Sunday, January 29, 2017

LaLe


Happy Raccoon Island Discovery Day!!!



http://www.lalesf.com/


Place: LaLe
Location: 731 Irving Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues)
Hours: Breakfast is served everyday [ sic ] between 8am and 3pm!
Meal: Portland (Benediction) ~ tomatoes, veggie (ugh!) hash, mushrooms on a housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) topped with poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, served w/ potatoes; and a glassa pomegranate juice



(I was trying to get fancy and take a photo of some tulips[1] that were on one of the tables and align it with a large tulip picture on one of the walls. The alignment seemed to work well enough, but the tulips in the foreground took on a bit of unwanted bokeh.)





(Yes, Lena Horne and then Phish. Two more differing versions you will not find on the World Wilde Webs.)


I have stated this for the last few visits to LaLe (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, October 15th, 2016), if there is ever a need to DFA any of the restaurants in my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, this place would be an immediate perfect replacement. And depending on whether or not the new ownership at Ella's keeps their current "Brunch" menu format, we might just see this rookie brought up to the Bigs later this year.

There are still several other good ideas (for both stupid vegetarians and dead, decaying animal-fleshetarians) left for me to check out on subsequent visits: 

Mexico City (Egg Scrambler) ~ chorizo, green onions, mushrooms, guacamole, sour cream, cheese (I would have had to ochenta-y-seis-ed the spicy porky sausage stuff, of course);

Napa (Egg Scrambler) ~ goat cheese, mushrooms, bacon, bell peppers (once again, the porky belly bits would have to go);

Toronto (Benediction) ~ ham, grilled tomato, spinach (without the Canadian porky loin stuff, eh?!);

or 

Ricotta Stuffed Almond French Toast ~ served with seasonal fruit, orange butter, housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) whip-cream, organic maple syrup.

Additionally, they also offer a few changing weekend specials:

Polenta w/ mixed veggies + poached eggs (I would assume this would have been very similar to what I did order today);

Baked Potato stuffed w/ bacon and veggie ragu and topped w/ poached eggs (Say whaaaaa'?! Without the crispy porcine junk, that sounds amazing, too.);

or (and I really want to try this dish one of these days)

Dutch Pancake w/ caramelized apples (however, you have to allow twenty minutes for this dish to be prepared; I am never that patient when I go out to eat breakfast, though).





Ho-boy! This was another great tasty success! The "veggie (ugh!) hash" was a melange of zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and red bell peppers. Unfortunately, with this selection, I was not able to use/enjoy any of their housemade (restaurant-made, whatever) jams or marmalade this morning.

For condimentary supplements, LaLe has both Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce. I used some of my own Punch Drunk Chocolate Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) on top of just one of the poached eggs and some Pepper Palace Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg & Cindy!) all over the potatoes.




(It's a good thing that squirrels can not read.)


Raccoon Island Discovery Day Anniversary Strange Interlude ~ 2017

The actual date of Raccoon Island Discovery Day is tomorrow, January 30th, 2014, but, for some reason, it is not a National Holiday day-off... yet. I went back there this morning hoping to see Rocky and some of his friends, but they must have taken the three-day weekend off (as they should) or were sleeping-off any earlier celebrations from last night. Unlike that completely made-up holiday on October 12th, there are never any indigenous mammals protesting this holiday.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating
Portland (Benediction) ~ 7.2;
Raccoon Island (when there are actually some of the masked beggars around) ~ 8.5

___________________

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

Again, the word "lâle" (as best as I can figger, it is pronounced as "lah-lay") is Persian-Farsi and Turkish for "tulip".

Saturday, January 28, 2017

the Cavalier


I don't know about you, but after nine days straight riding on the same d*mn horse, I would've given it a d*mn name already... 
"Butt-ache" sounds about right to me.



http://thecavaliersf.com/


Place: the Cavalier
Location: 360 Jessie Street (on the corner of 5th Street)
Hours: breakfast daily beginning at 7:00am
Meal: (the simply-enough named) Frittata ~ hen of the woods mushroom[1], Swiss chard, chevre, and mixed greens (these were on the side, not in the frittata itself); a side of Crispy Potatoes; and a cuppa (and one refilla) saint Frank Coffee Las Palomas (Guatemala)


http://www.saintfrankcoffee.com/




(Today's equine EweToobular juxtaselections should be easy to figure out if you know the word root of "cavalier" and "cavalry"[2].)


