Pete’s Deli & Cafe ~ since 1969

"Yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope." 
~ Sanskrit proverb

(No official web-site.)


Place: Pete's Deli & Cafe ~ since 1969
Location: 1661 Divisadero Street (on the corner of Sutter Street); phonicular contact: (415) 931-4800
Hours: open Monday - Friday at 7:00am, Saturday at 8:00am; closed every other day of the week
Meal: Avocado, Bell Pepper, & Jack Cheese Omelet ~ served w/ 3 extra large eggs, home style potatoes, and white or wheat toast; and a bottle of orange juice (not fresh, just a small bottle from their refrigerated glass case section)

(Choose your own offbeat EweToobular cover of this song. Actually, the Richie Havens version is very good.)


I tried another new place (well, actually, not really very "new" at all, but it was my first time ever eating there; apparently it has been around "since 1969") this morning for breakfast: Pete's Deli & Cafe ~ since 1969. (See? It says so right in their signage.) They are located over in the Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood; literally surrounded by buildings of the UCSF Medical Center. There is nothing really fancy, Nancy (or Magil or Lil), about this joint; it is just your typical corner deli-café place. I think this is really one of the only early morning choices in the neighborhood for UCSF Medical Center workers to grab a bite to eat, anyway.

You order first at the deli counter and then pay down the counter at the cash register (and it is specifically noted that they only accept "cash"). Pete's Deli & Cafe ~ since 1969 has a pretty limited menu for other breakfastary choices. I could have gone with a different omelette ingredients combination (they have a list of thirteen items and four different cheeses from which to choose). They also offer a few kinds of pancakes and French toast, a Breakfast Sandwich (1 egg, ham or bacon, and cheese; served on white, wheat, English muffin, or bagel), or a Breakfast Burrito (1 egg, cheese, & choice of meat: ham, bacon, or sausage; they offer this as a Regular or a Special; the Special just includes salsa and potatoes in it and they add additional choices of meat to include steak and chorizo).

This was a decent enough omelette, but nothing really extra special. I did like that it included a good amount of avocado, but it was the mashed variety and not fresh slices/chunks. I went "off-menu" and actually got sourdough toast. I would have liked the potatoes to have been a little crispier (I was only the second customer in there this morning, so they may have not gotten the potatoes up to maximum crispiocity yet); I did like how they were prepared/sliced (sort of French Fry-style) and they had a good amount of diced up white onions in with them, too.

I skipped any Coffee with my meal, as Pete's Deli & Cafe ~ since 1969 only offers Caffé[1] Roma; it looked like they do offer three different roasts/blends from which to choose, though. Caffé Roma is currently on my Boycott List because they are the same bastages that support one of those stupid parklets things in front of their main roasting location in North Beach. Because of which, I felt it absolutely necessary to make my own cuppa Bettys Christmas Coffee (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) at home to enjoy while preparing this 'blog-entry. (It ain't truly morning or breakfast without a decent cuppa; I don't make the laws, I just follow them. How ever do all those law-breakers know when it is morning in Utah?!)

For condimentary supplementation, Pete's Deli & Cafe ~ since 1969 only has Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce and Huy Fong Foods Inc. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. I just used some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm Mango hot chilli sauce on the omelette and some Hell Mouth on the potatoes (Thanks for both, Cindy & Greg!!). I think the flavours would have paired better if I had swapped the hot sauces on these two. I really do have my work cut out for me if I am going to use up all four of these new bottles within the three or four months that I need to.


Raccoon Island Discovery Day Anniversary Strange Interlude

(Sure, I didn't actually "discover" Raccoon Island, I just stumbled across it last year, but some day… some day… this date will be as famous a day on your calendars as that "Cristoforo Colombo's Invasion of the New World Day". Just you wait and see. At least no Raccoons were mistreated or harmed here, which the same can not be said for the Indigenous Populace of the New World by the Spaniards and all of those other future interlopers.)

After breakfast, I stopped by Raccoon Island this morning to celebrate this event. Yesterday was the actual "Day of Discovery" anniversary for me, but, like with most other major National Holidays, this one is observed on the closest weekend so that everyone has a chance to enjoy it with their families and friends. (By the way, there are only 364 more shopping days until the next Raccoon Island Discovery Day. Start planning your gifts to me now.)

