grindz

http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/


Place: grindz
Location: 832 Clement Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues)
Hours: open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 9:00am
Meal: Apple Banana Pancakes (4 stack) ~ apples, bananas, coconut crème anglaise, crushed Macadamia nuts; a side of hashbrowns; and a cuppa (and two refillas) Bicycle Coffee co Dark Roast Guatemala (unfortunately for today's destination, these guys do not offer a Kona Coffee[1] blend; I checked)

http://bicyclecoffeeco.com/

(They are usually playing Reggae music first thing in the morning on the house stereo. This cover of an old Doo-Wop song was one of the songs that was playing. I recognized it immediately because I actually have a Reggae compilation CD that has this specific version on it.

I am not so sure just what the connection between Jamaica and Hawai'i are, though. They both are islands and produce great Coffee, perhaps?)


I had DFA'd grindz (see last 'blog-entry from September 19th, 2015) earlier this year, but not because their food wasn't any good. I had been going with a Breakfastary Starting Rotation of six restaurants for the last few years and decided to cut it back to a standard five for this year. So, it's always nice to check in with the kids in AAA once in a while (plus, this place is very local for me and actually within walking distance ~ if that walking distance happens to be about twenty-three blocks both ways).

There really aren't that many items for stupid vegetarians on their "Brunch" menu and I have had most of them several times over now. Otherwise, a few items that I would like to check out one of these days are: Puka[2] French Toast (brioche, pina-berry compote, vanilla chantilly; which I would have also ordered with a side of hashbrowns); Li Hing[3] Pineapples (ripe pineapples dusted with Li Hing powder [ground dried plum skin]; again, I would have ordered a side of hashbrowns to top this off); or Breakfast Sandwich (brioche, sage breakfast sausage, egg, Cheddar, potatoes; of course, I would have 86-ed the grounded-up porky bits and substituted avocado instead).

I have had this dish a few times now. There was the perfect amount of coconut crème anglaise on the pancakes this morning. A few times in the past they went a little light with the good stuff. Someone a few tables over had also ordered this dish and asked for more of the coconut crème anglaise, which they brought out with no problem; I wish I had thought to ask for more my last few visits.

I was warned by the waiter-server guy that they no longer had Plantation Potatoes (which were made with celery slices, red bell peppers, and white onions) as a side dish, but are offering hashbrowns now. I liked the new hashbrowns, but their old Plantation Potatoes were way much better.

Bicycle Coffee co is always a great cuppa Coffee (or Kope) and I especially like that they deliver all their Coffee (or Kope) via bicycles. 

Knowing that grindz makes their own (exceptionally tasty, too, I might add [well, not "might add", I just did add]) Hawai'ian (spicy tomato) Ketchup as a condimentary supplement, I didn't bother to schlep[4] any of my own hot sauces with me this morning. I am pleased to see that they are now offering bottles of this for sale, too. I ended up using a very good amount on the hashbrowns (see stupid "Smiley-Face" in above photo). I determined that the coconut crème anglaise on the pancakes really didn't need any messing with on my part (even if Moe insists that pancakes are good with ketchup).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Apple Banana Pancakes ~ 6.6 
(coconut crème anglaise by itself ~ 7.6);
Hawai'ian (spicy tomato) Ketchup ~ 6.8; 
Bicycle Coffee co Dark Roast Guatemala ~ 7.2 
(cool delivery concept ~ 8.2)

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

The word for "Coffee" in Hawai'ian is "Kope". It is a loanword (and a lone word) of probably Indonesian, Malaysian, or Filipino origin. 

I would also just like to point out that Google Translate is now not only providing translations for Hawai'ian, but also Maori and (finally) Armenian.

Sub-sequential stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointers of the day:

The word for "Coffee" in Maori is "Kawhe" (I am not sure of the pronunciation, as they do not have an aural link for Maori on Google Translate) and in Armenian it is "Սուրճ" (pronounced pretty much like it looks).

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, helu elua:

The word "puka" means "hole" in Hawai'ian. How this pertains to French toast, I do not know. (Now if they had used the adjective "puka" to describe Hawai'ian doughnuts, I would completely understand, Duncan.)

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, 第三:

"旅行梅 (Li hing mui)" is Chinese for "traveling plum". It is preserved salted plums.

Additionally, as it pertains to Hawai'ian foods (this explanation borrowed from WikipediA):

"Li hing (red powder) is found in Hawai'i. The red powder called li hing powder consists of ground-up plum skin that has previously been pickled in a combination of licorice, sometimes, but not always aspartame, food coloring, salt, and sugar. Li hing powder is sold separately and can be used as a flavoring usually sprinkled on candy and other fruits notably pineapples and apples. In the United States, Li hing mui powder can be found in Hawai'i, where local children like to put li hing powder on sour gummy bears, sour gummy worms, sour watermelon candy, sour patch kids, shave ice, sour apple candy, rock candy, popcorn, and arare (also known as kakimochi and mochi crunch)."

4. Sorry, as much as I looked for it, there does not seem to be a current Yinglish-to-Hawai'ian aid on Google Translate. Let's just say "schlep" in Hawai'ian would be "schlep, bra'".