I have never had breakfast (nor "Brunch", nor dinner, for that matter) at the Cavalier before (and I am not just saying that offhandedly). It's kinda hidden around the corner on Jessie Street (which is really just an alley, anyway) and can be easily overlooked. It is directly across the street from the old San Francisco Mint building and is basically the house restaurant for Hotel Zetta. It's a medium-sized restaurant, which they call "a London inspired brasserie". In keeping with their whole horsified-theme, the place is festooned with figures of horses, paintings of equestrians, and the like. For a swanky downtown joint (adjacent to a swanky downtown hotel), it was nice to see that they open up very early in the morning.

the Cavalier really only offers a handful of items on their breakfast menu (be you either a stupid vegetarian-type or a dead, decaying fleshetarian-type). Otherwise, I was looking at ordering either Buttermilk Pancakes (Amaretto and brown butter golden syrup) or Breakfast Sandwich (fried hen egg [Is it really necessary to specify "hen egg"?], crispy bacon, pepper cress, shallot, and mustard dresssing; I would have, of course, ordered that without the dead, decaying porcine junk). With either of those dishes, I would probably have had to order a side of their Crispy Potatoes, too.

Additionally, after 10:00am on the weekends, they have a "whole nother" separate "Brunch" menu that offers a few more choices, such as: Baghdad Eggs (sunny side hen eggs [Again with the "hen eggs"?], brown butter, toasted garlic, chile lemon and mint on a grilled sourdough levain); Tomato Benedict (crispy fried hen egg [See?], rosemary ham [No thanks, Miss Clooney!], cucumber, dill and crème fraîche); or Shakshuka (baked hen eggs [ditto], spicy tomato sauce, peppers, onions, crispy pancetta [even when you fancy-it-up and say it in Italiano, bacon is still a no-go for me], yogurt and toasted baguette). Because of these interesting-sounding choices, I just might have to make a later (after 10:00am, that is) return trip in the future.






I can not be sure (I asked the friendly waiter-server-dude and he said that he did not know either), but this may have had some smoked paprika in with the egg mixture. I tasted something smoky in there, but it just might have been the combination of flavours from the mushrooms, Swiss chard, Chèvre, and hot sauce that I had added on top. They stated on the menu that this was made with "hen of the woods mushroom"; however, I am pretty sure they were either enoki[3] or some similar small mushroom. Either way, I enjoyed the frittata a lot.

The side of Crispy Potatoes were exactly that ~ crispy and crunchy and burnt (in a good way) ~ and very tasty. Apparently these are deep-fried (I asked the friendly waiter-server-dude again), but were completely un-greasy. I am glad that I did order a side of potatoes (not only because they were extremely good, but) because the side of rabbit-food (spinach and some other mixed greens and lettuces, etc.) that came with the frittata would not really have been enough for even my appetite.

Their web-site still shows that they offer Stumptown® Coffee, but needs to be updated with the much more local saint Frank Coffee. I have had Stumptown® Coffee before and know it is very good on its own (well, on its own in a Coffee mug), but I was glad to be able to try a new (to me) local roastery output. Sure, San Francisco might not quite be the Coffee Haven that Seattle currently is, but Seattle also doesn't have any trolley cars or seals as international tourista attractions. Speaking of Coffee mugs, mine had the French words "Le Creuset"[4] imprinted around the base.

the Cavalier only had Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce) for condimentary supplementation. I used some of my own Old St. Augustine Datil Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the frittata and some Hot Licks® Serrano 
Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the extra-crispy potatoes. The friendly waiter-server-dude noticed my selection of hot sauces and commented on them. Apparently he is also an aficionado of salsas picante. He also informed me that human taste-buds 
regenerate every twelve days (I am too lazy to look up that factoid on the Intro-Net, so I will just take him at his word).