And Rocky said, "Doc, it’s only a peanut,
And I'll eat better, I’ll eat better, Doc, as soon as I am able…"

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Avocado, Bell Pepper, & Jack Cheese Omelet  ~ 5.8; Bettys Christmas Coffee ~ 7.5; Raccoon Island ~ 8.5


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

The "official" web-site of this company (I won't bother posting a hyperlink here; as a supporter of all things parklet, they do not deserve any extra publicity) has this word spelled as "Caffé"; however, as I have pointed out many times in the past, the correct Italian spelling (both the words for "Coffee" and for "Café") should be "Caffè", con l'accento grave. I can never understand why an actual Italian family-owned business continues to misspell this word. 

green chile kitchen

俳句 for breakfast,

Makes no sense rhythmically.

So have a tamal. 

http://www.greenchilekitchen.com/about/


Place: green chile kitchen
Location: 1801 McAllister Street (on the corner of Baker Street)
Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Friday at 9:00am; "Brunch" available Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am
Meal: new mexican homestyle frittata ~ layered w/ blue corn tortillas, eggs, zucchini, corn, green chile, & cheese topped w/ chile & crema, served w/ mixed green salad; a (Vegan) sweet potato tamale[1]; and a cuppa Mr. Espresso® (I forgot to ask which blend/roast they serve)

http://mrespresso.com/

(Here is a little know Clavinistic fact: Graham Parker wrote this song completely in 5-7-5 meter.)


Yes, kids, today is the 33rd Annual Day of Haiku on defacedbook. (Strangely enough, this is the third year in a row that it has been designated the "33rd Annual", too.) I thought about doing this entire 'blog-entry in Haiku meter/verse, but I decided that would take me about two weeks to write it all, and it would probably just end up sounding like a bad restaurant review by Master Yoda, anyway.

I tried a new place (well, "new" for me; it is not really that old of a restaurant, anyway ~ opened in 2006 in San Francisco) for breakfast called green chile kitchen. They are located in the neighborhood between the Haight and the Western Addition (which people are now calling "NoPa" ~ for "North of the Panhandle", but I hate that stupid moniker and refuse to use it; well, except here as an explanation of why I am not using it). 

green chile kitchen has a large, high-ceiling open space with seating of: one large communal bench table with ten stools around it; one large communal bench table for about ten to twelve with benches on both sides (those would be along the length sides, not on the width sides); two tables for four (whether communal or not would be up to you and three other people, I suppose); two booths for four; three tables for two (where I sat at; well, I only sat at one of the three tables, I did not hog-up all three just for myself); one table for three; one table with five stools on one side only; six window-counter seats along the Baker Street side; six bar/counter seats; and, additionally, three tables for two outside on the Baker Street sidewalk area. (Did I miss anyone?)

and what is with the trend these days for restaurants to have not only their name rendered in all minuscule, but everything on the menu, too? are the CAPS LOCK keys broken on their computers? that seems rather small-minded to me. at least there is no stupid parklet in front of this place… yet.

You order and pay up front at the counter first; they give you a number (mine was "5" this morning, which kinda went right along with the whole Haiku-stuff); and then they bring the food out to you when it is ready (because bringing the food out to you before it is ready is never a good thing). There were several other good ideas for "Brunch" on their menu (all in the minuscule, too, mind you): quelites[2] & eggs (scrambled eggs, sautéed greens, brown rice, avocado, & pico de gallo); migas (eggs, crispy tortilla strips, green chile, tomatillo avocado salsa, & cotija [a Mexican cheese] w/ black beans; Migas can just be considered a Tex-Mex version of Chilaquiles); root vegetable hash (carne adovada [some form of dead, decaying animal flesh; I could look this up, but I am not eating it, anyway; look it up your damn self if you really want to know what it is], 2 fried eggs, sautéed greens, red chile, & crema; this is also available in a vegetarian option); huevos motuleños[3] (corn tortilla, eggs, black beans, green chile, peas, Feta, & fried plantains); savory breakfast sopaipillas (eggs, cheese, & chile w/ choice of beans); or flat enchilada plate (housemade corn tortillas, eggs, meat, chile, cheese, & sour cream, served w/ posole[4] & beans).

