Sunday, April 26, 2015

Eats


"All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."
~ Wild Bill Shakespeare, As You Like It
Act 2, Scene 7



(No official web-site… still.)


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: Two Tofu Tacos ~ (v) zucchini, bell peppers, Hungarian peppers[1], corn, pico de gallo, cabbage slaw, avocado, beans, grilled tortillas, (Excellent! Roasted Home) potatoes or salad; and a large glass (well, they call it "large", but it’s just a normal-sized glass) of Power "C" ~ grapefruit, orange, and pineapple





(There really is no particular reason for these gray-ish and away-ish EweToobular songs; I just felt like it, Earl.)


The continuation of the Spring workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation brought me back to Eats (see last 'blog-entry from January 11th, 2015). I sat at one of the window-counter seats looking out onto Clement Street again.

I really figured that by now I have had most every item (that is suitable for stupid vegetarians) on their menu, but there are actually still a few more items that I need to try one of these days:

Chilaquiles ((v) fried tortillas[sic] chips, black beans, tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, scrambled eggs, Feta, sour cream, cilantro; and I am very surprised that I haven't had their version of this dish before);
Huevos Rancheros ((v) fresh tomato salsa, beans, over easy eggs, pepper Jack, avocado, sour cream); 
or
So Happy Hotcake ((v) lemon poppyseed pancake, strawberry compote, sour cream whip, balsamic reduction, powdered sugar; they have this in the singular, as if you get just one pancake with an order, but they also list a "half" order, so I assume that it is actually two pancakes, or else maybe you just get a half-pancake with a "half" order).




"Two Tofu Tacos (taste best by the tee-tore)"?! Now that was a terribly troublesome tongue-twister too early in the morning for this twit. These were not your typical Tía Lorena Garcia's Taco Bell® mierda; these were made with soft corn tortillas and were too messy to pick up and eat by hand. It really wasn't stated in the ingredients, but the "Tofu" portion of the "Two ... Tacos" was a scrambled mix of tofu and possibly turmeric added to give it the appearance and colour of scrambled eggs. This also had some yellow summer (Spring?) squash in it that wasn't listed in the ingredients, but it seemed to be missing any beans (which I figured would have been black beans) in the equation. The fresh corn always gives it a bit of "pop" (Get it? "Popcorn"… "corn ~ pop"… whatever). I was glad to see that this was made with lots of chunks of avocado (at least a half of a whole avocado between the two tacos); you'd be surprised, but this is an ingredient that many places like to go "el cheapo" on for some reason. Isn't the Avocado the "National Fruit (Berry, actually) of Callie-for-nee-ya"? (And, of course, actual California avocados are much better than those alligator pears that you get from that "Sunshine State" place.)

Once again, it was a no-brainer that I went with the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes for my side choice (I can make a damn salad at home myself). There were only two cloves of roasted garlic in with the potatoes this morning, but one was extra large (about two and a half times the size of a normal clove) and one was a bit small (about half the size of a normal clove); so it all averaged out to about three cloves total, which is nice.

For condimentary supplements, Eats offers the complete line-up of the San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red), Cholula® Hot Sauce, and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I just went with some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm Winter chilli sauce all over the potatoes and some Hell Mouth on just one of the tacos (Once again, thanks for both of those hot sauces, Greg & Cindy!).

Afterward, I walked around a bit in the Clement Street Framers Market, but I was very disappointed that I didn't see even one picture or window frame in the whole place. So I just ended up getting some fresh, baked goods from one of the stalls. I got an Apple Turnover (with pear and cardamom, and a vanilla purée) to eat as a breakfastary dessert while walking around and a Mojito[2] Vegan Doughnut to enjoy later this afternoon.

http://www.agriculturalinstitute.org/clement-st/


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Two Tofu Tacos ~ 6.8 (and that is not a 3.4 rating for each, that is saying that both were very good); Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes ~ 7.5; Apple Turnover ~ 6.7


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

The word for "peppers" in Hungarian is simply "paprika".

2. Okay, I overlooked the complete idiocy of Billy-boy and his Microsoft Spell-checkering Nazi buddies when they didn't recognize the Mexican berry "tomatillo" (or even supply a viable correct spelling option), but I draw the line when these Brown-shirted bastages refuse to recognize a great minty-limey-Rummy drink such as the "Mojito". 

