El Yucateco® XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero (Thanks again, Brian!) on parts of the omelette.

The bill came with a Charms® Mini Pop (mine today was Cherry mania), which is always nice. (This actually served as my lunch today as I was still pretty sufficiently stuffed from breakfast.)

(speaking of "mini") stupid parklets mini-rant of the day

Nooooooooooo!!! Not only have these street-side abominations already invaded the Outer Richmond, they have now crept (as in "creepy") into my immediate neighborhood! There is a brand new one of these obstructions (and an extra large, 3-4 car space one at that) in front of Simple Pleasures Cafe (see initial 'blog entry from March 15th, 2010) and, because of which, unfortunately, Simple Pleasures Cafe has now joined my ever-growing list of places to be boycotted. And in case you think I am being overly critical here: Golden Gate Park is just TWO BLOCKS away, fercryinoutloud! This is really a shame, because I really liked the Coffee there and the Bagel with Hummus and Veggies was a very nice light breakfast option; plus, their location just four blocks away was very handy. All of these stupid parklets are anathema to both actual parks and parking alike!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Omelet ~ 6.5


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist (and pseudo-spelling Nazi) pointer of the day, prima parte:

"Caffé" is how they have it printed on both the menu and on their signage. As I have stated many times in the past (and a few times in the past weeks even), the correct spelling of both "Coffee" and "coffeehouse" in Italiano is "Caffè" and "caffè", con l'accento grave, non l'accento acuto. 

I really don't know why businesses wanting to emphasize their Italiano-ness insist on using the incorrect accentuation. Jùst hów hãrd ís ît tø věrïfý thësę?

2. And just because it's been a few weeks since I last added any (and I am getting paid by the word here, after all), here are several Italiano words from today's meal. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, seconda parte:

A. "basil" = "basilico"
B. "pesto" = "pesto" (yeah, sometimes this stuff ain't Scienza Missilistica)
C. "tomatoes" = "pomodori"
D. "mushrooms" = "funghi" 
E. "Parmesan" = "Parmigiano"
F. "cheese" = "formaggio"
G. "omelette" = "frittata" (o "omelette"; sometimes this stuff ain't Chirurgia del Cervello neither)

3. For those of you not familiar with either Jazz Gillum or Bukka White, here is some information from our friendly friends at Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_Gillum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukka_White

homeskillet

"Home is not where the ♥ is, home is where the breakfast is…"

http://www.homeskilletsf.com/


Place: homeskillet[1]
Location: 1001 Market Street (on the corner of 6th Street)
Hours: ??? YGIAGAM ???
(I can only assume that they open at 8:00am as they were just setting up as I got there this morning around that time; however, neither their official web-site nor their take-away menu show when they actually open daily; you'd think that would be a very important piece of information to include, right?)
Meal: #hashtag ~ fresh hashbrowns scrambled w/ Vidalia onions, melted Jack+Cheddar, topped w/ ripe avocado, Clover (Stornetta) sour cream, & parsley, served w/ 2 cage-free eggs (because it is so cruel to cage those poor little eggs for their entire lives) & choice of: toast or bagel; and a cuppa (well, three different cuppas) Equator Coffees & Teas™ 

http://www.equatorcoffees.com/

(Okay, the first EweToob song ain't exactly the Talking Heads, but I like Woody Harrelson's version, too. The second song is just a juxtaselection for Mother's Day.[2])


Despite having to guess at the time that they are actually open, homeskillet still opens up early enough for breakfast for the likes of me, and I like that. They are a relatively new place (only opened within the last two months or so now). They are just down the block from Dottie's True blue café, which could always be a good fall-back if you don't feel like waiting in a long line to eat at Dottie's (however, if I had driven all the way over to that crummy neighborhood on a Sunday morning with the intention of eating at Dottie's, I would just wait to eat at Dottie's, anyway). I think that this place has the same owner/owners as Little Griddle (see 'blog-entry from October 13th, 2013); I can see that, with some similar items on both menus; one of the main differences being that Little Griddle exclusively serves Stumptown Coffee and homeskillet exclusively serves Equator Coffees & Teas™.

homeskillet is a relatively smallish joint with seating for about thirty-four people ~ amidst various sized and shaped tables, and two window-counter seating areas (unfortunately, the windows overlook "lovely and picturesque" 6th Street). You order and pay at the front counter first; they give you a number or letter (I got an "M" as in "Marilyn Monroe" this morning; Cool!); then they bring the food out to you.