This frittata was a mess o' ooey, gooey, goodness. It was like a deep-dish frittata pie or something; and, unlike when they use this oh-so-trite saying on the food network, this literally had "layers of flavour" to it. This dish can be make as "spicy" (probably by using some red chillies), "medium", or "mild". I went with the "medium" this morning and it was more than tasty, but I probably could have lived with it "spicy" even. I even liked my side of "mixed green salad" for a change, but mainly because it was topped with more of their tasty green chile sauce/dressing.

The sweet potato tamale was very good and I am glad I opted for that as a side. It looked rather odd at first, until I figured out that was because it was made with blue cornmeal like everything else on their menu.

Not that I really needed to add any extra flavour or spice to what I had, but green chile kitchen also has bottles of Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and  Melinda's® Original Habanero Pepper Sauce Hot Sauce as condimentary supplements. 

This place is definitely worth a return trip, if not for this same meal, to try more of their dishes. Even though they are not really a "new" restaurant, I am calling this my "New Find for 2015".

Is it possible that Basho and Master Yoda were one in the same person? I will let you be the judge of this "Separated at Birth" evidence.

俳句 is easy;
Never needed is rhyming.
Hard is Rock-and-Roll.

(And when was the last time you really ever used a rhyme for any reason?)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: new mexican homestyle frittata ~ 7.2; sweet potato tamale ~ 6.8


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day:

They have this as "tamale" on the menu; however, the correct singular really should be "tamal" in Spanish. "Tamales" is the correct plural, though.

2. As best as I can figure, "quelites" can mean any number of different plants in Mexico eaten for their leaves, as leaf vegetables or herbs. This has nothing to do with the inflammation of the colon (at least, I hope not).

3. I could go into a long explanation of what Huevos Motuleños are, but it's just easier "borrowing" from our friends at WikipediA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huevos_motule%C3%B1os

4. This is also alternately spelled "pozole". I was going to include this as just another "stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer"; however, I figured I would then have to explain just what the heck the dish was, anyway. So why not just cheat again with the link from WikipediA?

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

Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." ~ Hank Davy Thoreau

http://www.cliffhouse.com/bistro/index.html


Place: Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House
Location: 1090 Point Lobos (at the end of the Earth/Ocean Beach)
Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 9:00am; open every other day of the week at 8:30am
Meal: Joe's Special Scramble ~ Scrambled eggs with sautéed ground beef (which I passed on, of course), onions, mushrooms, spinach, topped with Parmesan cheese ~ served with fresh fruit and roasted potatoes; a basket of (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!); and a cuppa (with two refillas) Coffee (I think they serve Peerless Coffee & Tea®)

(I am pretty sure that this EweToobular song is neither a reference to Buddy Rich nor Mickey Dolenz.)


In closing the pre-Spring Training workout of my Breakfastary Rotation, I headed back to Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House (see last 'blog-entry from November 1st, 2014). 

This was the breathtaking view this sunny winter morn overlooking the ocean (that would be the one called "Pacific" for any of you Right Coasters that were not quite sure) from my table. I only saw a few brave surfers (about three to four) out on the ocean enjoying the tasty waves this morning (because any brave surfers just sitting on Ocean Beach are simply called "bums").

My friendly waiter-server guy, Justin, offered to substitute the dead, decaying grinded-up bovine flesh for either extra mushrooms or some avocado; I actually declined either addition, I like this fine enough just the way it is. Justin also happens to be a big hot sauce fan and recognized me from previous visits and greeted me with "Hey, it's the Hot Sauce Guy!" when I first sat down (don't you just hate it when people give you labels like that ~ especially if they are just some waiter-server guys).

There were only two (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) in the basket this morning. They usually fill it with at least three (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) and I have had up to five in there just by myself. This was not really such a big deal as they will always give you more if you want. Two were sufficient for me today, anyway.

