Café Bellini

"For the secret of a man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for. Without a stable conception of the object of life, man would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than remain on Earth, though he had bread in abundance.“ ~ Fyodr Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov 

http://www.cafebellinisf.com/


Place: Café Bellini
Location: 235 Powel Street (between Geary and O'Farrell Streets)
Hours: open every day at 7:00am
Meal: Spinach & Mushroom Omelet ~ three eggs omelet with sautéed spinach, mushrooms, & your choice of cheese, served with golden home fries and toast; and a cuppa House Coffee (o Caffè), which happens to be LAVAZZA (but I didn't ask which roast/blend)

http://www.lavazza.us/us/

(Yes, these two are that good on guitars.)


There are four locations for Café Bellini in and about San Francisco. I went to their "premier Union Square location" this morning for mia prima colazione. This one is located right along the Powell Street Cable Car line (and it should be noted that there are d*mn p*rklets all along both sides of the street on this block of Powell Street, but not sponsored in any way by Café Bellini). My one minor quibble (un piccolo cavillo) is that for a supposedly Italianesque restaurant, they prefer to use the Frenchified "Café" nomenclature over the much better "Caffè".

It is a decent enough sized joint ~ with about sixteen tables for two, four tables for four, and three tables for six (which could be split into tables for two or four combinations if needed). I particularly like that they are open early every day and for a meal that they call "breakfast" (and not "Brunch"). It is nothing really fancy, just your typical tourista-destination kinda restaurant (as could be heard by the various foreign language conversations coming from other tables: German, Italian, French, and Omahan).

There were a few other good ideas for breakfast that I noticed: Vegetarian Omelet (a herbivore's delight! Three eggs omelet with fresh green bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, & tomatoes with your choice of cheese, served with golden home fries and toast); Unbeatable Scramblers (crispy-fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, & Cheddar cheese, served with fresh fruits & toast); Mix Veggie Crepe [senza l'accento circonflesso ~ I mean if you are going to use the French spelling of "Café", you might as well go tutto porco and use the correct French spelling of "crêpe", too] (sautéed spinach, mushrooms, green bell peppers, tomatoes, & onions filled with Feta cheese & scrambled eggs, served with mixed green salad).

I went with Swiss as my choice of cheese, I feel it goes well with the combination of spinach and mushrooms. This was made with lots of fresh sautéed spinach. I did like their version of crispy homefries, too; they were probably deep-fried, much like French fries (again with the d*mn Fr*nch!).

Café Bellini only had Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce for condimentary supplementation. I used some of that on the potatoes only.

As for the "Bellini" moniker (whether "Café" or "Caffè"), they do actually offer three different versions of Bellinis: the standard (a delicious mix of Prosecco & peach purée), Guava Bellini (guava purée & Prosecco), and Strawberry Ginger Bellini (strawberry ginger purée & Prosecco).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Spinach & Mushroom Omelet ~ 6.2; LAVAZZA Coffee ~ 6.4