Another the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

After breakfast, while I was standing on the corner of 5th and Market, a rather large pandemonium (about twenty to twenty-five) of the cherry-headed, caterwauling avian dinosaurs flew overhead heading southwest (towards the Mission, perhaps).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating
(the simply-enough named) Frittata ~ 6.8;
(the aptly-enough named) Crispy Potatoes ~ 7.3;
saint Frank Coffee Las Palomas ~ 6.9;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grifola_frondosa

2. Okay, for those of you that don't know the word root or are just too d*mn lazy to look it up yerd*mnselves.

Stupid, useless cunning linguist/etymological pointer of the day, number one:

Cavalier 

n.

1580s, from Italian cavalliere "mounted soldier, knight; gentleman serving as a lady's escort", from Late Latin caballarius "horseman", from Vulgar Latin caballus, the common Vulgar Latin word for "horse" (and source of Italian cavallo, French cheval, Spanish caballo, Irish capall, Welsh ceffyl), displacing Latin equus (see equine). 

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enokitake

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numéro deux:

"Le creuset" means "the crucible" in French. I have no idea what it means in Coffee, though.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

6th & B


Breakfast and Haiku.
Black Coffee and poetry.
Strange bedfellows make.

('twould be sheer folly,
to 'blog in full in Haiku.
Bashō, forgive me.)



http://www.6thandb.com/

(It's a new place and their web-site could use a little work still.)


Place: 6th & B
Location: 452 Balboa Street (on the corner of 6th Avenue, hence the name of the restaurant)
Hours: open Wednesday - Friday at 7:00am, Saturday - Sunday at 8:00am (but good luck trying to locate that anywhere on their web-site)
Meal: omelet (or soft scramble two eggs) ~ baby spinach, shiitake, tomatoes, french (this is another one of those places that likes to list everything in the minuscule) country bread + house potatoes, with cheese; and a glassa hawaiian (see? minuscule again) breeze ~ mango + pineapple + apple 




(I figured with yesterday's "Millions of Womens Marching" all over the World, this somewhat-protest song ~ à propos covered by Indigo Girls ~ would be a fitting EweToobular juxtaselection this morning.

♪ "They said some men would be warriors
Some men would be kings
Some men would be owners of land
And other man-made things..." ♫)


When I had breakfast last Monday on Balboa Street, I happened to notice that there was a new restaurant (or one that I had never eaten at) in the same neighborhood. 6th & B, by all means (due to its interior design and menu), could easily be called a "Brunch" joint; however, thankfully, nowhere on their menu does it state such and they open up plenty early enough for my liking. Plus, it looks like a great family-friendly restaurant (I think I was the only person there this morning without little brats of some sort running around under foot and under tables). It turns out that this is a brand new place (only open since late-November 2016). The seating consists of ten tables for two (or five tables for four); plus, nine stools at a bar/counter area.

They offer a pretty decent breakfast menu. There were several other good ideas that I was eyeing: eggs benedict (two poached eggs, baby spinach, chard, baby kale, hollandaise, french country bread + house potatoes; this is also available with a few optionary options added: bacon, apple smoked ham, pork, pico de gallo, beef tomato salsa, or smoked salmon fried capers); lemon ricotta pancakes (butter, seasonal fruit, Vermont [for some reason, they have this uncharacteristically in the majuscule] maple syrup); quinoa bowl (market vegetables + poached egg; this might be my return-trip choice, with a side of their great house potatoes); sweet porridge (oats, brown rice , red rice, slow cooked in milk, brown sugar, sweet potato compote, seasonal fruit; this also sounded very interesting, and if I am in the mood for a sweeter breakfastary dish, I will probably get that... also with a side of their great house potatoes; after all, man does not live on sweet alone). There was also the interesting-sounding, but definitely not vegetarian-friendly-sounding b mix-up (crumble bread [whatever the heck that might be], ruby potato. bacon, pulled pork, sweet onion, cilantro, baby tomato fried [???] + scramble egg; however, I have no idea how this might all look or be prepared).





