Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~ Part 24 (and also Breakfast on Geary [redux] ~ Part 29)
http://www.peets.com/ Place: Peet's Coffee & Tea® Location: 5201 Geary Boulevard (on the corner of 16th Avenue) Hours: open Monday - Friday at 5:30am; Saturday & Sunday at 6:00am (I can't really confirm these early opening hours; I know in the past that they didn't usually open until 6:30 or 7:00am daily; I think they have finally determined that most people want to go to a coffeehouse that opens earlier) Meal: Savory Scone; Morning Bun; Apple Pastry (that is how they had it simply labelled in the pastry display case); and a large cuppa Sumatra Mutu Batak http://www.peets.com/coffee/featured-coffee/coffee-shop-by-category-limited-editions/sumatra-mutu-batak.html Continuing along in my Richmond (District) Coffeehousesseries, I am finishing up with the last of the coffeehouses on Geary, Peet's Coffee & Tea®. I really had expected there to be several more (of course, this is not counting that crummy St*rbucks place that is taking up space in my local banking establishment). I am not so sure that there are any coffeehouses on Anza Street (I know that way-out my a-way, there are really no commercial stores along Anza Street); there may be one or two on the earlier/easternmost avenues, though. Otherwise, it will be time to head over to Balboa Street, where I know there are at least five to ten coffeehouses to check out ("... out which to check."? No, sorry. That just sounds wrong.). Peet's Coffee & Tea® really does not have that much to offer in the way of food-stuff. There are several pastries and a few things in the refrigerated display case (pre-made sandwiches and some pre-made oatmeal bowls). However, I do like that they are now offering all of their Coffee blends/roasts that are sold there as single Press-pot cuppas. This gives you the opportunity to try all of their Coffees (before buying a pounda to try at home) and gives you a much better selection than just their old standard three pre-brewed Coffees (a Dark Roast; a Medium or Light Roast; and [that which shouldn't even be mentioned] a De-caf). (For what it is worth, today's Dark Roast [which they list as a "Deep Roast", actually] was Colombia and the Light Roast was Colombia Luminosa; no one really cares what the De-caf was, do they? If you want to drink "de-caffienated" junk, go to a de-coffeehouse, fercryinoutloud!) http://www.peets.com/coffee/by-region/coffee-shop-by-category-americas/colombia.html http://www.peets.com/coffee/by-roast/light-roast/colombia-luminosa.html
The Savory Scone was made with (probably) Cheddar cheese and some green herbs (like I can tell my parsley from my elbow). The Morning Bun was a roll/bun made lots of cinnamon and sugar on the outside and inside, and possibly some orange zest as well(?) inside. The Apple Pastry was made with puff pastry and apples; I would probably have called it an Apple Turnover or Apple Croissant myself. While all of these were okay, they were nothing you couldn't get at any other coffeehouse. My cuppa was made in the press-pot method (aussi connu sous le nom: "Presse Française"). Once again (like last weekend at Peet's Coffee & Tea®in the Marina), I scored a more expensive Coffee for a way lesser price. The barista at the register must have been new and was not aware that they charge more (and in the case of their specialty and Limited Edition blends and roasts that is usually $6.40 for a large cuppa) for press-pots, so he only rang me up for a standard Large cuppa (which is about $2.45). So, I ended up saving about $4.00 (give or take a nickel). And lest you think I was trying to cheat them, I noticed the error right away after I had sat down and then went back and tried to pay the extra amount (I just hate being the "honest guy"), but they told me not to worry about it because it had already been wrung up and paid for ("... for which it had already been up wrung and paid."? That can't be correct.) Woo-HOO!!! Saved myself some $$$ right there. (Of course, it all works out in the wash; see the below Pay It Forward Weekend... or bugger off! interlude.) This was a very good Coffee (it had better have been for $6.40 a cuppa... well, $2.45, but still), but definitely not the best of their Limited Edition specials that I have ever had. This was very smooth, but I didn't notice a lot of robust flavour (probably because it is made with Typica Arabicabeans[1]). For anyone wanting to know (as it is being hidden under my reusable cloth zarf ~ Thanks, Cindy!), today's design/motif on my paper Coffee cup was Sulawesi Ceremonial Textile. I didn't need to see what Peet's Coffee & Tea® offered for condimentary supplements. I had brought a few of my own hot sauces with me, but (correctly) figured that I would not even need them. Pay It