Garden House Cafe

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses; #17

(No official web-site.)


Place: Garden House Cafe
Location: 3117 Clement Street (between 32nd and 33rd Avenues); phonicular contact: (415) 668-1640
Hours: open Monday-Saturday at 6:00am, Sunday at 7:00am 
Meal: Egg, Cheese, & Spinach Croissant sandwich-thing; and a medium (16oz) cuppa (Garden) House Blend


After California Street (southward) in the Richmond District comes Clement Street[1]. If my calculations are correct, there are only about seven coffeehouses to check out ("out which to check"?!) for the Richmond (District) Coffeehouses series; so this shouldn't take too long to complete this street. Heading back West-to-East along Clement Street, the westernmost coffeehouse would be: Garden House Cafe (see previous 'blog-entry from March 17th, 2012 ~ Saint Patrick's Day), which just happens to be a block away around the corner from my apartment. 

This is your quintessential neighborhoody coffeehouse: friendly, inviting, and spacious (with many shelves of books to check out or borrow if you so wish). There is a lot of seating inside and outside: (inside) eleven to twelve tables for anywhere from two to four people; (outside) five tables for two to four people in the "Garden" (House) backyard patio area (with lots of trees and plants with which to seat my fine-feathered friends); plus, two tables for two to three in front on the sidewalk. There are three different levels to the place, too (four, counting the "Garden" [House] backyard patio area).

I started out sitting in the actual "Garden" (House)
backyard patio area, but it was a little misty for me, Clint (it started as a very heavy fog, but turned into a slight drizzle quickly; not exactly the best thing for a croissant-sandwich thing). I then moved back inside to the uppermost (back) area near the patio area.

This breakfast croissant-sandwich was made with real Cheddar cheese and fresh spinach (as in I saw the counter-server lady-person take it out of one of those pre-washed bags of spinach to add to the scrambled eggs); however, like most coffeehouses, they have to nuke the scrambled eggs. I did like that they toasted the croissant; this was a nice touch (for a crunch-factor). I also like that you have a choice of this breakfast sandwich on either a bagel (I probably would have opted for that choice if I hadn't just had one yesterday), a croissant, or regular bread (toast).

It is nice that they offer four types of Coffee from which to choose: (strong) Dark French, (medium strong) Fog Lifter, (medium strong) (Garden) House Blend, and (a flavoured one) Hazelnut Creme (and also one De-Coffee: [medium strong] Decaf North Beach that really doesn't need mentioning ~ well, other than there). I asked the counter-server lady-person which brand of Coffee they serve. She was not sure and said it was a local roastery, (possibly) ?Magic Bean? or ?Magic Beans?; neither of which I could locate with a Google-search. (How can someone work in a coffeehouse all day long and not know exactly what brand of Coffee they serve? You'd think that would be the first thing you learn when working there. Whatever.) The Coffee wasn't half-bad this morning (I have had it a bit too weak in the past).

For condimentary supplements, Garden House Cafe has Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce (that was all I saw, at least). I went with some of my own Palo Alto Firefighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks agains, Amys and Brian!) generously all over the scrambled (nuked, whatever) eggs.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Egg, Cheese, & Spinach Croissant sandwich-thing ~ 6.3; (Garden ) House Blend ~ 6.6

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1. http://www.sanfranciscodays.com/richmond-clement/

In case you ever wondered for whom local streets are named. Apparently, Clement Street is named after some guy named Roswell Clement. He was a San Francisco attorney who served on the Board of Supervisors from 1865-1867. Some sources claim he had the idea for the westward expansion of Golden Gate Park all the way to the coast.