I ordered my omelette with cheese (as it was an optionable option; there are a few more optionable options, too [for both stupid vegetarians and those that partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh alike]: avocado, tofu, rotisserie chicken, slow cooked pork rib, braised beef, or smoked salmon). I asked what kind of cheese(s) were available, and the manager/?owner?-lady told me that it was just a mixture of cheeses (probably Cheddar and Monterey Jack, or such). I think that it would be nice if there were more optional options of cheeses from which to choose, though. (Feta, anyone?!) There was really nothing outstanding about this omelette; it was just made well and tasted good, which is fine with me. Now, give me a choice of cheeses (Feta, perhaps?) and it might be a bit more interesting.

Their version of home potatoes turned out to be very good. These were prepared with whole small potatoes (and two different types from what I saw) that have been grilled or roasted and smooshed a bit. There was also some fried kale bits and fried julienned carrot strips in with the potatoes; this was an interesting addition and I really liked it. This (side) dish is worth a return trip all on its lone-self.

The fresh-made/blendered-up drink turned out to be a very thick smoothie-like drink; so much so, that I ended up cutting it with a glass of water whenever there was more room in the glass.

For condimentary supplementation, 6th & B offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Frank's® RedHot (Original). I used some of my own Pope's Whiskey River Hot Sauce (Thanks, Amy and Chef Joe!) on the omelette and some Lucky Dog Hot Sauce Medium Fire-Roasted Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes. Thankfully, both of these bottles are nearing the empty point (probably just another helping left in each), so that I can free up some space in my refrigerator finally.

It is nice to see that another good place has opened nearby and I am sure I will be returning... one of these days.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating
omelet ~ 6.5;
hawaiian breeze ~ 6.9;
house potatoes ~ 7.0

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Cafe GoLo


You know, my GoLo Ranchero did start this mornin'...



(Still no official web-site type-thing any more... or any less.)


Place: Cafe GoLo ~ Boutique Cafe
Location: 1602 Lombard Street (at Gough Street); phonicular contact: (415) 673-4656
Hours: open every day of the week at 8:00am
Meal: (to start) a raspberry-mango tart/pastry-thing; (for the main meal) GoLo Ranchero ~ corn tortillas topped with eggs, (black) beans, cheese, spicy salsa verde, served with sour cream and avocado (and some of their tasty tomato-corn salsa/relish thing); and (to drink) just a glassa orange juice (I am still fighting a cold from earlier in the week ~ this is about Round 13 and the judges have it scored 7-6 in my favour so far ~ and need all the extra Vitamin C that I can consume)





(There really is/are no EweToobular juxtaselection/s between this morning's breakfastary destination and Lightnin' Hopkins' Texas Blues. I had just posted some of ol' Sam's songs the last time that I visited Cafe GoLo
and felt like it once again.)


In concluding the pre-Season work-out of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I finished up back at Cafe GoLo ~ Boutique Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, October 2nd, 2016).

I got a chance to finally question Miss PeeBee why there is no mention of their great baked goods anywhere on their menu. She told me that they are printing new menus very soon and that omission will be addressed (or no longer omitted, I suppose). They have really been missing out on these not being on the menu and relying solely upon stupid tourista-types to notice that they even have a large glass bakery shelf display in the back of the restaurant. As I have said this many times before in the past (because "before in the future" makes no sense, what-so-ever, even if you do own a hover-board), "These pastries are really worth a visit all for their-d*mn-selves!"






This dish is easily the best breakfast along Lombard 
Street (not that there are really that many places from which to choose for breakfast directly on Lombard 
Street, but still), and, if not for the most excellent 
Pain Perdu at Baker Street Bistro, I might even go as far to say, that this is the best breakfast in the entire Marina District/Cow Hollow area, too. I like that they give you an option of how you would like your eggs on top of the pile (and smothered under a great amount of spicy salsa verde ~ which is really the killer key to this entire dish); I went with my eggs "over-medium" this morning. I also love the amount of black beans that this sits atop. This would probably not be a good dish for any of you legumophobes (So, it's not a real word. Start your own d*mn 'blog-thing then.); however, black beans/black turtle beans[1] have been a favourite of mine since I first tried them wayyyyy back in 1983 at a Cuban restaurant in Miami, Ef-el-ay. (Thanks, Jordie & Pamela!) Don't worry, for those of you that do like to partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh (well, in this case, the dead decaying paltry poultry flesh), this meal can also have chicken added to it (Sorry, Mr. Hunt.). (So, which would come first? The "over-medium" eggs in the GoLo Ranchero or the chicken in the GoLo Ranchero?)

