LaLe

"Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them." ~ Leo Rosten

(No official web-site.)


Place: LaLe
Location: 731 Irving Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues); phonicular contact: (415) 566-8814
Hours: open daily for breakfast at 8:00am
Meal: Mumbai (Benediction) ~ beets, mushrooms, lentil patty, avocado, & tomato (let it be noted that they actually used an Oxford comma after "avocado" on their printed menu; that is almost unheard of on most menus); and a glass of fresh lemonade w/ mint (and a coupla no-charge refillas; which is almost unheard of in many places these days, too)

This morning I had breakfast at another new place (and this time, when I say "new" place, I actually mean "brand new" as in they just recently opened in the second week of December 2014): LaLe. They opened up in the space that housed a long-time Italian restaurant on Irving Street (whose name escapes me just now; I had eaten there a few times over the years, but it has been some time since I last ate there; I just hope it wasn't my fault that they went out of business) and are two doors down from Art's Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from November 29th, 2014).

The the very first thing that I had to find out as soon as I sat down and was handed the the menu was just what the the heck the the name of the the place was. Is the the name supposed to be pronounced to rhyme with "kale"? Is it supposed to be French for "The The" ("la" being the the feminine article for "the" and "le" the the masculine article for "the"; now does the the above stupid EweToobular juxtaselection make any sense?)? My helpful waiter-server guy told me that it is actually the the Persian word for "tulip" ~ "لاله" ~ and is pronounced "la-lay" (you can consider that today's "stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the the day"). To make matters even more confusing, the the owners are Turkish, not Iranian (nor Persian even); so why use a Persian name with confusing Frenchy undertones? (I actually asked the the waiter-server guy that, but he really had no answer.)

The walls are decorated with prints of tulips (which if the waiter-server guy hadn't explained to me was the name of the joint, I would just have said "decorated with prints of flowers") on top of a French newspaper design. (Now you can see how their name might be a bit confusing.) There are eleven tables for two, five tables for four, and one table for three; which surprised me, as the space always seemed a bit larger back when it was still un vecchio ristorante italiano.

There were several other interesting choices for both vegetarians and dead, decaying meat fleshatarians alike. They offer six different Egg Scramblers, here is a sample of some other ideas that I was thinking of ordering: Mexico City (chorizo, green onions, mushrooms, guacamole, sour cream, & cheese; and, once again, they offer this with the correctly placed Oxford comma), Napa (goat cheese, mushrooms, bacon, & bell peppers; no extra charge for an Oxford comma, but I would probably order this without the Oxford bacon), or Athens (bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, & Feta cheese; that must be an Hellenic comma in place there). They also have two other Benedictions, but the one that I went with was the best vegetarian choice, I felt. Another category is Eggs & More…, basically two eggs how you like 'em and "more" stuff. Or the last category is Sweet Tooth: Ricotta Stuffed French Toast, Ricotta Stuffed French Toast w/ sliced almonds, and Buttermilk pancake w/ orange butter.

This was a very nice version of an Eggs Benedict dish. It had  a nice Hollandaise sauce (I made sure to taste it before adding any condimentary supplementation) on top. The one thing I wasn't quite sure was how a lentil patty would stack up (literally) in all of this. It turned out that it was actually a patty made with beets, mushroom, and lentils (See? I included the correct Istanbul comma after "mushrooms", too). I could see those patties being the basis for a vegetarian burger all by themselves; they were really very good. The one thing I didn't ask the waiter-server guy was: "Why 'Mumbai', though?" Do there happen to be lots of beets and mushrooms in that Indian capital city?

They mainly serve Sightglass Coffee, but I didn't feel like any Coffee this morning, I felt like something different for a change ("something the same" is not really a change now, is it?), and the fresh homemade lemonade with mint really was refreshingly different (besides, I will probably just make my own Coffee later this afternoon while watching the Super Bowl on TeeVee. Go Patriots!!!)

LaLe has just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce for condimentary supplements. I used some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Amys & Brian!) on the potatoes and some The Wiltshire Chilli Farm Winter chilli sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of both poached eggs to mix in with their own Hollandaise sauce.

The the place is definitely return-trip-worthy if you ask me, Ms. Benes.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Mumbai (Benediction) ~ 7.1