Big Joe’s

"Don't bite the hand that lays the golden egg." ~ Samuel Goldwyn

(No official web-site.)


Place: Big Joe's
Location: 717 Monterey Boulevard (at Gennessee Street); phonicular contact: (415) 333-2878
Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Friday at 7:00am and Saturday & Sunday at 8:00am
Meal: Veggie Hash and Eggs ~ seasonal "veggies" (Ugh! Have I ever told you how much I despise the term "veggie/veggies"? Does a steakhouse joint list their meatetarian items as "meaties"? At least they had the good taste not to call their early morning menu items "Brunch".), two poached eggs, with either home potatoes or mixed greens, and toast; and a large glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice

(There is no real EweToobular juxtaselection with this morning's song/video, but who doesn't love to love to love to love to love to love to love to love to love to love to love to love to love… the one and only Mister George [Ivan Morrison] on a Sunday morning?)


I do not think that I have ever really been over to Sunnyside[1] (the neighborhood in San Francisco, not the one in Queens, New York City, New York) before for breakfast, so this was a new one for me this morning. I ate at Big Joe's. I happened to notice this restaurant a few weeks ago when I was tramping around over at the Sunnyside Conservatory[2] (I wasn't actually conserving anything and it's really just a small San Francisco Dedicated Landmark garden space/park that was built in the late 19th Century) which is just a few blocks down the road.

Big Joe's is a small burger joint/diner-ish place. They only have seating of: six diner/counter seats; six tables for two; and two (kinda smallish) booths for two to four people (if they don't mind being a little cramped it looked); and, additionally, one small, round table for two on the sidewalk (weather ~ or whether ~ permitting).

I liked the selections offered on the menu and there were a few other good ideas from which to choose for stupid vegetarians (but, please, never "veg-heads" or "veggies"): Spinach and Egg Breakfast Sandwich (avocado, tomato, Cheddar cheese on ciabatta bread served with home potatoes or mixed greens); Brioche French Toast (pears, pecans, vanilla mascarpone cream and syrup); or Spanish Omelette (Yukon gold potatoes, bell peppers, avocado, Cojita cheese, and topped with mild roasted tomato salsa; served with mixed greens and toast). Additionally, for any of you "meatie-heads" out there, there is the Big Joe's Egg Tart (braised leeks, caramelised yellow onions, oven-dried cherry tomatoes, bacon, Swiss cheese, one egg on the side, with either home potatoes or mixed greens; I assumed this was probably some kinda pre-prepared quiche-y type of dish and there was probably no way to order it without the bacon, Glen).

I liked this meal. It was all pretty simple, but made with all fresh (and, I suppose, seasonal) "veggies". It looked like today's seasonal "veggies" were: mushrooms, green and red bell peppers, onions, zucchini, Brussels sprouts (I really like Brussels sprouts and they are not a typical ingredient in a lot of places ~ seasonally or not ~ and, because of which, I am giving them an extra 0.1 point on their Glen Bacon Scale Rating), and maybe some other unidentified "veggies" ~ everything was diced up in nice little pieces, so I may have missed an item or two. 

Of course I went with the home potatoes (their nice, homey version of homefries) as my side choice. After eating about half of the hash mess, I just ended up mixing all the potatoes in with everything else; it all worked very nicely, too.

I had sourdough for my toasty option; the toast was grilled ~ always a nice touch.

As best as I could tell, Big Joe's only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (just the standard red). I found this a bit strange, as the place appeared to be Mexican family-owned and -run; I would have expected at least some Cholula® Hot Sauce or Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, too. It really didn't matter, as I used some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm Chipotle chilli sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of the poached eggs (and in with the hash initially) and some Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains, Amys & Brian!) all over the potatoes.

I had purposefully (purposely? porpoise lee? whatever) skipped any Coffee with breakfast because I noticed that there was a coffeehouse just two doors down, Railroad Expresso, and wanted to give them a go. I ended up getting an espresso drink for a change and ordered a Mexican Mocha. This mocha drink was made with Mexican chocolate; they use Abuelita™[3] brand Mexican chocolate drink mix to make this, which gives it a bit of cinnamon spice flavor. It was a little on the sweet side, but I liked it well enough and just considered it my breakfastary dessert.

(No official web-site either. 705 Monterey Boulevard; phonicular contact: (415) 333-4009)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: "Veggie" Hash and Eggs ~ 6.7; Mexican Mocha ~ 6.8


1. Sunnyside is a neighborhood in San Francisco that is over by City College of San Francisco and situated somewhat betwixt and between the neighborhoods of Glen Park (no relation to either Glen Bacon, of the eponymous "Scale", or Neon, that I can tell) and Westwood Park/Westwood Highlands.

2. http://sunnysideconservatory.org/

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

"Abuelita" simply means "little grandmother/granny" in Spanish.