Lori's Diner

"Rock and Roll's been going downhill ever since Buddy Holly died." 
~ John Milner, American Graffiti

http://lorisdiner.com/


Place: Lori's Diner
Location: 336 Mason Street (between Geary and O'Farrell Streets)
Hours: open 24 hours (and I think that holds true for Saturdays and Sundays, too)
Meal: Taco Ole[1] Omelet ~ vegetarian chili, avocado, salsa, sour cream & Jack cheese, served with hash brown potatoes (substitute for home fries just add 0.75 OR for fruit add 1.95), toast, butter and jam, choice of white, wheat, sourdough, rye, raisin, 9 grain, or English muffin; and a glassa orange juice

(It's not Charles Hardin Holley[2]'s birthday or deathday or anythingday, they just happened to be playing some 
50's Rock-and/or-Roll Music ['natch] all morning at the diner and I felt like highlighting some of his music here this morning. And, of course, ol' Buddy made those birth-control glasses geek-chic two decades before Deckie MacManus even started recording.)


I was feeling a bit nostalgic this morning for some good 50's diner-style food and decided to head back to 
Lori's Diner (see previous 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 14th, 2014). Actually, the truth is that this place is located just a few doors down the street from Cafe Mason (see recent 'blog-entry from Saturday, October 8th, 2016) and I figured that it was time to check them out again.

There are currently three Lori's Diners in San Francisco (two downtown locations ~ about three blocks apart ~ and the one in Ghirardelli Square that I ate at two years ago); they also have a location at San Francisco International Airport. Today's restaurant was the original one that was opened back in 1986. Like a lot of dineristic joints, their seating consists of many (sparkly) red/maroon vinyl-covered booths (in varying sizes that can seat from four to six people each) and fourteen matching stools along the diner-counter.

(Those headlights actually light up, too.)


Their breakfast menu ain't your typical diner-menu fare, but this is California (and specifically San Francisco) after all. Ferinstance, a couple of other ideas that I was thinking on: Fresh Spinach Omelet (chopped spinach, sautéed onions, a hint of garlic, fine herbs, & cream cheese) or Eggs Florentine (It states on the menu: "Not Available After 12:00 P.M." Now, if the place is open 24 hours a day, how can they tell when it's after 12:00pm?). They even have one dish called Nothing But Eggs Omelet... "Ummm. Correct me if I'm wrong, Lori, but isn't that simply called 'Scrambled Eggs'?!"

I was pleasantly surprised by this omelette. This was really very good for "just diner food" and not what I was expecting at all. I think that the vegetarian chili was made with black beans, and it was very tasty. And I was especially impressed with the amount of avocado inside the omelette; I am not exaggerating any here, there had to be one whole avocado's worth inside.

Of course, I stuck with the hashbrowns as my side choice (but I love a place that offers two potatoey options and I briefly thought about upgrading to the homefries... Pffft! Even I can always chop up my own d*mn fruits at home!) These were very good ~ extra crispy ~ hashbrowns, too. I went with sourdough for my toast choice.

Lori's Diner has only Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce) for condimentary supplementation on the tables. I used some of my own Great Wall Wasabi Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the hashbrowns and some Old St. Augustine Snake Bite Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) on the omelette. I probably didn't need to add any extra hot sauce to the omelette, as their chili beans were sufficiently spiced, but it never hurts any.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Taco Ole Omelet ~ 6.6

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

The word "¡Olé!" is a Spanish interjection, an exclamation of approval or encouragement, customary at bullfights, flamenco dancing, and other Spanish or Latin American events. It is thought to be derived from an Arabic invocation of Allah, or the oath والله (w-állah, "by Allah!").

Because there was no acute accent ("é") on "Olé" on their printed menu, I initially thought that this omelette might be named in honour of that old Vaudeville and Hollywoodland movie film comedian, John Sigvard Olsen. Of course, I then had to look to see if there was a corresponding breakfast dish named "Chic'n & Eggs".

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0647764/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424765/?ref_=fn_al_nm_2

2. In case you may have been living under a rock for the past fifty-seven years (or are not named either 
Donald McLean III or Gary Busey):

https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/buddy-holly