Forward Weekend… or bugger off! ~ Part VI (early edition interlude) This year's Pay It Forward Weekend… or bugger off! came a week earlier than normal (which makes up for last year's coming two weeks late, I suppose). There was a homeless guy (Do you think a better politically correct term should be "domicile deficient"?) sitting on the sidewalk out front of the store and when I was leaving asked me if I could spare a buck for some Coffee. Seeing as I had just saved myself four bucks (well, almost), I gave him two bucks and offered to get him a large cuppa from inside, too. After paying the $2.45, I still figured I was only out 45¢ (50¢, whatever). It was pretty funny as the guy even offered me a bite of his own bagel (that a passing family had given him from their stash of fresh-baked bagels that they had just bought at House of Bagels™; see previous 'blog-entry from May 2nd, 2010); "It's still warm.", he told me. http://houseofbagels.com/site/
Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Sumatra Mutu Batak ~ 7.0; assorted pastries ~ 6.0-6.4 ___________________ 1. That's a little Coffee-geek humour. Well, very little.
http://squatandgobble.com/ Place: Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery Location: 1 West Portal Avenue (on the corner of Ulloa Street) Hours: open seven days a week (I think that includes Saturday and Sunday) at 8:00am Meal: Veggie Fajita Crepe (a Savory Crepe) ~ caramelized peppers, onions, mushrooms, roasted corn, cilantro, black beans, jalapeno [ sic ] sour cream and pepper Jack cheese, topped with homemade (well, crêperie-made) ranchero and tomatillo sauces and crispy tortilla strips (served with your choice of our "famous" rosemary garlic potatoes, French fries, mixed green salad, fresh fruit, or chef's soup of the day); a large glassa fresh-squeezed (or whatever you call made with one of those the Jetsons automated orange juice-making contraptions) orange juice; and, afterward, a medium cuppa Equator Coffees & Teas™Mocha Java at GreenhouseCafe https://store.equatorcoffees.com/coffees/fto_mocha_java.html
329 West Portal Avenue phonicular contact: (415) 742-5545 (No official web-site thing.) (Now what are the odds that someone else had a Bettys bag?)
(File under: Never Judge a Book By Its Cover [no matter how large the cover may be] File Of course, the question isn't how did such a big guy have such a soft and beautiful voice, the question is how the heck did he play the ukulele with such big paws? I am pretty sure that I have already linked either or both of these Bruddah Iz songs [at least] once already here. If you don't like them, tough! Start your own 'damn 'blog-thing! "But, Brian, why did you post 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' twice today?" While I was sitting enjoying my cuppa at Greenhouse Cafe, they played the song twice on the [green]house stereo in about a twenty-minute [or less] span, and I figured I would just duplicate duplicate it here.) As it was time to schedule another eye exam (with my optometrist, Dr. Karen See ["care and see"?] ~ seriously, you can't make this stuff up), I decided I might as well also have breakfast this morning in the same neighborhood (which, in this case, happens to be West Portal) and went back to Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery (see last 'blog-entry from July 26th, 2014). I am calling this location their flagship restaurant because it is the newest (the building has only been around for two years now) and largest (with two floors of seating). The (original?) Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery in the Lower Haight (on Fillmore Street) seems to have been closed since Summer or Fall 2015. This just leaves this West Portal location along with the Marina District (on Chestnut Street) and Castro (on 16th Street) locations. West Portal really is a great little neighborhood with several good places to eat for breakfast. However, I noticed today that the long-running, family-owned restaurant, Manor Coffee Shop, (see 'blog-entry from November 12th, 2011) has closed, but is being remodeled to re-open under new ownership (to now be called simply the Manor). Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery doesn't just offer crêpes on their menu, they also have several other good sections from which to choose for breakfast (and lunch or dinner). Some of the other offerings which I was looking at ("... at which I was looking", whatever): Mama Mia (also off the Savory Crepe section; Mozzarella, Parmesan and cottage cheese, onions, mushrooms, spinach, eggplant, and tomatoes, topped with marinara sauce [please note, this is made with two kinds of botanical berries ~ eggplant and tomato]; I have had this before and know it is very good and this was going to be my original choice this morning until I waffled [or is that crêped] and went with the choice I did; and Beelzebub doesn't even have to have a devil put aside for me... for meeeee... for this one); Whole Thing (off the Dessert Crepes section; fresh bananas, walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon, topped with nutella® and powdered sugar; served with your choice of vanilla bean Ice Cream or whipped cream; oh, yeah, Ice Cream for breakfast!); Tropical Island (also off the Dessert Crepes section; fresh pineapple, papaya, banana, shredded coconuts, brown sugar, caramel sauce, candied walnuts, topped with pineapple papaya sauce; if I had been in the mood for a "sweet" breakfastary repast, this would definitely have been my choice); Santa Fe Scramble (off the Scramblers section; pepper Jack cheese, mushrooms, peppers, onions, black beans, corn, and avocado, topped with tomatillo salsa, jalapeno [ sic, again ] sour cream, crispy tortilla strips and cilantro; this was basically a scrambled eggs version of the crêpe I had); Castro Omelette (off the Omelettes section; Feta cheese, tomatoes, spinach, and Kalamata olives); or Mee Goreng (off the Wok Kitchen section; sauteed cabbage, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, tofu, garlic, ginger, giant Shanghai noodles, spicy Sriracha fish sauce [which would have been แปดสิบหก-ed... 555!] and crispy onion strings; I am not sure how that would go as a breakfast meal, though).
All of the crêpes that I have had at Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery have always been very good. I liked this one because it had a very good salsa de tomatillo and the jalapeño sour cream-thing added a nice bit of flavour, too. Plus, the crispy tortilla strips added a nice crunch to the whole thing. Of course, I ordered my crêpe with the side choice of their "famous" rosemary garlic potatoes (Pfffft! What kinda idiot would order the salad or fruit option?!); plus, there was a large portion of them, too. The Coffee at Greenhouse Cafe was made à la mode de presse française. They only offered the one roast/blend today, and I am not sure if they ever have any other choices. I have had Equator Coffees & Teas™ many times before and they are generally very good. Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery had for condimentary supplementation Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I used a good amount of my own Sunbelt PlantationsVidalia® Onion Picante Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes and just a skosh of El Yucateco®XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero (Thanks, Brian!) on the crêpe (which turned out being a bit superfluous and masked some of the nice flavours of the salsas already on it). This is just being nitpickery (or nitpickerie), but Squat & Gobble Cafe & Crepery do not use the "ê" in either the spelling of their name, nor in the crêpes section listed on their menu; and, additionally, the word should actually be spelled "Crêperie", not "Crepery". (Why do people think it is necessary to come up with completely madeuppery words?) Do not worry, no Glen Bacon Scale Rating points are ever deducted for spelling (or translational) êrrors. (Of course, this doesn't even take into consideration the entirely creepy and coprophagia image-conjuring rest of their name: "Squat & Gobble".) Conclusion: Once again, good food ~ horrible name! Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Vêggîê Fâjîtâ Crepê ~ 6.7; Equator Coffees & Teas™Mocha Java ~ 6.8
(No official web-site [any longer].) Place: Home Plate Location: 2274 Lombard Street (between Pierce and Steiner Streets) Hours: open everyday [ sic ][1] at 7:00am Meal: Greek Frittata (three-egg pancake-style omelettes [this is the actual description off their menu]) ~ spinach, tomatoes, Calamata [ sic ] olives, Feta cheese, served with 2 potato-carrot pancakes, or hash browns, and toast; a medium glassa fresh (squeezed?) cantaloupe juice; and after breakfast a small cuppa Peet's Coffee & Tea®Ethiopian Fancy http://www.peets.com/coffee/by-region/coffee-shop-by-category-africa-arabia/ethiopian-fancy.html
Continuing with the whole Spring Training-theme, I headed back to Home Plate (see last 'blog-entry from February 21st, 2015) for breakfast this morning. This has always been a great little (family-owned/run) place and I've probably been going here now for at least fifteen to twenty years. If ever needed, it could easily slide right into my Breakfastary Starting Rotation: 1) they open very early (just try finding any other good joint along Lombard Street ~ or in the Marina/Cow Hollow area ~ that opens at 7:00am), and 2) they offer a great selection (both in quantity and quality) of items from which to choose (for stupid vegetarian-types and those that partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh alike).
