Ella's American Kitchen

"The one with the Mushroom Swiss Omelet."

https://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/


Place: Ella's American Kitchen

Location:  500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street)[1]

Hours: open for breakfast Monday through Friday at 7:00am; open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 8:30am

Meal: Mushroom Swiss Omelet ~ sautéed mushrooms, Swiss, country potatoes, toast; and a glassa Ginger Orange Juice Punch

(Just a couple of [pitch-perfect] songs from Lady Ella to help weather Ol' Man Winter.)


Working my way through my Breakfastary Starting Rotation for the first time for 2018, I went back to Ella's American Kitchen (see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, September 2nd, 2017). I sat at their new (well, it was new on my last visit and it is still new-ish) counter seating area overlooking the kitchen.

It seems as though they no longer do a (Seasonal) Weekend "Brunch" Specials menu, but their standard menu items still offer a few new ideas that I have not tried yet. Such-as:

Chilaquiles ~ slow roasted pork, tomatillo salsa, lime crema, queso fresco, two eggs (I made sure to ask the head chef-lady Veronica, and she confirmed that this could be made suitable for stupid vegetarians if requested);

(the simply enough-named) Avocado Omelet ~ avocado, Cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, country potatoes, toast;

or maybe even

(despite the extremely cornbally-named [whoever came up with that name oughtta be severely "pun"-nished]) Kale Caesar Salad ~ organic kale, croutons, Parmesan, Caesar dressing (however, I did not think to ask if the Caesar dressing had any anchovy in it; I would probably have two poached eggs added on top).

I happened to notice a large amount of fresh cilantro bunches at the cook/prep station and (to continue an earlier conversation from defacedbook) I also asked head chef-lady Veronica what she thought about it. She once again agreed 100% with my (amateur) assessment that it is necessary in both a good pico de gallo and in any Vietnamese bánh mì sandwiches (besides, the soapy taste can be used to cleanse your pallet... and the dishes afterward).

I thought I noticed that my waitress/server-lady Iris had a bit of ein Akzent. I correctly guessed and asked her "Bist du Deutsche?" She informed me that she was in fact from Deutschland... and from (West) Berlin to be exact. I asked her which town/neighborhood she used to live in, but I forget which it was now.

This was a good omelette, nothing really special, but much better than I could ever manage. I liked that they sautée the mushrooms (I watched them do so in a separate pan) before adding them to the omelette stuff; plus, there was a good amount of melted-stretchy Swiss cheese in it, too.

For my toast choice, I went with sourdough rye for a change of pace. I am not sure if they still make all of their own breads and baked goods (the bakery section is/was in the next room and I didn't think to check it out).

The glassa Ginger Orange Juice Punch now comes in a large glass (16 oz?), which is nice. It used to be served in a much smaller glass, probably just an 8 oz-er.

Ella's American Kitchen offers for condimentary supplements just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce 
(Original Red Sauce) and Tapatío® Salsa Picante 
Hot Sauce.  So I used two more of my new hot sauces ~ some (just a few drops, really) H*ll's Kitchen® Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce on the omelette and some Whiskey Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks for both, Mom!) on the potatoes. (It is pretty funny; the ingredients listed on the Whiskey Habanero Hot Sauce state "Whiskey flavor"?! Wha'?! Why couldn't they just use actual Whiskey as an ingredient?) That just leaves one last new hot sauce left for me to check out now...

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

After breakfast, on the way back to my car (I had parked two blocks away over on Masonic Avenue where it meets Euclid Avenue), I heard first then looked up to see a decent-sized pandemonium of at least twenty Wild Parrots flying overhead heading southward (to which destination, I do not know). You do not generally see them this far West into the City. 

Strange Coffee Interlude

While keyboarding up this silly li'l 'blog-entry, I enjoyed another Christmas gift of a cuppa Bettys (well, technically Taylors of Harrogate) Rare Blossom Ethiopia[2] Ground Coffee (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!). This was another excellent Coffee from the folks at Bettys (and Taylors of Harrogate)! This might be my second (or third) favourite Coffee from them now. For an authentic Britishlander Tea Rooms kinda place, Bettys always offers some mighty d*mn good Coffee, too!

https://www.bettys.co.uk/rare-blossom-ethiopia-ground-coffee


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Mushroom Swiss Omelet ~ 6.6;
Bettys (Taylors of Harrogate, whatever) 
Rare Blossom Ethiopia Ground Coffee ~ 7.8;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5;
the pitch-perfect singing of Lady Ella Fitzgerald ~ 8.9

___________________

1. Not that it truly matters any, but I had always assumed that Ella's American Kitchen was located in the Laurel Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. However, after viewing the spot on a map, it appears that it is actually situated right on the upper northwest corner of Lower Pacific Heights (which is just across the street technically from Laurel Heights). Both Laurel Heights and Lower Pacific Heights are (supposably) incorporated into the Western Addition District, anyway. 

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/San_Francisco/Western_Addition#/map/0/14/37.7802/-122.4406

Whatever... it seems like they are constantly changing the borders of these neighborhoods in the City, anyway. (Kinda like Israel does with the Palestinian homeland.)

2. What the h*ck do they know about Coffee in Ethiopia, anyway? Everyone knows that "real Coffee" originated in Colombia and Java...