Saturday, April 25, 2015

grindz


"I see love
As something that
Either works or doesn't.
It's as simple as that."
~ Peter Holsapple



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: Kalua Benedict ~ toasted Hawai'ian bread, Kalua pig, taro leaves, 2 poached eggs, tarragon Hollandaise, Plantation Potatoes; and a cuppa (and two refillas) Bicycle Coffee co 





(Today is the anniversary of the birth of that legendary Irish-American singer, Ella Jane Fitzgerald [back in 1917]. The first song is also one of my favourite renditions of "Mack the Knife" ~ forgotten lyrics and all. I would normally link a EweToobular juxtaselection of something either Hawai'ianese or Reggae when dining at this place, but Lady Ella trumps all… Louis Armstrong just trumpets, of course.)


I went back to grindz (see last 'blog-entry from January 17th, 2015) to continue my springtime workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation.




I have already had everything that they offer (that are viable options for stupid vegetarians ~ which is about five dishes only) a few times over now, but I did notice that they have a new "Brunch" Special for you meatatarians out there: Biscuits 'n' Gravy ~ sage & rosemary sausage, scrambled eggs, jalapeño & Cheddar biscuit.




Of course, I got my meal less the dead, decaying Kalua pig-stuff, bra'. This is now made with creamed and chopped taro leaves (something like creamed spinach consistency). I liked the original version better that I have had there a few times before which was made with whole (and un-creamed) taro leaves. This was still good and interesting, but just not as remarkable (even though I am remarking on it here) of a dish really.

This was also a little disappointing, the new version of their Plantation Potatoes does not include any bell peppers, onions, or celery. I liked their original version of this one much better, too.

grindz has on all the tables for condimentary supplementation their own Hawai'ian Spicy Ketchup. I used some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm smoked Chipotle chilli sauce generously on the potatoes and some Mango hot chilli sauce on just one of the poached eggs (Thanks for both of those hot sauces, Cindy & Greg!). I also used a small amount of their Hawai'ian Spicy Ketchup on the last of the potatoes, because it is pretty tasty and it was there.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Kalua Benedict ~ 6.4 (their old version was more of a 6.9-7.0, though)

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Baker Street Bistro


"No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself." ~ John Steinbeck, from The Winter of Our Discontent



http://www.bakerstreetbistro.com/


Place: Baker Street Bistro
Location: 2953 Baker Street (between Lombard and Greenwich Streets)
Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday & Sunday at 9:00am
Meal: Pain Perdu (A brunch favorite!) ~ French toast, fresh fruit, strawberry coulis & crème fraîche; a side of homefries; a large glass of orange juice (which had the extra-added bonus of coming with a bendy-straw, which is always fun); and, afterward, a cuppa Peet's Coffee & Tea® Anniversary Blend

http://www.peets.com/





(Because Earth Day 2015 is coming up later this week, I figured who better to sing about 'merica than a Canadianlander.)


In continuing with my early season workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I went back to Baker Street Bistro (see last 'blog-entry from January 3rd, 2015). Unfortunately, it was way too chilly (no, really) and overcast to sit outside in their sidewalk patio-café area this morning.




What else can I say about cette version ultime de Pain Perdu that I haven't already said many times over? It's simply the best French toast that I have ever tasted… yada, yada, yada…

So, in lieu of any additional, superfluous laudatory remarks, I just figured that I would include the word(s) for "Pain Perdu" in a few other languages. However, this proved to be a bit more challenging than I figured, as you can't just type in (or "computer in" even) "French Toast" on Google Translate and get the correct phrases. The best that I could come up with, though, was only a few different versions: "Eggy Bread" (Great Britainish; I think it is funny how they have all these different words from us Americans ~ someone really oughtta teach them Brits the Queen's English... and so is the King); "Tostada Frances" (Español); as long as I lived in Greece, I don't think that I ever learned how to say it in Greek; and I am pretty sure that in Deutschland they just refer to it as "Gebratene Verdammt Schweinehund Brot", though.

(You can consider those your stupid, useless cunning linguist pointers of the day.)

I did discover a new taste treat this morning, too. I would normally take the fresh mint leaves/sprig that are/is used as a garnish on top of the Pain Perdu and add them to my cuppa Coffee (it's always fun to freak out Chantal or one of the Mexican busboy-waiter guys when they come by to refill my cuppa), but I had skipped any Coffee with breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) and didn't figure mint and orange would go that great together. Instead, I just added them to my pile of homefries; now this actually worked out rather nicely with all of the other dried herbs and spices that were on them.