Having predetermined that I was going to be ordering the GoLo Ranchero before I had even left my apartment this morning, I did not bother schlepping
any of my own hot sauces with me (for which Miss PeeBee did notice and mentioned to me). After all, only a true heathen (or true alcoholic) would bring their own Brown Ale to Newcastle upon Tyne!

Because I could (and because they were seasonably available), I made sure to get an extra mixed-fruit tart/pastry-thing and a sweet potato tart/pastry-thing to take home with, to enjoy later this afternoon (or tomorrow while watching the NFL Conference Championship games ~ Go Patriots! Go Packers!).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating
GoLo Ranchero ~ 7.4;
raspberry-mango tart/pastry-thing ~ 7.2

___________________

1. An entire web-site dedicated to black beans?! Just what can't you find on these World Wild Webs?

http://blackbeans.me/

Monday, January 16, 2017

Cafe Sis


Richmond (District) Coffeehouses
Part 34th



(No official web-site type-thing. I could not even find a decent phonicular contact on any web-searches.)


Place: Cafe Sis
Location: 402 Balboa Street (near 5th Avenue)
Hours: open at 8:00am every day except Sunday
Meal: Avo.huevo Sandwich ~ avocado, egg, Cheddar cheese, cream cheese; and a large (16-20oz or such) cuppa Peet's Coffee® (some kinda "Dark Roast"[1], apparently)

http://www.peets.com/coffee/by-roast/dark.html





(I figured a little sibling EweToobular juxtaselections were in order today.)


There is a brand new(-ish) place (open since July 2016 now), which I had somehow completely missed when I was touring all of the Richmond (District) Coffeehouses last year. I stumbled upon Cafe Sis 
just last Friday night while eating dinner (well, a Garden Burger and fries) at Uncle Boy's[2]. It is no wonder that I had missed this one last year, as it is a small and rather unassuming coffeehouse (and all you people should just stop making rather assumptions about coffeehouses). This is a Korean-owned (hence some of the interesting sandwich items on their menu) coffeehouse now in the space that used to be just another neighborhood sushi joint.





I sat in one of the two (cool and comfy) front alcove-window spaces. I actually had the place all to myself this morning the entire time I was eating there.

For stupid vegetarian choices, there was really only one other item on their menu, Veggie Sandwich (romaine, tomato, avocado, mushroom, mayo). Otherwise, they do have some pretty cool dead, decaying animal-fleshetarian choices: Bul Gogi[3] Sandwich (beef [that would be the "Bul Gogi" part], romaine, tomato, Swiss cheese, mayo); Chicken Caesar Sandwich (grilled chicken, romaine, mushroom, tomato, Swiss cheese); or the antagonized porcine-sounding (but unassumingly intriguing), Angry Pork Sandwich (spicy pork, carrot, cilantro, radish [which is probably of the daikon variety], mayo). Additionally, there are three panini entries: one each of both the 
Bul Gogi and Angry Pork varieties and a Kimchi Panini. I made sure to ask if they made their own kimchi and if it included any fish or shrimp junk in it. Unfortunately, it does; so I can not get that one either.




This was a competent-enough sandwich (that is, assuming a local neighborhoody coffeehouse is competent in sandwich-making). There was just a minimal amount of cream cheese in this sandwich, which was good, because I do not think that too much would have gone well with the rest of the ingredients. Due to the amount of fresh sliced (not mushed, like I was incompetently assuming) avocado, I am adding another 0.1 GBS Rating points. Additionally, because the scrambled eggs were actually cooked (on an electric grill or something in the back? ~ and not "nuked" in one of them newfangled microwaveable oven unit-things), I am adding another 0.1 GBS points for that, too. 

I know that I have several (and, by that, I mean seven or eight) bags of Coffee in my refrigerator that I still need to work my way to the bottom of, but if I had gone to a local coffeehouse and had just ordered a sandwich, wouldn't that just be called a local "sandwich-house"? Besides, I like Peet's Coffee®... be it a "Dark Roast" or other.