Not that there was really much that I could get off their Specials board this weekend, but I am sure there are several of you out there that like "shrimps", so the Angry Benedict might just be up your dead, decaying aquatic insect-eating alley. There was also a separate printed Specials insert with the menu which offered several other items. I was eyeing the Dulce de Leche Pancakes ~ 2 pancakes filled with Dulce de Leche and topped with caramel, sliced almond (now why they have "almonds" in the singular and "shrimp" in the plural, I don't know... Third Base!) and whipped cream. If I had been in a "sweet" mood, this would have been my choice today (with a side order of hashbrowns, probably).
I have had this frittata several times before here, and other than the mispelink of "Kalamata olives", I am always happy to see that this is packed with lots of Kalamata (or Calamata) olives and Feta cheese. I went with rye bread for my toasty choice. I would normally get their potato-carrot pancakes (which are truly exemplary) as my breakfastary side dish choice, but I felt like trying their hashbrowns (which they have as two words, but I prefer it as oneword... "You say 'everyday'... I say 'potahto'...") for a change. Another nice little touch is that all breakfast meals start off with a small, fresh-baked scone with two tasty homemade (well, Home Plate-made) jams. Today's jams were strawberry and mango. For condimentary supplements, Home Plate has the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces: Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (with both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce), Cholula®Hot SauceOriginal, and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce; plus, they also have squeeze-bottles of Huy Fong Foods, Inc.Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. I used some of my own Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the hashbrowns and (just a bit of) Dragon's Lair Extra HotCayenne & HabaneroHot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on top of the frittata. Afterward, I walked a few blocks over to Chestnut Street to get myself a nice after-breakfast Coffee (I purposely forewent getting any Coffee with my meal as I figured I might do this) at Peet's Coffee & Tea®'s flagship store located there. I like how they now offer any blend/roast that is currently available (and this goes for any seasonal/one-time-only blends/roasts, too) as a single "press-pot" (which is just 'merican-speak for "presse française"). I chose the Ethiopian Fancy because it is almost never offered as their everyday (and here this is kerektly speld as the oneword adjective) Coffee. It costs a little more when they make it this way (a single cuppa can be either $3.05 [for standard blends/roasts] or $4.05 [for the fancier blends/roasts ~ such as Ethiopian Fancy, etc.]), but it is worth it once in a while; especially if you want to test-taste a new blend/roast before buying an entire bag of the junk. And the extra-added bonus of doing this today was that I paid for a small/single cuppa (12 oz), but was actually given a large cuppa (16 oz ~ which can be $4.35 or $5.35, depending on the blend/roast; I have found that they will usually make an overage of Coffee when they make it via "press-pot", anyway). Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greek Frittata ~ 7.4; Cantaloupe Juice ~ 7.5; Scone and Jams ~ 7.3; Peet's Coffee & Tea®Ethiopian Fancy ~ 7.6 ___________________ 1. Much like yesterday's adjectival error, I am sure they also mean: "every day".