Today's fresh fruit: watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and half of a strawberry (it was a very large half, equal to about two regular-size strawberries, though).

Bistro Restaurant only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (and just the standard red, Richard Bernard) for condimentary supplementation. Knowing what they had to offer from many past visits and (especially) knowing that I really need to use up some of my newest hot sauces, I used some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm Winter chilli sauce on the scramble mess and some smoked Chipotle chilli sauce on the potatoes (Thanks for both, Cindy & Greg!).


Hollywoodland Autographed Photo-wall Interlude

(Photo #1; from top to bottom and left to right)

??? (I really should know her name, but just can't quite put my finger on her ~ at least not since that stupid Restraining Order was enforced); 
??? (some radio-talker guy from KNBC Radio ~ which is now KNBR Radio in San Francisco)

the Quiz Kids (I really don't know who is who specifically, and I really don't care specifically);
Allan Jones (Theodore Allen Jones; October 14, 1907 - June 27, 1992; actor/singer; starred in two Marx Brothers movies ~ "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races", "Show Boat", and also "One Night in the Tropics", which is notable mostly for being the film debut of Abbott and Costello; however, I am not 100% sure on this one, the cheesy mustache is throwing me a bit)

Paulette Goddard (Pauline Goddard Levy or Marion Goddard Levy or Pauline Marion Levy or Marion Pauline Levy; June 3, 1910 - April 23, 1990; actress; leading lady in Charlie Chaplin films "Modern Times" and "The Great Dictator"; married to both Charlie Chaplin and Burgess Meredith ~ of course, at different times);
??? (another guy that I really should know, but I don't)

(Photo #2; from top to bottom and left to right)

Cary Grant (Archibald Alexander Leach; January 18, 1904 - November 29, 1986; some actor that starred in a couple of movies, but was never a guest in Clifford C. Clavin, Jr.'s kitchen); 
??? (no idea; it would be funny if his name happened to be "Judy J. Judy"; I am pretty sure that he also had never been in Cliff Clavin's kitchen, though)

Frances Farmer (Frances Elena Farmer; September 19, 1913 - August 1, 1970; actress/TeeVee hostess); 
Red Skelton (Richard Bernard Skelton; July 18, 1913 - September 17, 1997; actor/TeeVee host guy; "The Red Skelton Show" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas"… oh, wait, that was his brother, Jack, in that movie)

(Photo #3; from top to bottom and left to right)

Danny Glover (Daniel Lebern Glover; July 22, 1946 [they only have this one date listed so I can only assume that Danny is still alive; however, you could sure fool me from his body of work in the past decade or so]; actor; "The Color Purple", "Grand Canyon", and the "Lethal Weapon" series of movies); 
Alice Faye (Alice Jeane Leppert; May 5, 1915 - May 9, 1998; actress/singer; married to Phil Harris [that would be "Baloo the Bear" to you Disney fans] and Tony Martin [coincidentally enough, he was featured in another Marx Brothers movie, "The Big Store"])

Sonja Henie (April 8, 1912 - October 12, 1969; figure skater and film star; three-time Olympic Champion in Ladies' Singles; unfortunately seen here without her tutu, Tommy and Ray[1]); 
??? (another one that I probably should know; however, I am pretty sure it's neither Bernard Schwartz nor Lucille LeSueur, Cliff)


Once again, anyone that can fill in any of these "???'s" will receive all the free (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) that they can eat at the time (well, with a meal that you pay for) and will have my undying gratitude ~ which is worth much less than any free (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!), of course. Here is a little 'blog-writer guy hint: if you click on a particular photo, it should be able to be viewed full-screen by itself. I apologize for the poor quality of all of these photos, but my stupid photographer only gets paid with (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)[2] (and, only then, what is leftover in my basket after I have already had my fill).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Joe's Special Scramble ~ 6.6; (World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!) ~ 8.2


1. Anyone familiar with the radio show Car Talk
should get that stupid joke.

2. So, Jim, do you think that I referenced "(World) Famous Cliff House Popovers(!)" enough in today's 'blog-entry?

Cafe Golo ~ Boutique Cafe

"I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroad… and had myself an Artichoke-Spinach Scramble"

(No official web-site.)


