Reverie Cafe

"Stonewalls do not a Jackson make." 
~ Groucho Marx

(No official web-site.)


Place: Reverie Cafe
Location: 848 Cole Street (between Carl and Frederick Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 242-0200
Hours: open 7:00am Monday-Friday, 7:30am Saturday-Sunday
Meal: Shakshouka ~ (2) eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce with onions, peppers, & pita bread; Pear-Almond Tart (for a breakfastary dessert); and a medium cuppa (which was actually a pretty large mugga) Equator Coffees & Teas™ (I forgot to ask which blend/roast it was this morning)

(The reason for today's EweToobular songs? Simples! Everyone knows that Nat King Cole's real name was Carl Frederick Shakshouka.)


In continuing my Month of Redo's, I returned to Reverie Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from May 10th, 2014) for breakfast this morning. You order at the front counter (typical coffeehouse-style), get a number (I got "11" this morning), and then they bring the food out to you. 

Even though it was still a bit (well, very) overcast and chilly (I had a sweatshirt on, so it was fine with me), once again, I sat outside in their large garden patio area, where there are about eighteen tables of varying sizes (for two to four people) on three levels (levels of the garden patio area, not levels of clientele) behind the building. There was only one other idiot couple outside the whole time I was there. An added bonus of sitting outside this morning was that I was underneath a large blooming Honeysuckle plant (at least I think it was a Honeysuckle plant; my botanical expertise is pretty limited to just actual berries and nuts) and it really smelled great.

For a little nebby ("Mediterranean-Inspired" ~ per their menu) joint, they offer a pretty decent breakfast selection. Some of the other ideas that caught my fancy (when catching a fancy, I have found it best to use an over-sized Outfielder's glove so that there is less possibility of dropping it) this morning were: Breakfast Risotto (leeks, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, farro, spinach, Feta cheese, and eggs; which really sounded very good; next time… if the weekly Frittata special doesn't trump it that is); Swiss Chard 
Scramble or Omelet (with leeks, shitake mushroom [sic; because everyone knows that the better transliteration from Japanese-to-Engrishu should be "shiitake", and that the whole "mushroom" part is a completely repetitive superfluousness[1]], & Mozzarella; plus, I like the option of having this as either a scramble or omelette); or (from their weekly/weekend specials board, where there are usually about five or six choices) Chorizo & Manchego[2] Frittata (with asparagus, leeks, tomatoes, potatoes, & Spanish paprika).

This was a very good meal; pretty simple in all, but still very tasty. I think the version of Shakshouka that I had at Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen (see previous 'blog-entry from December 15th, 2013) was a little better. Saul's tomato sauce was much thicker, almost the viscosity of a stew; whereas, Reverie Cafe's was a bit thinner/runnier ~ that is where all the toasted pita triangles came in very handy. This was made with three types/colours of bell peppers (which we all should remember by now are a botanical berry, right?): red, green, and yellow.

I was almost tempted to go with their weekend Frittata special, as asparagus is usually a deal-maker for me, but I had the Shakshouka in mind even before looking over any other items… next time, if their Frittata special includes asparagus (or kale). Besides, "Shakshouka" is just fun to say. Go ahead, try it; you know you wanna say it out loud: "Shakshouka!" (Of course, it also sounds like a bad Blacksploitation Kung-Fu movie from the 70's.)

I don't think that they bake any of the dessert/pastries that they offer, but the Pear-Almond Tart was very good, all the same.

Reverie Cafe offers for condimentary supplementation Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Huy Fong Foods, Inc. Sriracha Sauce. I mixed some of my own (though it may have been a bit superfluous to do so) Nando's Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry! That was finally the last of that bottle.) in with the spicy tomato sauce of the Shakshouka.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Shakshouka ~ 6.7; Pear-Almond Tart ~ 6.8


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1. Okay, I admit, I actually expected this word to be a made-up word of my own making-uppery; however, per Dictionary.com*, this is an actual noun form of the adjective "superfluous". (I knew I shoulda gone with "superfluocity" instead!)

*(Even so, Wild Bill Gates and his troupe of Nazi Spell-checkering jeenyuses at Microsoft do not recognize "superfluousness" as a noun.)

2. So-called because it originated in La Mancha region of Spain, Señor Donkey Joté.

http://www.cheese.com/manchego/

And I should point out that Billy-boy and his Braunhemden spell-checkers do not recognize this very popular and tasty queso español either. The alternate choices they are suggesting: "Montego", "Manteno", and "Manchukuo"… yeah, because those are all much more common terms.