Fruits du jour: grapes, oranges, apples, pineapple, watermelon, and cantaloupe.

For condimentary supplements, Baker Street Bistro only has the Original Red Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce. I just used some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm Hell Mouth on the potatoes and a skoshi Winter chilli sauce on just one slice of the Pain Perdu ~ consider this a nod to the "sweet and savoury" trend now-a-days ~ and don't knock it until you have tried it (which I doubt anyone will ever be stupid enough to do, even if they had access to any The Wiltshire Chilli Farm hot sauces). This reminded me of that old the Three Stooges routine where Moe has a huge stack of pancakes in front of him and he states emphatically, "If I only had some ketchup!” (and, for the record, I have also tried ketchup on my pancakes in the past; this discovery of hot sauce and maple syrup on my Pain Perdu was actually a much better flavour combination).

I had skipped any Coffee with breakfast ("Brunch", whatever) because I was planning on heading over to the Peet's Coffe & Tea® on Chestnut Street afterward. This is considered their new "flagship" (Hey, that is their actual term for it, not mine.) coffeeshop in the Marina. This place is a lot nicer inside than many places that I usually go to eat breakfast even. I should probably point out that this place offers four different kinds of Coffee daily; in addition to the one I had (which they list as a Dark Roast), there were: Light Roast ~ Colombia Luminosa; Medium Roast ~ Cafe Domingo®; and Decaf ~ House Blend.



(This is a photo of some kinda vertical horticultural thingy inside the joint, high up on the back wall. "You can lead a horticulture, but you can't keep her horizontal."?!)


the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

I had parked my car over by the Lombard Gate of the Presidio again and saw (well, mostly heard) a large pandemonium of the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ at least twenty to thirty of them (and possibly as many as one hundred; it's very hard to tell when they are all making such a raucous caterwauling ~ somewhat a "Symphony of Squawking, in E Minor") in the tall Eucalyptus ("Eucalypti"?) there.




Just remember that breakfast (or "Brunch" ou petit déjeuner) should never be a Pain (whether it be lost or found)…


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Pain Perdu ~ 8.2; Peet's® Anniversary Blend ~ 6.9; the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Cafe Mason


"Walking incognito behind my dark glasses in a future world not so far away, I see the deadly sins. Fighting to survive (it is the law of the jungle), we meet with envy, violence, greed, fear, indifference, and even bureaucracy and nostalgia, this favourite sin of mine which helps me accept the future…" ~ Amanda Lear, 1981



(No official web-site.)


Place: Cafe Mason
Location: 320 Mason Street (between Geary and O'Farrell Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 544-0320
Hours: open 24 hours of the day
Meal: Vegetable Frittata ~ zucchini, the vile weed, mushroom, (green and red) bell pepper, (white) onion, tomato, fresh herbs, with Jack and Parmesan cheese melted under an open flame, comes with home fries and a choice of toast; and a cuppa Coffee (with one refilla)




(Today happens to be the 109th Anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of Ought-Six.)



I really wasn't expecting to get back to Cafe Mason (see last 'blog-entry from March 29th, 2015) as soon as I did, but it is very lucky that they are open 24 hours a day. After attending the predawn ceremonies of the aforementioned Earthquake, I wasn't sure where I could get a decent breakfast close by at 5:30am, but this restaurant is located only a few blocks west of Lotta's Fountain. Otherwise, I would probably have just gone to Lori's Diner (two doors away from Cafe Mason on Mason Street) which is also open 24 hours a day.

I once again was lucky enough to sit at the same cool mini-booth (a small two-seater jobber) that I sat at during my first visit. As there were only a few other idiots eating there that early in the morning, I really had my pick of seats, anyway.




I can't be sure if they have changed their menu or not since I last ate there recently, but this morning there were less items (only two pages as opposed to a full four pages) from which to choose than before. I think it might be that they offer a different "Brunch" menu a little later in the morning. I only noticed this because I didn't see the excellent Pumpkin Crépes (which are really "Crêpes", of course) that I had on my last (which was also my first) visit there.