Place: Cafe Golo ~ Boutique Cafe
Location: 1602 Lombard Street (at Gough Street ~ Highways 61 and 49 be damned! <<< pun totally intended, too)
Hours: open at 8:00am every day of the week
Meal: Artichoke-Spinach Scramble ~ egg whites, spinach (it says so right in its name), artichokes (again, it's right there in its name), grilled onions (not in its name, but that would probably have been overkill), sun-dried tomato (while this ingredient is also not in its name, it could easily have been and would have added a bit more cachet even), served with toast and choice of potatoes or fruit

The last (and newest) of my Breakfastary Rotation Starters to check out before Spring Training is Cafe Golo ~ Boutique Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from October 26th, 2014). 

Miss PB explained to me that they have tweaked their menu a bit since my last visit; they have changed some items (Veggie Tater Scramble is now called Florentine Tater Scramble; I don't know what is different about it, though), added some items (my meal this morning was one of the new additions, Mr. Bivins), and deleted others. Luckily some of my favourites have remained on the menu and some other possible ideas this morning were: Florentine Tater Scramble (country potatoes scrambled with spinach, sautéed onions, the vile weed, mushrooms, zucchini, and cheese; which I would have ordered sans la mauvaise herbe vile, of course); Breakfast Burrito (eggs, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla; for you dead, decaying meatatarians, you can also add chicken, chorizo, bacon, sausage, or ham); Breakfast Tacos (3) (corn tortillas filled with egg, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cheese; again, chicken, bacon, sausage, or ham can be added to this to ruin it); or, what I am calling their "signature" breakfastary dish now, Golo Ranchero (corn tortillas topped with eggs, beans, cheese, spicy salsa verde, served with sour cream and avocado; I even talked two other customers into getting this one upon my recommendation; of course, beneath my recommendation, these would probably taste awful).

I can honestly say this is the Best Egg White
Scramble that I have ever had! Needless to say, it was the only egg white scramble that I have ever had, too. Not noted on the menu, but this scramble also included a good amount of Cheddar cheese in it; I pointed this out to Miss PB and she said they must have missed it when they printed the new menus, but would correct it in the future. This was a very good scramble and I really liked the combination of items in it. The artichoke hearts (quarters, whatever you want to call 'em) were of the brined, not marinated, kind (which really does make all the difference in the World, or at least in the scramble). I particularly liked that they do not Golo cheap-o on the amount of sun-dried tomatoes in the scramble (a lot of places seem to treat sun-dried tomatoes and other ingredients as if they are gold leaf, and are usually very stingy with adding a good amount in).

Of course, I went with the option of their country potatoes (which are made with both standard potatoes and sweet potatoes) for my side choice. However, Miss PB said their side of fruits is very good and that she'd also throw in a side of this just to let me see. The small bowl included this morning: bananas, pear (a green kind), pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, and apple (a red kind). Yes, this was much better than I could (or would) ever make at home, but it still doesn't trump their country potatoes (the wild card in the winning hand there would be the inclusion of sweet potatoes). I simply went with sourdough for my toast choice.

Not only was the free side of fruit a nice marketing touch (like I needed to be bribed to go back there again, anyway), but they will usually start you off with a few "bites" of some of their fresh-baked pastries; mine this morning were Blueberry-Mango Tart and Kiwi-Cranberry Tart.

I really didn't pay much attention to what Cafe Golo offered for condimentary supplements, as I wanted to try the final two of my newest hot sauces from The Wiltshire Chilli Farm (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!). I went with a good amount of Winter chilli sauce on the scramble mess.

Ingredients: tomatoes, onion, green pepper, apples, celery, cider vinegar, sugar, chilli - 1%, mustard seeds, salt, spices

And I used a good amount of Mango hot chilli sauce on the potatoes ~ the curry-like flavour of this one really paired well with the two kinds of potatoes.

Ingredients: mango - 31%, cider vinegar, onion, sugar, lime, chilli - 3%, garlic, mustard, various spices

Neither of these two hot sauces specify which type (or types) of chilli is (or are) used, but that doesn't really matter because: "Our sauces are hand made in small batches using the chillies grown on our Wiltshire Chilli Farm". Both of these had a nice bit of heat to them, but neither was overly spicy (for me, at least; these would both probably be considered "Gringo Espicy", though).

