Sunday, June 22, 2014

ShowDogs ~ San Francisco

"Consider the silent repose of the sausage as compared to the aggressiveness of bacon." ~ Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction



http://showdogssf.com/


Place: ShowDogs ~ San Francisco   
Location: 1020 Market Street (on the corner of Golden Gate Avenue) 
Hours: Monday through Friday open at 9:00am (for breakfast); Saturday and Sunday open at 10:00am (for "Brunch")
Meal: Sunrise ShowDog ~ Smoked Maple Pork sausage (which I, of course, substituted for a Field Roast® Vegetarian sausage), topped with scrambled eggs, cheese, peppers and onion; a side order of fried Yukon breakfast potatoes; and a glass of Blueberry Basil Soda 





(You were expecting "Cool For Cats" by Squeeze or something by the Stray Cats, perhaps?)


Just for a change of pace, I decided to head downtown and have breakfast (which they call "Brunch" on the weekends) at ShowDogs ~ San Francisco. They are located right on Market Street (and just a block away from some joint called Dottie's True blue café, which I really have been meaning to check out one of these days as I have heard okay reviews of it). They have a good amount of seats available inside (in their triangulated space ~ see above photo); plus, four or five outside/sidewalk tables for up to four people each. I opted for the latter because: 1) it was comfortable enough this morning to sit outside, and 2) the Sunday morning sights along Market Street can always be a lot of fun.

ShowDogs really only offers a few different breakfastary ("Brunch", whatever) items from which to choose, which they call "For The Hangover" on their menu. Two other possibilities for me this morning were either Sausage and Eggs (Smoked Maple Pork sausage, 2 eggs, potatoes, toast) or Poached Egg and Sausage (Smoked Merguez sausage, poached egg on wheat toast), both of which I would have also substituted with the Field Roast® Vegetarian sausage.




They were nice enough to let me substitute the Smoked Maple Pork sausage for the vegetarian option, but I bet they would let anyone also exchange it for any of their other meatatarian ones. Of which they have a pretty decent variety it seems: All Beef, Italian Pork, Basil Chicken, Smoked Merguez, Smoked Wild Boar, and Smoked Polish. I am not sure exactly which Field Roast® Vegetarian sausage they use (there are a few different sausages that they make), but I assume it was either an Apple Maple Breakfast Sausage or a Smoked Apple Sage. I think that there may have also been some arugula in with the scrambled eggs mess, too; the on-line menu states some different ingredients from the printed menu. This was served on a very good hotdog[1] bun with sesame seeds, too.



I have had the Blueberry Basil Soda before and knew that I liked it; however, today's was a little bit on the sweeter side for my tastes. This is to be expected as they make the drink fresh for each person and depending on the jerk (as in "soda fountain drink guy", not that he was really obnoxious or anything) that prepares the soda, it can taste differently daily.

I did not bother to bring any of my own hot sauces from my collection with me today because I knew that ShowDogs has an excellent selection of their own homemade condimentary supplements. I used some Serrano Ketchup on top of the sausage/eggs mixture and on half of the potatoes, and some Habanero sauce on the other half of the potatoes. The Habanero sauce wasn't really all that spicy, but it had tons of good flavour; I think the Serrano Ketchup may even have been a bit hotter. There was a unique flavour in the Habanero sauce that I just couldn't quite put my finger (or tongue) on. Was it maple syrup? Ginger? I ended up asking one of the guys that worked there what the "secret ingredient" was and he told me (under penalty of death if I ever revealed it to anyone else… oops!) that it has a little cinnamon in it. Bingo! That was it. And it really adds that little bit extra "je ne sais quoi" (which I really should learn how to say in French one of these days), too.

This ain't breakfast… this is genocide!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sunrise ShowDog ~ 6.7; Blueberry Basil Soda ~ 6.5 (today; I would rate it up to 6.8 in the past); Serrano Ketchup ~ 6.8; Habanero sauce ~ 7.4


1. This brings up the great "Hotdog vs. Hot Dog Debate". Is it one word, "Hotdog" ~ which is my preferred choice, or two words, "Hot Dog" ~ which some idiots at a place called Nathan's® Famous seem to favour?

Who are you going to side with? Someone that has been a vegetarian for over thirty-eight years or some stupid corporation that pretends to be experts on dead, decaying ground-up meat with skin around it?

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