http://www.leftyodouls.biz/ Place: "Lefty" O'Doul's Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge Location: 333 Geary Street (between Powell and Mason Streets) Hours: Breakfast Everyday [ sic ][1] 7:00am to 11:00am; "the best deal on the square" Meal: Veggie Omelet[2] ~ mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, green onions, Cheddar & Jack cheese, with homestyle (restaurant & cocktail lounge-style, whatever) potatoes and toast; and a large glassa fresh squeezed orange juice With Spring Training starting this week (Woo-HOO! Baseball!!!), I thought it very fitting to head back to "Lefty" O'Doul's Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge (see last 'blog-entry from May 13th, 2012) for breakfast this morning. As I have pointed out in the past, Francis Joseph "Lefty" O'Doul is a local Baseball Legend in San Francisco. He was born and died in San Francisco (and pre-dated some tall, skinny Italian kid from Martinez by many years). He played for and later managed the local Pacific Coast League team the San Francisco Seals. He also played Major League Baseball for both the (then) New York Giants and Boston Red Sox (as well as the Philadelphia Phillies... and two other teams from New York that shall remain nameless). http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/o%27doule01.shtml The walls of the restaurant (& cocktail lounge) are covered with photos of Baseball players from all eras. On the wall above my booth this morning were photos of: Johnny Evers http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/eversjo01.shtml Mordecai Brown http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brownmo01.shtml Harry Heilmann (also born in San Francisco) http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/heilmha01.shtml Hughie Jennings http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jennihu01.shtml Jesse Burkett http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/burkeje01.shtml Charlie Gehringer http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gehrich01.shtml (Of note, all six of these players have been elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. There is a good argument that "Lefty" O'Doul should probably be enshrined there, too. ["Lefty" is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, though.]) "Lefty" O'Doul's Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge offers a pretty basic breakfastary fare for the most part. There is one interesting item (for those of you who partake of the dead, decaying [and possibly green] porky flesh): Green Eggs & Ham ~ two eggs scrambled with green chiles & ham topped with fresh green tomatillosalsa, Jack cheese & sour cream. They also have listed on the on-line menu a Greek Omelet ~ fresh spinach, chopped onion, tomatoes, oregano, Kalamata olives, & Feta cheese; however, this item was not listed on the printed menu, if it had been, this would definitely have been my choice this morning.
While this was no Hall of Fame omelette, it was decent enough. It was made with lots of fresh (baby?) spinach, which is always a plus. I went with sourdough as my choice of toast. "Lefty" O'Doul's Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge offers for condimentary supplementation Tabasco®Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce) and Tapatío®Salsa PicanteHot Sauce. I used some of my own ★ Pope's ★ Whiskey River Hot Sauce (Thanks, Amy and Chef Joe!) on the restaurant & cocktail lounge-style potatoes and some Hot Licks®SerranoHot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the omelette. "It's a beautiful day for breakfast... Let's eat two!" ~ Ernie Banks Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Veggie Omelet ~ 6.2; New York/San Francisco Giants ~ 8.2; Boston Red Sox ~ 8.4; Baseball ~ 8.5 ___________________ 1. While I am sure this may be acceptable, I am pretty sure that they meant: "Breakfast Every Day...". 2. I find it interesting that their printed menu has the category "Egg & Omelet", but the on-line menu states "Egg & Omelette". Qu'est-ce que c'est, Gaucher?
Please make sure that your anti-virus software is enabled before clicking on the above business hyperlink! I am providing their official web-site link here mainly for informational purposes only. This morning when I first attempted to bring up their web-site, my Kaspersky Anti-Virus popped up with the highlighted warning "ACCESS DENIED" and another pop-up stating that there was a "Phishing Link Blocked". I am not sure if it was from the above hyperlink or from the way in which I was trying to enter the web-site [which was via a GaggleChromium search and link]. I did another search and entered their web-site from a link on yerp* and no such warning popped up. However, better safe than sorry. Thus, you have been duly [or dully] warned, Will Robinson.) Place: cumaica® ~ Artesanos Del Café Location: 200 Clement Street (on the corner of 3rd Avenue) Hours: open daily at 6:00am Meal: Breakfast Bagel ~ egg and cheese on a bagel of your choice, with added avocado (which was a smart move); a slice/piece of Morning Glory (which is from City Baking Co; this is a bread/cake thing made with raisins, coconut, sunflower seeds, carrot, zucchini, and walnuts[?]); and a small (12 oz) cuppa Cumaica Coffee®House Blend (This blend is a combination of Indonesian and Central American beans, separately roasted for a perfect balance of flavor.) http://citybaking.com/ (Just, FYI: No similar anti-virus caveats popped up when I brought up and linked this web-site.)