The only minor problem I foresee with all four of these new hot sauces is that they all state on the label: "best before: see base; refrigerate once opened and use within 6-8 weeks". Normally most hot sauces don't have any kind of expiry date on them or specify that refrigeration is needed. (Just how long do you think those bottles of hot sauces, ketchup, and mustard have sat out on the counter of your local diner?) With chilli peppers and vinegar as two of the main ingredients in these, any other type of preservatives seems kinda moot, though. All the same, I will probably try to use them up within 12-16 weeks just to be on the safe side.

Here is my current ranking after just the one-time use of each (based mainly on my preference of flavour and heat):

Winter chilli sauce
smoked Chipotle chilli sauce
Mango hot chilli sauce
Hell Mouth

No visit to Cafe Golo would be complete without getting at least one of their excellent fresh-baked pastries, so, I bought one each to Golo for later-o of Peach Cobbler Tart (even before the "bite" bit of bribery, I was planning on getting one of these to take home with me as I don't think that I have ever had this one yet) and Kiwi-Cranberry Tart (I was all set on getting my favourite Sweet Potato Tart, but Miss PB told me the Kiwi-Cranberry Tart was her favourite and talked me into it). I will probably be enjoying these later today while watching the NFL Championship games ~ Go Packers! Go Patriots!

Before leaving, I asked Jay what is the most recent update on when they will be opening their new restaurant, Grits, in the Tenderloin and he said that the date has been pushed back once again to April now (which will be one year exactly after they were supposed to have opened in 2014).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Artichoke-Spinach Scramble ~ 7.1; various fresh-baked tarts and pastries ~ 7.0-7.5

grindz

Did you ever wonder what they call extra thick waffles[1] in Brussels (of Brussel… ou Bruxelles… oder Brüssel), Jean-Claude?

http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/


Place: grindz 
Location: 832 Clement Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues)

Hours: open for "Brunch" Friday, Saturday, & Sunday at 9:00am

Meal: GRINDZ Waffle ~ buttermilk waffle, pina berry compote, quenelle whipped cream; a side of Plantation Potatoes[2] (because as a vegetarian I never get enough carbohydrates in my diet); and a cuppa (and 1-½ refillas) Bicycle Coffee[3] co (though I always forget to ask which particular roast/blend they offer)

http://www.bicyclecoffeeco.com/

(No trip to an Hawai'ian ~ a Hawai'ian? whatever ~ restaurant would be complete without a EweToobular juxtaselection of Bruddah Iz. 

The second video/song is just for anyone living in North Windsor, Ontario that wants to take a midnight train going nowhere in particular.)


The continuation of the pre-Spring Training workout of another one of my Breakfastary Rotation Starters brought me back to grindz (see last 'blog-entry from October 19th, 2014). 

There is really only a handful of items on their "Brunch" menu which I really can eat (and, by "handful", I mean exactly five items ~ which is a handful if you have an overly large hand, I suppose). As I have eaten there more than five times in the past, I have more than worked my way through what they have to offer to stupid vegetarians. My backups today were going to be either Kalua Benedict (toasted Hawai'ian bread, Kalua pig, taro leaves, 2 poached eggs, tarragon Hollandaise, plantation potatoes; just consider this an/a Hawai'ian version of Eggs Benedict, bra'; of course, I would have ordered this again without the dead, decaying Kalua piggy stuff) or Veggie Scramble (mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, plantation potatoes, chilli oil; "veggies" may vary).

This was really good. I don't normally order waffles (and I don't think that I had any the entire year of 2014), but I liked this dish. The "pino berry compote" was made with pineapples[4] and blueberries[5]; this was very good, too, but I wonder if blackberries or raspberries (yes, I am well aware that neither blackberries nor raspberries are technically botanical berries, but still) might have been a better combination with pineapple.

The Plantation Potatoes were very good as always, made with lots of chopped up celery[6], red bell peppers[7], and white onions[8].

