David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro

Breakfast on Geary (redux), Part 4B

(No official [nor unofficial] web-site available [nor unavailable].)


Place: David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro
Location: 474 Geary Street (between Mason and Taylor Streets); phonicular contact: (415) 276-5950
Hours: open for breakfast Monday - Saturday at 7:30am (or daily at 8:00am; depending on which Intro-Net source you believe; see, this is where an official ~ or unofficial ~ business web-site would come in handy)
Meal: Shakshuka[1] ~ 3 poached eggs, spicy stew of tomatoes, onions, and peppers; a side of hash browns (which they have as two words, but I prefer as the compoundednoun); and a cuppa (and 1-1/2 refillas) Peerless Coffee & Tea® (I asked the waitress/server-lady person which blend/roast it was and she thought it might be Fair Trade Organic French Roast, which would be the same as last weekend at the Bistro Restaurant at Cliff House)

http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/

(There is no real EweToobular juxtaselections between "David", "Delicatessen", or "Deli" and Joni Mitchell. The house stereo happened to be playing a different version [a newer recording by Joni herself from 2000; it was a slower, jazzier version than the original; I thought it might have been a cover by Diana Krall] this morning while I was eating breakfast, so I felt like adding a couple of takes here.

And, yes, the second one is as highly illogical as it sounds, Captain. [I suppose it could have been worse still and been "sung" by William Shattner. Ha!][2])


I returned to David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro 
(see previous 'blog-entry from March 4th, 2012) for breakfast this morning. In case you are wondering (and even in the case of your non-wondering), I am going with the name of  this restaurant as "David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro" because the main awning still states "David's Delicatessen", but the menu now calls it "David's Deli & Bistro". Take your pick. I sat at the main oval diner-counter seating area once again.

There were a couple of other interesting-sounding ideas that I was looking at: Mediterranean Breakfast (sliced tomatoes, cucumber, olives, 1 scrambled egg, cottage cheese, and bread; I have no idea how that is all prepared or served, but it sounded simple enough for me; I probably would have ordered this with a side of hashbrowns, too); Matzo and Eggs (pancakes style; this is probably the same dish that I had during my last visit to saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen [see last 'blog-entry from December 26th, 2015]; again, I would probably have added a side of hashbrowns with this one); or Potato Pancakes (served with applesauce and sour cream; but I doubt that I would need to order a side of hashbrowns with this one... however, I wouldn't put it past me).

This came out in a sizzling cast iron skillet; the stew was still bubbling (but no toil seemed to be troubling it). This had both green and red bell peppers in it and was a very chunky stew. The only thing else that I would have liked with this was some kinda bread (pita would have been great) with which to dip in/sop-up some of the stewy sauce. This might not have been as good as the versions that I had at saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen (see previous 'blog-entry from December 15th, 2013) or Reverie Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from June 20th, 2015), but it was still a pretty tasty meal (and I seemed to clean up the entire skillet ~ with or without any bread).

The side of potatoes was a HUGE plate of hashbrowns! I ended up dumping about half of the pile in with the remaining stew, and it all really went great together, too. (Naturally, as potatoes, tomatoes, and bell peppers are all New World foods.)

For condimentary supplementation, David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce. Once again again, I used (just) a few drops of my own Fat Cat Chairman Meow's Revenge (Scorpion Pepper Sauce) (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on top of each of the eggs (I tasted the sauce first to make sure that it could handle a bit more spiciness) and a good amount of 
Hot Licks® Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the hashbrowns.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

I heard a few (but did really not see any) of the Wild Parrots of San Francisco while I was walking along O'Farrell Street on the way to breakfast this morning. I can only assume that there is a small pandemonium that lives in the neighborhood as I have heard some many times before when I am walking around the Union Square area.

Once again, because there is no official business web-site to check what the hours of operation (and alternately hours of non-operation) are for David's Delicatessen/Deli & Bistro, I had to rely on information supplied by Intro-Net sources and started with yelp*. Here is where I really have to restate emphatically: Do not ever believe anything that you read on the World Wild Webs. People writing restaurant reviews are basically idiots (and I should know, I am both a person and a proudly self-proclaimed idiot). The reviews of this place were mostly negative (there were many, many, many... and I mean many) and stated that both the service and food were horrible. I can only claim that the last two times that I have eaten there for breakfast were both fine. The service was quick, polite, and friendly this morning and the food (while maybe not Breakfastary Starting Rotation-worthy) was more than adequate and I would recommend the joint ~ and especially today's breakfastary dish ~ to anyone. I know that I will be checking them out again for one of the other dishes that I suggested above (of course, at the rate I am currently getting back there, this may not be again until the year 2020).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Shakshuka ~ 6.4; 
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day:

Shakshouka means "a mixture" in Libyan Arabic or other Maghrebi Arabic dialects. It is likely that it was first known as chakchouka, a Berber word meaning a vegetable ragout, although "shakshek" means "to shake" in Libyan Arabic, Berber, and Hebrew, giving a possible punic origin to the name of the dish.

2. How many of you (any of you Trekkie-geeks or Trekker-nerds need not reply) were aware that Leonard Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Jewish Ukrainian immigrants? I bet that will leave you speechless*.

*(See, here is where a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer would come in handy. The word for "dumb/mute/silent" in Ukraïns'kij is "німий" [transliterated as "nimij" and pronounced "neemee"] and in Russkij it is "немой" [transliterated as "nemoj" and pronounced "neemoy"].)