They offer many other interesting breakfastary ideas on the menu: green tortilla sunrise (choose a meat: chicken apple sausage, pork chorizo, ground beef, bacon, or organic tofu ~ spinach tortilla wrapped w/ Jack+Cheddar cheese, cage-free eggs, black beans, green bell peppers, sweet onions, Clover sour cream, a fresh salsa, served w/ homeskillet hash or Balsamic greens); several types of omelettes and scrambles; Hotcakes (original; peanut butter[3] chips; milk chocolate chips; candied pecan; seasonal berry; or strawberry granola); three types of French Toast; and four versions of Eggs Benedict.

I knew that I was going to like this dish right off the bat with potatoes being the focal point of the meal, but with the added avocado slices and Vidalia onions it really put it over the top for me. The sweet Vidalia onions really were a stand-out. With two kinds of cheese melted throughout, it was all nice and extra cheesy, too. I had my eggs over-medium (with a side of free cages) and went with the sourdough toast choice.

Like yesterday, today's Coffee entry was from local roastery Equator Coffees & Teas™. However, unlike yesterday, homeskillet offers three different roasts/blends from which to choose, and as many refills as you would like. So I made sure to try all three different Coffees; I may not need another cuppa for a few days now. I had them in this order and this would also be my ranking: Equator Blend > Mocha Java > Papua New Guinea Siherni.

Much like their Coffee offerings, homeskillet has a very decent selection of condimentary supplements: the San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces (Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce ~ both the standard red and the green Jalapeño for a change; Cholula® Hot Sauce; and Tapatio®); Huy Fong Foods Tương Ớt Sriracha; Frank's® RedHot; Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce; and a Chinese-style chilli-garlic hot sauce. If I had known that they offered that many different choices, I probably wouldn't have schlepped some of my own with me. As it was, I ended up using some of my own Nando's® Extra Hot Peri-Peri sauce (Thanks, Kerry-Kerry!) on top of the eggs, and some Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero-Habanero (Thanks, Jim-Jim!) on the mess of hashbrowns, etc. Additionally, once I discovered that they had that Chinese-style chilli-garlic hot sauce, I used a good amount of it with what was left of the potatoes and eggs all mixed together.

Well, even if I have no idea when they actually open, I liked this meal a lot and will definitely be back… I am just not sure how soon or at what time, though.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: #hashtag ~ 7.4;  Equator Coffees ~ 6.8-7.1


1. This was all one word and all in minuscule on the menu and on their official web-site. I had to ask if they were Moriarty fans with the whole "Homes Killet" name, but they corrected me and let me know it actually stands for "Hom Eskillet"; it's a Mexican thing apparently.

2. To any of you that are new to the Blues, Bessie Smith was the original Empress of the Blues. Before there was Lady Ella, before there was Billie, and before there was Etta, there was Bessie Smith.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Smith

3. Dammit! As much as I wanted to slam Wild Bill and his Nazi-boys spellcheckers, I was wrong in my thinking that "peanutbutter" was one word. I will only concede this minor defeat to those verdammt Braunhemden at Microsoft because both Jif® and Skippy® list it as "peanut butter" (two words), too. It really doesn't matter, as I am still going to call it "peanutbutter" whenever I feel like. So, bite me, Billy-boy, and I hope I stick to the roof of your mouth, too!