I am not sure what Cafe Sis might have had in the way of bottled hot sauces; I don't even know if they offer any gochujang (which would have been perfect in my sandwich this morning). I just went with some of my (seemingly never-ending) own hot sauces on each half of the sandwich. On one half, I used some Florida Gold Premium Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!); on the other half, I used some Dixie Crossroads 
Hot Habañero[ sic ] Pepper Sauce (Thanks, Brian!).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating
Avo.huevo Sandwich ~ 6.3

___________________

1. I have "Dark Roast" in "quotation marks" and italicized mainly because when I asked the front-counter order-taking guy which specific blend/roast of Peet's Coffee® they serve, all he could tell me was that it was a "Dark Roast". 

Really?! If you work in a place that only sells about ten different types of sandwiches and some Coffee drinks, don't you think that it would make sense to know the actual type of Coffee that you sell? 

For the record, Peet's Coffee® sells about twenty-five different "Dark Roasts", so I have no guesses as to which this may have been today. 

Unsurprisingly, this is not the first time that I have been amazed to find out that a coffeehouse person did not know what kind of Coffee they offer.

2. http://uncleboyssf.com/

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

"Bulgogi" ("불고기") in Korean literally means "fire meat"; it is a Korean dish that usually consists of grilled marinated beef.



Sunday, January 15, 2017

Eats




http://places.singleplatform.com/eats-4/menu?ref=google

(Still no official web-site type-thing, so this will have to do for now.)


Place: Eats
Location: 50 Clement Street (on the corner of 2nd Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 751-8000
Hours: open for breakfast every day of the week at 8:00am
Meal: Spicy Kale Skillet (well, technically, they call this dish "Spicy Tomato Skillet", but I have renamed it thus, due to the great amount of great kale in it; "Wait. Can you do that, Brian?!"; Sure, dammit! My 'blog-thing my 'd*mn-rules!) ~ kale, onions, potatoes, bell peppers, sunny up eggs, Parmesan, grilled bread; a side o' Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes (which they simply have listed on their menu as "Homefries" [noted as oneword like I normally write it, too]; however, I feel that they are vastly under-naming this most awesome side dish, too); and to drink, from their Fresh Juice Bar, a Power C ~ orange, grapefruit, pineapple


For a simple Sunday morning breakfast, I simply went back to the simply-named Eats (see last simple 'blog-entry from simply Saturday, October 1st, 2016). This is also continuing the early-year workout of my Breakfastary Starting RotationSimples! 

Having worked my way through just about everything that Eats has to offer for stupid vegetarians, I am probably going to have to start repeating menu items now. I do not think that I have had their Homemade Waffle Berries & Crème (berries, bananas [side note: bananas are technically a botanical berry, anyway], honey butter, powdered sugar, whip cream) yet, but that can always be saved for another time when I am in more of a "sweet mood". They also have a Kale Quinoa Salad (cucumbers [another side note: cucumbers are also botanical berries], ricotta salata, carrots, radish, arugala, cranberries, walnuts, garbanzos, tahini vinaigrette), which I suppose I could easily transform into a breakfastary dish by having them add a couple of poached eggs (or sunny up eggs, even) on top.





I have had this dish a few times already now and always enjoy its kalocity. (Sorry, Sean!) I liked that they had given me two large slices of grilled sourdough bread to use to sop up the remaining spicy tomato sauce. (I think I was only given one slice in the past and that did not seem like hardly enough if you are an old sopper like me.)

Woo-HOO!!! There were six (6) cloves of garlic in with the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes this morning, and most of those were of the double-large size (almost as big as the chunks of potatoes). Nice! (*burp*) You may be asking yourself (to be asking me): "Hey, Brian, why did you order an additional side o' Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes if the skillet dish already had potatoes in it?" To which, I may be replying to yourself (to be replying from me): 
1) Mind yer own d*mn binness!!! 
2) You can never have enough potatoes. 
and 
3) I have renamed this most excellent of potatoey side dishes "Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes" for a reason, dammit!