This was a decent enough frittata, but it had way too much of the vile weed in it, but at least it was just small florets only. Luckily, there was just as much (or more) of zucchini in it to make up for this. I suppose I could have ordered it without the vile weed, but I kinda liked the idea of a six-vegetable frittata (and was just hoping they were out of any of the vile weed).

My choice of toast was actually supposed to be "rye", but something must have gotten lost in the English-to-Russian-to-Belorussian[1] translation, and I ended up with "white bread" toast. It's all good, though, as it ended up being pretty good toast all the same.

Their version of homefries is still very good and always worth a return visit, Pumpkin Crépes (or Crêpes) notwithstanding, or the vile weed withstanding. 

Cafe Mason offers both the Original Red Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce and Cholula® Hot Sauce as condimentary supplementation. I ended up using a good amount of the Cholula® on the potatoes. I didn't bother bringing any of my own hot sauces with me this morning as I knew I would be out for most of the morning and didn't want to have to schlep any extra stuff with me.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vegetable Frittata ~ 6.0; Earthquake Day ~ 7.9 (on the Richter Scale, not the Bacon Scale)


1. My waiter-server guy this morning had a bit of an accent and I asked where he was from. He said, "Guess!" Well, cunning linguist that I like to pretend that I am, I just assumed from his accent that he was from Russia and that was my first "guess". He said "No, but close by." So, I guessed again at "Poland". He again said, "No, but it is between Russia and Poland." So I guessed in rapid succession: "Lithuania.", "Latvia.", and "Estonia."… "No.", "No.", and "No." I was running out of Baltic countries that I could remember and said "Belarus." and finally got a "Yes."

(Его зовут Влад, г-жа Хоникут.)

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Ella’s


"The one with the potato scramble with grilled asparagus, roasted Brussels sprouts, carrots, and Havarti cheese (and eggs added)."



http://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/


Place: Ella's Neo Classical American Cooking
Location: 500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street)
Hours: open for breakfast Monday through Friday at 7:00am; open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 8:30am
Meal: potato scramble ~ with grilled asparagus, roasted Brussel[sic] sprouts, carrots, and Havarti cheese, and eggs added; and a glass of ginger orange juice punch




(The reason for today's EweToobular juxtaselection is because Ms. Fitzgerald was originally from Brussels, of course.)


Back to my Breakfastary Starting Rotation and back to Ella's Neo Classical American Cooking (see last 'blog-entry from January 10th, 2015). 

There were a few other interesting choices from which to choose (of course, those choices that remain un-chosen are always the most disappointing) on this weekend's "Brunch" menu. coconut pancakes with a pineapple compote ~ Maple Grove Farms-premium maple syrup, Vermont. I could easily have gotten that one this morning. open faced omelette with grilled eggplant, roasted red peppers, minced garlic, and Muenster cheese. Also, another one with a lot of ingredients that I like. Or, lastly, folded omelette with bacon, grilled onions, avocados, sun dried tomato, and goat cheese, which I would have ordered sans les morts chair de porc en décomposition, naturellement.




I knew right away that I was going to love this one when I saw that it included two of my favourite fruits: asparagus AND Brussels (which is the correct spelling, of course, Monsieur Van Damme) sprouts. I was very happy to see that it included a ton (well, maybe that is a bit of an aggrandisement, but at least 907 kilogrammes) of asparagus; there were probably four to five spears throughout the mess. Along with the carrots and lots of melted Havarti, this made for a great combination.

Once again I went with the house baked honey oat raisin bread for my toast choice.

For condimentary supplements, Ella's has just the Original Red and Green Jalapeño Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce to offer. I just used some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm smoked Chipotle chilli sauce generously all over the heaping pile (Thanks once again, Greg & Cindy!). I have always felt that chipotle and potatoes go great together, but I discovered that it goes nicely with les choux de Bruxelles, aussi. I also used some of their house made strawberry jam on the house baked bread/toast.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: potato scramble ~ 7.3

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Tony’s Cable Car Restaurant


Breakfast on Geary (redux), Part 17

"If you rub shoulders with the rich, you get holes in your sleeves." ~ Leo Rosten



http://www.tonyscablecar.com/


Place: Tony's Cable Car Restaurant
Location: 2500 Geary Boulevard (between Lyon Street and Presidio Avenue)
Hours: open Monday through Friday at 9:00am, Saturday and Sunday at 9:30am
Meal: Breakfast Muffin ~ fresh egg (well, a fresh egg that is fried), Swiss cheese, and bacon or sausage on an English muffin; a side of Idaho crinkle-cut French fries; and, beforehand, a dynamo donut + coffee Lemon-Thyme doughnut and a cuppa Ritual Coffee Roasters (but not sure which roast/blend) from fifty/fifty Coffee & Tea



http://www.fiftyfiftysf.com/

http://dynamodonut.com/

https://www.ritualroasters.com/





(Get it? "Tony" and "Time (Thyme)" EweToobular juxtaselections.)