(If you liked the first EweToobular juxtaselection, I suggest checking out more of Tanita Tikaram's music on EweToob. She is very good. Some suggestions [favourites] of mine: "Twist In My Sobriety", "I Might Be Crying", and "Dust On My Shoes". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanita_Tikaram The second video juxtaselection is from some guy that had some minor success doing movie soundtrack music. If you ask me, he'll never amount to much as a real musician and should just stick to the commercial stuff.) With this morning's visit to cumaica® ~ Artesanos Del Café, this concludes all of the coffeehouses on Clement Street for my Richmond (District) Coffeehousesseries. Next up: westward (Ho!) along Geary Boulevard from Arguello Avenue to Ocean Beach (however, I am pretty sure that there are only one or two left to check out, so it will be on to Balboa Street pretty quickly, too). cumaica® is a local (mini-)chain of coffeehouses; there are four shops throughout San Francisco right now. This place was a-hoppin' this morning with many locals and others (mainly due to the Sunday farmers market[1] getting started just outside on Clement Street). It is a standard-sized coffeehouse, with seating inside for about twenty; they also have a few small tables outside along 3rd Avenue that seat two to four people. cumaica® does not really have too much that they offer in the way of food (breakfastarily or otherwisary), but I could have gone with a bagel with hummus and cucumbers (which did sound good if you want a simpler, lighter breakfast). They do have four different pre-packaged commercially-made burritos (like many coffeehouses offer these-a-days) in the front refrigerated case (but just two that would be suitable for stupid vegetarian-types: Spinach & Onion or Green Chile). Seeing as this is first-and-foremost a Coffee joint, the main focus should be on their Coffee, anyway. They only offer one freshly-brewed roast/blend (House Roast) for standard Coffee drinks, but they do have bags of other blends/roasts of Coffee available for sale over the counter (never buy Coffee from under the counter, trust me on this one). If I hadn't already four (or five?) bags of Coffee in my refrigerator currently, I would probably have picked up a pound-bag of their San Francisco Blend ~ "This blend is made with Guatemala and Espresso blends to yield a flavorful and strong cup of Coffee. Perfectly suited for Espresso drinks." They do also offer many Espresso drink varieties, which are made with their House Espresso (Cappuccino) Blend ~ "A wonderful combination of light roasted Indonesian beans and dark roasted Central American beans. This four-bean blend is separately roasted and blended for a rich morning brew or a strong-creamy Espresso drink." I only mention the Espresso drinks because one of the drinks listed on their (hand-printed) menu on the back wall caught my eye and my fancy (or maybe just my fanciful eye... or an eyeful of fancy): Macciato [ sic (no points are ever taken off for a Tori[2])] de Caramelo. yet still another stupid parklet mini-rant (and this doesn't even rate another photo of the stupid thing) This is no fault of cumaica® (I think I had asked them once before and they stated that they didn't sponsor the stupid obstruction), but there is an obnoxiously large parklet just a door down on Clement Street that easily takes up five or six parking spaces now. I would just like to point out that this area of Clement Street is only three (3, tres, trois, tre, drei) blocks away from a very large public park (Mountain Lake Park in the Presidio) or five (5, cinco, cinq, cinque, fünf) blocks from Golden Gate Park. If you really want people to utilize public parks, just stop with all of these stupid, useless parklets for any of these bastages that are too lazy to get off of their fat-arses while juggling their mobular devices and Decaf-Double-Latte-Macchiatos (which is the correct spelink, by the way) made with low-fat soymilk to amble a simple three or five blocks away! (okay, mini-rant over... for now)
My choice of bagel this morning was sesame. I am glad I went with the added avocado as it would have been a little too basic otherwise. As with most coffeehouses (with no real kitchen area), the scrambled eggs were of the nukularized version once again. I was happy to see that the cheese was real cheese (Monterey Jack probably) and not that fake cardboard stuff that is usually foisted upon stupid 'mericans. For a change, I had to wait about five minutes for my cuppa while they were preparing a fresh batcha. The bagel actually came out before the Coffee was even done. This was fine with me, as I was assured of a nice, fresh, hot cuppa. It was worth the wait, too, as it was an extremely nice blend/roast. I am not sure what cumaica® may have to offer in the way of condimentary supplements; I didn't see any and didn't feel the need to ask for any. I used some of my own Fat Cat Strawberry Serrano Hot Sauce® (Thanks again, Cindy & Greg! I think that there may be just one more dose left in that bottle now.) on half of the bagel-sandwich and some Dragon BreathGarlic Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the other half-bagel. Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast Bagel (with added avocado) ~ 6.2; House Blend ~ 6.9; Morning Glory ~ 6.4 ___________________ 1. http://www.agriculturalinstitute.org/clement-st/ 2. That would be as in "Miss Spelling".