In the past (because I am never sure what the future might bring until I get to it), Eats had only offered the Standard San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces for condimentary supplements: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce), Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce, and Cholula® Hot Sauce (Original). Now they have an additional three hot sauces from which to choose, all of which are from El Yucateco®: Hot Sauce Salsa Picante de Chile Habanero (Green ~ good), Hot Sauce Salsa Picante de Chile Habanero (Red ~ very good), and XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero (very, very good; I even have a little left in a bottle in my own collection). Had I know this, I probably wouldn't have come armed with a few of my own new hot sauces. As it were, I used some of my own Dat'l Do-It® Classic Cayenne Hot Sauce[1] (Thanks, Mom!) on top of both sunny up eggs (I do not think that their Spicy Skillet sauce really needed any additional espicing-up, but I wanted to try out the last of my Christmas gift hot sauces finally.) and some Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce[2] (Thanks, Brian!) on the potatoes. The Dat'l Do-It® Classic Cayenne Hot Sauce really didn't taste much different than your standard Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (Original Red Sauce); it had all the basic same ingredients in it, anyway: aged red cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, and salt. The really nice manager-lady (who had waited on me and took my order) asked me about the Palo Alto Fire Fighters XXX Ghost Pepper Sauce. She even got a small plastic container to sample some for later. She said she might look into this and perhaps order some (of the standard Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce) for the restaurant now, too. I hope that she does; it's truly one of the best (and truly local) hot sauces out there (she also liked the idea of the localness of the product and that 100% of its proceeds goes to charities).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating
Spicy Kale Skillet ~ 7.5;
Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes ~ 7.66 
("But why the extra '0.06' GBS Points, Brian?" Simples! I have decided to add an additional '0.01' for each garlic clove included in the dish. Now stop asking me so many d*mn questions!)

___________________

1. http://www.datildoit.com/?lightbox=image_1tko

2. http://www.paloaltofirefighters.com/index.html

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Dottie's True blue café




http://www.dottiestruebluesf.com/


Place: Dottie's True blue café
Location: 26 6th Street 
(on the corner of Stevenson Street)
Hours: open Thursday through Monday at 7:30am
Meal: Spinach Provolone Strata[1] ~ served with Italian sausage (which I ottantasei-ed, ovviamente), roasted tomatoes & fruit; and a glassa grapefruit juice


It completely goes without saying (but I am completely going with saying, anyway) that no early-year workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation would be complete without (yet still) another return visit to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, November 20th, 2016).

I had gone there this morning with the premeditated idea of ordering the Zucchini Cakes (if it were on the Specials blackboard) again, which is always a great way to start off the New Year, too. However, I did not have the good fortune of seeing that particular dish on the blackboard. It had been a stalwart choice on the Specials blackboard for almost every other visit in the recent past.

This really didn't matter as there are always other great ideas on the Specials blackboard, anyway, such as: Sweet Potato, Caramelized Red Onion & Gruyère Tart (served with eggs any style & fruit); Mascarpone Stuffed Cinnamon Pecan French Toast (with pure maple syrup); or Banana Raspberry Rice Flour Pancakes (with pure maple syrup).





Dottie's True blue café has a great collection of salt-and-pepper shakers. These sometimes get rotated onto the tables depending on the seasons, too. (But, for some reason, I just had a plain ol' pair of glass shakers on my table this morning.)




Not only was this very tasty, but this was a very cool idea for a breakfastary casserole dealy. This was served as a large chunk of the strata, and was grilled on the top and bottom. It had lots of Provolone cheese throughout, too. I also really enjoyed the side of roasted tomatoes; these were made with halved Roma tomatoes. I just can't figure out why there were three halves. Did I get someone else's half or was I slighted a half tomato? (Oi! This is an integral part of a "traditional Full English Breakfast", mate!... unless your "mate" happens to be named "Greg", that is.)

Today's side of fruit(s) included: blackberries (not a real berry); strawberries (another not a real berry); honeydew melon; grapes (a botanical berry); and watermelon (another botanical berry). (Additionally, the roasted tomatoes above are also botanical berries.)

Dottie's True blue café has a very good selection of condimentary supplementation. Knowing this (I have been to a few rodeos there), I didn't bother bringing any of my own hot sauces with me and just used a little Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce Chipotle Pepper Sauce on top of the strata.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating
Spinach Provolone Strata ~ 7.0

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1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strata_(food)