Just for a change of place, I felt like doing a mish-mosh[1] for breakfast this morning and wanted to keep it semi-local, so I just hit fifty/fifty Coffee & Tea (for Coffee and a doughnut starters) and then (still along Geary Boulevard and just several more blocks away) Tony's Cable Car Restaurant

I was happy to find that there is an actual "Tony" that owns the place. This place has been owned and operated by Tony since 1972. He used to work at Joe's Cable Car on Mission Street (which just closed last year after forty-nine years in business itself) and when the opportunity came to open his own place, he jumped at it. Tony wasn't there this morning, but I met his brother that was there this morning doing all the cooking. I spoke with him for a bit and found out that they are originally from Syria (he's a زرافة-supporter, unfortunately). 

It's a pretty smallish joint. It is designed to look similar (enough) to a Cable Car (well, if a Cable Car had a yellow roof and red-tiled sides) from the outside. It only has eight window-counter swivel seats, two booths for four, two booths for two, and two outdoor tables for five to seven people (which is where I sat this morning); plus (and this is a big plus in most cities now-a-days), they have their own small parking lot for six to seven cars.

Tony's Cable Car Restaurant is mainly a burger and hotdog joint and really only offers for a breakfastary repast just the one thing that I ordered this morning. They do offer several different kinds of burgers: 100% beef ground chuck, turkey (they don't state if this is 100% ground chuck or not, though), and vegetarian (I have heard that vegetarian meat tastes just like chickpeas ~ sorry, I have been waiting all week to use that stupid joke). They also have about three different types of "all beef" hotdogs. There were about six or seven other diners there this morning and they all seemed to be eating different version of burgers and sandwiches.




The doughnut was very good as normally can be expected from dynamo donut + coffee. It had lots of lemon-y glaze on top and (fresh) thyme leaves in the doughnut.

The Breakfast Muffin was really nothing much special (your normal Eggamuffin®-ish dealy), but I wasn't expecting much more, anyway. The cheese seemed like real Swiss cheese for a change, which always beats that fake, processed, sliced junk any day, at least. Of course, I ordered this without any of the dead, decaying porcine products on it.

I didn't bother asking what they offered in the way of condimentary supplementation. I simply went with some of my own The Wiltshire Chilli Farm Mango hot chilli sauce on the muffin-thing and some Winter chilli sauce (Thanks for both, Cindy & Greg!) mixed with some ketchup to use as a dip with the French fries.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Muffin ~ 5.5; Lemon-Thyme doughnut ~ 7.0; Coffee ~ 6.5


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

Whenever it comes to words of possible Yiddish origin/influence, like "mish-mosh", I always defer to the encyclopaedic expertise of The Joys of  Yiddish by Leo Rosten (who happens to be no relation to the guy in the opening quote of today's 'blog-entry).

Mr. Rosten notes that:

Pronounced MISH-MOSH, to rhyme with "pish-posh". I prefer to spell this delicious word mish-mosh, as it is pronounced, but the 13-volume Oxford English Dictionary spells it mish-mash, and traces it to the German mishmash* and the Danish (!) misk-mask. It is unnerving to learn that Junius' Nomenclator called it mishmash as far back as 1585.

1. A mixup, a mess, a hodge-podge, a fouled-up state of things.
2. Confusion galore. "What a mish-mosh!" "You never heard such a mish-mosh of ideas."**

No Jew pronounces this "mish-mash". In fact, when a Congressman on one of Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life television shows did say "mish-mash", Groucho gave him a startled stare and remarked: "You'll never get votes in the Bronx if you go on saying mish-mash instead of mish-mosh." (Mr. Marx later wrote the same advice to Governor Scranton of Pennsylvania.)***
    I consider mish-mosh a triumph of onomatopoeia - and a word unlike any I know to suggest flagrant disorder. 