This is just yet still another quick li'l 'blog-entry and follow-up to a follow up of a few other previous 'blog-entries regarding non-dairy milk products (see last 'blog entry from June 4th, 2015). I have been drinking almondmilk pretty exclusively for the past five or six years now and recently discovered another new(ish) brand called beberFRESH almondmilk just last weekend at the Clement St. Farmers Market[1] (after breakfast at Toy Boat Dessert Cafe). This is by-far-and-away the best of all of the almondmilks (and the non-dairy milks) that I have ever tried thus far. It is even better than my past favourite CalifiaFarms®, which itself is a few notches above the other products that are currently available in the industry. http://www.califiafarms.com/ They currently offer only four flavours: PURE (made with just organic California almonds and purified water; and that is all she wrote); HONEY VANILLA (made with just organic California almonds and purified water + wildflower honey and organic vanilla extract); CHOCOLATE (made with just organic California almonds and purified water + wildflower honey and cocoa); and LAVENDER (made with just organic California almonds and purified water + wildflower honey and organic lavender). I tried all but the CHOCOLATE at the stand in the market, and, as strange as it may sound, the LAVENDER is truly exceptional and was immediately my favourite. That was what really twisted my arm (or twisted my tongue, I suppose) into buying a pint-bottle of it and also a pint-bottle of HONEY VANILLA. During the week, I tried both of these in a glass by themselves (well, there may have been a cookie or three involved) and also in the morning on my breakfast cereals. I must say, each of them passed both tests with flying colours. I also discovered that the two flavours combined very nicely together if you want to mix and match them. They only sell these in two sizes: 1 pint and 1 quart glass bottles. Because these are made fresh weekly in small batches, they must be kept refrigerated and consumed within a week or so. There is this printed statement on their labels: "Real food doesn't last read long, enjoy by:" with a batch label and use by date. To me, the beauty of this product is the fresh, simple ingredients. It states right on their label: "unhomogenized", "unpasteurized", "no preservatives", and "no thickeners". You can't get much more simple than that. I love how they actually have to use the caveat for an allergen statement also printed on the labels (in bold letters, too): "Contains Almonds". Really?! There are only two problems with this great product: a) availability ~ other than the above mentioned farmers market, it is currently only sold at two local stores in San Francisco (and only at an additional four stores throughout the entire State of California); and b) the price ~ a one pint bottle goes for about $7.00 (yes, you read that correctly: seven dollars; you don't even want to know the pricing for the quart bottles). However, it is totally worth it if you want to splurge once in a while. Got beberFRESH almondmilk? Glen Bacon Scale Rating: beberFRESH almondmilkLAVENDER ~ 8.2; beberFRESH almondmilkHONEY VANILLA ~ 8.0; Califia Farms®UnsweetenedPureAlmondmilk ~ 7.6; Blue DiamondAlmonds®Almond Breeze®UnsweetenedOriginal ~ 7.2; Silk®AlmondUnsweetened Original ~ 7.0 ___________________ 1. http://www.agriculturalinstitute.org/clement-st/