For condimentary supplementation, grindz offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and some kind of Sriracha sauce (I think I overheard someone asking for it); plus, they have on all the tables their own homemade chilli oil and Hawai'ian Spicy Ketchup. Normally, I would just have settled for using their Hawai'ian Spicy Ketchup ~ as it is very good ~ and not bothered bringing any of my own hot sauces with me; however, I just received a belated Christmas gift in the mail this week with four more bottles of new stuff to try (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!). All four bottles are from the same English company, The Wiltshire[9] Chilli Farm. 

http://www.justchillies.co.uk/

This morning I tried some smoked Chipotle chilli sauce on half of the potatoes and Hell Mouth on the other half. 

The smoked Chipotle chilli sauce was the less spicy of the two and I could go pretty heavily with it. 

Ingredients: tomatoes, onions, red wine vinegar, sugar, molasses, smoked garlic - 1%, smoked chilli - 1%, various spices.

Hell Mouth was a lot spicier, but not as crazy hot as some other hot sauces that I have.

Ingredients: orange pepper, sugar, cider vinegar, Habanero chilli, apple, mango, salt, ginger, Ghost Pepper…  

I will probably get around to testing out the other two bottles tomorrow with breakfast. This brings my collection total to twenty now; an entire shelf on my refrigerator door is dedicated to just these hot sauces. I really was not planning on getting any more hot sauces to add to my collection until after I had used up a few more bottles. (Last month I even bought three new bottles myself, which I probably should have waited on, too.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: GRINDZ Waffle ~ 6.6


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer een/numéro un/Nummer eins:

Everyone knows that there are three Official Languages in Belgium (unlike here in 'merica where there are just two ~ Spanish and Chinese): Dutch, French, and German. So, if anyone ever asks you "Do you speak Belgiumese?", you can answer: "Ja!", "Oui!", and "Ja!"

Here are the words for "Waffle" in all three:

Dutch ~ "wafel (singular)/wafels (plural)"
French ~ "gaufre (singular)/gaufres (plural)"
German ~ "Waffel (singular)/Waffeln (plural)"

I could go into a long etymological explanation of the word "waffle", but then why do we have WikipediA? Here is the link to more information by them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle#Etymology

2. I figured, what the heck (of hel… ou enfer… oder Hölle) while I was at it, I might as well also provide the stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) for this word in Dutch, French, and German (for anyone keeping count here, that would be nummer twee/numéro deux/Nummer zwei):

Dutch ~ "aardappel (singular)/aardappelen (plural)"
French ~ "pomme de terre (singular)/pommes de terre (plural)"
German ~ "Kartoffel (singular)/Kartoffeln (plural)"

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer drie/numéro trois/Nummer drei:

Dutch ~ "Koffie"
French ~ "Café"
German ~ "Kaffee"

(See, sometimes these stupid, useless cunning linguist pointers aren't exactly Rocket Surgery.

I have even covered this word a few times before here. See specific 'blog-entry from February 26th, 2014.)

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer vier/numéro quatre/Nummer vier:

Dutch ~ "ananas (singular)/ananassen (plural)"
French ~ "ananas (singular)/(plural)"
German ~ "Ananas (singular)/(plural)"

5. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer vijf/numéro cinq/Nummer fünf:

Dutch ~ "bosbes (singular)/bosbessen (plural)"
French ~ "myrtille (singular)/myrtilles (plural)"
German ~ "Blaubeere or Heidelbeere (singular)/Blaubeeren or Heidelbeeren (plural)"

6. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer zes/numéro six/Nummer sechs:

Dutch ~ "selderij"
French ~ "céleri"
German ~ "Sellerie"

7. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer zeven/numéro sept/Nummer sieben:

Dutch ~ "rode paprika" (singular)/(plural)
French ~ "poivron rouge" (singular)/"poivrons rouges" (plural)
German ~ "rote Paprika" (singular)/(plural)

8. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, nummer acht/numéro huit/Nummer acht:

Dutch ~ "witte ui (singular)/witte uien (plural)"
French ~ "oignon blanc (singular)/oignons blancs (plural)"
German ~ "weiße Zwiebel (singular)/weiße Zwiebeln (plural)"

9. Wiltshire is a County in Southwest England. It is best known as the county where the City of Salisbury (home to both Salisbury Cathedral, which houses one of the four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta, and to the eponymous steaks) and the Village of Avebury (home of the famous Neolithic henge monument). Wiltshire is also the county where there are the lesser known standing stones in some place called "Stonehenge".