*(Extra-added stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
"Mischmasch" in German means "hodgepodge" or the alternative "hotchpotch" in English.)
**(Back when I was in the Air Force, this was always known as "FUBAR". Look it up yerdamself!)
***(Why the Governor of Pennsylvania would care what the constituents of the Bronx thought is beyond me, though.)

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Chava’s Mexican Restaurant


"Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river." ~ Cordell Hull



(No official web-site.)


Place: Chava's Mexican Restaurant 
Location: 2839 Mission Street (between 24th and 25th Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 282-0283
Hours: open every day of the week at 8:00am (even on el Domingo de Resurrección[1])
Meal: Huevos Rancheros ~ three fried eggs with Ranchero sauce and cheese; and a large glass (mini-fishbowl really) of fresh squeezed orange juice




(Do I need to explain the EweToobular juxtaselection between this Sunday and this Bruce Springfield song?)


At one time (and for many years) I used to have Chava's Mexican Restaurant in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation (see last 'blog-entry from August 17th, 2013), but I only get "way over to la Misíon" seldom lately. 

There really isn't a separate "Desayuno" section on their menu but they do list nine "Huevos ~ Egg Dishes". I would normally order their most excellent Chilaquiles (which is my piedra de toque for this particular dish), but I felt like trying something different for a change. They also have a few other items that I can order and have and liked before: Huevos a la Mexicana (three scrambled eggs with onion, tomato, and bell peppers; which I just had on my last visit there); Huevos con Nopales (three eggs with cactus paddles; which I just had last month at Gallardo's ~ Mexican Restaurant[2]); and Torta de Huevo con Chile (egg omelette with hot sauce). 




All meals start with a bowl of corn chips and two kinds of salsas: a simple pico de gallo and a nice salsa roja picante. There are also bowls of fresh (usually Serrano or Jalapeño) and dried chillies on each table that you can use to spicen up your meal as you see fit; I normally go with two of the fresh Serrano chillies, but this morning I skipped any extras.




The meal was made with lots of nice ooey-melty cheese throughout, but their version of salsa ranchera was really not much to write home about. I ended up flavouring it up a bit (well, a lot) with generous spoonfulls of their very tasty salsa roja. As reductive as this may seem, there are many different versions of Huevos Rancheros (as there are Chilaquiles) and it usually varies from place to place depending on their own familial take on the dish. I have yet to have the exact same version of Pickameup (or as they say in Italiano "Tiramisù") in different restaurants, too.

The orange juice was not only freshly squeezed, it is fresh squeezed by the glass for everyone ordering it (I watched the waitress-server señora actually making mine). I really should have taken a picture of the mini-fishbowl so that you could get an idea of how big it actually was.

And, lastly, but definitely not leastly, la pièce de résistance (which I really have no idea how to say in Spanish… or French, even) is their fresh-made (as in just-made and hot of the grill) corn tortillas. I received two this morning in the little tortilla warm-keeper basket-thing. Two were more than enough for me with all the other food, but you can always request more if you have the appetite for it.

I really didn't bother to bring any of my own condimentary supplements with me (this makes two days in a row now) as I knew that the home-made salsas at Chava's were pretty decent on their own. (When was the last time you brought your own anthracite with you to that city upon Tyne?)

This is always an awful lot of food (but never a lot of awful food). I was planning on getting a cuppa Coffee and something for "breakfastary dessert" afterward at either one of the nearby panaderías mexicanas (there were two or three in the same block along Mission Street) or at Mission Pie (today's choices ranged from: Ginger Rhubarb Chess to Pear Blueberry to Shaker Lemon, as well as a few other nice ideas), which is just down the next block; however, Mission Pie wasn't about to open for another twenty minutes and the (almost) sunny morning had just turned into a smart drizzle (which later turned into a stupid, full-blown light-to-heavy rain on my drive home) while I was inside eating, so I didn't feel like waiting around for the rain to stop or my appetite to replenish. I ended up just making myself a cuppa Bettys Christmas Coffee (yes, I know it is already Easter, but Coffee knows no seasons; besides, I still have another unopened bag that was given to me at Christmas even) at home to enjoy while typing up (laptopping up?!?) this 'blog-entry and eating a Cadbury creme egg® with it.


