Sparrow Bar & Kitchen

http://www.sparrowbarandkitchen.com/


Place: Sparrow Bar & Kitchen
Location: 1640 Haight Street (between Clayton and Cole Streets)
Hours: open for breakfast Tuesday - Friday at 10:00am; open for "Brunch" Saturday & Sunday at 10:00am
Meal: Quinoa Cake ~ spiced Brussel [ sic ] sprouts, Romesco[1], garden herbs; a side of Fried Cauliflower ~ sage and garlic; and a cuppa (or would that be a "pressa" ~ as this came in a 12oz French press pot) Sightglass Coffee Blueboon Blend

https://www.sightglasscoffee.com/coffees/blends/blueboon

(Just as an exalted lark[2], I am using this song today.

Besides, I have already used "Maybe Sparrow" by Neko Case, "Lark" by Linda Lewis, "Blackbird" by the Beatles, and "Black Vultures" [Twice now?] by Daniel Norgren. There really aren't that many good "bird" songs left, anyway.)


I went back to Sparrow Bar & Kitchen (see previous 'blog-entry from May 3rd, 2014) for "Brunch" this morning. Other than the use of that snooty early morning meal nomenclature and that they don't open until 10:00am, I like the food and location of this place. I sat outside in the backyard patio/garden area once again. They had several of those tall gas-lit standing heater things going, but I made sure to sit in the corner as far away from them as possible. What is the point of eating outside if you have to be warmed by some kinda contraption? However, I did keep my jacket on, all the same; I am not an idiot, after all. 

They have a pretty decent selection (even if it is called "Brunch" on the weekends) of items from which to choose (for both stupid vegetarian-types and those that partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh). The menu changes seasonally and some of the other meals that I was leaning toward were: 

(from the Savory section)

French Omelette (Brie and Prosciutto with vanilla bean poached apple salad; the salad thing sounded interesting, but I would have nixed the Italian ham-stuff, of course); Huevos Rancheros (salsa verde, Iacopi [Farms][3] gigante beans, house hot sauce, red pepper crema, corn salsa); Spring Soft Scramble (brown button mushrooms, oven dried tomato, basil, & Humboldt Fog[4]; I didn't have the heart to tell them that "Spring" was six months ago); or Cheddar Grits (grilled broccoli rabe, poached egg, and paprika; I was originally going to get this one, but was informed by the friendly, attentive waitress/server-lady person, Chelsea, that it was a larger dish, and I may not have been able to order the Fried Cauliflower as a side, and I really wanted to try those).

(or from the Sweet section)

Mini Souffle Pancakes (Bartlett pear compote and vanilla bean whipped cream; I will definitely have to get back there again to try this one ~ insert Homer Simpson-ish moaning/drooling here) or French Toast (hazelnut Chocolate, caramelized banana, and pure maple syrup; and while this may not be as Homer Simpson-ish moaning/drooling-inducing, it sounded pretty darn tasty, too).

The Quinoa Cake was a nice idea (and probably way too healthy for me). It had lots of roasted Brussels (please note: correct spelling) sprouts on it. The Romesco sauce was pretty nice, too. They used to offer this dish with a poached egg on top; I think they stopped doing that to make this a 100% Vegan-option. 

I liked the Fried Cauliflower well enough, but I would have liked to have seen (and tasted) more garlic and sage in it. There is no such thing as "too much garlic" in my book. And unlike David Lindley's hair, this was not "way too greasy" in the least, but I think that if they had roasted the cauliflower instead this would have been even better still. This was a pretty good-sized portion and probably would have been too much food for me if I had ordered the Cheddar Grits. (Thanks for the tip, Chelsea! Hey, wait... aren't I supposed to be tipping her?)

The cuppa was good, but I have had better roasts/blends from Sightglass Coffee before. This was a bit on the weak side for my tastes. It was either a mild blend or possibly there was not enough Coffee grounds in the French press to begin with. (And, yes, I am fully aware that one should never a sentence end a preposition with. However, "... there was not enough Coffee grounds in the French press with which to begin." just sounded even more awkward.)

I didn't bother to ask this morning, but from my last visit there, I had noted that Sparrow had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and some form of a Sriracha sauce (probably Huy Fong Foods Inc.) for condimentary supplementation. Unlike Wednesday morning's breakfastary sojourn, I had come prepared with a few of my own hot sauces. 
I used a little Pope's Whiskey River Hot Sauce (Thanks, Amy and Chef Joe!) on the Quinoa Cake dish and the last of my Fairhope Favorites, Inc. Moonshine Hot Sauce XXX (Thanks, Phyll!) on the fried cauliflower (and because garlic is one of the ingredients in it, it aided a bit in the lack of garlic provided by the restaurant).

(Not Necessarily) the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

I had parked over on Cole Street on the northern side of the Panhandle and walked over to Haight Street hoping to espy some of the Wild Parrots of San Francisco in the tall Eucalyptus trees along the way. Unfortunately, I didn't see any of the little red-and-green chatterboxes, but I did see a small murderous bunch of Crows[5] enjoying their own breakfast on the ground (I am pretty sure they were Crows, and not Ravens, because Ravens don't usually congregate in groups of more than six at most ~ besides, the only murderous Raven is retired and now works for ESPN).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Quinoa Cake ~ 6.6; Fried Cauliflower ~ 6.7; Sightglass Coffee Blueboon Blend ~ 6.5

___________________

1. "Hey, Brian, just what the heck is 'Romesco'?"

Well, it ain't some kinda despotic Romanian dictator, if that was what you were thinking.

Sometimes it is just simpler to cheat and use a WikipediA link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romesco

2. All of two people may get that awful pun.

For what it is worth, the Term of Venery for a group/flock of Sparrows is called "a host".

3. http://www.cuesa.org/seller/iacopi-farms

4. http://www.cypressgrovechevre.com/our-cheese/soft-ripened-cheeses/humboldt-fog-grande.html#.VketB3arSM8

5. See stupid footnote #2 above.