Eats

"Never try to teach a pig to sing; it will only waste your time … and annoy the pig." ~ A.N. Onymous

(No official ~ or unofficial ~ web-site.)


Place: Eats 
Location: 50 Clement Street (on the corner of 2nd Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 751-8000
Hours: open every day of the week at 8:00am
Meal: Vegetarian Egg Sandwich ~ arugula, Cheddar, tomatoes, spicy aioli, over easy egg(s), avocado, cornmeal ciabatta, served with (Excellent! Roasted Home) potatoes or salad; and a glass of Pomegranate[1]-Lemonade 

(I couldn't think of any real "eats"-type EweToobular juxtaselections, so I am just going with a couple of Maria McKee doing covers of Van Morrison songs videos.

I just love how Chevy was so well prepared with one of his musical guests there…)


Today's pre-Spring Training workout of another one of my Breakfastary Rotation Starters was back to Eats (see last 'blog-entry from October 5th, 2014). I once again sat at the window-counter seating area, where there are six high seats/stools facing Clement Street.

I have eaten so many times at Eats that I have just about worked my way through their entire breakfast menu now. The only item that I think is left to try would be Two Tofu Tacos (try saying that ten times fast ~ (v) zucchini, bell peppers, Hungarian peppers, corn, pico de gallo, cabbage slaw, avocado, beans, grilled tortillas, potatoes or salad); next time. Otherwise, I would probably go with Caprese Scramble (cherry tomatoes, pesto, fresh Mozzarella, Parmesan) again, as it has been a while since I have had that one.

This was a very good egg sandwich. Sure, it was "just an egg sandwich", but this was definitely not your momma's Egg McCiabatta. The arugula, avocado, and cornmeal ciabatta really added a lot to this. Which would you rather have as the bready portion of your breakfastary sandwich: cornmeal ciabatta or Mr. Thomas' poor excuse for an actual English crumpet? (I am pretty sure that ol' Ronald has never even heard the words "arugula" or "ciabatta" before.[2]) This actually comes with two eggs (the menu just had egg, singular, on it). I really didn't notice their "spicy aioli" as some idiot had poured hot sauce all over the top of the eggs before I had the chance to actually taste it.

Of course, I went with the side choice of the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes. Who in their right mind (or left mind, even) chooses a side salad for breakfast? Besides, the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes are one of the main reasons I keep going back again and again and again to Eats. If I had any complaints (but not really) this morning, the only "complaint" I might have had was that there were only two cloves of garlic in with the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes, but one of them was extra large and could easily be counted as two itself.

The Pomegranate-Lemonade was pretty good; it was neither too sweet nor too tart. This can also be made as a Bellini-style drink if you wanted (Alcohol for breakfast? Why, I never!).

Eats has for condimentary supplements the San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red); Tapatío®; and Cholula® Hot Sauce. I just used some of my own Fairhope Favorites, Inc. Moonshine Hot Sauce Aged-N-Charred (Thanks, Phyll!) on the potatoes (of course, the garlic in this hot sauce complemented the garlic already in with the potatoes very well) and some Hot Licks® Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on top of the eggs in the sandwich (which was the reason I really couldn't tell what their own "spicy aioli" might have tasted like).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegetarian Egg Sandwich ~ 6.9; Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes ~ 7.5


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

The word "pomegranate" derives from Medieval Latin "pomum" (apple) and "granatum" (seeded). The French word for pomegranate is "grenade". This word has lent itself to the military "grenade"; soldiers commented on the similar size and shape of early hand-held grenades.

2. Apparently, Wild Bill Gates and his Spell-checkering Brown Shirts at Microsoft have never heard of "arugula" or "ciabatta" before, too, as these words are getting the red underlined treatment here.