Chava's Chilaquiles are still one of the best in the city and always worth una visita de regreso.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Huevos Rancheros ~ 6.2; home-made salsas ~ 7.0; home-made corn tortillas ~ 7.5; Bettys Christmas Coffee ~ 7.2


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

The word for "Easter" in many languages is the same as (or derived from) the word for "Passover".

Albanian ~ Pashkë
Basque ~ Pazko
Bulgarian/Russian/Ukrainian ~ Пасха
Danish/Norwegian ~ Påske
Dutch ~ Pasen
Esperanto ~ Paska (so, next time you are in downtown Esperant, you will know how to greet the native Esperantans for the Spring holidays)
Finish ~ Pääsiäinen 
French ~ Pâques
Greek ~ Πάσχα
Italian ~ Pasqua
Latin/Polish ~ Pascha
Portuguese ~ Páscoa
Romanian ~ Paști
Spanish ~ Pascua
Swedish ~ Påsk
Turkish ~ Paskalya
Uzbek ~ Pasxa
Welsh ~ Pasg

2. Coincidentally enough, Gallardo's ~ Mexican Restaurant is located in the same spot that Chava's used to be in many years ago before they had a fire there and moved on over to their current Mission Street location.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Dottie’s True blue café


"It is impossible to experience one's own death and still carry a tune." ~ Woody Allen



(No official web-site; there used to be one, but it doesn't seem to be operable any longer… or shorter.)


Place: Dottie's True blue café 
Location: 28 Sixth Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street; about halfway between Market and Mission Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 885-2767
Hours: open for breakfast Thursday through Monday at 7:30am
Meal: Sweet Potato Caramelized Red Onion & Gruyère Tart  ~ served with two eggs any style and fruit; and a cuppa (and a coupla refillas) the house Coffee





(There is no real juxtaselections with today's EweToobular videos. They just happened to be playing a version of "St. James Infirmary" on the house stereo this morning at Dottie's. It may have been Cab Calloway's version. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the Hidey-Ho man; I just happen to prefer ol' Satchmo and George Ivan better.)




("Thanks!" go to Billy D. Taylor for the recent Shoe comic strip pointer.)


New Baseball Season ~ time to break out my Breakfastary Starting Rotation once again. So I headed back on over to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from January 4th, 2015). They were a few minutes late opening up this morning as they seemed to have lost the key to the front gates/door. They ended up herding us all around to the entrance in the alley (Stevenson Street); all the while trying to maintain the correct order of everyone that was already waiting in line (there were about 30 people by then). I happened to be at the front of the line just behind a French family of four (and, with two German touristas directly behind me, it felt like WWII all over again). It was all a bit comical, but they seemed to finally find the key to the front gates a few minutes after seating all of the initial alley-dwellers.




A few of the other items off their weekly specials blackboard that I know I would have enjoyed (and have many times in the past) were: Avocado, Tomato, Jalapeño, Scallion, Corn, & Feta Frittata (served with toast and potatoes); Spinach-Provolone Strata (served with Italian sausage, roasted tomatoes, and fruit; I would have 86-ed the porky products, of course); Pear-Cranberry French Toast (with pure maple syrup; because that un-pure stuff just ain't right); or my ultimate favourite (which I just had on my last visit) Zucchini Cakes topped with poached eggs and spicy Marinara (served with fruit and potatoes). In addition to their standard menu and weekly specials, Dottie's fresh-baked goods blackboard presents a virtual panoply of possible foci for the tongue. I hoped that I talked the Frenchies into ordering at least one or two pieces of something from there.




The tart was very good as always. I have had this many times before and the ingredients can vary during different times of the year/seasons. This dish used to be called a "galette"[1], but Kurt ended up changing it to the more tourista-friendly, simply-named "tart" after idiots (myself included) would always ask him what the heck a "galette" was. Basically, the difference between a "tart" and a "galette" is whatever you want to make of it. I went with my eggs over medium this morning.

Today's mini-bowl of fruits was pretty extensive once again: blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, white/green grapes, red grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and watermelon.[2]

For condimentary supplementation, Dottie's has a pretty decent selection, too. I simply used some (well, a lot) of Tabasco® Brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce on the eggs only. I didn't want to mess with the "galette" flavours in any way.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: SPCRO&G Galette ~ 6.8


1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette

2. Pop quiz. How many of the nine fruits listed are actually botanical berries?

Answer: just the blueberries, grapes (both the white/green and red), and watermelon (yes, watermelon).